America the Beautiful

That title may surprise you coming from me. I’m not the most patriotic person in the world. But I do love this country. It is beautiful. Its people are beautiful as well. I am less than a month from my 70th birthday. I’ve been doing some reminiscing. This morning I was reminiscing about one of the most interesting jobs I ever had. For eight years I got to travel the world doing Human Resources functions for a major corporation. Three areas of the United States were especially memorable to me. I spent a lot of time in each of them. It’s been twenty-five years, so I can’t guarantee these places are still like I remember them.

What I remember most about the South was the friendliness of the people and the slower pace of business. Driving around the small towns of the south in the evening, smelling the jasmine and magnolias. There seemed to be a church on every corner. The food across the south was fantastic from prawns with the heads on in Mobile, Alabama to Jambalaya in Baton Rouge. One night, driving around rural Virgina I came across a field on fire surrounded by men on all sides. My northern brain was thinking KKK, but it was just the burning of a tobacco field because the price of tobacco was so low it was cheaper to destroy it. Speaking of the KKK, I had the privilege of driving across the Edmund Pettis Bridge, famed from Civil Rights Days. Edentown, NC was such a beautiful town that I considered it as a retirement destination. Ahhh, the South.

The Northwest, in my case Washington, Oregon, and northern California, was so physically beautiful that I loved every trip there. Driving through the Columbia River Gorge and getting to see the destruction from the eruption of Mt. St. Helen’s are two places I will never forget. Seeing those majestic snow peaked mountains, Mt. Hood and Mt. Shasta, every day was exhilarating to say the least. Maybe this is just coming from a northeast mindset, but the people in the Northwest also seemed a little more laid back.

Lastly, the Upper Midwest and the Great Lakes. If it wasn’t so damned cold in the winter, I would definitely want to retire there. International Falls, MN, the Icebox of the Nation was right by beautiful Rainy Lake. Duluth, MN, its terraces wrapped around the harbor of Lake Superior remains one of my favorite cities. The Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and its Yoopers, was a wonderful place to explore. Park Falls, Minnesota, is the Ruffed Grouse Capital of America. It is also in a county that had, in 1997, no stoplights. I remember the people of this region being very hard working, but also hard playing. They were proud of their harsh weather and loved to be outdoors.

What a lucky man I was to have had the chance to see so much of our great country. My recommendation to my younger readers is to get out there and explore! If you find yourself exploring in the area of Franklin, Virginia, be sure to stop at Phillips Restaurant and get the peanut butter pie. Best dessert I ever tasted!