American musings

770

28th June 2010

There is something truly stunning about America. I am writing this from 26500 feet above America and we have just left Nevada and are heading over the state of Arizona. It’s mountainous, arid and quite frankly vast. The skies are clear and I am sure down below the temperature is on the hot side. When I look out of the window I can see land forever, as far as my naked eye can see. It goes on and on and on, way beyond what I can see from up here.

I haven’t traveled much in my life, well up until now that is, as this is my 2^nd trip to the USA this year. Last time it was Philadelphia and this time Vegas and you could not really get two different parts of one country I don’t think. Philadelphia has history (well, America’s version of history….LOL…we are not talking Tudor houses or medieval castles are we?) but Philadelphia has culture and history, it’s has character and charm, old world meets new, whereas Vegas is brash and loud and sexy and bold and bright. Yet they are both part of the same land.

That is something that fascinates me about America, its sheer size means that it is really like 50 countries all operating as one, well nearly, each state does seem to like to do something slightly different from the rest but yet it’s all American and the people who live here are all Americans. No matter where they are from, which state they were bought up in or where they live now, they are all united under one banner, under one shared belief in the Union, under one flag. It’s quite a feat really to manage to unite so many, from such a vast land under one. It makes America unique, for where else in the world has that ever truly been achieved on the size and scale that is America?

Ok, ok, I can here you now, but it’s America Molly, it’s an aggressor on the world stage, it fuelled a world recession, they all have guns, people regularly shoot each other, they have people living in poverty with no access to health care and so on and so forth and I know all that. America is not a golden land, and it’s far from perfect but it is interesting and it is beautiful and it is full of some seriously friendly people. It’s big, crazy, quiet, loud, violent, peaceful, hot, cold, mountainous, desert, flat plains and prairies, cities and coastlines, skiing or diving, it has everything.

I can’t wait to see more of her, I would love to spend my life traveling America, really get to know her and the people that inhabit her. For now, I have to settle for Philadelphia and Vegas…..and soon Philadelphia again. Maybe I write about some of the people I meet there. See if I can find my way into the heart of America from its people, the everyday people, the hotel receptionist, the waiter, the taxi driver, the sales assistant. I bet they all have a story to tell about America, I wonder if they might share them with me.

Mollyxxx