Note: This blog was first posted on lynnlovegreen.com.
As an Alaskan, I’m used to visitors oohing and aahing over our mountains, moose, and the other things that stand out about my home. Now I’m traveling Outside, and it’s my turn to be the visitor noticing all the things that make the Lower 48 different. Here’s a short list of things that are novelties or interesting to me:
toll roads
corn fields
truck stops
red dirt
cowboys
deserts.
As they say, it’s all in what you’re used to. What may seem normal to you can be odd to someone else. Each place has its landscape or people (or both) that make it special. We all live in distinctive environments.
Take a good look around your area, and think about what makes it unique. Then it’s easy to remember that what’s ordinary to you is extraordinary to someone else. There’s much to value wherever we are. What do you enjoy that’s special about the place where you live?
Lynn Lovegreen has lived in Alaska for fifty years. After twenty years in the classroom, she retired to make more time for writing. She enjoys her friends and family, reading, and volunteering at her local library. Her young adult historical fiction is set in Alaska, a great place for drama, romance, and independent characters. See her website at www.lynnlovegreen.com. You can also find her on Facebook and Instagram.
5 comments:
Lynn - one place I've never been and want to go is Alaska. I live in Maine, and when I travel, I think I notice the colors (as well as the terrain). In Maine the evergreens are a brilliant green (some darker, some lighter, but nevertheless, a brighter green.) In Colorado, the evergreens have more yellow mixed in with the green. In Arizona, the greens also seem different, but then you add in the greens of the cactus, and the bright colors of the dessert. The most spectacular sunset I ever saw was in Sedona, up against the Red Rocks, the sky was orange, purple, and the hot pink side of magenta. And because of the open space it went on forever. I also saw one of the most amazing, vivid double rainbows in Sedona. The greens in Florida seem to be more muted with grays, especially the trees draped in moss. So not only the colors but the vegetation are different. We have a diverse nation. Never mind the rest of the world which has its own colors, terrain, and vegetation. Fun blog!
Alaska fascinates me and always has. I haven't been there, but hope to make it sometime, even if it's only a cruise that shows me only the "purty parts."
Lynn, from some of my windows, especially in winter when the leaves are off the deciduous trees in the area, I can see Mt. Hood. If I walk a block or two away, the mountain (aka my mountain) stands as a sentinel. I can be gazing at Multnomah Falls in 20 minutes or actually be up on Mt. Hood in an hour or so. That's east of me. Going west? about 90 minutes away is the Pacific Ocean. I never tire of any of these sights.
But then I've done some traveling and while I might not want to move to another place, I can see the beauty of the desert, the endless rows of corn , the muddy waters of the Ohio and Mississippi and the historic building in cities I've been lucky to visit that dominated my passion for history in school.
Thanks Deb, Liz and Judith. So many things are special about these places.
I enjoy the birds and wildlife we have here in the Oregon Cascade foothills. Also the beautiful view from our deck: The hillside drops away from the edge of the yard, past the row of apple trees, to the white-fenced pasture. Across the the two-lane road and past a weathered fence lined with plumb trees is an even larger pasture adorned with a red barn. Houses sheltered by large trees dot the valley, while forests of Douglas fir trees cloak the far hillside. It's a truly beautiful and peaceful scene.
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