Tag: Smiles
National parks I’ve truly enjoyed
I have to confess to how many of America’s national parks remain on my to-visit list. But I still have some favorites among the ones I’ve explored. They don’t have to be massive to still be impressive.
- Rainier, Washington: Most of all. It’s top of the list for reasons I’ve described elsewhere on this blog. Living a few hours away, I had four years of exposure to this glacier-clad beauty and its forests below.
- North Cascades, Washington: Geologically some of the most incredible mountains in the continental U.S., along with rewarding hiking and camping. Some of our best beat-era poets were forest fire lookouts on its remote summits in the ’50s and ’60s.
- Smokey Mountains, Tennessee-North Carolina: I was nine or ten or so when we ventured down from Ohio. We weren’t yet doing family-camping, but there were some wild experiences with cheap motels. But then, when we got to the park, how could I not be blown away? So this is what mountains were!
- Lowell, Massachusetts: I’ve blogged about our daytrip to this pioneering industrial community and its water-powered textile mills. Try to time it so you can also take a ride down the canals through the mills and out to the Merrimack River.
- Cuyahoga Valley, Ohio: This meandering swath of greenery along the Cuyahoga River in the former Connecticut Western Reserve corner of the Buckeye State is a touch of sanity within a populous region. It even includes some decent waterfalls. The Cleveland Orchestra’s summer home is nearby.
- Acadia, Maine: The rugged Downeast coastline starts here, more or less, and there’s nowhere else so much of it is available to the public.
- Olympic, Washington: It’s the heart of a unique realm worthy of a Tendril of its own, as well as a longpoem you can get at my Thistle Finch blog.
- Mammoth Cave, Kentucky: The world’s longest known cave system, only part of it is open to public tours, but what is shown includes spectacular geologic formations and chambers.
- Crater Lake, Oregon: It’s impressive but usually seen as an auto circuit around the volcanic crater of what was once mighty Mount Mazama. The lake sits at 6,178 feet above sea level.
- Everglades, Florida: To appreciate this ecological system, you need to take a guided boat tour into its vegetation and zoological wonders. This is the real Florida, almost surreal. Well, compared to much of the commercial development throughout the state, maybe a better adjective is needed.
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There are many more, awaiting personal discovery. So what are your favorites?
Kinisi 94
the wet horizon pours out
draped in fish
down to the seed
rather than transcendence
As for my emotional home, I’m lost
without geohistory and mythopoetics
where I wanted to collapse into your dreams
once you came
Ten great loves in my life
What, you were expecting sexy lovers? That’s a whole different story, maybe best left for my fiction.
- Symphonic music. Well, quickly extending to chamber music and opera and then even jazz.
- Quaker practice and culture.
- The great outdoors. Wilderness, especially.
- The Cascades range as I explored it, most of all.
- Seafood, fresh asparagus, real tomatoes.
- The sea. Surf. Lighthouses.
- Holy wonder. The natural high, if you will.
- Autumn foliage.
- The soul mate who turned out to be false. She still haunts me, all the same. I think it was all the shared aspirations that really got me.
- The color blue.
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What do you really love? Make that who, if you desire.
Kinisi 92
barking crows
whims of courtly love
course you hate being ordered about
marble, limestone, granite, ice
soapstone as a handyman’s tool
sweating came much later
to this cold-blooded frame
Just a bunny … or bfunny?
About my current state of mind
- Distracted. Just where did I put that thing-a-ma-jig?
- Stuffed to the brim.
- Amazed by so many actions that are normally taken for granted.
- Grateful for so much in my everyday life, even amid the inevitable irritations.
- Looking for additional sources of income to make ends meet.
- Worried about the future of mankind.
- Less demanding of others than I once was.
- Resigned to growing limitations.
- Angry about the injustices of the nutcase Right.
- Glad I’m not 21 and facing the future.
~*~
Now, to inhale deeply … and hold it.
Kinisi 93
natchurrally, I’d drive the tractor, back up skillfully, too
as I’m still flat, flattened, corn, soy, wheat to the core
plus hogs and cattle. As for chickens, you need
justly one rooster
let me cackle, however faintingly
No, it’s not all flat, either
In my novel Nearly Canaan, Joshua and Jaya meet in a railroad crossing known as Prairie Depot. And in my newest release, The Secret Side of Jaya, she returns there in a magical sort of vein.
Yes, Prairie Depot is somewhere in the Midwest. But the region itself is hardly as homogeneous as many portray it.
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- Defined: The region is generally comprised of 12 states – Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. I question the inclusion of Missouri, which was a slave-holding state and thus Southern, but others try to add Oklahoma. Population 65 million.
- Breadbasket of the world: Wheat, corn, and oats are major crops, along with soybeans and sugar beets. Beef, dairy, and hog production are also huge. The fields run on for miles. And Wisconsin is the nation’s leading producer of cranberries.
- Major cities: Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Kansas City, Des Moines, Omaha, Columbus, and Indianapolis head the list.
- Mall of America: The 400 stores, waterpark, and aquarium in Bloomington, Minnesota, are deemed one of the most popular tourist magnets in the country, drawing 35 million visitors a year.
- Heartland: The geographic center of North America is in Ruby, North Dakota.
- A taste for the oddball: Cawker City, Kansas, is home to the world’s biggest ball of twine. Ten feet in diameter.
- Linked by rail: The Union Pacific’s Bailey Yard in North Platte, Nebraska, is the world’s largest railroad yard. It’s eight miles long and up to two miles wide, with 301 sets of rails.
- Horses and buggies: More Amish live in Ohio than in any other state. In 2015, there were 69,255. And Iowa has a significant number, too – about 7,000.
- Cowboy country: Much of what we consider cowboy-and-Indian out west actually took place in Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas. And sharpshooter Annie Oakley was raised by a Quaker family in Ohio.
- It’s not really homogenous: Each state is different, starting with the economy, religious mix, ethnic origins and culture, and amount of annual precipitation. Even the parts of a state can vary widely along these lines. Much of the eastern half of the region is heavily industrial, with steel and auto making at the fore, while other parts are intensively agricultural. There are further breakouts like the Great Lakes region or the Great Plains. And it’s not all flat, either.
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What are your impressions of this part of the country?
