A European's impressions of the US (Texas, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Canuckistan, Alaska, Washington, Oregon and California.
People in the US smile and compliment strangers.
US has best food and worst food in the world.
US is BIG. They don't need passports to see the wonders of the world.
Yes, I would absolutely, 1000% live in the US.
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| 570 miles from Monroe, Michigan to Ontonagon, Michigan. |
Michigan, a medium-sized, eastern state where the states tend to be scrawny and on the puny side.
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| 570 miles from NATO HQ to Sweden which is not part of NATO. |
I remember reading a story about a European couple that decided to drive across the US. The landed in Newark and set out in a rental. They had a hotel reservation in Denver. They called that afternoon and rescheduled it for the next day. They called the next day and rescheduled for the day after. The thrid day they called and said they had seriously underestimated the size of our country!!!
ReplyDelete880 miles plus from El Paso to Orange on I10. US 87 from Port The Cow to Texline is 801 miles. (I lived 2 1/2 miles east of 87 for my first 20 years.) US 83 runs 906 miles north and south. I've been on both ends and most of the middle of that road.
We live in a big place. I grew up in a strip of the US that only has about 1% of the population in it. That was cool to find out.
Well, she did buy her first dog here, and begin to raise it on her trip. I'd say she's hooked and is starting to realize that that the "dumb American" hype is just that. Her visit to the rodeo is a bit of an eye opener when she realizes the passion that we have for our animals is genuine.
ReplyDeleteWe lived near Niagara Falls and Mom was from Germany, so we had lots of friends/family that came to visit when I was growing up... always stuck the guests in my bedroom and I got to camp on the couch!
ReplyDeleteA frequent spot to bring them was to see Lake Erie just south of Buffalo - you can see 2 shorelines (US and Canadian sides) and the horizon by looking West (the long way down the lake).
Every damned time they thought we were looking at the ocean.
Nope.
But you can't see the other side?
Nope.
There are tide marks on the shore?!
Yep.
That HAS to be saltwater?
Nope.
One guy actually tasted it, he didn't believe us.
Got home and opened up an atlas, absolutely away by the magnitude of everything. They all had a very hard time grasping the sheer size, relative to their experiences on the old continent.
An aunt worked for the State Department. A letter from an Italian woman made the rounds. She was planning a visit to the US and wanted to know if it was better to see the Smithsonian in the morning and then visit the Grand Canyon that afternoon or see the GC in the morning and visit the museum in the afternoon.
ReplyDeleteIt is a nice round 1,000 mile drive from Orange County, CA to Sandy, Oregon to visit my wife's family but we took two days each way.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of owning a piece of property of any size boggling. I had a German associate tell me I owned too much land, at the time it was 11 acres. The Englishman was quite proud of his 3/4 acre lot until our shipping clerk told him he owned 64 acres.
ReplyDeleteI think michigan and great Britain are about the same size.
ReplyDeleteEurope officially reaches east to the Urals. There is quite a big piece of land there in Russia.
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