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This brings up a good point. How many people have drove across the country and when? Was it before the interstate system?
I drove across in spurts and then took a six week vacation and drove the whole country. That solidified me to not want to go to Europe or any other country. I will if the opportunity is there but I am not saving or making a big plan to go.
Back in early 60's when we drove across country from PA to CA via rt 66, I was young and it wasn't so much pleasure but to get to our new home CA. I drove a lot in spurts on the West Coast but taking a leisurely trip across the U.S. would be great. It will never happen for me. But Larry Mantle was so glad he could do this with his son, who just got his driver's license and they both drove.
Actually my PA to CA trip was a sad one as I was leaving my roots for the unknown big bad CA...I'd never leave and it's over 50 yrs.
I don't think anyone is disputing that the US offers a very diverse natural beauty. The sad part is that it is being constantly eroded and in some cases destroyed by poorly controlled over development.
I think the "man made part" of the US is much uglier and uniform than in many European countries. Outside of downtown areas of the big cities, you see the same run down strip malls, tilting wooden poles of the overhead power lines and cookie cutter houses. Chain stores and restaurants dominate all the businesses...
There are no overhead power lines where I live. In fact I can't remember living anywhere in the US with overhead power lines in the last 50 years and I have lived in many areas. Our strip malls are not run down at all.
This brings up a good point. How many people have drove across the country and when? Was it before the interstate system?
I drove across in spurts and then took a six week vacation and drove the whole country. That solidified me to not want to go to Europe or any other country. I will if the opportunity is there but I am not saving or making a big plan to go.
I drove coast-to-coast in 2000, from LA to DC, taking about 8 days. This was long enough to be stressful, but too short to be genuinely illuminating or educational. Though I did take scenic stops, the vast majority of the trip was along Interstates 15 and 70. The vast majority of the scenes were highway rest areas and the ubiquitous billboards, gas stations and similar business serving the traveler, and especially the trucker.
To be fair, similar (though shorter) trips in Germany, Spain, England and France weren't significantly different. Highways worldwide are built for efficiency, to sustain the flow of traffic and to provide motorists with necessary services. They're not meant as scenic drives, and if in spurts the drive really is scenic, that's a fortuitous accident, rather than an intent of the highways-designers.
Another approach is to read famous trans-American travelogues, such as John Steinbeck's "Travels with Charley", or for a more fanciful alternative, Jack Kerouac's "On the Road". There, what makes the nation interesting is less the nation itself, the mountains and national parks and city skylines, than the people whom the protagonist encounters. And this has an overarching point: what's "bland and boring", at a personal level, is one's own social circle - and not the aggregate of people living in this or that particular nation.
Thanks for the replys. The Blue Mountain Parkway in the south, The Kancamagus Highway in New Hampshire and Route 66 are the few scenic roads I know of and have driven, Interstates become scenic when you get out in the country and you get drawn in to an area. When I did my road trips if I saw a Billboard or area that perked my interest I would take a small detour and see. Its the trip more than the destination for me.
You can travel this whole country and never have to speak another language or use different currency. You are safe the whole trip aside for needing to rely on some street smarts but that is anywhere.
I got stuck in a run-off off stones which is a trap for truckers going down a hill and thier brakes fail. I am in the middle of Utah with nothing for miles and no phone service thinking "Now What"! About a half hour later a tow truck pulls up with three guys to tow me out. They said that is there job by the state to drive around all day and check to see if anyone is broken down. Only in America! So I tipped them $20 anyway they saved me big time!
America is not bland and the people I met all have a story to tell.
While America is not very exciting outside about a dozen places, I think it is nothing new. Any New World country without significant indigenous influence is going to be a little bland, like Canada, Australia, or Uruguay. It is hard to create flair and history and culture in only a couple of centuries
Care to back that up?
Lets take music for example, or visual art. Can you tell me how hip hop, rap and jazz (all American originated) are bland relative to other cultures. And which countries and what music, specifically. Same with modern visual arts.
America does, in fact, very well. The reason being it is like 50 countries rather than one. There are astounding restaurants here. Have you been to Alinea, or Per Se? The scientific community and scientific research (and commensurate Nobels) is astounding. Some of the world's most interesting cities, for Example NYC and New Orleans, are here. Queens speaks more languages than any other place in the world. Trappers still live in the bayous of Louisiana, in a fashion they did 200 yrs back. The mennonites and the amish, the hasids of Brooklyn, all with very different rich culture, all part of America - because it is the most culturally diverse nation on earth. The people living in log cabins in Alaska and hunting moose to survive, the folk history and music of Appalachia. The way America has used and engendered and facilitated the internet like no other culture. World class universities like MIT, Harvard etc. Huge cultural movements in human rights, LBGT rights, women's rights which while not perfect are more lively and vibrant here than virtually any other country. Modern dance, American novels, TV dramas, the amazing adult animation revolution, high fashion, electric cars, new ways of seeing, buying, flying. Honestly, its just silly.
There are plenty of other cultures in the world, I've lived a long time in three other countries, and while at first blush they were interesting because they were new they turned out after a coulpa years to be much less diverse within themselves, more stick-in-the-mud and much less creative over time.
I wasn't born in this country and I must admit I had an idiotic impression of America too based on the mass media of TV and Movies that had filtered its way to my hometown. When I came here I started to find out about America, I got over my stupid native-country jingoism and started being honest about it.
And people come down with an empty condemnatory opinion (which are easy to make, just open one's mouth) without demonstrating what is culturally interesting.
I think the problem is that the US is so big and vast and the diversity is highly concentrated in certain areas. If you're doing a road trip, the country will seem very homogeneous.
Location: Appalachian New York, Formerly Louisiana
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Warszawa
While America is not very exciting outside about a dozen places, I think it is nothing new. Any New World country without significant indigenous influence is going to be a little bland, like Canada, Australia, or Uruguay. It is hard to create flair and history and culture in only a couple of centuries
See, this is simply wrong. American culture is among the strongest and most influential in THE WORLD. There is no lack of culture. Just because you may not like it, does not make it invalid.
see, this is simply wrong. American culture is among the strongest and most influential in the world. There is no lack of culture. Just because you may not like it, does not make it invalid.
+1
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