Moving/living in different cities/countries in life

[badger]

On one of my trips to the midwest I was in the middle of taking a photography course, so I got a photo of the landscape near my grandmother's home--empty field on the lower half (it was November), sky on the upper half, farm house dead center. My professor hated the photo--said the composition was dull and empty. My mother loved the photo--she said she misses that view so much, so she had me enlarge the photo and frame it.

I can appreciate the beauty of different landscapes, but I don't think I could live without trees.

Sarah

I'm curious to see this picture - do you have one small enough to upload here?

***

and it's funny how some people associate the west as "brown". There's nothing brown around here in the pacific northwest!!

[GLC1968]

One of the saddest things I have on videotape is my 2 and 4 year old kids playing in the foundation plants of my house in Tempe, saying, "We're in the woods!" I think you can hear me say in the background, "I am outta here!"

This totally made me LOL! I'd have thought/said the same thing.

In fact, when I moved to NC, at first I felt it was too brown and barren! I grew up in New England, Michigan and Wisconsin...so I'm used to trees. A lot of the Greensboro, NC area is farmland, so it felt really barren to me. It wasn't until I got a chance to visit the NC mountains that I felt the beauty of the state.

As we drove from NC to Oregon (in February, mind you), I was constantly amazed at the changing landscape. We live in a VERY big country here! The west was amazing - and felt very foriegn and kind of 'powerful' to me (not sure that's the right word, but it'll do for now). I enjoyed seeing it, but it wasn't until we passed thorugh the Columbia River Gorge that I started to feel 'at home'. I think that's why I love it here in the western part of Oregon. I get the big trees and green forested areas like I grew up with, rolling hills, small farms, mountain views, etc...(oh and rocky beach shorelines)...but I also get the western laid back attitude that I'm learning to love. It's like the best of both coasts all rolled into one!

[Atlas]

I've never lived outside the state of Iowa. My parents still live in the house I grew up in. I did move to Iowa City for a brief time in college, but came back to central Iowa and finished in Ames. My sister lives up the street from my parents and my brother is 20 minutes away. At 20 miles, I live the farthest from my them. My partner and I are ready to get out of here. Iowa is my favorite place in the world, but I feel like I need to live somewhere else and not just travel to other places.

[shootingstar]

and it's funny how some people associate the west as "brown". There's nothing brown around here in the pacific northwest!!

Maybe some folks are talking about the western areas with rolling, drier hills like what we have in the interior British Columbia...400 kms. inland from the coast...where it's near desert or at least the hills are hardly green.

Even western Canada includes the flat prairies, or foothills before Rocky Mountains rise.

Agree with GLC, North America is frickin' huge and diverse. It never ceases to amaze whenever I travel several thousand kms. across Canada. Somehow living in such huge countries, culturally and psychologically, gives some of us the sense of unlimited opportunities for life changes, etc. without switching languages as one would need to, in Europe.

I do mean my last sentence quite seriously. It has been one of the reasons and still is for some people, why people immigrate to North America: freedom to live where they want, lots of choice in terms of lifestyle, less national borders/less hassle in big space.

Except some people really refuse to travel/explore/learn outside their small region within their state/province.

You know what I mean?

[badger]

well, of course, the whole continent has such a diverse geography you can't just say "west is brown", and "east is green". It's like anything else in life, you can't just paint the whole picture with one big brush.

[sfa]

I'm curious to see this picture - do you have one small enough to upload here?

I took the photo in 1988 (and with black and white film, no less--really old school!), so I don't have a digital version of it. If my mother still has it around, I could probably scan it in. She's out of the country for the next week or so, though, so it'll take a while.

Sarah

[Crankin]

When I was talking about the west being brown, I was really referring to the ugly suburban sprawl in cities like Phoenix, LA, Dallas, Las Vegas. Maybe I should have said southwest. I have been enough places in AZ and Colorado to have seen the really beautiful and unique places in the west; however, I did not live in one of them!
I want to visit the northwest. I think I would like it.

[Irulan]

what is the length cut off? I spent some time in my errant early adulthood moving/working seasonally, and then with DH in the oil field...

Born Chicago, Ill
Grew up East Bay Area age 16 moved out...
then...
Season in Miami
Sierra Foothills
Golden/Evergreen Colorado
Casper Wyoming
Powell Wyoming
Back to the Bay Area
Eastern WA for 20 years now.

[tulip]

Before high school, I lived in seven cities in four states in the US; some repeats; some different houses/apartments in the same city. I stayed put in high school. Since then (25 years), I've lived in eight cities in two countries, some of those I moved back to several times, so it really is more like 11 or 12 moves in the last 25 years.

[shootingstar]

When I was talking about the west being brown, I was really referring to the ugly suburban sprawl in cities like Phoenix, LA, Dallas, Las Vegas. ...........................I want to visit the northwest. I think I would like it.

Methinks that's part of the problem with the flatter areas inland and some of their suburbs. In other cities, at least some of the suburbs include mountains in a distance, greenspace or rolling hills.

[malkin]

The brown discussion has me singing that Kate Wolf song:

Here in California, the fruit hangs heavy on the vine,
And there's no gold, I thought I'd warn ya,
And the hills turn brown in summertime.

[badger]

ha, I never knew there was a singer by that name, that's my niece's name!

[Owlie]

I'm boring. I lived in Cincinnati from the age of 4 on, then Cleveland for college and stayed there. I'll be moving for grad school, though in what direction and what state, I won't know until March or April.

I'm considering Tuscon for grad school. While I like the program, I'm not sure I could handle the landscape. I need trees and grass.

[Irulan]

One of the cool things about living different places is learning how to appreciate different landscapes.

[tulip]

One of the cool things about living different places is learning how to appreciate different landscapes.

Most definitely. And people and cultures and food and languages and accents...