Monday, November 21, 2016

CELEBRATING AMERICA

Time Magazine devoted it's July 4th issue to listing the 240 favorite things that Americans love about our country.
Well-known Americans -- movie stars, TV stars, editors -- shared their favorite things and the "coolest" places to visit - -- the food, the sights, the fun parks and festivals.

Golly, I remember touring as a dancer  -- traveling and performing in more than 1000 American towns, staying in hotels, motels, tourist homes, guest bedrooms -- dining in lunch-counters, snack bars, eateries, restaurants -- moseying down thousands of main streets. Everyday we were on a different road moving toward a different horizon.

ME., TEX., UT., N.MEX.

CA., NEV., WA., MO.

... trees, wheat, or corn, or emptiness ...  every day a different sky hovering over people, cows, communities, fences, bridges, birds flying hither and yon as we headed ahead on a road that was going somewhere ...
GA.,NEB., COLO., Ill., ORE.








Time Magazine's 240 Reasons to Celebrate Our Country" reminds me -- how I loved heading down Pacific Coast Highway to the Cheesecake Factory,  favorite restaurant where we met with our son  every weekend for a sumptuous dinner -- loved our log cabin at the top of Las Flores Canyon Road in Malibu -- Las Fores -- wow, what a spectacular winding road, so many, many wonderful roads.

KY., KANS., SC.









There are approximately 4,071,000 miles of roads in the United States, 2,678,000 miles paved and 1,394,000 miles unpaved ... golly, I have visions in my mind of more than 240 favorite roads ...

Yes, it's time for Thanksgiving, giving thanks for what I know, and feel, and have in my mind and heart.

Golly, America The Beautiful is beautiful.

6 comments:

Maryannwrites said...

What a lovely post and lovely pictures. I do enjoy road trips on scenic highways. A year and a half ago a friend and I took a trip from Texas to Montana, taking one route up and a different one back, all on smaller highways, seldom getting on an Interstate. What fun it was to see the beauty of nature and take our time meandering from place to place. Thanks for bringing back fond memories.

Carola said...

Beautiful posting!

GSB said...

Hi Emily, thank you for your inspiring story!

Gerardo Barcala
Actor - Voice Over - Narrator

Cara said...

We live in an amazing country, full of majestic places, generous people, a wondrous variety of cultural and personal expression, and an optimistic faith in invention and possibility. All this makes me love America. But I recently spoke via Skype to a Chinese friend who lives in Guangzhou and we shared our thoughts on current events in the U.S., and afterward I realized that the part of the American dream that feels most precious to me is our 1st Amendment right to freedom of speech.

SCOOPDAA said...

Thanks For Sharing Thanksgiving Thoughts = It's a Time For Giving Thanks & Giving Back Into The Community

Unknown said...

Happy Thanksgiving to you Em..and of course to John as well.

In 1998, after a year of recovery from foot surgery, which had left me housebound, I went on a 7 week drive around the country. What an amazing experience. In many ways it was a miniature version of your 1,000 town tour.

I visited with friends and family all over this gorgeous country. In between spending time with people I stayed in motels. I carried my own food, which was a diet of packaged turkey breast, Granny Green apples and trail mix. I had a cooler and restocked whenever necessary. Sometimes I ate on the shoulder of a highway. I almost never went to a restaurant. I did eat Fast Food a very limited amount of times. Of course I ate just great with the people that I visited.

I absolutely loved the gorgeous scenery. I often tried to imagine what life had been like in the very early days.

I loved the diversity of it all.

Again, I repeat, what an amazing experience it was.