“Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,
Song of the Open Road by Walt Whitman
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose. “
On the eve of our departure I thought I would reflect on a question we have been asked a few times… Why do this trip in the US? Why not show our kids the rest of the world? Those are good questions. When we planned this trip we didn’t have a carefully reasoned answer, it just seemed obvious to both Dan and me that the kids should have an understanding of the United States of America before setting out to explore the wider world around them.
I have been fortunate in my life to travel extensively for work, for school and for pleasure. I have visited 22 countries on 5 continents and each of those trips have reinforced two things for me. First, how much we all have in common. Regardless of where we live, we basically want the same things – community, sustenance and security for ourselves and our families. Second, how much I love America. Every time I feel the wheels of my return flight hit the tarmac I am overwhelmed by an immense sense of gratitude for my home. I love that my home is made up of lots of different types of people. I love that we generally abide by the rule of law. I love our landscapes. I love the fact that we are capable of change. I love the fact that we get a chance to give our President (and other elected officials) a performance review via the ballot box.
My home is always messy – now more so than ever. It is always a little too loud. It doesn’t always treat it’s citizens equally. It doesn’t fully respect its natural splendor. It’s leaders and citizens alike are often too short sighted. It isn’t a perfect home. But it is my home, it is my family’s home. Our girls should see its wonders, meets its people, taste its food, learn about its Native people, learn about its history and conflicts, see its art, hear its music.
Our girls should understand how lucky they are to be Americans. By birth they are entitled to share in America’s bounty. And by birth they inherit her problems. It is my hope that this trip will instill in the girls a sense of responsibility and ownership for these United States of America. I hope they will see the country as I do – an imperfect home that I am deeply grateful for.
It is with gratitude we begin this adventure.
Very well said, wish you guys the best!
Beautifully written. Happy travels and I can’t wait to live vicariously through you as you venture through the good old USA.
Many thanks! Writing this reply from our first stop in Maggie Valley, NC listening to a little river gurgle by. Nice way to start!
Dear Carolyn: My name is Jim Nechas, and I’m a latecomer to your lovely blog, something that my wife has bothered me about, being an early adopter, and that I now readily apologize for. You see, I committed high school with your father-in-law, Bill Muir, and with whom, after many years of separation, I’m now reunited, thanks, in part, to another high school classmate and Bill’s former lab partner in Chem I, where he tended her Bunsen burner if nothing else. I just read your daughters’ latest posts, honest, well-written things that pleased me and inspired me to check your map of intended stops out west. I was hoping to see more detail about destinations in Arizona, which I used to visit frequently, both because I once was a freelance magazine writer and because my old man had retired there. You see, if a magazine wasn’t paying my freight to an assignment, I could both see my dad, with whom I had a problematic relationship, and deduct the cost of the trip from my taxes. I’m sure that you’ve scheduled all the glorious National Parks, Forests, and historical spots in the state, but I thought I might suggest some other things you might enjoy along the way, stuff I’ve written about in the past or which I’ve visited in my wife, Eileen. While you’re at the Grand Canyon, be sure to check on The Hopi House, the oldest Indian jewelry store in the country and one of the first of Mary Colter’s architecture projects for the Santa Fe Railroad and the Harvey Company, Beware, however, while you’re there, because there’s a controversy afoot just now that suggests that MS Colter was only the girlfriend of Mr. Harvey and not the designer that she claimed to be–‘though the buildings are as impressive as they always were. On the same note, the two Hopi Indian mesa villages are worth a side trip if you’re in the neighborhood, especially if there’s a festival or dance scheduled while you’re visiting. You might be greeted by men dressed as the tribe’s sacred Kachinas as my wife and I once were, doormen who test your motives and seriousness, If you meet muster, you may be rewarded with watermelon slices and even invited to view the goings-on from the roof of one of their adobe houses. Not far from the Hopi mesas, the Canyon de Chelly is a gorgeous detour, and so is an odd, more of less modern copy of both the Hopi buildings and the even older Anasazi cliff dwellings, Paolo Soleri’s strange outbuildings of tomorrow in Cordes Junction (called Arcosanti these days) on I-70, a desolate spot about 70 miles from Phoenix. Soleri was a student of Frank Lloyd Wright’s who was thrown out of the inner circle when he stole a mistress from the master while enrolled in Wright’s school at Taliesin–just outside Phoenix (which is also worth a side trip). In exile, Soleri decided to remake Wright’s modernism in ancient terms, and started the transformation at Cosanti in Paradise Valley on the other side of Phoenix, where he also invented the famous sand-cast bells he’s known for. Both Cosanti and Arcosanti (www.arcosanti.com) are fun, but if you can do only one, choose the second. It’s bigger, more expressive of Soleri’s plans for the future, and a major monument in the history of American crackpot adventures. The crazy structures on the site have been built by amateur volunteers over about 50 years and with, mostly, private funds and the proceeds of the bells and Soleri’s paintings and drawings. As I write this, one of the bells hangs over my desk, the one given to me by the volunteer who cast it during the month I once spent in Acrosanti doing research for a magazine article. If your adventuring allows for conventional museums, you might also want to check out the Heard Museum in Phoenix, a great collection of American Indian stuff.
I look forward to reading about your year,
Jim
PS For another look at Whitman’s cosmic adventuring (albeit one larded with even more philosophy), I suggest my favorite, Crossing Brooklyn Ferry.
Jim, thanks for all the wonderful tips in Arizona! We won’t get there till winter (trying to avoid the desert in the summer – although we had to squeeze in SW Utah parks now because many of them are partially closed and difficult to access in winter). Can’t wait till we do. Santa Fe is one of my very favorite places. Dan and I have fond memories of a trip there pre-kids. We took a cooking class at the Santa Fe Cooking School. Plan to take another one with the kids. Also, love the tips on architecture and the mention of Harvey. Saw an interesting piece not too long ago on him, the SF Rail and the “Harvey Girls” that came out west to staff his hotels. All interesting stuff! Stay tuned….
I’m glad to be of help. Eileen and I have long been attracted to Santa Fe and have fond memories of our first trip many years ago. We were walking about town and passed the Palace of the Governors, where local folks were selling their jewelry. I looked at the stuff on one of the blankets and must have seemed disappointed because she asked, “don’t you see anything you like?” When I said, no, she asked what would please me, I pointed to the silver cuff worn by a guy sitting in a parked pick-up, a provocation that prompted her to command, “Luther, get over here.” She grabbed cuff off her husband’s wrist, and we began bargaining over price,” It remains a prized possession. If you have any enlarged interest in New Mexico on this trip, Eileen and I have been contemplating a junket to the Georgia O’Keefe parts of the state, the stuff that begins in Santa Fe and goes up above Taos, where it encompasses O’Keefee’s three houses in the state. I’ve been reading bios of her lately and found her a fascinating woman.
Jim
Wow, that indeed sounds like an heirloom! I have a few prized jewelry possessions- none of them particularly valuable from a monetary point of view but all of them have a story. Agree on GO, very interesting person. Let me know what you find.