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The Native Tourist
reformed/biblical observations on Christianity and culture

Friday, April 01, 2005
Trip Thoughts - Part I: The Land
I am very resonsive to landscapes. Driving is such a wonderful opportunity to enjoy God's creation and man's response to it. My drive across the county gave me ample opportunities to take in the vast land.

Regrettably, it was dark when I drove through western Nebraska and much of central southern Wyoming (though I could see the ghosts of land's contours in the snowfields glowing in the muted moonlight.)

The hightlights:

1. The stretch of I-84 in Utah, from where it branches off of I-80 to Ogden, and then from where it branches off of I-15 to the Idaho border. Some of the most beautiful mountain scenery I have seen in some time. Some areas were open and rolling grasslands with mountains in the distance. Amazing colors.

2. Shenandoah Valley of Virginia (I-81 - no surpise here.) We stayed over night with a friend from our Brooklyn days who had just bought a farm north of Roanoke with a million dollar view. The area had many old antebellum farm houses too and a classic old lutheran church. What surprised my is how much this area looks like the Willamette Valley and Coast Range here in Oregon.

3. The open, BIG hills on I-84 in eastern Oregon just west of Ontario. Scenic and spectacular.

BTW, the views from Lookout Mountain in TN/GA were somewhat obscured because of the weather but were still impressive.

Sorry no pictures. (I did take pictures in VA. I'll see how they turn out.)