America is a land of immeasurable beauty and it is my hope that you will have many opportunities to behold and experience its majesty. With that said I also understand that not everyone has the ability or wherewithal to travel or visit in person much of the spectacle that is America. While not the same as being there in person, there is a near infinite hard-copy and electronic library at your disposal. Take advantage of what has been captured for you by others. Your amazement, delight and pride will have no limits!
- Parks: The National Park System in America encompasses 421 parks spanning across all 50 states and extending into the territories. These parks preserve millions of acres for all to enjoy and include seashores, deserts, mountains, plains, polar regions, caves, rivers and lakes, the list goes on. Similarly the wildlife, plant life, geography, geological formations, forests, etc. seem to go on forever. There is truly something of beauty for everyone in our glorious National Parks. A note about state parks is also in order. There are more than 6600 state parks in the United States with some as large and/or as spectacular as our National Parks. These too should not be missed if you are seeking nature and beauty in our country that is dressed in its Sunday Best. But the lesser state parks should not be spurned, because many may possess an unknown gem that your mind and heart may be seeking.
- Mountains: Everyone in some manner is awed by the vastness and enormity of a mountain or range of mountains. You cannot escape the surreal feeling you get, the sense of being so small as to be insignificant, or the perception of being able to see forever from a prominent overlook. Every mountain and every range of mountains is unique. Truly incredible in every way! The United states is home to three major mountain ranges; the Appalachians, Rockies and the Sierra Nevada. And, of course, contained within these ranges are the Catskills, the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Great Smokies, the Bighorns, the Beartooth Mountains, the Elkhorns, the Tetons, the Wasatch Range, and dozens of others. Then beyond the three major ranges are others familiar to most of us such as the Cascades, the Klamath Mountains, the Olympic Mountains, The Black Hills, Peninsula Ranges, the list goes on. Lastly, Alaska has many ranges including the Brooks Range, Alaska Range, Saint Elias Mountains, and the Seward Peninsula Ranges. So numerous are the mountains in Alaska one almost gets the impression that there is nowhere in Alaska you can go without being in site of a snow-capped peak or range. It exceeds the imagination! I probably would also be remiss if I didn’t mention Hawaii. What more can be said but that Hawaii is mountains. Go to the mountains, any mountains. They will take your breath away and leave you with a picture in your mind that will never fade away.
- Deserts: Deserts are almost the antithesis of mountains. Not in terms of altitude (deserts are found at may elevations), but in terms of their visual effect. A desert vista will often have mountains far off in the distance, but between you and the mountains lie miles and miles of cacti, sagebrush, shallow draws and canyons, occasional green splotches, painted terrain, and ribbons of green where rivers flow. During the day the relentless sun hangs in a cloudless sea of blue and at night the sky is an infinite array of twinkling diamonds on a black background. Reach out and you can literally touch them as they surround and engulf you. This is probably as close as anyone can get to seeing infinity. If it’s deserts you seek, the southwestern United states is your playpen. In the US there are four major deserts: Great Basin, Mohave. Chihuahuan, and Sonoran. Each of course has its own unique features including vegetation and wildlife. We think of deserts as being extremely dry, which is true for all, but we also think of them as ovens in terms of temperatures. Yes, they are extremely hot in the summer, but in fact, three of the four deserts in the United States (all but the Sonoran) have cold winters. It is not out of the ordinary to see a light covering of snow in some areas during the winter months. The colder temperatures are generally dictated by two factors: latitude and altitude. In fact the Great Basin Desert extends as far north as Oregon and Idaho and some desert areas will rise generally to altitudes of 3000 to 6000 feet. On the other end of the spectrum, some desert areas are extremely low in elevation. How could one talk desert elevations without mentioning Death Valley which is 280 feet below sea level. As is true for mountains, deserts too are as diverse as the 500,000+ square miles they occupy.
- Plains and Grasslands: Generally the midsection of the Lower 48 states, west of the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains, is plains and grasslands. You say boring, I say no way! Have you ever imagined what it would be like leaving Independence Missouri in a covered wagon heading to California or Oregon. Your first two months of the trip would be crossing the Great Plains. Put yourself in the settings for Little House on the Prairie, Dances with Wolves, or Badlands. Or imagine experiencing the Old West from the perspective of Billy the Kid, Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley, Jesse James, or Calamity Jane. The Great Plains too is an area of fertile soils and is often referred to as the nation’s breadbasket. Never ending seas of golden wheat or perfect rows of corn as far as the eye can see attire this wide expanse of flatlands and rolling hills with vast spiderwebs of streams and rivers. With regard to history and sites to see and visit in this region, the 1800s and early 1900s belong to the Great Plains. Much of it tethered to the wagon trains, gunslinging at the Okay Corral, or staking out a piece of land and clearing it for a homestead. There are also places to visit in this region that depict events and campaigns in America’s past that are not worthy of celebration, but our history nonetheless. This includes the horrific treatment of Native American peoples in this area, the decimation of the American bison, and the days of the Dust Bowl. Battlefields, monuments, parks, and museum abound that tell both sides of this American story.
- Seashores: The United States has a total coastline (the general outline of land along our bordering seas or oceans) exceeding 12,000 miles. But if you were to measure all the “nooks and crannies” or shoreline (which includes offshore islands, sounds, bays, rivers and creeks to the extent of experiencing tidal waters, and the Great Lakes) the total exceeds 95,000 miles. A staggering number! At first blush we think in terms of our interactions with large bodies of water from a recreational standpoint (e.g., swimming, fishing, boating, sailing), but there is much more. The oceans bordering our country affect other things as well such as our climate and weather, our commerce and trade, our food supplies, our international relations and interests, and even our national security. Similar to national parks the United States has ten protected areas designated as national seashores and three areas known as national lakeshores (all three on the Great Lakes). All of these are considered coastal areas of natural and recreational significance. Again, I hope you will have the wherewithal to travel to some of these amazingly beautiful places in our country. Beyond just the beauty and the splendor, there is also something special about strolling a boardwalk, visiting a quaint fishing village, or quite simply experiencing the smells and sounds of the sea. Enchanting!
- Rivers: There are over 3.5 million miles of rivers in the United States. Of course that includes streams that might be described as mere trickles all the way up to major rivers such as the Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Yukon, Rio Grande, St Lawrence, Columbia and Colorado. Of course each river has its own identity and unique features. Nothing like the beauty or treachery of the Colorado as it flows through the Grand Canyon, the unpredictable spring breakup of the Yukon in Alaska; the New York skyline or iconic national symbols along the Hudson; or the Level 5 white water on the Snake. Then there’s the annual salmon run on the Columbia; the continuous flow of barges on the Ohio and Mississippi; or the waterfalls on the Niagara or Yellowstone. The sheer beauty, recreational opportunities, and commerce provided by our river systems are almost limitless. Our rivers also have major historical and cultural significance and define unique lifestyles. Mark Twain’s colorful portrayals of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn are legendary and a visit to places like Hannibal, Missouri can bring some of their adventures to life. Then there’s the travails of Louis and Clark traveling all the way up the Missouri to its headwaters while interacting with numerous Native American tribes along the way; crossing the Continental Divide; and eventually arriving at the Pacific Ocean via the Clearwater, Snake and Columbia Rivers. And who can resist the intrigue of the Alaska goldrush as hopeful prospectors traveled the treacherous Yukon River to reach the many tributaries and stream where they hoped to strike it rich.
The types of features, that I’ve tried to summarize above, are only a small part of the great mosaic that we call home. There is so much more to see ranging from the Everglades of Florida; to the bayous of Louisiana; to the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior; to Mount Rushmore in South Dakota; to the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico; to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco; to the Puget Sound in Washington state; or to Denali in Alaska. I hope someday you will be able to marvel at the majesty. You will experience love at first sight!