Week 6 - Day 37: 29th Day of Dallas County Shelter in Place

WARNING: This is a bit of a free-form ramble on travel, maps, and favorites

What is your favorite "green space" you have ever visited in the continental United States?  We have a vast and wondrous nation... but many people never leave the state that they were born in. I have had the good fortune to travel for myself and travel for my job.  During these travels I have seen all 50 states now.  I am moving on to checking off the National Parks.  That is going a bit slow!!

I do love to travel.  And I love maps.  (I have a friend in Arizona that loves maps even more than I love maps.)  When I was little, we went someplace every few years.  We also went to our grandparents house in Arkansas.  We never lived in Arkansas so that was always a major trip.  

I loved to hold the map book as we traveled and trace our route as we traveled through the states.  I would study it at length (because what else did I have to do - kind of like now!) and learned to understand how exits were marked.  I learned that there were different symbols for rest stops.  I learned to look for things coming up like parks and lakes and bridges. I was never more excited than when my Uncle Raymond, who worked for State Farm, gave me my OWN State Farm map book.  Then I did not have to share when we were on trips, primarily with my mother - as she loves maps too.

Not only could I trace the places we were going, but I could figure out distances to places I wanted to go.  For me, it was seriously entertaining while stuck in the car.  Little did I know what a great skill it would be to have as an adult to be able to navigate via a map.

Now we have cell phones - we punch in where we are going and it tells us every little turn.  Not nearly as much fun, and you do not learn much.  When planning a trip via a map, you can see places you may want to stop that are not too far off your chosen path.  You can also see "other paths" you may want to take that while extending your time, allow you to perhaps have a better view, or explore more of the world if you are not in a hurry.

If you have kids right now, and you have access to a Road Atlas type map, planning your first trip when this is over could be fun... They could trace the route onto paper and then color and draw things they might see along the way.  Lots of cool things to learn with maps.

So my favorite "green space" in the US also has alot of blue.  It is Lake Tahoe, NV.  I am not quite sure why this space speaks to me so.  I think it is the rising up of the mountains right next to the deep  blue of the water that is so vast and so deep.  This lake has been protected for years, so it is amazing and clear and beautiful - like the lakes you see in Northern Michigan and Minnesota.  I love every season there - and they have all four.  It is vastly different for each of them.  It is a place I return time and again.

I am still exploring though, and I may find a new favorite one of these days... But I would love to hear what yours are!