Cities

          I like to travel. Going out and exploring novel places is exciting to me. I've been able to travel to some pretty cool places within the past year and I have gathered some experiences that I cherish.
          Last summer my mom and I took a large road trip as part of a graduation celebration. We started in Atlanta and then drove down to St. Augustine, FL to visit family down there. We then made our way up the east coast with a plan to stop at anything that looked interesting with only a couple cities as destination points. We stopped in Savannah, Charleston, Beaumont, Virginia Beach, Atlantic City, New York City, Portland, Dorset, Buffalo, Charlottesville, Charlotte, and then back to Atlanta. I've also had a couple company trips that have taken me to places like Burnside, KY, Brampton, Ontario, San Francisco, Chicago, Durham, NC, and soon to Rogers, AR. I've also visited my friend up in Washington DC. My family is split between Rome, GA, Atlanta, and Phoenix, AZ. So I get around the country.

          I have fallen in love with some cities. Others I tolerate. I am terrified of small towns with a single main street (unless I see the Wal-Mart first for some reason). Each city though has its own persona, its own flavor, its own tastes, its own appearance. I am biased by my own personal tastes and what I did in each city. But I'd like to share my impressions anyways.
          Atlanta feels like a giant, overgrown suburb to me. It's never quite held that big city image that I crave as an urbanite. The closest it gets is when it's been raining and I am driving into the cit, the lights are shiny and reflective and bright. To me, Atlanta is made up of parts of three. There are three points to the city: Buckhead/Lenox, Midtown, and Downtown. They stand out like three notes that are stronger than the rest of the area. But they are very disjointed from each other. The lack of public transportation adds to that. One has to drive everywhere. Which is convenient if you enjoy driving a car and most of Atlanta respects that and will provide parking (except Georgia Tech who apparently has a grudge against parking lots). Another set of three is how the city is made. I would separate the city into Green, Aluminium and Glass, and then the Brick and Steel of old. Atlanta is a very green city, rich in trees and parks with neighborhoods and even farm areas close by. Atlanta is cloaked in Green. And then the Aluminum and Glass is represented by the new modern buildings that work to over shadow the old parts of Atlanta. It's all shiny and new and impressive. But it doesn't have the substance that I've seen in other cities. Which brings us to the Brick and Steel. It's the old building and history of Atlanta. There are still bits that hold strong because Atlanta does have good history, but its inhabitants aren't keeping care of it, the steel rusts and the brick is haggard and looks old. People wise there are three types of people, the nice southerners, the scary city people, and the STUPID TRAFFIC. The scary people you can avoid. The southerners are nice as long as you don't tick them off and make up the majority of the people you will interact with. The traffic though... ugh. It's aggressive, most of them must have below average IQ, and dangerous because they will blatantly disregard all societal and legal rules when it comes to driving on roads. So in summary, Atlanta is fine to live in but I want a real city.
          St. Augustine is my happy place. It was the number one summer vacation spot. I love it dearly. It's a fairly typical Florida destination but without being too cheesy. There are a lot of good beaches and downtown is awesome. It carries and portrays its history well. There are a lot of tourist attractions but to me, they are worth it. I think I've been to most of them except the Fountain of Youth. Somehow I keep missing that one. But my favorite has to be St. George Street. It's an area that is lined with local shops that range from clothing to food to jewelry and knicknacks to swords. I really like the sword shop. As I mentioned before, I also have family down there. They are fun to visit and throw some good oyster roasts and clam bakes. For a relaxing beach vacation, St. Augustine is my go-to place.
          Charleston is where one of my best friends live. When my mom and I visited, we took one day to explore ourselves and then I went out with my friend to let him give me a local view. It's a cute town. It's history remains with it in a way that connects to the present seamlessly. It's a slow gentle city. The harbor was very relaxing and the houses both gorgeous and quaint. The market was fun and nice to explore (got my recent purse there and a nice necklace). The food was amazing. My mom and I also explored one of the mansions in the area (and fought off some wildlife, thanks Mom). Overall its just a nice, sweet area. Very southern. I wouldn't actually mind living there when I am older.
          Atlantic City was not a great experience and I blame that mostly on the rain. Driving in a torrential downpour in unfamiliar territory spikes stress up to uncomfortable regions but hey, I did get a chunk of experience points for it. My impression of the place was that it was dirty and kitsch. Everything was overdone hotels and casinos. Unfortunately casinos aren't enjoyable for me because I am smart enough to know the odds but not smart enough to beat them. And my luck stinks. So between the weather and the lack of interest in the attractions there, I don't ever need to return to this city ever again.
          New York City. Sigh. This was an incredible day even if it was raining. My mom and I met up with one of my friends who lives nearby and served as a fantastic guide to both the train/subway system and to the attractions. We were only there for a short amount of time but I want to go back so badly. The tall buildings that line the streets, the mix of materials and styles, the volume of the people, it was amazing. It was a whirlwind of life and excitment and I'm pretty sure I had a grin on my face the entire time. This was the city, the urban environment that I crave and that I want from Atlanta. The traffic was a little mad and I am glad we didn't actually attempt to travel through the city (I still ended up driving through Brooklyn on 95). I want to go back. I want to spend like a week there exploring every aspect and angle of it. Sigh, there go my vacation days.
          San Francisco was a fun trip. I got to do a lot even in a short amount of time between hanging out with coworkers and visiting my big sister. The transportation system was awesome between the BART and the trolleys. Traffic didn't seem that bad (but I also wasn't in the driver's seat). The colors and layers to San Francisco is what strikes me about the city. A lot of the buildings are painted in pastels or muted brights and all pressed together along the rolling streets. And the wires, strung out across the sky above the streets. There wasn't as much modern architecture like I see in Atlanta or in other cities but it's also not the brick and steel of old cities either. It has a style of its own that feels soft like literal pastels. It feels like the fog of the bay has softened San Francisco's edges down. But again, the people fill up the volume, fill up the empty spaces with bodies and noise. That's definitely an urban aspect that Atlanta doesn't have. And I love it. I would San Fran again in a heartbeat.
          Phoenix is tricky because I haven't spent much time downtown. That's not where I find entertainment. Usually when I go out there, it's that perfect spring weather. A combination of soft breeze and warm sunshine when everything is still green after cool winter and before scorching summer. Usually my dad takes me around and does cool stuff with me like hiking, spring training game, museum or show, scenic drive, and good food. To me Phoenix is relaxing, a vacation destination. I consider the whole valley to be Phoenix, but you only get a sense of that when you fly in at night and see the entire grid lit up from mountain range to mountain range. I have good memories of Phoenix but it's hard to pinpoint what Phoenix is besides large, where the errands take an hour to two to get to. But the presence of family definitely gives it a sensation of being home.
          Chicago. Where do I even start. I mean, I fell in love with a city. I fell hard and fast. (We will see if I still feel the same in winter but I'm ignoring that now.) The thing about Chicago is that it is a city. It is urban to it's core. It's what I think of when I think of city. Instead of being a solitary note, a clump of skyscrapers against the surrounding area like Atlanta is, Chicago raises itself as a crescendo up to the downtown area. It builds up slowly and surely until you are just in awe over the way the city reaches into the sky, towering above you. The architecture there is a perfect blend of styles. You don't have a separation between modern and classic. There is no shadowing of one over the other. They work together with the old Steel and Brick being the foundation of the city and the modern Aluminium and Glass filling in the gaps and making the city feel cohesive. There so also the sense that Chicago wears its age well. There are signs of old construction, of the raw steel and brick that have been worn down over the years but worn in a way that adds to the character of the city. I didn't get to interact too much with people as I spent the majority of my time driving around but those I did speak with were nice. No complaints there. And I actually liked the traffic there. It was aggressive like Atlanta's but they are aggressive within the rules. You know what everyone is going to do and you can anticipate it (or at least I can). So it was actually really nice to drive around on the gridded, straight streets. My only issue is that Chicago doesn't like left turns. I'm pretty sure that there are more intersections with a No Left Turn sign then there are left turns allowed. My favorite part though has to be Lake Shore Drive. What a perfect stretch of road. It has minimal stop lights and stop signs so smooth traffic for the majority of it, it has beautiful lake and parks on one side and awesome cityscape on the other. I have a feeling I will be driving along that a lot while I live there. It is my favorite road out of all of America so far and I have driven a lot of America.
          Well there are a handful of city descriptions from my perspective. I have a couple of them personified in my head (Atl, San Fran, and Chicago) and I will work on drawing them out and getting them posted up here.