We talked about why our parents moved where they did. I talked about the young post-war engineer and his wife moving to the bright future in the California sunshine. She talked about her parents, already in their 50s who got a job offer in the Puget Sound area.
She talked about how her father, a small town pan used to the neat attractive small towns in the midwest, though that small towns in Washington were so appalling. So raw. I thought, yes. Just last summer, driving back from the south side of Mount Rainier, we went through quite a few really ugly small towns. Not organized, no square, no care about the appearance. Definitely backward from other parts of the country.
So true, these towns, though they might clean themselves up for some tourist trade, they haven't been there very long, they're based on agriculture or fishing or lumber. People come and go, not much effort put in civic pride. I realized that I missed the small town pride thing.
Lots of landscapes are indeed raw in Washington State.
Right now the weather is in that miserable dark state. It's not that cold. But generally wet and DARK. Light so suppressed, you almost need your car and house lights on all day. Drizzly cold rain. I know, we're near the solstice but... I have some friend who're buying a house in Carlsbad CA and I'm thinking of the light and warmth and my commitment to Washington State wanes.
I went to the web looking for pictures of Washington small towns. This nice collage of Harrington, from a blog homeiswheremystorybegins Nice job. used without permission. Harrington is in eastern Washington north of Ritzfville. Wheat country. And a picture from Raymond WA, near the coast. Logging in the past.
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