Patriotic Places

"My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth."  -Abraham Lincoln 

Relatively new to this state, it always shocks me when I discover how few of my fellow Californians have really traveled beyond San Diego or San Francisco.  Granted, this state has myriad sleepy beach towns and plenty of wilderness to explore, but the rest of America has so much history, culture and nature to offer us.  

Marion Anderson giving a concert in front of the Lincoln Memorial in 1939

A grand case of Francophilia aside, I believe it is an American obligation to see as much of this great land as we can.  Growing up in Missouri and getting educated in Tennessee and Texas has provided me that opportunity.  I feel immensely fortunate to have spent summers wading in Arkansas creeks, climbing in the caves of Chattanooga and warming my feet on the white sands of the Gulf Coast.