People

I was a little nervous about traveling in big cities – what if we got lost and found ourselves in the “wrong part of town”?  Turns out my concerns were unfounded, even when we did, inevitably, find ourselves lost in the wrong part of town.

Locals and other tourists alike were friendly, helping out when we were “misplaced”, looking for an address, or having other minor problems.  We could “feel” the friendliness of the SE, with their warm smiles, friendly “hi-y’all”, (pronounced as one, two syllable word), and asking if we needed help before we even inquired.  We were even surprised by New Yorker’s relatively frequent eye contact, often accompanied by a greeting, with their strong accent divulging their local residency.  DC however - not so much.  We nominate it as the unfriendliest town we visited.

As we travel we are continually impressed with the cultural diversity, which makes up the people of this country.  We visited a copper mine where miners spoke over 30 different languages.  We walked in big east-coast cities and can’t even begin to name the languages we heard.  We learned that Cajun’s spoke French in public schools until a 1921 revision in Louisiana’s State Constitution required speaking English.  We visited many battlefields where people of varied backgrounds and ethnicities fought on both sides and against each other.  All of them Americans.  

Travelling through 23 states we got a pretty good sample of people across the country. Certainly there were a few bad grapes but mostly the bunch was pretty good. It made us optimistic for the future, although some states really need better driver’s education.