Locator: 48787WORDASSOCIATION.
A reader's comments led to me writing this blog. In the note, the reader suggested where In-n-Out's California headquarters will ultimately be sited.
When I retired from the military eighteen years ago, my wife and I had planned to move every two years, living in efficiency apartments and really getting to know each city / region / state in the union. We didn't quite do that -- every two years -- but we came incredibly close. Since retirement we have spent extensive time in:
- New Hampshire
- South Carolina
- Boston
- Los Angeles, specifically along the coast
- Portland, OR
- Flathead Lake, Montana
- south Texas (San Antonio)
- north Texas (DFW)
It got me to thinking. What do I think of when I think of the following places in the United States that I might live. Again, this is a "word association" exercise, what I think of when I think of these locations, not what makes me like or dislike these particular locations.
California: outdoor sports; hiking; mountains; oceans; Hollywood; Disneyland; San Francisco; the wharf, beautiful people; rich people; shallow people, South Pasadena, Colorado Blvd.
- northern California: everything southern California is not
- southern California: everything northern California is not
Atlanta, Georgia: traffic. A distant second -- the airport to get me to Europe.
Boston: liberal college students; liberal professors; schools of business; Harvard, MIT, the Red Sox, a really, really good subway system.
NYC: liberal, human energy; busy; busy; busy; Wall Street; financial center of the world; subway system sucks; no POVs; five boroughs.
Florida: gentrified; rich, old people living off capital gains and dividends; the opposite of the beautiful people in California; hurricanes; shallow people.
Northern tier:
- rust belt: western Pennsylvania to Ohio.
- fly-over: Indiana to eastern Montana.
- Chicago: connecting flights
- southwestern North Dakota: Teddy Roosevelt
- northwestern North Dakota: oil, Phil Jackson, Katie Ledecky
- western Montana: eastern paradise. No airports, once you get there, no reason to leave.
- northern Idaho: western paradise. No airports, once you get there, no reason to leave.
- Washington State, Oregon:
DFW: not Dallas, not Fort Worth, but DFW.
This is the only metropolitan area in the United States of which I am aware that is defined by not one, but two airports: DFW and LUV (Dallas Love Field). Just as "Frankfurt, Germany" was defined by its airport when we were stationed overseas. Frankfurt, Germany, was a lot of things, but for me, it was the airport. Likewise, DFW is "my life" now, but the first word that comes to my mind when I hear DFW is the airport. And yet, DFW is a geo-political unit in north Texas.
So, what's the first thing I think of, after airports when I think of Dallas, Ft Worth, or DFW?
Amazon fulfillment centers.
