** This thread discusses the Content article:
America the Beautiful **
Driving through Kansas is…flat. Really flat. The boys and I had just talked about the Great Plains, but I don’t think it actually registered until I called them to look out the front windows. As far as we could see in all directions were plains. We’ve never seen topography like that. We saw a wind farm, with what looked like hundreds of massive windmills. It looked like something from a Star Wars movie. We also saw a few oil derricks – another first for us. Since we were approaching Colorado we got out our geography book to learn a little about the Centennial State and to learn its capital. I have to admit, the “movie” to help us remember the capital of Colorado was pretty lame, but even a sorry story sticks with you. (you’ve decided to paint your Den the Color red, but Oh, you forgot about the fur wallpaper. What a mess. Den+fur = Denver, Color+red+Oh = Colorado) I don’t think the boys will forget. What really got me, though, was the story about how Katherine Lee Bates wrote the words, “Oh beautiful, for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain; for purple mountains’ majesty…” from atop Pike’s Peak. As we made our way to our campground at the base of Pike’s Peak, the big amber fields began cropping up right and left. The song came to life. Big open skies. Lush golden farmland. This really is America the Beautiful.
