Wrap-up observations

So, while I'm not as tired as I was the last couple of days, I'm still not fully back to life and my thoughts may come out a little rambling. They're actually almost always like that in my head; when I'm rested, I can put a filter on them a lot easier than when I'm underslept (and I know that's not a real word, but sometimes you just find a mishmash term that works perfectly to describe something and that's one for me.)

Speaking of being tired, I hadn't realised how tired I was until my flight from Charlotte to Buffalo. The plane I was on taxied to the bowels of the tarmac and had three or four planes in front of us before we could take off. Resting my chin on my fist, I stared out the window until I reached that zone where life slows until it becomes a tableau and waited for the most exciting part- rumbling down before lifting up into the air. Well, I zoned out so much that the next time I snapped back to life I remember thinking, gosh, we've been waiting an awfully long time for these other airplanes to take off. And then I peeked out the window and saw that the ground was really far away, and the time on my watch indicated almost an hour had passed. I'd fallen asleep throughout all of that! Just to put things in perspective a bit, I'm not at all the kind of person who falls asleep on moving vehicles; K can fall asleep at the drop of a hat, and so often that we often forget she's with us. That's not me, but here I was, dead to the world and so out of it I thought we were still on the runway. I then proceeded to fall asleep on the bus back to the city for a bit, too. I needed it, I guess, but I just get so cold at those points. I'd worn ankle socks throughout the trip and when my body temperature dipped during slumber, the chilliness promptly woke me again- there seemed to be no respite anywhere.

Some recaps of what I'd observed:

Charlotteans are some of the loveliest, friendliest, best-accented people I've met. And while they might be conservative on social issues, they take incredible pride in diversifying their city economically (the Bank of America's headquarters are in the city, as well as the headquarters of Wells Fargo's east coast operations) and aesthetically which makes visiting their city an incredible pleasure for the sense. I, with almost no sense of smell, was taken aback by how aromatic the city was with cherry blossoms, pansies, tulips and so much more. Even in the 'developing areas' of the city, foliage was in abundance.

Portland places a great emphasis on not-cars with bike lanes everywhere, and light rail that stretches from the equivalent of the 427 in Etobicoke/Mississauga to Port Union Road in Scarborough/Pickering (about 47, 48km)- travelling this distance will take about 1.5h on public transit and, ever since Portland got rid of zone fares last year, only costs $2.50, or $5 for a day pass. I was also surprised by the amount of cyclists I saw wearing helmets and fluorescent vests to increase their visibility and safety.

Seattle has streets that, no matter which direction you walk, always seem to go uphill. I like that, though, partly because it reminded me of Edinburgh and partly because as out of shape I am, I still passed everyone :) It was a little windy and rainy for me, but I think I was still used to the weather in Charlotte being so warm and pleasant. I only wish that I could have spent more than 24h in the city and explored more areas.

The west coast, as a whole, just didn't feature news from the east coast. I don't think it's that they don't care what's going on with their eastern brethren, but just that it doesn't figure into their radar as much as their own affairs. The entire time I was there, things like hockey, the Boston Bombing, and other news were things that I had to actively seek out instead of it being in my face all the time.

And the reputation that West Coasters have for being laid-back? I suppose it was there, or maybe it was because I didn't spend long enough there, but I didn't really see it.

Oh, and the public transport in every city blows Toronto out of the water. Not only do they offer more to less citizens in their respective populations, but it's cheaper, too. For a city of 5 million, Toronto has a long way to go to reach up to other cities.