hawaii

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Ten of the Nicest Small Cities in America


I have not been to every small city in America nor am I any sort of a travel guru.  However, I have been to a lot of small cities having been in 44 of our 5o states.  The following is an entirely subject view of what I believe to  be 10 American cities that should be on anyone’s list of must see destinations.  I do not  believe that any of these cities exceeds a million people in population.  Some, however, do exist in extended areas of over one million.  Excepting the first entry, they are in no particular order.

1.  Savannah Georgia — I consider Savannah to be the nicest small city in all of America.  When you drive into Savannah you cannot help but notice the Spanish moss hanging from the trees.  Although this is not unique to Savannah, when coupled with the beautiful old homes and parks of the city, it may be singular in that respect.  The downtown portion of Savannah can be walked, entirely, in about 15 minutes.  It is only about two blocks wide by 8 or 9 long, and sits next to its large port facility.  Just outside of the commercial portion of Savannah sits most of its stately homes which have frequently shown up in Hollywood movies, “Forest Gump” and “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” were each shot there.  Renown for its friendliness, Savannah is a delight to all who visit there.  If there is not other small city in America that you make a must see, make this the one you do see.

2.  Portland Oregon — Portland sits on the Columbia River when it makes a sharp turn northward on its journey to the sea.  It is a very modern and very clean city that is steeped in the logging history of the northwest.  You drive 5 minutes from downtown Portland in any direction and find yourself in the gorgeous Oregon countryside.

3.  Oklahoma City Oklahoma — Oklahoma City is a sprawling small city.  If for no other reason you have to visit OKC for the food.  There are many many restaurants that serve either Mexican food or steaks that would put to shame similar restaurants in just about any other city in America.  It is also the home to the cowboy museum, a place where the old west is put on display and its history explained.  If you happen to go there during the summer, OKC has its own minor league baseball team which plays in a beautiful little stadium referred to as “the Brickyard.”

4.  Honolulu Hawai’i — This seems like a no-brainer right?  Waikiki is incomparable to its beauty and shops.  Waikiki boasts a large number of high-end stores that those of us of modest means can peer into.  But it is also rich in cultural history.  The Queen Iolani Palace, the cultural center, and even the pineapple field tours speak to its rich and long history.  Of course, there is also the Pearl Harbor memorial, an emotionally moving place to reflect on the tragedy of World War 2 as you stand a few feet above the sunken hulk of the USS Arizona.

5.  Sacramento California — Sacramento, like Oklahoma City, is a sprawling city that sits at the confluence of the American and Sacramento Rivers.  While the city itself is slightly over 100 square miles in size, the downtown portion is just a little over one square mile.  The capitol building and surrounding grounds may be the most beautiful of any of the 50 states.  The is also a portion, just a short distance from downtown, know as “old town.”  Old Town sits on the bank of the Sacramento River and is the oldest portion of Sacramento.  The building of this area are maintained to reflect an old west flavor.  Also here is the California Railroad Museum.

6.  Nashville Tennessee —  This, like Honolulu, seems like a no-brainer.  How can anyone not like the home of the Grand Old Opry.  Though rich in country music history, the city also boasts a lively blues music venue which has to be enjoyed.  But Nashville is more than just that offering a good selection of restaurants that serve a variety of southern cuisine, ribs, catfish, and grits have got to be tried here.

7.  St. Augustine Florida — St. Augustine is the oldest city in the United States.  It Spanish heritage can still be found in its architecture and food.  It also has long stretches of beautiful beaches that are not congested with the crowds of Floridas more southern cities, and yet rival them in beauty.

8.  Santa Fe New Mexico — Santa Fe is a beautiful combination of Mexican adobe architecture and native American culture.  The city sits in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains amidst the scrub pine.  It is a quaint small city of just under 70,000 people where you can lose yourself in its tranquility and beauty.

9.  Salt Lake City Utah — Salt Lake City sits snugly between the towering Rocky Mountains to the east and the Great Salt Lake to the west.  Founded by the Mormons in the 19th Century, located in its northern portion is the huge Mormon Temple, a beautiful cathedral-like structure that is central to the religion.  During the late spring the city has a stunning vista of the still snow-capped Rockies.

10.  Burlington Vermont — The largest city in Vermont at about 43,000 people, Burlington sits on the shores of the gorgeous Lake Champlain.  The city is the center of commerce for what is called Vermont’s “Northern Kingdom.”  Its downtown area has a large collection of quaint shops and small comfortable restaurants.  The lakeside portion of the city boasts a nice combination of boat rentals and tour boats.

I also want to offer ten other cities, without comment, that I consider worthy of visiting.  1.  Portland Maine, 2. Louisville Kentucky, 3. Charleston South Carolina, 4. Bar Harbor Maine, 5. Gettysburg Pennsylvania, 6. Laramie Wyoming, 7. Richmond Virginia, 8. Napa California, 9. Lake Tahoe Nevada, 10. Provincetown Massachusetts.

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Problems With Living in Paradise


I am certain some of you are saying, “how can living in paradise be a problem?”  That is a most reasonable question, however it depends upon your definition of paradise.  Milton spoke of “Paradise Lost” but his was of a religious philosophical gist.  F. Scott Fitzgerald’s first novel was “This Side of Paradise” but his paradise was a Fitzgerald commentary on wealth and society in the early 1920s.  Most people think of paradise as being a tropical resort where it is sunny and 80 all day.

One such “paradise” is, of course, Hawaii.  I lived in Hawaii from 1978 – 1979.  The day I arrived in Hawaii I remember the scent of gardenia’s filling the air.  I had had no previous experience which said to me I was in a tropical paradise to be sure.  I was there to join the 25th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army, my last stop in my army career.  I was definitely not there for a vacation but I was there for an extended period which allowed me to gain a good feel for living there.

If there was something to be seen on Oahu, I saw it.  I went everywhere.  I also enjoyed days on end at Waikiki, sunning myself to a darkness I have had neither both nor since.  I have always loved the beach and took full advantage of the beaches during my time there.  There are a lot more beaches in Hawaii than Waikiki and I went to many of them.  I did have one mishap however.  I went to the beach at Makaha one day and there was a particularly severe undertow that day.  The beach did not, and still does not, have a life guard or anyone who monitor’s the conditions there.  You find out what is going on by going into the water.  I went into the water and was only a few feet out before I found just how bad the undertow was.  I could not have been more than 15 feet from shore but it took all my strength to return to shore.

I also had the good fortune to visit the “Big Island” of Hawaii while I was there.  This island surprises the uninformed.  It literally has three different climates on this one island.  The volcanoes, Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea each rise close to 14,000 feet above sea level.  If you leave Kona and head up the mountains you go from the tropics to the temperate climate to a cold climate en route.  If you visit the mountains during the winter season you will actually find them snow-covered.  Mona Loa has a ski tow to its peak.  And of course being there you get to see one of the world’s most active volcanos, Kilauea.

Those are many, but not all, of Hawaii’s wonderful parts.  But I am from a place that is over 5000 miles removed from Hawaii and has lots of cold weather and only about 2 months of hot weather.  Two years in Hawaii and I was ready to get back to the “mainland.”  I had, what is euphemistically called over there, “rock fever.”  The island of Oahu, like any island is limited in how far you can go north to south and east to west.  Oahu is 44 miles long and 30 miles wide at its extremes.  LA County is 4083 square miles and Oahu is 1320 square miles, or about 1/3 the size of LA County.  For those of us who are used to being able to go more than 40 miles in any one direction, Hawaii leaves us a bit wanting.

Honolulu is a wonderful city.  There is much to do there, of course.  But Honolulu is a city of 905,000 inhabitants.  Boston, where I am from, has over 2.5 million in its metro area.  But even more, it offers more educational institutions, more libraries, more museums, among many other things.

What I am getting at is, Boston is my paradise.  I was born here, grew up here, as did my parents and many generations of my family before.  This is home and I love it, even if I do want to trade in some of its winter weather for some of Hawaii’s winter weather.  I think for most of us, paradise is what we call home, where we have our loved ones, where we are most comfortable.  Paradise is truly a state of mind and not a place.  I enjoy paradise whenever I see my daughters, or enjoy a day out with my grandson, or hold my granddaughter.  Paradise is the company of my friends.  Paradise is being able to put a smile on someone’s face.

Let me assure you, Hawaii is a paradise in its own rite.  It is a paradise you can visit but not live in for most of us.  But even being in Hawaii and calling it paradise is just a momentary reflection on what is going on around us and how we feel.  Trust me, I have had many a good meal with good friends or family, and thought I was in paradise.