What views do you remember from your life? Do you remember places by the things you saw or the people you met? Does the name of a city make you think of a particular year? I always know how old I was for a particular story by what city I lived in at the time.

What do you take away from a town?

-- Anonymous, July 27, 1999

Answers

Not *everyone* is trying to move to Austin. ;-)

I've lived in San Francisco for 29 years, and the views I remember are the ones I see all the time - the views from my office on the 25th floor, looking west towards the ocean or east at the Bay Bridge, or north towards the wharf, or south over the Mission. The view from my living room of the windmill at the west end of GG Park and the sunsets on the Pacific. The view from my deck out over GG Park and the Sunset District, all the way down to San Bruno Mountain. The views from China Beach and Baker Beach, where I walk a lot. The views from the other side of GG Bridge, looking back on The City from Sausalito or Tiburon. The views from Angel Island in the middle of the Bay. The view from the top of Mt. Tam..... I could go on.

Views in other cities... well, I loved Taos. I loved Amsterdam. Carmel is very nice. Ashland, Oregon was very pretty. Yosemite is gorgeous - I keep a live cam link of it on my portal page and check the shadoes there at least once a day.

I tend to remember places by the things I saw, not the people I met. I moved around a lot as a kid though, and so never felt like I had a "home town" until I moved to SF when I was 18. I can't even remember what most of the places I lived as a kid looked like, or even what the houses we lived in looked like. And, no, I was not a "military brat," but I moved as much as they did, probably more, actually.

Judy

http://www.judywatt.com

-- Anonymous, July 27, 1999

I live about 50 miles East of where I grew up. I grew up in Strasburg, VA which is in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Now I live in Northern Virginia and work in Washington, DC. After my long work day when I get off the subway train and get in my car I'm usually still in my work "zone" but about 4 miles from my house I come up over a hill and in the distance I can see the blue mountains in the distance. Even though I love where I live and have no desire to move back out to the county, that view never fails to make me a little misty eyed and to relax me. I take a deep breath, relax my shoulders for the first time all day and imagine my mom (who's retired) sitting on the back porch with a lemonade or an ice tea, reading her book and watching the sunset. I miss that sunset...can't see it from my house. The view from my mom's porch is 40+ miles down the valley and it is beautiful. Maybe we'll retire out there someday.

-- Anonymous, July 27, 1999

i've moved so much - when i was a kid we moved at least every two years; granted we stayed in the same general area (southern ontario) but it's a huge area geographically, so i was always having to make new friends. from the ages of 4-12, my mom would ship me to Jugoslavia for 3 months; i spent my entire summer either on a beach on the adriatic, or on a small farm close to the mountains. the views i remember... -driving past the roman amphitheatre in pula, as we got closer to the resort we were going to spend most of the summer at - driving down the highway to my grandpa's home (the house he was born in has a sort of farm) we'd go past these fields with cows, and my cousin and i each had "our" field. we'd be all "those are MY cows" and yelling and pointing and shrieking. my poor grandma. - the view of melbourne australia, as you came towards the city the highway curved around so that you were facing it directly and there was grass on either side and the sky was this insane shade of blue and the towers were mainly black glass - the market in melbourne; a huge sort of downtown street market; i remember wanting this ring that had a smokey glass orb held by a clawed hand. i wanted it SOOOOOOOOO bad. but my mom thought it was freakish and wouldn't get it for me. i was too young to have my own money. - when i go "home" to toronto; you can be way out in the suburbs of oakville, and you can see the skyline. the CN tower just pierces the sky and the big doughy-bun of the skydome sits beside it, like a loaf of bread. when i see that skyline... wow. *shivers* i know i'm home. that city is where i grew up and i just love it. i get terribly homesick all the time... - the view of Ontario Place from a paddle-boat on the lake. this huge white fun-park with an IMAX theatre in this huge round bubble. waaaay cool. -there was this one time i was landing in toronto at sunset, and i swear, everything was GOLD! i mean EVERYTHING! the sun was just blazing and every building and every cloud and every object i could see was gilded. it was pretty dazzling. (there's actually this building downtown that has windows covered in gold. unless that's a myth. but i'm about 95% sure it's true. isn't that wierd?) - but i think my idea of "home" is getting confused, because now, the second i see the low-hanging soft grey clouds that cover seattle, i get the same surge of feeling. the space needle doesn't do it for me, but driving down I-5 at around 8pm in the summer with the windows down and seeing the city just sparkling and the boats bobbing on the water; the sun is setting behind the olympic mountains all orange and pink on one side, and on the other side of the highway is the university and the cascade mountains... it is just stunning... *sigh* - the first time i drove over the 520 floating bridge on my way into seattle. there was just lake on either side and you're so close to the homes on the water you can see owners on their docks i'm sure there's more... but that's probably enough for now. and yeah, that thing about remembering how old you were 'cause of the city - i do that too :) as for what i take away... usually small moments. like, for toronto, riding the subway and people watching; drinking beer in a GO station handicapped bathroom stall with 3 of my friends; feeding the buffalo's apples with my mom at the highpark zoo; shopping for shoes on Queen street; eating greek food at the Eaton centre; busking in the subway with a boyfriend...(he played guitar and sang, i looked poor and sad)... the intimate moments in a city are what make it your city, i think.

-- Anonymous, July 27, 1999

i tend to remember a resaturant i ate in, or something that struck me as especially cliche/apparent/whatever your preconceptions were of the place.

i think the best example of this, for me, is new york city. i've been there twice, and twice i've eaten at this place called pasta d'oro, which is a few doors down from the ed sullivan theater. and just walking around times square, with all the lights flashing and the huge billboards and the things you see on tv constantly.. it made me think of just how BIG new york is. everything is familiar because everything is IN new york. it's kind of awesome, really. more people live in that city alone than my home state (oregon).. it boggles the mind. :)

i remember my amusement at seeing smog turn everything in hollywood a revolting shade of gray, including the hollywood sign in the hills.

i remember the first time i went to san francisco and realized just how big the golden gate bridge is. and red. i will forever slap myself for not bringing a notebook, cos i wanted to drink it all in and write it all down. ahhh.

and i always romanticize central oregon because of all the time i've spent there in late augusts past.. watching a thunderstorm out the back porch while hundreds of tiny moths glowed in the light of the lamp..

stuff like that. :)

-- Anonymous, July 28, 1999

I don't like flying. I especially don't like looking out the window when I'm flying. I especially, especially don't like watching the ground fall away (taking off) or growing nearer (landing). These are things I try to ignore by reading or closing my eyes and holding my breath.

But my first view of England -- the captain announced we would be landing soon and I caught a glimpse of GREEN out the window, and practically climbed over my husband to look -- rolling hills, hedgerows, sheep, even some large manor houses ... growing nearer, nearer -- and all I wanted to do was climb through the window and get to it -- NOW --

And next thing I new, we were on the ground, and I had never noticed we landed.

Because of my first view of England.

Pooks

-- Anonymous, July 28, 1999