all your entries to "common misconceptions about your state" brought back so many memories.
We moved to Santa Barbara in 1984 for a two year postdoc stay of DH at the University. Next to his salary we had a scholarship from the swiss national found and thought we were rich. Arrived at Kennedy airport with two toddlers and about $2000 in cash - but not one single quarter for a trolley and had to find out that you need a taxi to change gates.

The first week we stayed at his professors house and had to get everything from a house, car to tablespoons. Thats when we found out that we would barely make it with our money and that you are not a human being without a state driverslicence.
The professors wife showed me around and my eyes almost popped out by the size of everything: the suppermarkets, the steaks and that you can buy all kind of pills without prescription. She pointed me towards the contraceptivs, my english wasent very good back then and I just figured after a closer look. When I told her that I am four month pregnant with our third baby she almost fell backwards. We had to learn several times that middleclass californians dont have more than one or two children and double income to pay for college later.

We got introduced to yardsales. What a great thing and the people finding out the we were swiss and in need of everything trew in some extras and we were settled within days.
The neighbours were very friendly and suportive and there was a lot of social life going on in the parks.

When I went into labour a neighbour took care of the two bigger ones and gave my son one of his biggest disappointments of his young life. Asked whether he would like hamburger or hotdog for lunch he voted for hotdog and was quite disappointed that his meal did not look like a puppy at all.
During those two years we spend our weekends and holidays up and down the state. Loved the mountains and the whole coastline. From the wild animal park in San Diego, of course disneyland I remember Carmel and San Francisco the most.

And of course the camping at lake casitas with a neighbour and her two little girls. Our hubbies "parked" as up there and visited for the weekend. Every night after bringing the children to bed we sat by the fire with a glas of wine and she was teaching me all the words you dont find in the dictionairy......

After he finished his job we bought a RV and went on a seven month trip trough your country, it was the best time of our life! There was a double bed on top of the driverscabine and DH constructed a "fence" so our children would not fall down. They slept there like a bunch of puppies. After puting them to bed we would mostly drive for another two hours or so.
From Arizona to Oregon and Washington up to Vancouver, then across Canada (boah....never ending space) at Niagara falls back to the states down to Florida and then along the coast of the gulf of mexico to baha california and finally across the middle of the country back to new york were we borded a plain with three little children and 140 pounds of handluggage!?

Traveling with children is like walking a dog: you get into contact with people very easy and the easiest was it down south............after we found out that they are actually talking english:-) We were even invited for dinners to their houses and only one time we were stared at quite puzzled. We felt that there was something "wrong" till we figured that we were the only whites in the park. After they found out that we are not "snobby californians" (heard that a couple of times) everything was fine.


Having heard a lot of warnings about getting robbed and worse in Mexico we went down baha mexico and the welcome was even warmer. They were excited about three little blond ones and besides being cheated at gasstations everything went fine.

I recall sunrises in the rockies where the mirrorimage in the lake was as clear as the surrounding mountains, I remember all these stunning national parks and I just loved South Carolina and Giorgia.
And all these parades troughout the country and we never had a camping chair and a cooler like all the others. And all this occations where the national anthem was sung. Also unforgetable the thanksgiving dinners and a lot of other marvellous dishes (next to the horrible bread and pastry ;-))

I could go on for hours and you sure got a great country. I still cant hear willie nelsons "oh beautiful" without getting tears....
Granny

wow, thanks for sharing

Loved your story.
Yes inspite of all the negative things in the papers and on the news, Americans are great!
I'm a proud one :thumbup:

Wow that was beautifully written. Thank you for sharing.

thanks

Glad you had a great time!

Oh, Thanks for sharing your story! I am proud to be an American! I have heard your country is beautiful....always wanted to see the Swiss Alps, Germany andIreland!

Oh, Thanks for sharing your story! I am proud to be an American! I have heard your country is beautiful....always wanted to see the Swiss Alps, Germany and Ireland!

cleaning the kittchen since yesterday there is a lot of time for indulging in memories

.........and the wildlife! We saw deers bigger than the horses back home, elks, mousse,bissons and sealions, even whales.
Starting in the desert at 4a.m. to avoid the heat we had to drive zigzag as there where dozens of rattlesnakes on the pavement waiting for the sun.
A ranger showing the children a nest of baby snakes and I was the only one worried about the whereabout of the mother.

Feeding ducks in Giorgia ended after a minute with trowing the whole bag of old bread, grabbing the children and running for the RV because we were surrounded by bisam rats the size of pigs.
That was also were careless people trew old tyres into the bushes. Never forget comming closer and the "tyres" started moving.

Then these countless little animals feeding under the table what the children had dropped at dinner. This was one of the great things about travelling: hardly any housework, barbeque allmost every day and the cleaning up was done by racoons.

We met a lot of tremendously helpful snowbirds, some with the most stunning RVs we have ever seen. Most of the time we had by far the littelest car.
After the trip we shipped the RV to Switzerland (shipped it back a year later). First thing the licensplates got stolen and then we almost starved on a trip to Austria: there was hardly a Restaurant or a shopping center with a big enough parking lot for us to enter! After two and a half years in the US we had forgotten that back home EVERYTHING was much smaller.

Of course I had problems at the beginning with the language as I was not as fluent as my husband.
I never forget the man who could not understand why on earth I wanted to clean beacon - was looking for a vacuumcleaner.
Or the face of the lady when I ordered a pissass pizza - what a word is pizzazz anyway!?
Or trying to explain that I was looking for bucket with a certain sercumference. Also such a terrible word, what should a bucket have to do with a conference?
I decided that circumsized fitted much better: circum like circle and size, I did want a certain size didnt I!?

oh God.......I could go on for ever

You renewed my appreciation for our country.