A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

I have written several negative blogs over the last week. If you are a conservative like me, it's hard not to have a pessimistic view of the country at the moment. Heck, I'll say that everybody should at least be fearful of what the current administration is doing. Liberals used to yell that Bush was "stripping away personal liberties", which is laughable at best when you compare Bush to the current yokel in office. Actually, it's hard to call Obama a yokel; he's a very intelligent man, just an intelligent man that likes the idea of power. And our government is quickly gaining way too much power over the people. But I digress.

Chattanooga is an amazing place to live. To me, it represents the perfect combination of "big city" amenities, shopping opportunities, restaurants, things to do, and just overall funness (to coin a word) with a small-town atmosphere. Geez, that sounds like something that could be in a travel brochure. But seriously, it's pretty awesome. So take that awesomeness and combine it with a sunny day, not a single cloud in the sky, and temperatures around 70. Man, talk about a beautiful day. That's exactly what we had today.

For a geographer, Chattanooga is the perfect combination of different landscapes. As I took a drive today I was able to follow a path along the Tennessee River, winding around small inlets and bays and up and down hills. The Bradford pear trees are in full bloom, so that is a nice change from the mostly prevalent bareness on the branches of other trees. As I turned west and headed over to the Soddy-Daisy area, I was able to drive along the base of Mowbray Mountain and Walden's Ridge. More beautiful scenery. Then I looped back east through Red Bank and traveled up and down the narrow residential streets that criss-cross the foothills of the Appalachian mountains. You can literally look eastward from the tops of these ridges and see mountains in North Carolina. That is powerful. It's the kind of view that makes you stop and just thank God that for a small moment in time you were able to gaze at His creations and forget about your daily struggles. That's actually something I recommend that more people do, whether you are looking at mountains or whatever it may be.

I didn't get a chance to take any pictures today. I actually went with my girlfriend and her beautiful daughters as they shopped for Easter dresses. Yes, I'm that domesticated. But I love 'em all and enjoy it. I'll leave you with a picture I took last year about this time, on an equally beautiful day. It shows one of my favorite places to go in Chattanooga, Coolidge Park. I've shown it on the blog before, but it is one of my favorites.

Until next time, y'all...