I finished The Lost Continent the other day. It is an enjoyable, though not an intensely compelling read. It is an interesting look at America through the eyes of a citizen who has been living abroad in England for quite a while. It begins as the search for an idyllic place that Bryson later decides is an amalgam of different places. As he visits different cities, he adds parts of them to his vision of Amalgam. But, as the trip progresses, it becomes less of a search for something specific, and more of an exploration of the continental United States.
Bryson's commentary is often scathing, particularly when dealing with the ubiquitous fast food joints, run down gas stations, and places that cater solely to tourists and thus lack character or soul. I do think he must be a fan of Catch-22 though. He comes up with some interesting (fictitious) names - there's the Battle of Lickspittle Ridge, which featured General Goober (who shot himself in the armpit) and Lieutenant-Colonel Bowlingalley, who fought against opposing forces led by Pillock. Some other place names include Dry Gulch, Cactus City, Coma, Doldrum, Dry Well, and Sunstroke. There are many more sprinkled throughout the book. Sometimes it's hard to tell if he's being sarcastic or referring to an actual place. Though, with actual cities named things like Toad Suck, that's not too surprising. But the naming conventions are what makes me think he must be a fan of Catch-22, which has characters named Lieutenant Scheisskopf and Major Major Major Major. (If you don't know what Scheisskopf means, you should type it into this German-English translator.)
Anyway, Bryson's ramblings regarding travel, tourists, and American towns inspire me to preserve some of my own experiences. For your reading pleasure, I present the following:
In the spring of 2006 Michael and I moved to Boston. We didn't last very long there; we moved there in late May/early June and left mid-December. I generally tell people we were there for eight months, but it really wasn't even that long.
While we were there my in-laws came to visit in October. We had a lovely visit and they took us to Camden, Maine for a weekend. It was the last weekend before everything closed for the season, so we got discounted things from the shops and got to stay in little cabins overlooking the ocean. We got up early one of the mornings to watch the sunrise. This was my first experience of an Atlantic beach. It was rocky and there were little tide pools all over. It was late October and it was cold. At the height of the season I'm sure Camden is overrun by tourists, but so close to the end of the season it was lovely. The people there were all residents (we were the only guests at the resort where we stayed) and were very friendly as they were looking forward to several months off. It was a wonderful time.
On the way back I convinced everyone that we should stop in Salem, Massachusetts. You know, the famous one. Home to the notorious Salem Witchcraft Trials. In late October. October is peak season for Salem. It's a cute town and I would've liked to have spent more time there. As it was, Michael had to be at work that day at 4:00 pm and we were still a couple hours outside of Boston. There was a museum about the Salem Witchcraft Trials that looked like it would've been interesting, but you could only go as part of a guided tour and they were all full. So we poked around the burial ground then made our way to Nathaniel Hawthorne's house, which is said to have been the inspiration for The House of the Seven Gables. Now, I've only read (and I use the term loosely) The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and I didn't enjoy it. I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, a Hawthorne fan. But it was a cool old house and sounded interesting. It, also, was only available by guided tour, and the ones available all took place after we needed to be back in Boston.
The thing that struck me as the most ironic was all of the people dressed as witches and the witch-related shops and the similarly themed convention going on at the time. The Salem Witchcraft Trials were to stamp out witchcraft and it is now a place where it is celebrated and cashed in on. I'm not sure, but I think the ground was moving a little while we were in the burial ground. Perhaps a few of those people were rolling in their graves.
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