Brown Ajah Travel Week: Hometowns

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Welcome one and all to the utterly fantabulous Brown Ajah Travel Week!

 

We have a lot of exciting things in store for you over the course of our Randland Week long Travel event but this particular thread focuses on something that I adore talking about.

 

I want to know why we should/shouldn't visit your hometowns. 

 

So jump in, tell us where you live and get discussing with one another, I'll be back in a bit to tell you aaaaaall about my hometown of Glasgow, Scotland 

[Daruya]

I currently live in Panama City, FL.  If you do decide to come to Panama City Beach, don't come during spring break.  The beaches will be littered with beer cans and assorted trash, not to mention drunk spring-breakers. 

 

Oh, and if you do come to PCB, please watch out for the warning flags posted on the beaches.  Purple means marine life (jelly fish, etc.).  Yellow means use caution when swimming.  Red means dangerous rip currents are present, double red means STAY OUT OF THE FREAKING WATER!

 

But we do have beautiful beaches with sugar-white sand and emerald green water. 

[keyholder21]

My hometown is Watkins Glen, NY.  It is a TINY town in the winter, but we get a lot of traffic in the summer.  Most of our traffic comes in the second weekend in August, since we have a NASCAR race - the last road course in the 'sport' - that takes place here.  There's traffic throughout the summer though, as we have a huge amount of wineries, local breweries, and very pretty scenery.  Some people like to come and hike in the gorges.  

 

It was recently on the list of the top five small towns in America that people should visit according to budget travel.  Here's a newspaper article, with a video talking a little bit about it: http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2013/01/watkins_glen_coolest_small_towns_budget_travel.html

 

 

 

It's a lovely place to visit!  I definitely miss the gorgeous scenery now that I don't live at home any more.  I don't think I would want to live there year 'round any more, because I'm now used to a bigger area that has more going on (and more jobs!). Visiting, though, there is a lot to do.  Drink local wine, beer, eat locally grown apples, locally made cheese, hike the gorge, visit the Corning Museum of Glass, watch a NASCAR race if you're into that, sail around on Seneca Lake, etc.

[Daruya]

I was actually born in Columbus, Ohio, but don't know enough about it to say much, good, bad, or indifferent!  We moved away when I was 7.  Since I've lived here in PC longer than anywhere else all put together, that's what I put as my "home town." 

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

I was born in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY.

 

you know that Bowie line about rats the size of cats?

 

I don't recommend visiting.

 

dark, violent, grimy when i was young. and now an overpriced new soho with warehouse lofts full of artists having dangerous liaisons with sharp objects.

 

so not much has changed.

 

I'll write about better places later.

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Dar, your hometown sounds like one of those places you see advertised on tv!

 

Key...your hometown sounds lovely  I generally prefer cities to small towns but I am partial to a Texan accent so maybe I can be persuaded to go there 

 

Cindy, that doesn't really sound too much like my cup of tea but I can't say anything I'm from Glasgow!

 

 

So yeah Glasgow, what can I say...it's definitely fun here.

People are, and I truly believe this, on average crazier here than most cities. 

We have quite a big class divide here, so you have some people/places in grime and poverty but just round the corner you have big fancy houses, sprawling gardens and five car garages. 

There are lots and lots of bars and restarurants for all price ranges, a big shopping district and lots of old sights and places to go visit. My favourite place in Glasgow is my university which looks beautiful...straight out of Harry Potter

 

This is the room I graduated in (spoilered for massive image)

 

 

 

 

They do tours and stuff and it's really nice. 

 

Glaswegians are loud and in your face and we won Britain's Most Friendly City and Britain's Most Violent City in the same year.

 

It's...something else.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

this kind of gets me thinking what we mean when we say hometown. used to be people stayed where they started but most everyone I know now started somewhere else.

 

I think of the town I live in now my hometown. it's much nicer than any of the other places I lived.

 

but does it really count?

[WildTaltos]

I wasnt born in a townn/vilage and for most of my life Iv'e only went to the nearby villages/townns rarely moer than once a week, sometime not even that, so I dont considre myself to have  hometown. My home area thuogh is the Tuath Ó Siosta - Neidín area in southern mosr Ciarraí, lol Ó Siosta/Cheasty being very old family name. We liek peace and quiet andd dont like too much peoplle from elsewhers sticking their noses in, thuogh some people are happy enuogh to take tourist money at leastt. On my part, wouldnt recommend visiting unless yuor a nature-lover or a scholar - we haev quite a few circles ruond the area and othre iron age or earlier monumentts, whiel just litle north is the cill aírne national forest besids that of cuorse we have our own woodland and we are next to the ocean (its a huge bay but technicaly, still the ocean).  Lot more in th area or not far north or south or east concrning local history and nature. I love wher I live because everythng very close by that I wannt - bogs, hills/mountain, forest, ponds, family, and the ocean all in convenint location lol. But unless you love the ancient and naturall world with all yuor heart and can then truly apprecite and respect all you experince, I think yuor better off going to a resortt or some contrived place like that. 

[The Bard Babe]

Oh wow Blank, that's amazing!!!  I'm ashamed to say I've never been to Scotland. Ought to be heading your way the start of next year though!

 

Well, I'll say my hometown is Brisbane, QLD, Australia. 

 

Technically, my hometown is a little place a bit north of Brisbane, but we have no hotels, no attractions and no anything else, just a heap of mountains, some acreage, a few coffee shops and a couple of sections of gradually encroaching suburbia, but where I live is really beautiful and a great place to live as long as you don't mind having to drive over a little mountain to get to the closest form of public transport :p

 

Brisbane on the other hand, is great! Everyone should come to Brissie, and come visit me and Starry while you're here.    :p

 

We aren't a very old place, so we don't have the same wow factor as you guys, but we do have the main city and then a lovely place on the other side of the river called Southbank, which has cheap cinemas, great food, sweet markets, a man-made beach, a couple of universities and a couple of theatres and whatnot. We also have a wonderful copy of the London Eye XD

 

People are however generally quite lovely, and we have a fun city to wander around in, or shop in, or eat in, and definitely to go see shows in.

[Panchi]

My hometown is a small city less than 100km from New Delhi. Its a small city(with population of other 3 million). Its old. There is even a mention of it in the epic Ramayana which was composed maybe around 600BC. The city is mentioned as the hometown of a demon's wife. The city itself is named after a demon Mairashtra(though I don't see much resemblance with the name). During more recent history, it is known for being an important spot during the Revolt of 1857. We have some nice buildings from the period when India was a colony of British. There is a beautiful building which used to be a Duke's residence but is now a bank. Then there is a fort I have heard of but never seen(even though I live near to the Fort Road). The cantonment area has most of the old buildings.

 

The city was the fourth most vibrant city in the country according to some survey last year(don't know how). People are a bit rude but you get used to it. Not many malls or like but its developing.

[Elaevia]

You shouldn't go to my hometown cos there is nothing to do!

 

Yeah the cathedral is great and it's pretty, but you're lucky if there's anything open beyond 5.30, except for the pubs and restaurants. So if you want to eat or drink you are ok till 11, but that's about it!

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

I love nothing to do :)

[Nyanna al'Meara]

Whoo! Hometowns, I have two!! XD

Well, practically anyway.

 

I was born in Fürth, which adjoins Nürnberg in northern Bavaria in the south-ish of Germany. Well, really it's Frankonia, which is a part of Bavaria, a fact Frankonians adamantly deny XD Anyhoo... so yeah, here we have our own dialect (i.e. the pronounciation of the town; Färdd) It's beaaauuutiful. Very  unique sense of its own history. No two houses are the same, lots of 19th/early 20th buildings (and older), there is no particular order of big streets and little Winkelgassen, cobblestones, monuments (The town centre alone has like 1,169 architectural monuments) fountains, A WHOLE LOT OF ADORABLE STUFF. Something that stands out is that the people are very proud of being Fürthers :P They have an age-old ongoing "feud" with the Nurembergers, particularly in football (soccer). Secretly though we do love the Nurembergers. Even if they're a bit shoopid ;) Yeah, so there is a very strong sense of identity, and a friendly, chilled approach to life - which is quite typical for the whole area really. Lots of teasing and groaning on about everything to anyone, but as a songwriter from here said: "A Frankonian is not a Frankonian unless s/he has something to nark on about."

And before I go off on another tangent... yeah, so I've recently come back to Germany, and although I live like 20kms from Fürth, I work in a 'kneipe' (kind of a typical German fusion of restaurant and pub) right in the heart of Fürth. The Gustavstrasse, as it's called, is like the 'kneipenmeile' = street of pubs where all the regulars and tourists usually end up :P Needless to say I'm soaking up the most concentrated FrankonianFürtheryness existing, and it's epic! If you're ever in Bavaria.... go explore Fürth. You won't regret it. :D

 

 

So I'm finally very happy to really get to know my hometown, as it were. When I lived here I was way too young to remember much, and we moved to New Zealand soon after.... which brings me to my other hometown. Murchison. ...Well, again I can't reaaaally call it my hometown. For one, it's 35 kms from the remote farm I actually grew up on :p

Secondly, it's not even a town.

It's a hole.

Seriously.

Every time it rains it fills up with water Nuff said.

 

XD
Nah, but really.... I went to a few years of primary school there, but travel hazards and the lack of time left in the day once we got back up the mountain led our parents to enrol us with the Correspondence School...which sucked, in the social aspect of most of my teenage years, but was probably a good hunch because Murchison school ended up having serious drug and crime problems. :P
But, uh, not much to say about Murch. It's a farming community, lots of redneck pighunting dudes who don't care if they're tresspassing on your property or "accidentally" shoot your lifestock, especially if you're a foreigner.... meh, quite the backwoods sheltered and I daresay... very rigid, conservative society. Great kayaking (one of the world's best actually, Buller River), lots of pretty nature, the people are friendly enough but...yeah. I just know too much about the place to really like it. Take a coffee break, but don't live there unless you're really determined to stick around no matter what :p
If you're traveling from Nelson to the West Coast of NZ you're sure to pass through Murch, it's not too much more than a petrol station, small supermarket and a couple of farmer's shops XD
All in all.....Think Hinderstap!

[Basel Gill]

If you come to my hometown, the first thing you're likely to want to see is Niagara Falls. You can see the Canadian falls or the American ones. Actually, if you're in the US, you will be seeing the falls in Canada, and vice versa. But there's more to it that that. The city of Buffalo has some historical sites. Frank Lloyd Wright has an architectural site here; he designed the Darwin Martin House. The house where Theodore Roosevelt was sworn in as President is here. If you come to my actual hometown of North Tonawanda (about halfway between Buffalo and Niagara Falls), we have a cool carousel museum, and we also have the historic Riviera Theater, which has a gigantic working Wurlitzer organ.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

I'd like to see them lit up at night :)

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

we have the carousels in Binghamton too... I'd like to see those. are there working ones still?

[Basel Gill]

I think there is one working one. I can't recall if I have ever actually been to the carousel museum myself, but relatives ffrom out of town have.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

we have working ones in a few parks here but none like the ones I remember as a kid. lol the horses were much bigger then.

[keyholder21]

Are you in Binghamton, NY, Cindy???  I'm a Southern Tier girl too!

[tonnalea]

My hometown is actually a different place...in the city, but I moved because it made me extremely nervous and irritable, and all of the light pollution made my telescopes 

pretty much worthless.

 

I'm in White Sulphur Springs, WV, home of the Greenbrier Resort and Casino. There isn't much around here really, unless you like nature. We have a few forests here, one of 

which is Greenbrier State Forest and in it is Kate's Mountain, one of two places where you can find "Kate's Mountain Clover", one of the oldest plant types.  It is mostly historical,

and most of the history pertains to the Civil War, though it isn't as well known as Gettysburg and places like that. Several miles up the road is the National Radio Telescope, and 

it hosts star parties and sun parties. It also has guest speakers from time to time, and campouts where all of us space geeks get together and go to seminars and stare at the night

sky. 

 

A little further up from that is Cass Scenic Railroad. The town itself is period and you can take a ride along the New River on an old train (want to ride to Hogwarts?). The Greenbrier

River trail is great for hiking, tubing, canoeing, biking, or horseback riding. The next town over was voted the coolest small town of 2011, and it is full of little shops and coffee houses. 

If you love history and nature, this is a great place to visit. 

[Hallia]

I'm from good old Seneca, South Carolina.  It's your average small town Southern America.  I miss it immensely!  It has a population of about 8k, which is vastly different from San Diego where I live now!  This is a typical spring day there, it's gorgeous!  We're right in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, so there is a lot to do outdoors-wise.  It is a lovely place to visit!

 

[Rhea]

My hometown is the Napa Valley, California. Wine country! You should definitely visit there. Take a winery tour, hop on the Wine Train, get in a Hot Air balloon, and eat at one of the many 5 star restaurants. You could even get a mud bath! 

 

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

@ key - yup, been near Binghamton since college (SUNY), and as you know once the Serling zone traps you in it's gravitational pull there is little chance of escape. I've been orbiting around Broome county since then, just over the border now in montrose, but I still commute to Glendale in endicott every day to work.

 

I consider montrose my home town now, and it is a very nice little town, though it is getting bigger. or at least the roads are. apparently we need a turning lane. I think it's some kind of economic boost thing cause except for the construction vehicles it's still the same old traffic as always.

 

it's a fine place to visit... but make it a summer trip if you don't have good snow tires. blueberries are plentiful and excellent this year, the festival was a great success so were on goal to put up the new library which will be amazing. the apples and peaches are looking to be a great crop, which after last years late frost is good news. fingers crossed we don't get a very early frost now.

 

we have lots of game lands and cabins to rent if you're into hunting. and lots of lake houses. and little weird farms with the oddest livestock. and the best humane society with the cutest puppies and kitties.

 

so... bring yourselves if you can. we're right friendly and all.

[keyholder21]

@ Hallia and Rhea - gorgeous!   Can I come visit?  

 

@ Blank - I am so jealous!  Scotland is definitely one of the top places that I want to visit.  Hubby says he has to tag along if I do so , so we're hoping to make it across the pond sometime in the next decade!

 

 

@Cindy - that's awesome!  I love meeting (or 'meeting') people who are close to my hometown and know what I mean when I talk about places like Ithaca, Corning, Binghamton, Rochester, etc .  I'm coming home to visit at the end of this month and I'm super excited.  We should meet up sometime!  Not necessarily this time, as I think we have every moment planned LOL, since I'm bringing home the baby for the first time, but definitely in the future!  Or we could all go to Buffalo and visit Basel and Mills .  

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]