A Different View of the Big City

Please welcome Lisa Newton.  I gave her the wheel for the day.  Take it away, Lisa!

I’m humbled to be following the great guest post by Tracey last Tuesday, but I’ll give it the old college try. Whereas Tracey lives in a rural area, I live in one the largest cities in the USA, Los Angeles. When I accepted Lisa’s gracious offer to guest blog, I wasn’t sure what my topic was going to be, but as the weeks unfolded, I discovered my subject matter while on a bike ride bordering the Los Angeles River.

Although, I grew up in the Midwest and lived for 20+ years on the East Coast, and have only lived in LA for two years, I now call it home, and wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. Indeed we have our fair share of urban problems and then some, but if you look, you’ll see the beauty in everyday life.

Admittedly, when I initially saw the Los Angeles River, I didn’t really think it had too much going for it. Due to past flooding issues, the river itself was in cased in concrete, with barely a trickle of water remaining in the middle.

The River meanders its way through the entire city, so it has many of the same issues any normal city has:

Garbage, litter, and other forms of urban decay do, at times, make the center river bed look like clothes flying on the clothes line.

But, among the shadow of our human frailties, nature has emerged:

Although this noise and distraction was on my right:

And promise of more congestion was straight in front of me:

I was able to relax, ride my bike, and take a few pictures, while seeing a more beautiful side of life in the city:

Do you find beauty in the sights and sounds of your everyday surrounding?

Travelin’ Local was created by me to do just that.

I would like to thank Lisa for giving me the opportunity to share a little of my world with her audience, and if you’d like to see more of my world, feel free to stop by Travelin’ Local at any time.