Jessica McFarland

Today, class, we are going to learn the difference between Washington (state) and Washington, D.C.

Don’t feel bad if you don’t know this already. I’ve met Americans who need this explained to them. Actually, it seems a bit lazy, naming two places after the same guy. Why do we have two big Washingtons, but the only famous “Lincoln” is the capital of Nebraska? (I mean, except for the original one, of course, but most of our place names come from Britain, and that’s another story.)

Okay, here we go. Washington, D.C. is a city. It is the capital of the United States of America. It has the White House and Congress and lobbyists and protesters, and it looks like this:

Obama's house could take 10 Downing St any day of the week (twice on Sundays).

Washington State is, well, a state. One of 50. As a state, it has its own capital, Olympia, and many other cities and towns, the most famous of which is Seattle (for unleashing Starbucks on the unsuspecting planet). It is also home to Seattle’s grubbier cousin, Tacoma, as well as Forks, a small town which was unknown until an insultingly awful series of novels was set there. I don’t have any photos of Washington State, but here’s an artist’s representation:

I didn't say it was a good artist.

The United States of America is really, really big. Huge. I think that’s why most people never leave. I mean, what’s the point? We’ve got our hands full with our own country, thanks very much.

One can’t really get a feel for how immensely massive the place is until one makes a road trip. As I’ve said before, my family used to drive the 9 hours from Chicago to Nashville on a regular basis. This is child’s play.

Before that, we drove the 13 hours from New Jersey to Chicago when we moved house.

Get ready to see a lot of this.

The true road trip takes days and crosses mountain ranges and time zones and is a truly epic undertaking.
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The last topic was about Nashville, and now we’re going just an hour to the northeast.

Still in Tennessee, of course. As mentioned previously, I’ve spent quite a bit of time there, as my mother’s side of the family has some land on the Cumberland River, about an hour’s drive from Nashville. And although I would never claim to be “from Tennessee” (because a) I wasn’t born there b) I didn’t grow up there and c) even today my driver’s license isn’t from there), it is probably the one place that has been a constant in my life. Even now, although I only get back to the U.S. once or twice a year, I must go spend at least a few days at the farm.
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Ever read The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein?

It’s a classic, and it’s how I feel about Opryland USA. In one form or another, it has been with me throughout the stages of growing up.

When I was a kid, Opryland was a theme park in Nashville, Tennessee (very slightly north east of it, actually). Growing up in the midwest as I did, amusement parks were the pinnacle of entertainment. There was simply no better way to spend a day than riding roller coasters, watching Motown revues, and eating park food. After I moved away, I realised that some people grow up with mountains and kayaks and nature, but in Illinois, not so much.
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When I’m in company, and someone asks me where I’m from, I say, “Chicago, Illinois”.

This is what Chicago looks like.

1. Batavia isn’t really Chicago, but part of the sprawling mass of suburbs surrounding the city.
2. I only lived there between the ages of 7 and 17, and rarely go back.

It would be more correct to say, “I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago”…but that doesn’t sound as cool.
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