Favorite Trip
Topic #12 I have visited many places in my lifetime, from as far east as Florida to the topics of Kauai. There were two places during my travels that have stuck out to me the most though. Visiting Mason City, Illinois, a little town of twenty-two hundred people and visiting family in Beverly Hills, California, there are bound to be some differences but also, some similarities on the subject. The majority of people in the United States, even internationally, know what Beverly Hills is.
It is the place to be for amazing shopping, fancy cars, big houses, and the place to go to see celebrities. This little town in Southern California is very materialistic. When visiting, I almost felt as though I had to dress and act like these people just to fit into their society. Now, Mason City is my kind of vacation. Back in the country, life really does move slower and it is much simpler. What you wear and what you look like do not matter.
The older and more broke down your truck is, the better off you are for mud bogging and road tripping to surrounding towns and the creeks. Everybody knows everybody and where each other live. In Beverly Hills, there are a wide variety of job professions. You could be virtually anything your heart desired, from being a banker to being a personal assistant to someone famous. The work that they do in California is on the opposite end of the spectrum compared to the work they do in Illinois.
In Mason City, you either works on some kind of a farm, be it a pig farm or a corn farm, or you work for the local HULL Trucking Company. Obviously, there are other professions there otherwise there would be no local businesses or education, etc. That is virtually impossible. The job choices in both places are ways that people make their livings and contribute to our society. Beverly Hills is an urban jungle, full of high rises and the lovely smell of a big city. There are loud noises and a lot of vehicle and foot traffic through its winding streets and hills.
I’m pretty sure that the drivers of these fancy vehicles on these winding streets make up their own rules of the road, almost like they are more obligated than others. In M. C. there is one road in and out of the town, Highway 65. There are not even any traffic lights, and only a few stop signs. Most roads there only require you to yield and make sure there is no one coming. People that are from Central and Southern Illinois say that Chicago and its surrounding suburbs should be considered an entirely different state. I believe that this is true.
Central Illinois is rolling plains and a horizon as far as the eye can see. The smell of fresh air and the surroundings, make it an absolutely beautiful place to visit or to even live. Illinois is probably where I will end up some day, owning a farm and lots of animals. It was and still is in the United States. But, having been visiting California all of my life, it has a special place in my heart. These places are polar opposites in every way imaginable. I like being able to visit different ways of life.
