See America RV Miles Network

Before streaming services we had Blockbuster - but did you know one remains in operation? On this episode, we share the downfall of Blockbuster, and how the Bend, Oregon location keeps its doors open to this day. 

Over the more than 200 years of its existence, the US has become home to a number of iconic sites that domestic and international travelers alike place at the top of their must-see lists. The classic memorials and museums circling Washington, DC spring to mind, of course, because of their importance to both the history and future of our country, but other cities outside our capital possess an immediate connection with a building or structure: for instance, San Francisco’s graceful and majestic Golden Gate Bridge, the futuristic and awe-inspiring Space Needle in Seattle, the formidable and photogenic bronze lions guarding the entrance to Chicago’s famed Art Institute. America’s largest metropolis, New York City, is famous for, among other things: the Statue of Liberty, whose promise of freedom welcomed millions of immigrants to America’s shores; the legendary sports and performances at Madison Square Garden; and the delicious, titanic corned beef sandwiches and knishes at the Carnegie Deli. But one building alone symbolizes the strength, beauty, and spirit of New York.

The small town of Wamego, Kansas, with its modest population of nearly 5,000, is not a sprawling, sepia-toned farmland featuring Aunty Em, Miss Gulch, and Professor Marvel. It does not look like much of the Midwest landscape that comes to mind. Oh, no. Wamego, Kansas has poppy fields and Emerald Cities; yellow brick roads and ruby red slippers and lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Because somewhere over the rainbow is Wamego, Kansas, a town whose cultural identity has been oz-ified into no place like home.

From modest beginnings in the small town of Burlington, Vermont, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and other products can now be found in freezers in over 30 countries. This is their story. 

Every year, from February to May, 1,800 acres of desert plateau spring to life with color. Purples, yellows, oranges, and blues all come together on the sprawling arid landscape to emulate an Impressionist painting; a fluid composition of light and hue, playing with intensity and movement. The four-petaled, burning orange poppy is illuminated as it contrasts with a vast, blue California sky. This week on the See America Podcast, the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve in Los Angeles County, California. 
 

When Americans travel internationally, they often encounter nations and civilizations far older than their 245-year-old home country. As they explore new cultures, the travelers learn the depth and breadth of antiquity, often well-preserved, in many of these foreign lands.
How wonderful it is, they marvel, that we can take a trip back in time and see government buildings, houses of worship, homes, roads, markets: elements of entire societies that were established and active hundreds of years before the US was even a thought in anyone’s mind. While it’s true that the story of the United States goes back only a few hundred years, Indigenous cultures in North America had been thriving for centuries before Europeans set foot on the continent.
Though sadly much of the history of Native American tribes have been lost or destroyed, a shining example of a Native American city lives on in southwestern Illinois, only a few miles from modern-day St. Louis. 
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See America is part of the RV Miles Network of resources for the North American traveler. Check out our other podcasts - RV Miles and America's National Parks. Available where you listen to this podcast.