I’m in the Sacramento airport with some time before my flight home.  My folks dropped me off a bit early because they had to make it to San Francisco for their 14 hour (!) flight to Taipei for a Thanksgiving visit with my sister and brother-in-law.  This has been a quick visit, but well worth it for the glimpse of my parent’s lives it provided.  I hope to post some thoughts about my time with the great people of Sanctuary Covenant Church later this week.

This is a bit random, but this is my view as I type:

The thing that’s notable about my current view is that, unless you know where I am, there is nothing to distinguish this airport from hundreds of others just like it.  All the shops can be found elsewhere and the decor is classic airport blah.  Of course, this everywhere but nowhere phenomenon isn’t contained to airports.  One of the interesting things about modern American life is how tricky it can be to give directions to someone from out of town.

“Turn left on Main Street.”

“Which Main Street?”

“Lombard Main Street.”

“Which one is that?”

“The one by the mini mall.”

“Do you want me to get lost?!”

This landscape homogeneity is one of the things I appreciate about living in Chicago.  There is a sense of distinction between the city’s many neighborhoods.  Not all of this is good, but I’ve enjoyed the sense of place that comes with neighborhood identity.

Anyone else relate to this?