Land of the Free

I thought living in our nation’s capitol was pretty patriotic and it is. Driving by the Capitol building every day never gets old. It’s stunning and I feel proud of our country…until I open a paper or listen or watch the news. Then I walk my dog past Russell Senate building and want to hurl eggs at it (and definitely let him lift a leg on the cornerstone.) In fact, I’m going into media black out over the coming weeks to avoid the dreaded vitriolic hyperbolic political mudslinging that’s looming over this budget ceiling issue.

But today, in downtown Rochester Vermont, population 1,171, I renewed my faith in Amurica. What a day. On this the 4th of July 2011, I arose to a fantastic view of ebullient cloud wisps across the green mountains. After a morning hike, where I rediscovered ferns and newts and white birch trees, I had a fantastic breakfast with the Aaronsons. We had Kristina’s homemade granola, which made me reminisce about wheat germ – wheat germ!

Art was worried we’d miss the start of the 230th annual July 4th parade, so we hurried down the mountain. Just in the nick of time we parked the car at the town hall and scurried over to the town square. I can’t remember in my life ever seeing a more picture perfect town square, other than on TV. The Aaronsons moved through the crowd like Ambassadors, greeting everyone and introducing Hayden and I like VIPs. We settled in down in front of the beautiful library and waited for the show to begin. We were promised 45 minutes of patriotism and that’s just what we got. The streets were lined with big smiles and red, white and blue scarves, hats and jackets. Every fire truck in the valley was on parade, along with Rochester’s finest: the state champion girls softball team, the town theater players, the world war two vets, the one Chinese guy in town and Senator Bernie Sanders, the fiery independent who reminds Democrats what they really should be saying out loud and proud. There was even a float that threw out Cabot’s Seriously Sharp Cheddar Cheese snacks…how much more Vermont can you get?! I fear I may have elbowed a kid or two out of the way for those cheese snacks!

We posed for pictures in front of the war memorial and I felt verklempt. To see so many people breaking from their jobs and iphones and all of the bad news and universally being proud to be an American was cool. Sorry liberal friends, but it was.

In order to get to the airport on time, I had to leave quickly after the pomp and circumstance. I jumped in my rented Dodge Avenger (a little cheap, but still kinda muscley) and wound around the mountains. At times I let anxiety creep in thinking about exits and rental drop offs, but I pushed it down immediately upon spotting a covered bridge, an ice cream stand or a bunch of fat Holsteins. This was America and what a perfect day to be celebrating America.

I got to the airport in plenty of time and wandered in to the Sam Adam’s Restaurant, where I consumed with pleasure the 4th of July special: A pint of Sam’s summer brew, real New England Clam Chowder and a truly delicious lobster roll. The waitress assured me that the ocean was just 20 minutes away – now that’s fresh.

Despite the tedium of daily politics and all that is wrong with the state of things these days, I was reminded today of this country’s greatness. Thanks for that Vermont.

PS I returned to DC just in time to see the migration to the Mall for the fireworks show...pretty cool and a perfect cap to a day in America!