Geography is My Life

Geography is a subject that is fulfilling because I have a passion to learn about places and their culture. A lot can be learned from shows like “Aerial Views,” and even just traveling. When an overnight stay is required, I always take note of the hotels available. Researching restaurants and menus for the area is also interesting. If I meet a person, I have asked them where they are from. If I am curious about the place, I will later research the city, just to know about it. There have been times I have met a person, and when they tell me where they are from, I will already be familiar with the city. They are pretty astonished by what I know about their city in terms of what county it is in, whether it is the county seat, the state it is in, and whether or not it is a suburb. Sometimes, I have gotten it incorrect.

Traveling is something I have appreciated even prior to my early teens. I have traveled within my home state of Virginia. Other states I have been to include Maryland, Delaware, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maine, Florida, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Alabama, and Texas. One of my favorite parts of Florida is Orlando. This is a popular tourist city. Disneyworld is a very popular destination. I hope to take my family there eventually. Another local part of Orlando is the Mall At Millenia. This is a popular shopping mall. They have restaurants like the Cheesecake Factory, stores like Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s.

Rivers and waterways are another topic of interest. In my home state of Virginia, the James River is well-known. It is a long river, which starts outside of Covington, and most of it flows down to Richmond, where the fall line is. It is a popular river for fishing and boating. Its mouth is in Newport News. In Richmond, there are railways near the river. The Kanawha Canal is adjacent to the James. In Lynchburg, there are several fountains in the river. Another favorite waterway is the New River, which is in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It is popularly known as the “Venice of America.” There are a lot of canals that run through it. The port of Norfolk, Virginia is along the Lafayette River. Another river in Norfolk is the Elizabeth, which divides it from the city of Portsmouth. The Nansemond River is another river in the Hampton Roads area. The city of Suffolk rests on it. I crossed the river while driving home from the city of Norfolk. While heading south on Interstate 95, I crossed three rivers, the Roanoke, Cape Fear, and Lumber. These rivers were in the state of North Carolina. They were pretty wide rivers.

Another topic of geography that is interesting is county seats. This is the administrative city of a county. These are cities that are county seats: Wichita, Kansas, Bakersfield, California, Gilmer, Texas, Crosby, North Dakota, New Rockford, North Dakota, Covington, Virginia, Gadsden, Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama, Lawrenceville, Georgia, Berryville, Virginia, Scranton, Pennsylvania, Syracuse, New York, Wilmington, North Carolina, Kelso, Washington, Kalispell, Montana, and DeFuniak Springs, Florida.

In the state of Louisiana, they use the term Parish as opposed to county. Shreveport is the seat of Caddo, Parish. This city is along the Red River.

Publishing and writing poems about my state of Virginia is something I would like to do. Places other than my home state are also of interest to me. Writing articles about other places would also be of interest to me. People like to travel, especially in the Summer time. Teachers are always looking for ways to teach children. Geography can be interesting for all children to learn about. They are taught early in school about States and Capitals. If poems were available to children about an area or state, it would be an interesting way to teach geography. I hope that using poetry about cities and states would be an effective way to learn about a place. This should also be an effective way of advertising a city, especially if it is a popular tourist spot.

If people are looking for travel ideas, I would hope to be the one to write about a destination, so that people can have good ideas for vacation. If someone is teaching Geography, and they are talking about the locality, the children will learn about their county and where the seat of the county's government is located. I hope someone finds Geography a wonderful subject to be interested in.