6 ms·

Speaking of Great Plains, I found that, being Swiss, I tend to feel unsettled in regions where no mountains whatsoever are visible on the horizon. I'm not even

Speaking of Great Plains, I found that, being Swiss, I tend to feel unsettled in regions where no mountains whatsoever are visible on the horizon. I'm not even much of a mountaineer, but it seems I need them around to get my bearings.

giantrobot 4y ago
As a Californian I have the same problem. Just about anywhere you go here there's mountains or at least hills. Driving east from Denver on I70 is just a featureless flat plane. I've driven all over the Great Plains and it's just unsettling. There's an old joke that you can watch your dog run away for three days which is not that much of an exaggeration.
- wincy 4y ago
  As a midwesterner, California feels to me as if the very earth itself is conspiring against me, saying “those people in the hills above, they’re richer and better than you, poor lowly scum”. It just unnerves me when I’m in California.
  - astrange 4y ago
    They're also the ones with all the wildfire and power outage risks though.
  - giantrobot 4y ago
    Oh, the hills are definitely saying that. Don't take it personally though, they say that to all of us.
- ngold 4y ago
  As a Californian, I moved to Sacramento but it drove me crazy it was so flat.
- Archelaos 4y ago
  > There's an old joke that you can watch your dog run away for three days which is not that much of an exaggeration. We have a joke here about people who live in the flat northern coastal regions of Germany: They can see at breakfast who is visiting at lunch. -- But that is nothing compared to the people who live in the mountains in the south: They can see at breakfast who is visiting at supper.
skeeter2020 4y ago
... and not surprising it runs the other way too. I have relatives from the Canadian prairies who feel claustrophobic in the mountains, like the landscape is pressing in around them.
- colechristensen 4y ago
  Something missing in everywhere but out of town on the plains is horizon to horizon sky. Growing up it was a common daily occurrence now it’s hard to find. I don’t know about claustrophobic but it being missing is weird.
- gerdesj 4y ago
  May be or may be not. I'm a 52 y/o Brit - we don't have mountains per se. I started skiing in about 1976. I've seen a few mountains and gear changes. I've skied in CA - Calgary is nearly the same Northerly latitude as Yeovil (Somerset/UK). It got quite nippy the last time I was there - about -17C. Banff and the rest (Sunshine Valley etc) were great fun. I've skied a few other places too. A few years back I recall getting a call whilst I was bimbling down the top end of Verbiers. Bit surreal - big hill and rather steep. Keep your edges keen kids!
  - walthamstow 4y ago
    This has to be the first time I've seen Calgary's latitude equated with Yeovil instead of that other British city at 51° North.
- Fargoan 4y ago
  That's how I felt living in Washington after having spent most of my life on the North Dakota prairie.
- stormbrew 4y ago
  I'm from the prairies. Personally I don't feel claustrophobic but big wide open skies are something I miss when I'm elsewhere, and feel happy to return to. It really is kind of special, though I'm sure most visitors don't even notice. Prairie thunderstorms are also kind of amazing. Though my perception is they're getting rarer and shorter.
swayvil 4y ago
Me too. I live in an area filled with hills and forests. Big open flatness makes me sad. Developed areas too.
dtgriscom 4y ago
I grew up on the US East Coast. When I moved to the West Coast for a summer, I found that my normally good navigational skills were totally scrambled, because the ocean was in the wrong direction.
- arwhatever 4y ago
  Lived in the Bay Area and got sent to Cocoa Beach, FL for a work trip. Didn’t care to get out much., but figured I’d stroll to the beach to watch the sunset. Got about halfway there before figuring out where I’d gone wrong.
  - samatman 4y ago
    One not only can watch the sun rise and set over the ocean in a single day in Florida, I've done so.
  - silisili 4y ago
    You get used to it, and honestly, it's nice in its own way. Having the sun at your back warming you on a coolish night while staring at the horizon is pretty peaceful. Plus, I'd rather watch the sunset on the Indian River than to watch it over the Gulf, because of all the awful people who crowd the beaches of the other side of the state.
  - IvanLudvig 4y ago
    How did you get halfway there If you were walking in the wrong direction?
- heavyset_go 4y ago
  It gets even worse on islands.
- Aloha 4y ago
  I'm familiar with what you mean - whenever I travel it takes 2-3 days for my internal compass to acclimate to wherever I am.
- JadeNB 4y ago
asciimov 4y ago
I was the opposite, I spent a good chunk of my time growing up and then in college on the High Plains of Texas. When I took my first job it was in a pine forrest I often felt sick because I couldn’t see the horizon and because the trees block out so much of the early morning and afternoon light.
- hammyhavoc 4y ago
  Growing up on the coastline, I feel this way if I go too far in-land.
  - tlavoie 4y ago
    I moved away from what I grew up with, and prefer it. (Good thing, I guess) Went from Manitoba prairie, to west coast. Mountains and ocean, and in my yard, mostly a wall of tall evergreen trees. The weather is pleasant too, but I attribute much of the change to what I find to be a more appealing fractal dimension of landscape. It's not all the same, and I much prefer that.
  - zem 4y ago
    lovely poem on the subject https://poets.org/poem/inland-0 https://poets.org/poem/inland-0
spaetzleesser 4y ago
I think it depends on how you grow up. I personally need to see mountains to be happy but I have talked to people from Texas and they got nervous when they couldn't see the horizon in all directions.
treeman79 4y ago
Yep. It was a major reason I had to leave a very flat state. Lack of hills and mountains was just unnerving.
AlbertCory 4y ago
Funny, I'm the same way. Grew up in Illinois, which is totally flat. But after an adult lifetime in CA, it seems really, really boring to not have mountains.
- JKCalhoun 4y ago
  Like you (but it was from Kansas that I moved to CA) I came back to the midwest after 26 years in Silicon Valley — wide-open (flat) became "normal" again very quickly.
atkailash 4y ago
JKCalhoun 4y ago
Grew up on the Great Plains of the U.S. and mountains make me feel hemmed in, ha ha.

giantrobot 4y ago

As a Californian I have the same problem. Just about anywhere you go here there's mountains or at least hills. Driving east from Denver on I70 is just a featureless flat plane. I've driven all over the Great Plains and it's just unsettling. There's an old joke that you can watch your dog run away for three days which is not that much of an exaggeration.

wincy 4y ago
As a midwesterner, California feels to me as if the very earth itself is conspiring against me, saying “those people in the hills above, they’re richer and better than you, poor lowly scum”. It just unnerves me when I’m in California.
- astrange 4y ago
  They're also the ones with all the wildfire and power outage risks though.
- giantrobot 4y ago
  Oh, the hills are definitely saying that. Don't take it personally though, they say that to all of us.
ngold 4y ago
As a Californian, I moved to Sacramento but it drove me crazy it was so flat.
Archelaos 4y ago
> There's an old joke that you can watch your dog run away for three days which is not that much of an exaggeration. We have a joke here about people who live in the flat northern coastal regions of Germany: They can see at breakfast who is visiting at lunch. -- But that is nothing compared to the people who live in the mountains in the south: They can see at breakfast who is visiting at supper.

skeeter2020 4y ago

... and not surprising it runs the other way too. I have relatives from the Canadian prairies who feel claustrophobic in the mountains, like the landscape is pressing in around them.

colechristensen 4y ago
Something missing in everywhere but out of town on the plains is horizon to horizon sky. Growing up it was a common daily occurrence now it’s hard to find. I don’t know about claustrophobic but it being missing is weird.
gerdesj 4y ago
May be or may be not. I'm a 52 y/o Brit - we don't have mountains per se. I started skiing in about 1976. I've seen a few mountains and gear changes. I've skied in CA - Calgary is nearly the same Northerly latitude as Yeovil (Somerset/UK). It got quite nippy the last time I was there - about -17C. Banff and the rest (Sunshine Valley etc) were great fun. I've skied a few other places too. A few years back I recall getting a call whilst I was bimbling down the top end of Verbiers. Bit surreal - big hill and rather steep. Keep your edges keen kids!
- walthamstow 4y ago
  This has to be the first time I've seen Calgary's latitude equated with Yeovil instead of that other British city at 51° North.
Fargoan 4y ago
That's how I felt living in Washington after having spent most of my life on the North Dakota prairie.
stormbrew 4y ago
I'm from the prairies. Personally I don't feel claustrophobic but big wide open skies are something I miss when I'm elsewhere, and feel happy to return to. It really is kind of special, though I'm sure most visitors don't even notice. Prairie thunderstorms are also kind of amazing. Though my perception is they're getting rarer and shorter.

swayvil 4y ago

Me too. I live in an area filled with hills and forests. Big open flatness makes me sad. Developed areas too.

dtgriscom 4y ago

I grew up on the US East Coast. When I moved to the West Coast for a summer, I found that my normally good navigational skills were totally scrambled, because the ocean was in the wrong direction.

arwhatever 4y ago
Lived in the Bay Area and got sent to Cocoa Beach, FL for a work trip. Didn’t care to get out much., but figured I’d stroll to the beach to watch the sunset. Got about halfway there before figuring out where I’d gone wrong.
- samatman 4y ago
  One not only can watch the sun rise and set over the ocean in a single day in Florida, I've done so.
- silisili 4y ago
  You get used to it, and honestly, it's nice in its own way. Having the sun at your back warming you on a coolish night while staring at the horizon is pretty peaceful. Plus, I'd rather watch the sunset on the Indian River than to watch it over the Gulf, because of all the awful people who crowd the beaches of the other side of the state.
- IvanLudvig 4y ago
  How did you get halfway there If you were walking in the wrong direction?
heavyset_go 4y ago
It gets even worse on islands.
Aloha 4y ago
I'm familiar with what you mean - whenever I travel it takes 2-3 days for my internal compass to acclimate to wherever I am.
JadeNB 4y ago

asciimov 4y ago

I was the opposite, I spent a good chunk of my time growing up and then in college on the High Plains of Texas. When I took my first job it was in a pine forrest I often felt sick because I couldn’t see the horizon and because the trees block out so much of the early morning and afternoon light.

hammyhavoc 4y ago
Growing up on the coastline, I feel this way if I go too far in-land.
- tlavoie 4y ago
  I moved away from what I grew up with, and prefer it. (Good thing, I guess) Went from Manitoba prairie, to west coast. Mountains and ocean, and in my yard, mostly a wall of tall evergreen trees. The weather is pleasant too, but I attribute much of the change to what I find to be a more appealing fractal dimension of landscape. It's not all the same, and I much prefer that.
- zem 4y ago
  lovely poem on the subject https://poets.org/poem/inland-0 https://poets.org/poem/inland-0

spaetzleesser 4y ago

I think it depends on how you grow up. I personally need to see mountains to be happy but I have talked to people from Texas and they got nervous when they couldn't see the horizon in all directions.

treeman79 4y ago

Yep. It was a major reason I had to leave a very flat state. Lack of hills and mountains was just unnerving.

AlbertCory 4y ago

Funny, I'm the same way. Grew up in Illinois, which is totally flat. But after an adult lifetime in CA, it seems really, really boring to not have mountains.

JKCalhoun 4y ago
Like you (but it was from Kansas that I moved to CA) I came back to the midwest after 26 years in Silicon Valley — wide-open (flat) became "normal" again very quickly.

atkailash 4y ago

JKCalhoun 4y ago

Grew up on the Great Plains of the U.S. and mountains make me feel hemmed in, ha ha.