The Wisconsin state librarians conference

I know there's an aphorism, "travel is broadening" that sounds like maybe something my mom would've said, or that could be said ruefully, with the addedum "... to the waist."

I wonder, though, after this morning - we drove from Madison WI to Appleton, up the Fox River Valley. Some of the place names may sound romantic, like Fond du Lac, or Rosendale, but Fond du Lac is just a wide place in the neon hell of car dealerships and fast food places along US highway 151, and Rosendale is a small town speed trap with two stop & gos, that usually smells like cow manure.

It was all equally as beautiful as the stretch of highway from Seattle to Olympia, Washington, that we drove down two weeks ago toward Portland, that looked about like New Jersey with more pine trees.
hwy 151, in Fond du Lac
I-5 South near Seattle
So, maybe travel is broadening, but I felt more like it's been narrowing - the further I go recently, the more alike it all seems.