Is This the Biggest Difference Between Britain and America?

This might just be the biggest difference between Britain and America. But there are some caveats.

[jgshot]

“America is also the place where they found most of the dinosaurs… and I’m not just talking about the Senate.” Great line!

[stormd]

Speaking of old trees, 2 miles from the house where I grew up in Florida, was a huge 3500 year old Bald Cypress named "The Senator" in a place called "Big Tree Park". It was, I believe, the 2nd oldest tree in America, and 8th oldest in the world. We knew that native peoples in the Florida Peninsula visited the tree as far back as the stone age, leaving many artifacts around it. The tree had a large crack in its trunk, big enough to crawl in and hide, which is what a junkie was doing one night in 2012, when she decided to have a smoke of some crystal meth and set a small fire in there so she could see. Rather than putting out her fire, she took pics and videos with her phone and then left, and a few days later the entire tree had burned from the inside out, killing it. Fortunately, the Senator's sister tree, a 2000 year old Cypress named "Lady Liberty" still stands, about a hundred feet away. The county had a few 20 year old clones of The Senator, so they planted one (already 50 feet tall) in its place, and named it The Phoenix. Maybe in a few thousand years it will be the size of its dad.

[Isthatyoudermot]

I live in Wisconsin now. We moved here in 2005. My mother in Ireland used call us whenever there was a Hurricane in Florida. She couldn't understand the size of the US.

[maryclark]

Ooooh Dinosaurs in the Senate, Lawrence? That's an insult to dinosaurs.

[amyfisher]

I’ve visited the Pueblo Indian cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde, which were built about 600 years before the United States was founded. They’re not exactly in the middle of a typical American town, but they’re still awesome to see.

[tricorvus]

THANK YOU so much for mentioning Cahokia!!!! It’s the birthplace of 5 tribes including the Cherokee. The legend handed down vs scientific verification is fascinating to me

[kimberlysimpson]

I once drove across Texas on I-10 from Houston to El Paso (877 miles of I-10 in Texas alone). When I saw mile markers that were in the 870's while driving ON THE SAME ROAD the entire time, I finally realized just how big Texas really is.

[Otokichi]

European visitors sometimes have amazingly impractical/nearly impossible travel itineraries. I've heard of some planning to visit New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Disney World in seven days, by Bus/Train/Automobile! Natives usually bring out a map of the continental U.S. and point out that this itinerary spans over thousands of Miles/Kilometers and would be a challenge for even "Jet Set" travelers via scheduled airliners.

[dynamodan]

I grew up and "boring" Ohio next door and have visited The Great Serpent Mound many times. It is to believed to have been started around 300BC, before what we now call Paris, France.

[Ikwigsjoyful]

I feel like the idea that Americans think 100 miles is a relatively short distance may depend on the American and where they grew up. I grew up in the Midwest, and I still remember how shocked my East Coast roommates were in college when I mentioned that a three and a half hour trip (one way) sounded like a reasonable day trip! 😂

[BradyPostma]

The oldest building in my town was built in the 1860s. My town was settled in an effort to grow cotton and sell to the Union army, since the Confederacy obviously was off the market. The cotton-growing project didn't work out, but the town did.

[Alex_Riddles]

Speaking of distance, there was a time I went out for a bike ride. Just me and a few thousand friends. We rode across Iowa, about 450 miles, in a week.

[JanSolo]

Thank you for acknowledging Native American history on this continent.

[mikenixon]

Oooooh Laurence. Your post is just what I need today. Added: I would disappoint my fellow Texans if I failed to note it is a shorter distance from Texarkana, Texas to Chicago than it is from Texarkana to El Paso, Texas. Thank you for another fine post.

[nate]

Having visited Taos, it's a weird vibe. It's obvious that there is a generation that is okay with living off tourists, but there's also a "We hate you for treating us as an object rather than as a people." vibe going on, which is totally legit.

[LyleFrancisDelp]

853 miles is roughly the distance from Orange, TX to El Paso, TX on Interstate 10.

[ajaiiz]

I always joked that in the US, everything was built yesterday (I'm American). It's also very common to see places torn down and something new built in its place. There's very few opportunities for things to get old.

[mns]

UK is 837 miles north to south. Minneapolis to Dallas is 939 miles on just I-35. This really is kind of crazy.

[shaynecarter-murray]

I met some rugby dudes from Grimsby when i visited friends in York. I was warned the Grimsby fellows were rough abd likely to start a scuffle. Instead, the biggest, loudest, drunkest Grimsby rugby player instantly noticed my american south accent and wanted to be my friend

[ParkDari]

When we visited Ipswich, we foolishly thought that we could just drive to Scotland and visit🤣🤣🤣 because distance wise what’s a few hundred miles? yeah Britain’s roads don’t work like our roads. I think it took us three hours to get only 50 miles away. Every road is only two lanes and super narrow ithrough Village after a village.