Sunday, December 25, 2016

Into the Land of Frost

I've always lived in the American South, but my heart resides elsewhere. What exact location, I know not, but my home state of North Carolina is simply too muggy for my liking (among other things...); I long for the snowy, gusty north. Perhaps Ireland, or Scandinavia, or the United Kingdom, or Canada?
But if I remain a citizen of the United States - and I might yet - then I suppose I'll relocate to a major city after college and eventually find lodgings in the upper latitudes of Middle America after I tire of urban life. I'm considering Boston or Seattle or Denver or Chicago, followed by some living abroad in both hot and cold locations - options include France, Finland, Thailand, South Africa, or Iceland - and eventually settling somewhere in the Midwest or Rockies. Preferably in a small cabin packed with mounds of books and a nice hearth.
Currently, I'm in Kane County, Illinois (roughly an hour west of Chicago), and I just walked outside for nearly an hour. It's Christmas Day, four days after Yule (winter solstice), and about 35 degrees Fahrenheit last I checked.
Perfect.
I probably could have been out there for several more hours, if I'd brought earmuffs. I'm naturally extremely tolerant to cold. (Well...my sub-optimal diet might play a minor role there.) People think I'm a polar bear in a human hide, or of Nordic descent, but my ancestry is more Celtic--primarily Irish and Scottish, with a bit of English on my mother's side and a tiny drop of German on my father's. I suppose that's why I "pink" instead of tanning--I become a great scarlet lobster in the sun!
But cold is truly my comfort zone. I do intend to travel - extensively, in fact, and I'll be sure to blog about it - but I'd prefer for my base to be somewhere nice and cool, like Alaska or Montana or Michigan or Ohio.
In other words, I'm having a good time right now.