See All of America, the Beautiful

See All of America, the Beautiful. This is good advice -- there is indeed lots to see. That's why they underlined "All." As owner of this van, you are even given the option of drawing on the map, perhaps "x"ing off the states you've visited. Maybe drawing your routes on it. Maybe putting the state-shaped refrigerator magnets on it as you visit each.

Astro Van decal, Mission, 2011.

This post has nothing to do with nature, but certainly a love of nature, or at least natural places, inspired this decal. It's on the side of a converted Chevy Astro that is often parked across the street from my apartment in the Mission. I wonder if the owner's manual came with a set of magnets or stickers to put on the side when you'd visited a state. 

It is also kind of funny that the designers of this van envisioned the driver to become inspired to drive to Hawai'i.I mean, isn't Alaska ambitious enough for a road trip?

Finally, halcyon is a great word, isn't it?

 

America the Beautiful

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare of freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for halcyon skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the enameled plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till souls wax fair as earth and air
And music-hearted sea!

O beautiful for pilgrims feet,
Whose stem impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till paths be wrought through
wilds of thought
By pilgrim foot and knee!

O beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife
When once and twice,
for man's avail
Men lavished precious life!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till nobler men keep once again
Thy whiter jubilee! 

 

Words by Katharine Lee Bates,
Melody by Samuel Ward