The Middle of Nowhere Is Somewhere

Growing up on the East Coast, my idea of somewhere, based on the concept of the middle of nowhere, involved concrete.

Somewhere had strip malls, one right after the other.

The strip malls had brand names, as in the ones that mattered.

They were full of people who were important, or at least claimed they were.

I could never tell if they in fact were or if they were gifted at hiding the truth.

Either way, there were lots of people.

The roads were bumper to bumper, and accidents added hours.

Casual conversation was frowned upon, though sign language using the third digit was acceptable.

If anyone talked, it was about college or career—brand names only, of course.

There were whispers of other kinds of places, but they had to be the right kind.

Oceans were allowed.

Mountains worked, too.

In either case, the cars and watches had to meet expectations for fear of being mistaken for the proletariat.

The middle of nowhere, in other words, had to be somewhere.

I envisioned other places, the type that didn’t fit the bill.

One had no oceans or mountains—just a long narrow lake and a bunch of state parks.

The parks were defined by gorges and waterfalls.

There were a couple universities, one known for tunes and the other a gifted astronomer.

The burg had a walkable downtown, full of food, art, music, and all the stuff that makes humans human. But the humans were kind of regular.

The surrounding area was loaded with agriculture.

That meant wineries and cideries and breweries. Some even had views of the lake.

The roads, needless to say, were clear, minus the occasional horse and buggy or deer.

I never mentioned this vision—I wanted to save myself the ridicule.

It was, after all, the middle of nowhere.

But years later, I came to find out it was possibly somewhere.

It was on a list—courtesy CNN Travel—of America’s best towns to visit in 2025.

And it was on the top, which in this case is the bottom.

10. Rapid City, South Dakota

9. Clarksdale, Mississippi

8. Northampton, Massachusetts

7. Las Cruces, New Mexico

6. Petaluma, California

5. Annapolis, Maryland

4. Bend, Oregon

3. Asheville, North Carolina

2. Missoula, Montana

1. Ithaca, New York