A tale of 3 cities

We had 3 more road trips this month in our hunt for out next hometown.   First up was Wenatchee WA, a pretty fruit growing town on the Columbia river:

We had bad timing, as the town started burning down the day we landed.  This is night shot from our hotel room ... 30 houses burned down that night, including one of the ones that I was considering buying!  

That fire was mostly out in that neighborhood by morning, and nobody was hurt, but the hillside was blackened:

Some embers flew downtown and started a big fire in a fruit box manufacturing factory.  That black smoke includes fumes from an ammonia tank that blew up in the fire.   We were supposed to stay inside, close windows, and turn off the AC.   I went for a hike and held my breath instead: 

There were big chunks of charcoal ash scattered all over the city:

A nice town, with a great Neurology group, but like Missoula seems too small to support an Epileptologist.

Next stop, after a 4 hour midnight layover back home with a lonely doggy, was Birmingham AL:

The Statue of Liberty inspired local metal workers to build one of the Roman god Vulcan for the 1904 worlds fair:

It is the largest cast iron statue in the world, 56' tall (the Statue of Libery, 151' tall, is made with copper):

Like most of these southern towns, there are pretty green plants and trees everywhere:

This town didn't burn, but the downtown area is pretty economically depressed:

Our last visit was to Omaha NE, another pretty river town, this time on the Missouri river:

The flood of 2011 was 36' above flood level, leaving just this guy's anvil sticking up above the water:

The downtown was nice, with a water park running 4 blocks down to the river:

 


That should be the last of the cities we visit.    Helen is on one last followup visit to AL this weekend.   We expect to hear back from everyone and make a decision on where we will land this Fall within a few weeks.

Bruce