If these hills could talk

What looked like any other hill at first
Turned out to be more than just a shortcut.

This shortcut took me to the round table below

Turned out to be a Rosetta Stone instead:

A compass at its crest pointed – with arrows – in the direction of various points of interest along a 360° view of the rolling horizon.

One such arrow pointed to the Henri-ChapelleAmerican Cemetery and Memorial to which – the previous year – I had biked.


Talk about an uphill pedal for the ages!

I inched up a mountainous road in first gear (I would have gone lower if I could) for what seemed like a good half hour straight, but well worth the delayed gratification too:

The monument was magnificent and the return home 100 percent downhill. (Although at one point I got lost and at another I sought refuge in a torrent of rain under the cover of a railroad bridge.)

Views of the Henri-ChapelleAmerican Cemetery and Memorial
where the Battle of the Bulge was fought

Thus, a year later (in July 2010) – from the vantage of that compass – I was not surprised to see it perched on the sweeping horizon’s most cloud-bound arc.

The memorial is on the distant hillside right above the table on the right

This, of course, is not the Everglades I am talking about
(despite Florida’s State Seal being on the monument in prominent display),

But rather Belgium.


Or to be more precise –

The hills where the “Battle of the Bulge” was fought.

Click on image to see Florida's state seal

Happy Memorial Day