I get those big city blues

Just listen to the music
Of the traffic in the city,
linger on the sidewalks
Where the neon signs are pretty.
How can you lose?
The lights are much brighter there
You can forget all your troubles,
Forget all your cares.
So go down town.
Things'll be great
When you're down town.
No finer place for sure-
Down town.
Everything's waiting for you
Down town.

On his 1960 tour, John Steinbeck tried to avoid big cities. He offers several complaints about urban settings, but he seems to me to have had a general bias -- he just didn't like American cities.

I don't enjoy driving around the larger cities nearly so much as those under about 100,000 in population. In the smaller settings, I am able to get my brain around the topography and layout of streets much more effectively. I'm directionally challenged, but after a couple of days driving around town, I start to feel comfortable and can even find my way back home without depending on my GPS navigator.

Two of my last three stops (Calgary and Edmonton) are in the category of behemoth cities. I have been fortunate to find ridges that overlook the downtown area in both towns and appreciate their beauty. And I have driven through neighborhoods at random to get an idea of what life must be like on the city streets.

I stumbled onto a skid row section of Calgary -- under highway overpasses near the downtown area. This tired commercial area had a familiar "feel" to it -- an oppressive air of hopelessness. I observed -- warily -- some of those who occupy that space. Alone, in pairs or trios, they shared a bottle and spoke in very loud tones as if to claim that they have a voice and can influence the factors that are keeping them down.

Despite signals from my internal early warning system, I stopped for gas and watched as one of those leaning against the building pushed himself upright and looked my way. Just then a police car rolled between us and the man turned away.

As I paid for the gas, I asked the attendant, "am I in a high crime area?" He answered more with a look than with words and I decided to get out of the neighborhood before the cop moved on in his beat.

The best way to see a city is as the guest of a resident. Let a friend do the driving and enjoy a guided tour without any of the worries that go along with being a tourist. I had the chance to see parts of New York City in that fashion some 30 years ago and am still surprised at how much ground we covered by bus, subway and on foot. There's no substitute for an indigenous guide.

I'll be in Edmonton for two more days and will venture forth again. The river is lovely and this is a town with a lot of history. I'm not fearful, but like Steinbeck, I don't enjoy the traffic and the crowds and the sense of urgency that seems much greater in metropolitan areas.