MetroWhat?

I live in one of the biggest metropolitan areas in the country. Not as big as New York or LA, but geographically huge with people everywhere. This particular metropolitan area doesn't have a single dominant city as it's core. There are no physical boundaries keeping it from expanding in any direction.

When we first got here, I started hearing a term that had me going "What did you say?"

What they call this place is a MetroPlex.

Yeah, as in Metropolis and Complex combined.

After having been here for some time, I have begun to really understand that this name really applies.

This morning, I did a test run to where I have an interview on Wednesday. It is about halfway across the metroplex. I drove on 9 freeways and went through 12 interchanges and15 cities. The trip took about 50 minutes one way. I never went within 10 miles of any of the centers, of which there are about 4.

When I was younger, I spent a summer in LA, well, Santa Monica, but its kind of all the same thing at that point. I didn't venture too far, and got lost only once. Since then, I have been in LA several times and usually end up on roads that I haven't been on before. Still, LA has all these little mountains and the ocean on one side and the desert on the other.

LA might be bigger right now, but this place has potential to be much bigger. I recently saw a 25 year highway plan. Lets just say, while it is nuts now, it is going to get a lot more nuts. And to think when I moved here, I was telling myself I was looking for a smaller metropolitan area.