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The continuation of
our trip brought us from Oklahoma City to Santa Fe, New Mexico, to the Monument
Valley, to Grand Canyon, on to Palm Desert, to Los Angeles and Santa Barbara,
to Big Sur and on to San Francisco. The
distance we travelled from Orlando to San Francisco is 4,000 miles or 6, 400
kilometers that is like driving from Athens, Greece to Moscow, Russia and back
to Athens.
The following are the flags of the States we drove through in the second half of our itinerary. |
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The flag of New Mexico is based on
the beliefs of the Zia an indigenous
people the first Spanish explorers met. Dr. Harry Mera of Santa Fe
designed the flag. Four is a sacred
number to the Zia and symbolizes the circle of life: the four cardinal points, the four times of the day, the four stages of life and the four seasons with the sun binding all
of them together.
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The flag of Arizona consists of 13 rays of
red and yellow on the top half, representing the 13 original states. The red
and yellow is from the flag of Spain and also symbolize Arizona's picturesque
sunsets. The copper star represents the copper mining industry in Arizona. The
rest of the flag is colored blue, representing liberty.
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The flag of California is white with a wide red stripe along the bottom, a red star in
the upper left corner and a grizzly bear, walking on a patch of
green grass.
The history of California's flag is interesting. In
1836, Juan Alvarado and Isaac Graham led a revolution against Mexican rule and
declared California "a free and sovereign state". Although the rebellion failed, it inspired the design of the flag of the “Bear Flag Revolt” the Lone Star Flag with a single red star on a white
background. The original “Grizzly
Bear Flag” was raised for the first time by the men who became known as the
"Bear Flaggers" and was designed by William L. Todd, a nephew of Mary
Todd Lincoln the wife of President Abraham Lincoln. The star on the today’s flag was influenced by the Lone Star Flag and the bear was designed to be a symbol of
strength and unyielding resistance.
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