Escape from 'Heatpocalypse'

We had a great time spending Fourth of July in the Atlanta area, but it sounds like we left the East Coast at just the right time. Atlanta was bracing for what the news radio station was calling a "scorcher" (and when the locals say that, you really have to be afraid). Meanwhile, the Northeast is slogging through the so-called Heatpocalypse, with temperatures climbing into the triple digits.

When it gets that hot, you're better off in Atlanta than New York. At least Atlanta is set up in a way that lets you avoid having to go outside.

In New York, the whole point is to walk everywhere. And even if the subway trains are air-conditioned, the platforms aren't. It basically destroys everything that makes New York such a wonderful place.

It's perhaps a shame that the greatest city in the United States is located in an often-miserable habitat (both summer and winter). But what can you do — it's an accident of history that the country was colonized East to West. And maybe it helps New Yorkers keep their edge.