Speaking for me, I am more moved by the view of nature than by the view of man. That is not to say I don’t find man-made structures beautiful. A lovely hotel can make me go ooohhhh…but driving by a mountain view knocks my socks off.
Crap…meant to add to that.
We recently saw the Biltmore in Asheville, North Carolina. And while that was a beautiful piece of architecture, state of the art for its time (it was finished in 1899) it didn’t have the awesome magnificence of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was awesome in its own way, but the mountains were awesomer. Does that make sense?
I read something similar in a travel guide about Switzerland. It said, IIRC, that the Swiss mountains didn’t get the raving reviews they get now, untill after 1800 and the onset of Romantism. Before, untamed nature was just plain dangerous; now it is a refreshing counterbalance to the safety and controlled environment of our everyday lives.
I read the same thing applies to the sea. It is telling, for instance, that nowhere in the Bible is there any favourable mention of the sea. The sea is a vast place of dark, danger and depths. IIRC, there is even a promise that after Judgement Day there will no longer be a sea at all.
I grew up in a particularly flat part of SE Michigan. My earliest in-person view of mountains didn’t happen until I was 9, but from that moment, I’ve thought mountains are far more beautiful than any other terrain. Even “rolling” country is preferable to flat, but not as nice (IMO) as mountains. If it were possible, I’d love to live in a mountainous region. :sigh:
I used to visit MSU’s Hidden Lake as a psychological tonic. It’s not a huge property (less than 1,000 acres), but much of it is heavily wooded. Whoever laid out the one-lane route through it was a genius. You can “lose” yourself (or at least, I could lose myself) along some of the more vertical parts, and feel as though you’re someplace else. These photos are mostly of other parts of the property (which also includes several hiking trails, three different greenhouse habitats and a small collection of bonsai’d trees, large collections of several kinds of flora {including a wonderful collection of crabapple variants}, and a picnic area)
Being a Native New Englander I find it easy to justify why we’d rather live here in New England than in any other place. I don’t think we’d ever give up out home in Vermont or in coastal CT either.
Plain and simple, it’s just that beautiful.
Well FWIW, that is not true of me. I’m from the Canadian prairies, in Southern Saskatchewan and have lived in Saskatchewan for my entire life (and not in the north half is heavily forested). That said, when travelling, I find mountains awe-inspring, and the ocean mesmerizing. I think that most landscapes have their own beauty. Though I will confess with my dislike for hot weather, I’d prefer to see a desert scape in a photograph.
Absolutely! I’m from VT, lived in Waterbury Center (just south of Stowe) and Springfield. Where you at?
Loved it, but after 40 years of shoveling snow, decided I’ try the AZ desert for a while. It wasn’t the severity of those winters, it was how long the were. As the saying goes, “Had a short summer last year. It came on a Tuesday.” 
It may be unfamilarity.
I’m from southern Ontario. This area is very flat, for the most part, and I find mountains truly beautiful. There are no mountains where I live; to me a mountain is an exotic thing.
On the other hand, to me a lake is just a lake. This is Ontario; there’s lakes everywhere. I’ve lived next to a lake so big it’s really a sea pretty much all my life. Once you’ve seen about five hundred lakes you’ve seen them all.
I know what you mean. These are the mountains I can see from my parents’ backyard, and after 30+ years, I still am filled with awe.
Screw nature. I’ve always found cityscapes easily as attractive as natural landscapes. The vibrancy of large cities is incomparable. Nature is just rocks and bugs.
And i grew up in either the plains or the foothills of mountains, meaning they were miles away, so I find close landscapes, like the mountains and forests around my Mum’s Washington home, claustrophobic. Yet she’s from Minnesota, so there’s no accounting for taste.
Water is always relaxing as fresh water meant water to drink and food to eat. No water= death.
This reminds me of a conversation I had on the bus one afternoon. My sis and I were returning to Mississippi after visting Virginia. One of our traveling mates was a fellow from Detroit who had never been South. As we left Alabama and rolled into the wooded northern part of Mississippi, he asked me (in earnest) “where are the buildings ?? where are the people ??” I gently said that the people and farms are hidden in the woods … . out there … in the countryside.
I then said “Isn’t it beautiful?”
He said “No … it’s scary to me … it looks like a wilderness”.
YMMV, evidently. 
Boy I here you there. You should try it at elevation sometime. I usually have snow in the yard till late May. Now, September, I can feel winter in the air. Not Fall, winter. Surprisingly though, no snow yet.
Last year we picked up 2 feet of snow on October 10th.