On the rampart of the old ruined blockhaus on Ile Sainte-Hélène, looking across the St-Lawrence River to the city of Montreal at sunset, preferably with a beautiful individual clasped tenderly in your arms.
A certain backyard on Fairfield Ave in Haydenville, Massachusetts.
Well, atop Ben Nevis is Scotland is pretty nice.
Atop Ha Ling peak is Kananaskas Country is pretty great too, and there are a couple of nifty cairns set up for having lunch.
Shearwater Terrace in Sydney, BC, overlooking the Pacific ocean certainly doesn’t suck.
However, I think the most ideal spot is about halfway along the Road to the Sun Highway, on a particular roadside turnout, with a nifty flat rock to sit on, on a hot sunny day, July, 1996 eating a jar of pickled herring. That is truly the most ideal spot.
The Schoodic Peninsula in downeast Maine, and the Florida Keys. I’m just a Route One kind of guy.
– Ukulele “Pines in the Summer, Palms in the Winter” Ike
I have to go with even sven here and say Vernazza. Sven captrued it beautifully in his / her poem.
You cannot take a bad picture here as it all looks like a postcard (and not one of those corny T&A postcards).
My second vote would be for Sequia National Park in Giant Forest underneath the Giant Sequias on a day so foggy you can hardly see your hand in front of your face. I’ve never felt so much like a hobbit in my entire life.
Palma, Ibiza, Rhodes, or (just maybe) Eleuthra. Beachy? Oh,yeah!
If God showed up at my door and told me I could spend tomorrow, and only tomorrow, in any one place in the world, I’d have to opt for:
Daytona Beach, FL.
Laugh all you want, but the water is just about perfect this time of year, the sunshine is almost blinding, and unlike “secluded” beaches, there’s always something going on at Daytona. At least, from March through October there is.
Navajo Lake up in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado.
Navajo Falls in Havasupai (part of the Grand Canyon).
White Mountains of Arizona.
How wonderfully ironic, Tornado. I was composing this very OP yesterday after returning home from the place I grew up - the mountains of western North Carolina.
This past weekend’s weather was absolutely perfect. Sun with puffy white clouds every day (except for Saturday morning which was spectacularly cloudless). Mom, Dad, my brother, my wife and I took a drive up along the Blue Ridge Parkway around Mt. Pisgah. We ate a picnic lunch as we sat atop the ridge line and watched the shadows of the clouds move across mountains that were colored the deepest, lushest green you’ve ever seen.
But for specifics, I’d say the back yard where I grew up. This past weekend the trees were fully leaved, which made the back of our yard almost cavernous-shadowy dark. A steady breeze blowing through the trees, 70 degrees and 30% humidity. In my memory, that’s as close to heaven as I think I’ve ever gotten.
I have to go with Feynn and alice_in_wonderland on this one. It’s definitely in the Canadian Rockies. Oh LOOK! It’s my back yard!
Ginger
Who doesn’t know Mike, and doesn’t want ‘twenny bucks’
I used to live in a small seaside fishing village with a population of around 200 permanent residents.
I lived there from birth until I moved out of my home when I was 19. My Mother stayed there a bit longer then shut up shop and moved to the city.
I haven’t returned very often since leaving there, but the last time I was there was just after Xmas 1997. It was a wonderful Summer morning, the sun was shining warmly and brightly, the wind was non-existent, there were no people on the entire shorefront. The water was still, the waves were silent, the fishing boats sat quietly.
Birds were singing, there was a slight smell of salt in the air, and the sun beat down.
You never appreciate the place where you grow up until you move away…
In fact, here it is. Check out the bottom picture - that’s exactly what I saw that day!
Kannanaskis is definitely amazing - the problem is too many people know about it.
For me, it’s Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba, Canada.
Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico.
It’s the very southwestern tip of the island. Park your car at the end of the road and walk up the trail to the lighthouse. Stand on the cliff and turn your back to the ocean (where the Atlantic and Carribean meet). Be careful and don’t stand too close to the edge - the lighthouse is abandoned because the cliff is crumbling.
Directly below you and to your right is an almost perfectly-circular tidal pool. It’s very shallow and has a tiny opening to the ocean, so the sun evaporates the water very quickly. The result is an extremely high concentration of salt in the water, making it a brilliant turquoise. Also below you and directly ahead is a large marsh, in which the water is red due to the clay in the water.
Directly behind the red clay marsh, a tongue of the Caribbean provides a deep rich blue (Cabo Rojo is on a peninsula that is extremely narrow, but widens at the end).
Ahead of you, beyond the tongue of the Carribean, the mainland starts - about 3 or so miles away. Almost at the water’s edge on the mainland, the mountains spring up, completing the picture with musty greens and greys. The effect is awe-inspiring.
Honorable mention goes to the state of Montana. No individual spot beats Cabo Rojo (although Cracker Lack in Glacier National Park comes close), but the state has too many beautiful spots to number.
Sua
Miami Beach (South Beach), Florida. Way to go, and what’s not to love?
After Miami, Mount Vernon Square in the spring in downtown Baltimore. Flowering trees and plants and kids playing and old folks on benches and I could forgive anybody anything in the spring in Mount Vernon Square. (Eek! That sounds like a doofy seventies song, but it’s the truth!)
Bellingham, WA. USA
We have the mountains within 60 miles, and the drive up there is breathtaking.
We have the ocean. We are within 60 miles of Vancouver, BC.
Seattle 80 miles. We are a quirky little town, with a historic district that lifts my heart every time I go there. We have clean air, clean water, nice and friendly people and we are all a little nuts.
What’s not to love?
Well, the mayor is going to have to go, but that is a picky little detail that will be taken care of in the next election.
And besides, we have…ME! 
Huh. My folks and I used to go there nearly every winter when we lived in Winnipeg.
Sea Breeze Bungalows
Lamai Beach
Koh Samui (small island off the east coast)
Thailand
The first time I left this island my heart almost broke.
I went back a lot of times but it’s been a few years now.
What I wouldn’t give to go back there today…