Inspired by a MPSIMS thread about the Appalachian trail I wondered about natural places that just make you go - WOW!! THAT IS ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!
In this time of war, I find myself looking at old photo’s of the Grand Canyon, Sedona, AZ, Mogollon Rim, Shenandoah National Park, Glacier National Park and Castine, Maine… Places untouched by humans, showing the raw beauty of nature.
There is nothing like standing here or here or here … And just listening to the wind, and smelling the clean fresh air…Anyone want to take a virtual trip with me?
All of it! (To directly answer the title of the OP.)
But for now, I’m going to pass on the virtual trip: in a couple of hours, I’m heading out to the Outer Banks–a rather awesome part of the Earth–to spend the weekend with the beach to myself before the tourists come and start spoiling it!
But I would say Yosemite National Park trumps both of them; it’s one of the very few places I have been which has literally brought tears to my eyes. Unfortunately, I have just noticed that my entire Yosemite virtual trip is completely missing! And it’s not on my local backup either! :eek: I’ll add pictures later tonight.
The mountains of Lappland (the northernmost region of Sweden). Huge, majestic, surrounded by spectacular clouds. I come from a relatively flat part of the world and can stand staring at the Lappland skyline for hours on end.
The view out to sea underwater in the Mediterranean. White sand, pure blue water. An occasional school of silver-coloured fish darting by. You just want to walk out there, into the depths, and never look back.
And people say skeptics have it boring since they don’t believe in magic. Guys, I say… Nature is magic.
I never feel more connected to the Universe than when I’m near, or even better in, the ocean. Snokeling (and probably diving if I ever learn how) is practically a religious experience for me.
Homebrew - gett’in my diving lisence was the best $99 I ever spent… Granted the 1500 for everything else was a bite, but now it only costs my wife and I $3 to fill our tanks.
I am absolutely fascinated by the Florida Everglades. It’s such a complex ecosystem. I love how you can drive down the highway and see crocs along the sides of the road. I’ll dig up a link here in a sec.
I agree with Indygrrl about the Everglades; although I’m getting itchy remembering the mosquitoes.
Three years ago, I was just returning from this trip, where my wife and I got to see a large chunk of the US by driving from PA to Vegas and back for a convention. I’ve been dying to repeat the trip.
Most of the pics are in Vegas, but I have a few of the crossing in there, and I should add more.
Yosemite Valley is an excellent choice. Whenever I go, I feel like a hick tourist in New York City–I just stand staring upwards, spinning slowly in circles, in slack-jawed wonder…it’s so goddammed purty.
Lake Tahoe has a little more accessible, less show-offy, gorgeousness about it.
I really love nature, some of the ones in my area, that stickout in my mind and make me think about things.
The Majesty of the Grand Tetons.
The power of Yellowstone falls.(Yeah it’s not as big as Niagara) It’s just so intoxicating to close your eyes and just feel the thundering power.
The agelessness and natural art of the Moab/Canyonlands area.
The the remote-ness of a few of my secret mountain fishing holes. It’s just amazing that possibly less than 5 people a year walk that land, and it’s just possible I’m looking at a tree that has never been seen by anyone else ever.
After a day trip to the Grand Canyon, we stopped at Meteor Crater near Winslow, Arizona.
I stood on the rim of the crater, looking at the vast hole in the ground (it’s odd, being amazed by something that isn’t there). My wife came up to me and said, “It’s a bit of a letdown after the canyon.”
I turned to her and said, “It took the Colorado river a hundred million years to carve the Grand Canyon. This crater was formed in about three seconds.”
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