I realize there are innumerable gorgeous landscapes all over the world, but this is one of the most broadly accessible (in terms of appreciation, not location, necessarily). It's also a mecca for adventurers of every level of ability.
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| Photo courtesy of Hiking in the High Country |
As I think about the spaces that inhabit me, those places, memories of which routinely bubble to the surface, I am a creature of habit. The Charlevoix region (land of perfect northern agriculture)...:
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| Photo courtesy of About.com |
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| Photo courtesy of Windrush Landscape Gallery |
What landscapes do it for you?
PS: Yesterday's bike ride through the Creeper Trail was AWESOME. Not physically challenging - if a bit dangerous - and insanely picturesque.
PPS: Today's outdoor activity is hiking the Boone Fork Trail. (Pic at the top shows one of its landscapes and I understand it's sublime.) It's a 5 mile loop encompassing climbing up rocks, walking through meadows and wading through streams.
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The fjords of Norway do it for me. It's the most beautiful place I've ever been to. Everything I want is there: water, mountains, tall, tall pines.
ReplyDeleteI totally want to go to there!
DeleteYeah, if you don't like rain, don't come here. . . but I have to say that I love, and find sustaining, the open view from our beach, or from my livingroom windows -- coastal mountains in the distance, island-dotted waters before me. The only other time I've found a home whose windows offered such an appealing (to me, at a gut level) view was at a cousin's home in North Yorkshire's Moors. So I guess what I love is open, sweeping, but with elevation somewhere on the horizon. I was blown away by prairie flatness, but would find it hard to adjust to. And I would find it very hard to be far from a large body of water. Inland makes me feel claustrophobic. . .
ReplyDeleteIt's like a sickness for me. I hate to get wet (unless I'm in the shower), even if the environment is beautiful and dewy. Today, the only thing that I found difficult on the (most amazing) hike was the part that was muddy and when we had to cross streams. The idea of getting my feet wet - or worse MUDDY! - was very disturbing.
DeleteI've walked part of the Boone Fork trail. You are so right, that part of the country has a mystery that runs very deep. So much hiddenness and streams and gentle rivers and all the beautiful rollingness of it. My husband grew up in that part of NC--many of his relatives are still in Boone-- and my grandfather was from that part of Tennessee, too... we're both Scots-descended, and I always feel the Scottish immigrated there because it reminded them so much of home. So Scotland--the highlands and around the Glencoe region, ohh all of it--really inhabits my soul on a deep level. Much more so than tropical or arid landscapes.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a beautiful holiday!
So you know what I mean! Amazing that you've done it too. It is GORGEOUS in a crazy way. My sister lives near Boone in the cabin that my parents have owned for about a decade. It's like living in the trees in the cabin.
DeleteI love getting anywhere outside, so long as it's not raining!
ReplyDeleteThere are some beautiful beach- and hill-scapes in New Zealand. But then I love the contrast with the deserts in Central Australia... it's unusual to be able to look to the horizon in any direction and not see a single feature!
I forgot about those landscapes! Both are superb. I particularly love NZ - though I do think of it as being quite rainy. (That's where my love of Australian landscape kicks in.)
DeleteSilly to say, and I know they're boring to most people, but the prairies take my breath away. Like the sky is about to swallow you up, and there's so *much* space all around, going on and on. There's it's own kind of grandeur. And the sky. I could talk about the sky all day.
ReplyDeleteBut then, it's also home. I don't think I've ever spent enough time anywhere else to really feel like I got to know it, y'know. I've been places, but a visit for a day or even a week doesn't feel like nearly enough to actually appreciate anywhere.
That is a beautiful landscape! The sky is perfection on the prairies.
DeleteSounds like you're having a splendid time! I agree that landscapes around GA & TN are really breathtaking. I live in GA and haven't really explored like I should. But I love the mountains in Utah and New Mexico. Simply gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteOooh, more good suggestions. New Mexico is so otherworldly.
Deleteooooooh, all of these places look and sound fabulous.
ReplyDeletei am not a super outdoorsy person, but i do like beautiful scenery and hiking (preferably if it isn't too steep -- i am lazy).
have you ever been to muir woods near san francisco? point lobos by santa cruz, california is also lovely. i took a trip out to oregon a couple of summers ago, and i was STUNNED by the amount of trees and trails they had handy. it was pretty amazing.
i have yet to visit any of the sites you mentioned, but hopefully i get to them sooner or later! :)
I forgot all about California! The Ojai Valley is spectacular. I haven't been to Muir Woods but I bet it's terrific. Hmmm...
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