Continuing my Storyworth project, here’s how I answered, “What’s one of the most beautiful places you’ve ever been?”
I’ve had the opportunity to see many beautiful and amazing places, thankfully, many together with Pam. For most of the years we were raising our kids, we vacationed in the Outer Banks with dear friends, and this remains one of our cherished spots.
I or we’ve see cities that included Springfield MA and MO, Seattle, Portland, OR, Chicago, Phoenix, Sedona, Tucson, Nashville, San Francisco, San Deigo, San Jose, Sacramento, Oklahoma City, Lincoln, NE, Minneapolis, New York City, Louisville, Denver, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Atlanta, Lake Placid, El Paso, San Antonio, Dallas, Brattleboro, VT, Panama City, Orlando, West Palm Beach, Amelia Island (we spent our 25th anniversary there), and our favorite, Boston. When we stayed in the greater Boston area on our 35th wedding anniversary, one of the highlights was going whale watching in Gloucester, MA.
Another standout memory from the early years of our marriage was eating lunch out on the water and watching the loons[1] in Mystic, Connecticut. We went to the aquarium there, and also to Mark Twain’s mansion in Hartford, CT.
We’ve seen Niagara Falls, Lake Tahoe (Pam was brought to tears by the beauty there), Mt. Rainier, the Hoover Dam, Zion and Bryce Canyon, the Grand Canyon, the Garden of the Gods, and Rocky Mountain National Park.
I’ve climbed Algonquin in the Adirondacks and camped outside of Gatlinburg near the entrance to the Smokies. I’ve also seen the Ozarks and, together with Pam, hiked near Franconia Notch in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.
As far as international experiences besides Canada, I had the incredible privilege of traveling to northern India, staying at a location where my daily walks included a view of the beautiful foothills of the Himalayan Mountains. The Himalayas are the world’s largest east-to-west mountain chain covering a distance of at least 1600 miles. The Great Himalayas, the Himandri, include Mt. Everest in Nepal. Fascinatingly, the mountain range with the tallest mountain in the world, Everest, is among the youngest mountain ranges in the world: only 47 million years old! When I learned this and began to meditate on it, the opening to one of my favorite Psalms (one of the oldest attributed to Moses) took on greater meaning:
“LORD, you have been our home for many generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, you are God. From everlasting to everlasting, you are God.” (90:1, NLT)
As you consider how mountains are used here to illustrate God’s eternity, what gets at that picture better: mountains that are 6,000 years old, or “young” ones that are 47 million years old?!!
But if I had to choose just one place and experience to tag as the most beautiful, it would be diving in the Caribbean—both in St. John and Bonaire. Here are a couple of journal entries about our first diving experience in Bonaire:
- “I gaze off our friends’ terrace at the Caribbean, listening to the waves crash steadily onto the shore. The sound is constant and the rhythm healing. The sea is a silky, constantly moving aqua blue with light patches of dark that seem to drift in and out of visibility with the breeze.”
- “Scuba-diving on the coral reef is like gliding weightless through an amazing world teaming with colorful fish, plants, and animal life (believe it or not, coral is an animal!). In fact, despite Disney’s Finding Nemo being child’s animated fiction, it really captures well the energy and brilliantly colored happenings under the sea. Snorkeling also gives a view into this multi-colored, busy wonderland. Diving is unique, however, in that it’s much more immersive and offers an experience like flying in a kaleidoscopic three-dimensional reality. It really was and is an incredible experience.”
[1] Featured in the pic above.