Where is it that you go?

Phoenix-- I just stuck Myakka River State Park into my travel favorites. We go to Anna Maria Island every Christmas and that's just ten miles or so away. Now I really can't wait for Christmas. wow.

Dyslexia: superb words for a wonderful place. Makes it kinda hard to drag oneself back to the house, don't it?

And Piffka makes my mind bounce back and forth between the huge and small images. And you are right, there is a different world at 4 or 5 am. I once wrote: Nature's nightworkers, those who hunt in the dark, can be seen heading homeward, and the day shifters come out, still full of sleep and start to browse. Are these words about an early morning beach or the corner of 39th and Eighth Avenue-- Hell's Kitchen New York. Hard to tell.

Ceili: so much beauty and magic. What must it have been like for the Haida to live there two thousand years ago? A land of plenty with the power of the waves on one side and the deep forested mountains on the other, a place for great dreams and deep sleep.

ci: With all your travels I would have thought you would tell us about some secret place long distant instead you confirm that there's no place like home. No truer words.

Diane wrote: But what a tremendous exercise for the soul and heart that would be. Start now. I will too. When I started to write the question for this thread, I thought of the road in West Texas and about twenty other places sprang to mind all vying for a place. These answers have brought up a dozen more including floating on the Illinois or drifting a canoe on a early morning Grand Lake.

You thanked me for making you stop and think about the beauty in which you live, but it's the beauty that makes you stop, I am just one of the traveling mercies calling, it's the beauty that makes you stop.


Joe

I am floating on my back in the lake.
No motor boats are allowed.
Canoes. Loons. Muskrats. Fish.

I am floating. Breathing. Barely thinking.

I need to be in or near water to feel comfortable and safe.

On a colder day, when the water isn't very friendly, I'm lying on the end of the dock, looking up at the sky. Wondering why I don't fly off the earth as it spins. Water below me, sky above. There is no other place for me.

I close my eyes and think back to the day I spent alone with my husband on Hawksnest Beach on St. John. Verdant mountainsides filled with tropical flowers, sloping down to a perfect, crescent shaped sugarsand beach. A coral reef began at the beach and reached out about a quarter of a mile, so we could walk right into the warm, seagreen water and begin snorkeling right there. No one was on the beach but us that day. A few wild donkeys meandered by. Most beautiful beach I've ever seen.

Reliving this memory while getting a massage always works for me, Joe.

Will think of more.

Joe Nation- Be aware that the park can be crowded during the "season", especially around Christmas. There are lots of places to "hide", but the airboat ride around the lake becomes very crowded. They do rent canoes and kayaks. (I love to "stalk" the alligators in the lake. They always chicken out before I do). If you want solitude during that time of the year, go early in the morning, or later in the afternoon!

There is a path that is behind the concession stand that takes you to a dike. You usually can see lots of birds and alligators there. Also, the north entrance is only open on the weekends. If you go during the week, you will find that if you go along the road towards the north entrance,(make a right where the road to the consession stand breaks off) it is pretty quiet. The hiking trails are over there too.There are also places to stop and check out the wildlife on the lake.

For me it's right here at home. It's very peaceful and quiet here where I live. I love the ocean and wide open spaces which I have without leaving the house.

Phoenix ::Thank you, thank you, thank you. Looking forward to the float.

Eva: sugar sand and seagreen water..... what a vision.

Damn Montana! you make me jealous and I'm trying to find peace.

Joe
I lived in the city most of my life, so I hear you loud and clear ;-)

I just moved onto a 5-acre property, in the foothills of Mt. Rainier (Washington State).... my property is all woods, with a clearing in the middle for the house, pasture, barn, pumphouse.... I'm following some deer trails to find some small openings, where the sun is clear of the tall fir and cedar trees.... I'm making those clearings my little zen meditation places.... I was thinking about making a zen garden in one of the corners of the pasture, where there are some stumps and a canopy of cedar branches.... so far, I haven't changed anything there.... it's kinda nice, just the way it is.... I guess a 'garden' can be anything we want it to be....

It's normally very peaceful and quiet here.... but, earlier this week, I discovered what a "tree cricket" is.... LOL... they sound like an electronic beeping device.... I thought there was some sort of homing device in the tree and maybe the aliens were going to land.... LOL... then, I discovered it was a bug!!!...

:-)

LOL PAL. Those bugs can sure make a racket. We have loads of crickets here, but I don't mind their sound. I'm glad to hear that you like your new place. Sounds like my kind of place. We have 5 acres as well and I love the space.

Hi Montana... LOL... I sent the tree cricket to you!!... I'm loving it here... and, the dogs are loving it, too!!...

I was thinking about where I go, other than my home.... my first thought is of the White River, on the other side of the mountain.... I found a lovely place there, last Spring, where I could sit quietly and listen to the river flowing over the rocks....

:-)

Thanks for the cricket. I can never have too many ;-) It truly does sound beautiful there :-D

PAL - think a saw a picture one time of your wonderful place

Some says when I need a break at work I drive 3 miles and sit on a bench:

I need the water.

Ocean, preferably, but, failing that, just a decent expanse. I live about a kilometre from one of the bays of Sydney Harbour, so I can wander down there, and just watch the water and the light,, and the birds.

Currently, I drive to work each morning around a small bay, which looks to the city, and I'm often held up there - so just sit and watch the water.

There was a place in Mexico, called Rocky Point, where I went with my best friend's family.
One night the moon was full, about two thirds above the horizon and enormous, larger than any moon I had ever seen--gold like Mayan gold.
We could hear guitar arpeggios floating on the air as we say there, not speaking, just looking.
The tide had gone out about a quarter mile and we saw a coyote trotting out to the little tidal pools, finding his dinner of small fish, snails and crabs. As he got farther out he stopped, raised his head and started to howl, that eerie, ululating howl common to coyotes. He was perfectly silhouetted in the center of the moon.
As the howls receded, the quiet of the soft, Mexican night drifted down on us and we slept on the beach, bathed in moonlight.
This memory is as clear as when it happened, about 50 years ago. It is one I obviously treasure and go to when I need real peace.
I'm not religious, but experiences like that are, to me, religious in their almost surreal beauty.

Wow!!! Diane, that sure is something to remember :-)

I spent 10 minutes here watching the light then decided to take the picture a couple hours ago.

That's beautiful Husker!

more pictures in gallery soon i hope

Cool :-)