poll: really cool places you visited & what made them so cool

i was thinking about both the spotlight thread for miles long, as well as my own thread about visiting SF when it dawned on me that among the lot of us, we have lived in or visited some pretty cool places.

where have you visited that was completely awesome? what made it so amazing for you?

ed

p.s.: as usual, my answers later, yadda yadda yadda

The northern west coast of Wales is breathtaking. There's something about mountains tumbling into the sea that completely awes me.

Chichen Itza in the Yucatan peninsuela. I was there when they would still let you climb the pyramid...

Really steep, wind gusts at the top were intense. View spectacular..

The stone work was fascinating...

The observatory just seemed like a movie set...COULDNT be that old, could it??

I got some seeds from the seed pods from a poinsianna tree growing up out of the temple of the warriors...back in my room I realized that one of them had some kind of critter bored into one of the seeds...I tossed them lest I bring some blight from there to the Sonora Desert where I live..in hindsight Im sure it would have been fine and the product of that tree would be 22 years old this July.

Also snorkeled at Xel Ja (sp?) on that trip. amazing experience.

Tintagel in England. One of the (probably many) possible sites of Camelot.

Walking down a steep staircase, crossing a small walkway, then quite the stair climb to the top; remnants of animal pens, nothing to further the idea of Arthur, but standing on that site, looking at simple stone remnants...you could feel the history.

What made it extra fun was how the town was entirely devoted to the theme in true tourist-trap fashion. The souvenir stores chock full of Arthurian memorabilia, an outstanding visitors centre, including a small throne room (the English really do these things properly) and what has to be the best fudge store in existence, Granny Wobbly's.

From an American's point of view, England is a bit wacky, but in such a good way.

Machu Picchu was amazing. The views, the climbs, the skies it was all breathtaking. It's amazing to think people actually lived and worked there. The whole place kind of feels like the setting of a Tolkien novel.

Second would be Newfoundland. When you are out on the remote areas of the island where the rocks abruptly give away to the cold, fierce N. Atlantic you really feel like you're at the ends of the earth.

Both places had this awesome sense of remoteness. Growing up in the US it's hard to fathom remoteness; we have roads every 20 feet. But there are some places that there are no means of getting in or out of short of trains, boats, helicopters, etc.

I haven't traveled a lot when compared to some people. I've never been out of the states. But one place I want to return to is Mendocino. I have a dream about this place. I dream of standing on the beach and saying, "You fucker. I'm making this trip for me now, and I'm enjoying it. Finally, you asshole." (I went to Mendocino once with my ex. It was supposed to be a great weekend. It turned out to be the weekend from hell).

query said:

...
Also snorkeled at Xel Ja (sp?) ....

Click to expand...

Maybe you are thinking of the park at Xel-ha. The snorkeling is very good just a few kilometers south at Yal-ku.

Going to the giant redwood groves in northern California, being among trees over three hundred feet tall and feeling very, very small.

damn. reading the posts in this thread makes me glad as hell i started it!

ed

I did most of my traveling when I was still in my teens.

In Spain I fell in love with Toledo, and the just crushing sense of history. Being from the US, which is relatively new in the grand scheme of things--touching walls, as we wandered through the streets chasing down every freakin El Greco painting known to man, that were centuries old, really struck me.

We traveled through the Basque and saw Roman aqueducts, and some of the most beautiful scenery.

Then to France, Paris was fine, but I fell in love with Avignon and the little hotel with the wrought iron balconies. We finally ended up in Nice. A girlfriend and I got up at 6 am, went and bought croissants and strolled through the flower markets, arm in arm. The warm croissant flaky in our mouths, the scent of millions of flowers in our nose, and secure in thought that we would be best friends forever.

Ah, c'est la vie.

silverwhisper said:

damn. reading the posts in this thread makes me glad as hell i started it!

ed

Click to expand...

Indeed!

I always browse the book section on my frequent thrifting excursions. I recently had a San Diego Travel guide about a decade old catch my eye. Lots in there I had no idea about and I have visited there frequently, So, trite as it seems a travel guide is probably worth looking over...I like to do as locals wherever I may be.

So that led me to look in the travel section and I purchased "1000 places to see before you die" or some such. In the US I have seen a number of them and would recommend...the rest are a fun pipedream, unless one can still work a tramp steamer?

BertrandRussell said:

Maybe you are thinking of the park at Xel-ha. The snorkeling is very good just a few kilometers south at Yal-ku.

Click to expand...

That is exactly it...I started to spell it that way, and it looked wrong.

Lighthouses...I love lighthouses.

There is one located about 5 miles south of Yachats, Oregon that is really nice on a great site...

Monk's Mound, the largest pyramid in North America. East St. Louis, Illinois. You can climb the mound that overlooks the mississippi, and see the Arch in St.Louis. Wonderful history of an ancient peoples, and you can walk the grounds and see somewhere around 75 conical mounds, and then visit the museum.

one really amazing place i visited years ago was cheju, which is a small island off the southern coast of korea. it's a very popular honeymoon destination for both korean and japanese couples and it's easy to see why. it was freaking gorgeous.

one thing that i find absolutely fascinating about cheju: everyone is familiar with the easter island head statues, right? cheju has similar carvings. quite mystifying.

and it was pretty darned cool to see my great aunt, who lived there until she passed a few years ago.

ed

Australia. Great people, scuba and rugby. Not to mention some wildlife we don't have.

New Zealand. Great people, scuba and rugby.

Cayman Islands (number of times). Some of the best scuba in the world, and once swam with a wild dolphin in the open ocean. Also once saw a pod of killer whales, fortunately from the boat.

Cozumel (number of times). Great people and scuba. Just a nice place to go.

Crystal Springs, Florida. Swam with the manatees, awesome experience.

Florida Keys. Great people and scuba. Plus, it's a lot closer.

Notice a trend here?

Alaska. You have to see it to believe it. Big, raw country. People are a bit different than those of us from the Lower 48. Then again, I'm from the East Coast/MidAtlantic area, and we're different than everyone else anyway.

Wine country California. To hell with San Fran, just another city. That part of Cali is fantastic.

Closer to home:

Gettysburg, PA. Seeing where Pickett started his charge gave me chills.

I've been to Italy many times and love it.

To me, the best city on the planet is Florence. The culture. The art. The History.


Damm... I think I'm getting wet just thinking about Italy!