I've been spending a bit o' time on Facebook, in particular updating an application called "Where I've Been."  The application takes all of the nations and cities you've visited in the world and calculates what percentage of the world you've seen.

I've been updating it bit by bit and have found the process to be extremely uplifting as I remember places I've been, people I've been with in those places, wonders I've seen, and more mundane moments that make places memorable.

Which leads to this Sunday's question:

I know it's hard to pick just one, but tell me a story about one of the top 10 places you've been in the world.  What made it so special?

 


Comments

Mom #1

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 07:02:27

My favorite places are the ones I've enjoyed with you, punkin: Tuscany, London, Stratford, St. Petersburg, Helsinki with you and Gigi dragging me around, Ashland, New York, and anywhere at sea, sharing magnificent meals on Crystal Symphony, the fabulous restaurant in Santa Monica, and having you present at my most gratifying artistic moments, the Huntington Library, aboard ship and the Broad Theatre in Santa Monica. The memories and the relationship we've shared are the highlights of my life.

 

Jeffrey Bryan

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 09:06:11

Years ago, after a rather sudden and crushing break-up, instead of going on the vacation we had planned together I got in my car for the mother of all spontaneous road trips. I drove east until I hit Phoenix, drove north until I hit Boise, drove southwest until I hit San Francisco, and then took PCH all the way home. I had a little Volkswagen convertible at the time, and I'll never forgot the first time I saw Carmel. There was this little turnout onto the beach, and it was a slightly overcast Sunday morning. One solitary tree, warped and twisted over the years, stood watch over the shore. It was so serene and simple... and I sat there and healed.

 

Hal

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 09:31:41

In 2003 I went to Paris, all alone except for my running shoes. I spent 10-days running virtually every street in the early morning and then the afternoons further exploring what looked good or interesting during my earlier run that day. What a great trip, I really got to know myself and enjoyed my company.

 

Todd

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 09:51:55

In my top 10 is Alaska. I'd like to narrow it down a bit to a place in Alaska, but the various places my uncle and I visited in 2000 each had their own inimitable grandeur and charm. Whether it was the majesty of Denali or the small city urbanity of Anchorage, the salmon of Tok, or the frontiersiness of Fairbanks. The place has left an impression.

See journals and pics at http://alaska.truffin.com

 

Dan

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 10:53:23

This is hard as we have been to so many great places. One people may not know about is an dig site in Colombia called San Agustin. I was a senior in High School at the time. What made it amazing was: 1) It was the first of this type of sites I had ever been to. 2) It is located on a mesa about 2,000 feet above sea level and the carved stones came from a quarry below. No one knows how they were able to get these huge stones up to the top of the mesa 3) Etched into the stones (estimated to be about 600 years old (I hope I remember that correctly) were pictures of elephants. Elephants are not native to South America! 4.) It was the end of my senior year in hight school. A time where my friends and I felt like the King of the World!

Here is a link to some pictues of the site: http://www.mon-photo.com/South_America/Colombia_3/index.htm

 

Laura

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 14:29:51

Hi Mom,

There have certainly been some memorable trips amongst our travels, haven't there?

So glad to have been there, too, at your moments of artistic gratification and recognition.

And of course, all the times we've laughed and laughed, all over the world.

 

Laura

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 14:31:11

What a great, brave, wonderful thing to do! And I love the image of the solitary twisted tree (was it a cypress?) in the mists of Carmel.

I find nature to be such an agent of healing, to the heart and to the body.

Thanks for sharing your story!

 

Laura

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 14:31:49

That last was, of course, to you Jeffrey!

Also, thanks for the info on how to get my facebook icon up!

 

Laura

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 14:33:40

Hal,

Sounds like a great adventure. I used to be too afraid to go exploring, but as I'm becoming a more experienced traveler, I find the solo adventures to be among the most gratifying.

I had a particularly wonderful afternoon in Copenhagen this past June, just wandering...finding a place to eat...making the waiter take a photo of me...watching the world go by.

Priceless, as they say.

 

Laura

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 14:35:29

Todd,

I'm right there with you wrt Alaska. I didn't get to the interior at all, but the parts of Alaska I saw were (as you say) each breathtaking in their own way.

I remember sledding behind dogs outside of Anchorage. I remember hiking the Chilkoot trail. I remember the serenity of the inner passage. Simply a gorgeous part of the world.

 

Laura

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 14:36:37

Loved the photos, Dan.

Were they like you remembered it? You've told the story so many times and I never pictured it quite that green and serene looking.

(I thought you ARE the king of the world?)

 

Erik

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 20:02:55

I have to list two places:

1) Malibu. Specifically, the view from the hills out across the Pacific, looking north to Pt. Dume all the way south to Palos Verdes. I will never, ever tire of that place. It is the past, it is a place of healing for me, and it sings of all the possibilities of the future (to me.)

2) Meteor Crater near Winslow, AZ. The stunning silence, the desert, sky and sun, and the solitude are brilliant.

 

Laura

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 20:47:37

Ah...Malibu. Yes, indeed. I know just the view you mean.

Never been to Winslow Arizona...although I hear sometimes there's a girl, my lord, in a flatbed Ford who slows down to take a look at hot guys.

 



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