Where's your Happy Place (s)?

I'm happy anywhere in the outdoors, although I have a real preference for remote wilderness. The fewer people, cars, and cell signals, the happier I am.

I'm particularly drawn to the southwest, and although I've been to every national park in the lower 48 I keep coming back to just a handful in the desert.

Big Bend in west Texas:

Guadalupe Mountains in west Texas:

Saguaro outside Tucson Arizona:

Death Valley in California:

Canyonlands in southeast Utah:

Great Basin in Nevada:

A psychologist once defined "my happy place" as the location that you can close your eyes and visualize that you then use to lower stress and anxiety. Sorry no pics, but my happy place is a short trail in central Indiana in the Cataract Falls State Park. It is a trail that follows the creek from the upper to the lower falls, and passes through a pine forest. So I'm standing next to a flowing stream with pine trees overhead and a carpet of pine needles below my feet. It is cool, quiet and the most relaxing place I can think of.

muddymooose said:

I'm happy anywhere in the outdoors, although I have a real preference for remote wilderness. The fewer people, cars, and cell signals, the happier I am.

I'm particularly drawn to the southwest, and although I've been to every national park in the lower 48 I keep coming back to just a handful in the desert.

Click to expand...

Every National? That's impressive. I've been all over the east coast, but never out west at all. I have to admit, it looks amazing. I just have to figure out how to not get dead out there and do it some day.

DavidMcCann said:

Every National? That's impressive. I've been all over the east coast, but never out west at all. I have to admit, it looks amazing. I just have to figure out how to not get dead out there and do it some day.

Click to expand...

I was introduced to national parks when I was an undergraduate in geology. I visited maybe 12 of the 47 parks in the lower 48 while on field trips. I was so enamored that after that I made it a personal goal to see all of them. It took ten years, but I finally knocked out all 47.

The eastern parks are great. I've spent many days and nights hiking, backpacking, camping, kayaking, and snorkeling everything from Isle Royale to Great Smoky Mountains to Acadia to Dry Tortugas. Once you've seen the west, however, it's a whole other ball game.

In particular it's the parks in the southwest that have the most allure for me. Especially the more out-of-the-way, less-visited, less-known parks. I've been to some of these 3 or 4 times. Some people see the desert as a wasteland, but it's both a welcome escape from civilization as well as a region full of a wide array of life and beauty if you take the time to experience it.

There are 59 national parks in the US, however, but the last 12 take more effort to reach. There are 8 in Alaska, 2 in Hawaii, one in the US Virgin Islands, and one in American Samoa. I haven't been able to make it to any of them yet.

Anyplace these guys are playing:

[video=youtube;UQtOHmzj1Kg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQtOHmzj1Kg&list=PL6BBko1h7U4fQJgK2kjSpJyoXXkW8OC4x&index=1[/video]

And, this place isn't bad:



Mike

Nowadays it's about a hundred yards from my front door!

South of Punta Allen, QR, MX. If you get to the lighthouse you've gone too far.

dhbarr said:

South of Punta Allen, QR, MX. If you get to the lighthouse you've gone too far.

Click to expand...

We drove down to Punta Allen once, very cool drive. We used to go to QR once a year to dive caverns (prior to kids), we usually stayed in Tankah.

Mexico has been a big part of my life since spending a year in Saltillo as a Rotary Exchange Student in 1988. Having kids eight years ago reduced us to going every other year, when we were DINKs we went two or three times a year. We are headed to Oaxaca in two weeks, should be fun.

A few pictures from our last trip south of Puerto Vallarta the summer before last.

I got out on the water today in my new kayak. What a great day. I took a ton of photos. I would love to post them but the phone is on the bottom of the river. I flipped my kayak and hadn't completely secured my phone in the pouch on my flotation vest.
I'll be shopping for a new phone tomorrow.

It's still my happy place!!

Len, Your story reminded me of a memory at one of my happy Places.

Halibut fishing in Tomales bay. I got lazy and took my small 8 foot aluminum pram one day. Tomales bay can get windy and is not a good place to be in a small "boat". I had caught a couple of Halibut (not really but it's my story) and all of a sudden the wind comes up. The ramp is about 1.5 miles away, but the bluffs are only about 1/4 mile away. The bluffs block the wind, white caps and rollers. I start my little 3hp outboard and head for the bluff. I didn't even take the time to real up my rods. I'm about half way there and my baits had come to the surface. A seagull grabs one of the baits! I'm trying to real him in and keep motoring in a straight line. I'm not getting anywhere! The seagull is taking out line and slowing me down. I try jerking on the rod and each time I do the seagulls wings fold and he crashes into the water. Wing flutter? I finally get him in close to the boat. My Yellow Lab, Rocket finally see's what going on. I've never seen him take an interest in any bird his entire life, until that moment. I'm now fighting the wind, waves, rollers, a seagull and a very curious yellow lab. I see I barely have the seagull hooked in the beak, by a single barb of the treble hook. I reach for the hook and pause! There's a chance I could become hooked while trying to free the seagull. The headlines flash before my eyes.

Man drowns while hooked to a seagull. His dog remained at his side!

I figure the right thing to do was not to become more "attached" to the situation and get to the bluffs, anchor up, control my dog and then use some pliers to release the seagull. And that's what I did.
The winds died down and I made my way back to the ramp and home in one piece.

Tomales is still one of my Happy Places!


Rocket and my pram. (different motor and location)

Tony

Tony, that is a great story. It would have been an interesting one to witness from the shore!
I wish I had a video of my entry to the water. I'm sure it was amusing.