sluggo

Have you ever experienced a moment of bliss while traveling? I don’t mean “Gosh, the view is stunning," but something almost spiritual that might have moved you to tears?

I have two such moments to share.

I had just dropped my family off at a hot springs in Banff and took a drive into the mountains in our rented Mustang. The air was cool, the day sunny and clear, and I looked down into the valley at the town surrounded by snow-capped Canadian Rockies. For a moment, I felt like I was glowing.

A few years later, I spent a long weekend alone in the Portland, Maine area. My father had died three months earlier and I needed to regroup. One afternoon, a chilly, windy winter day, I stood alone on the rocky cliffs by the Cape Elizabeth lighthouse. The sun was shining, a few seagulls were soaring and the Atlantic was crashing against the rocks. Suddenly I felt warm and sensed what I would describe as golden liquid light washing over me. Peace!

aloha

Sluggo, an interesting question. My favorite place is Hawai'i. I have seen several extraordinary rainbows--one on a mountainside that covered 270 degrees, from the ridge just above us to far below our level where it hit the mountainside; one that touched the ground about 20 feet from us. These seem almost magical. Watching the surf gives me a feeling that is hard to describe, but I would say is blissful.

LordBalfor

Two favorite such moments actually:

One - It's 2 am on our first night in an overwater bungalow on a small island along the reef of Bora Bora. Too excited to sleep, I rise and step out on to the balcony - where a warm tropical breeze ripples the water as the light from the bright half moon overhead dances off the waves.

A mile or so across the lagoon, the jagged pinacle of Mt Otemanu is surrounded by a horseshoe of towering thunderheads, while miles away to my right, another such set of monsterous clouds rumble in the distance, their muffled thunder barely audible.

The gentle tropical breeze is soft and warm (even at this hour) and the loudest sound is the quiet splash of the waves lapping at the pier. Once my eyes adjust a bit, everything seems brilliantly lit - the water, the massive mountain across the lagoon, the towering thunderheads overhead. I stare down into the water, studying the ripples on the smooth sandy bottom.

Suddenly a pair of beautiful stingrays glide out from beneath me, gracefully skimming their way along the bottom as they forage among the bungalows.

Absolute magic.


2: The night of the absolute full moon, walking along the deserted beaches of Aitutaki. The waters of the lagoon are almost complete still, with no waves at all.

Off to my left, the palms along the beach rustle in the soft tropical breeze. The sky overhead is cloudless, while far off to my right, hunched low over the horizon, a collection of massive thunderheads lay exposed by the brilliant light of the moon - as is everything else (the beach, the sparkling water, and the palms). Though nearly midnight, it is almost bright enough to read.

Other than the soft rustle of the palms, there is no noise.

Suddenly I notice, not two inches from the shore, a small eel slithers along, half-in and half-out of the water. He seems not to notice me as I stride along the waters' edge not two feet from him, but slithers along in a rapid side-to-side motion that carries him along at the same speed as myself.

We pace each for the longest time... until finally, I pick up my speed and pull away.

A moment to remember.

Ken

Ally

Bliss for me was seeing The Southern Cross for the first time while sitting on a sailboat in the Whitsunday Islands while sipping a fantastic Chardonnay. It was just after a spectacular sunset and the sky was still orange and purple.

jasper

i want to take this opportunity to put this blissful, positive, and peaceful moments out there...
1.st. barths...sitting in a rental car at the hotel manapany overlooking a cove, moon,water and palm trees to boot.
2.paris...lighting a candle at notre dame. but not before a baguette alone in a cafe. it was raining.
3.san francisco...corner of haight and ashbury. i'm not that generation, but i really felt it.
4.somewhere, colorado...stopping on the side of the road so dad/brothers could 'find a tree to go behind' or something. we had driven alot, but only after we parked the car that we all noticed the most beautiful, pure, huge, open, field with the rockeys behind it. it seemed to go on forever.

there are so much more. and yes, even after all this time, i often get peaceful moments of bliss in new york, the greatest city in the world.

jersey

Ken, how lovely. You write well.

As for me, I'd always heard of the magnificence of Michaelangelos' David. In my own ripe imagination I'd built up the notion that if I ever had the chance to see the statue in person, then I could die happy. Well, I had the extrodinary pleasure of traveling to Italy several years ago. As I approached the museum where the David resides I knew that I had high expectations. Never, never has any piece of artwork ever touched me the way that glorious, alive piece of marble touched me. I recall stopping just inside the door and looking down that long corridor. I was floored with powerful emotion. As I approached slowly, my feelings grew stronger and the tears began. I was so moved by the beauty and elegance I almost couldn't move. I felt dazed. And all this from a piece of stone. Go figure.

beachbum

1. The sounds of joyful laughter coming from my daughter's snorkel in the lagoon of Moorea. I had reacted the same way some 25 years earlier.
2. Counting shooting stars one night from a sandy beach campsite along the Lower Salmon River in remote northern Idaho. We had witnessed the power of nature from our kayaks that day, and its connection to the display in the late night sky was truly spiritual.

Luli

I'll share mine if you promise not to laugh.
o.k., I'll take a chance.
In the Versailles gardens, on a superb september day - a rush of several feelings (I was startled, excited, afraid) and then the final one, of total peace. I felt like I knew the place, it's hiding nooks, it's secrets. I felt like I had memories in several places in the garden - and the memories rushed back feelings but not the actual events.
I don't know if it qualifies as blissful, but it was spiritual I guess.