When did you feel in awe of nature?

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May 15th, 2001, 06:18 PM

#41

Joanna

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On Mt. Etna where the last lava flow had just stopped before someone's house - they had erected a statue to Our Lady. Watching the dawn break over the mountains from the top of Mt. Sinai (shame about the tourists' excrement!). Riding the train up into the mountains from Interlaken - especially the spectacular view from Wengen. Then the white panorama and mini blizzard from the Jungfrau. Watching the Aurora Borealis from the deck of "Lofoten" on the Norwegian coast. It was an unseasonal show, so we felt especially blessed.

May 15th, 2001, 06:49 PM

#42

cmt

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It doesn’t take much. I can be right near home. Some things will always do it, e.g., ocean waves, especially just before a storm. And storms, ANY time. Snowstorms ESPECIALLY in ordinary locations right at or near home, where I can't help remembering that just a few months before it was blazing hot. A favorite awe trigger is that feeling just before an electrical storm after a long muggy stretch when the air was yellow and sick-smelling and hot and still and opaque like soap scum. The wind starts moving, the air freshens, the color of the atmosphere changes to a clear green like light through stained glass. Then soon there’s the noise and wind and rain and electrical excitement of the storm. Or there’s animal behavior. I swim at a local place that was once a quarry until the cranes hit a natural spring – end of quarry, beginning of a great swimming hole. This quarry is home to lots of wildlife. My favorites are the green herons. Some are more intelligent, less shy, more efficient, more graceful than others. I imagine that I can tell them apart by their behavior. The smartest and most mature of these herons fish with bait! They catch a dragonfly, crush it, refrain from eating it immediately, lay it out on the water, and watch alertly while a fish, about to become lunch within seconds, swims up to eat the dragonfly. I wonder how many ordinary wild animals are much more intelligent than we give them credit for. As I said, for me, it doesn’t take much. But, to bring this back to travel…here are two: the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, because of the rush of water, the enormous cliffs, the vastness of the wilderness, the isolation from roads and towns and structures, and the danger. Mt. Etna, because the mere thought of a volcano is awe inspiring, and this one was active and firing and I was on it and the scenery appeared lunar.

May 16th, 2001, 05:52 AM

#43

Diane

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Arriving at the Grand Canyon at sunrise when I was twelve. A protected cove in the Great Smokey Mountains of Tennessee with the early morning mist rising. Camping along a stream in New Mexico, finally understanding what "babbling brook" means. Driving through the Rockies. Flying over Newfoundland. The mountains in the mist, whales, eagles, from our fishing boat in Alaska. Fall in Maine. The California high desert.

May 16th, 2001, 07:02 AM

#44

Joanne

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1. Standing outside alone early in the morning at a friend's rural home in New Hope, PA, when a flock of Canadian geese flew overhead. 2. Waimea Canyon and my sight of nene geese in Kauai. 3. Many places, waterfalls, bamboo forests, on the Hana Road in Maui. 4. My first glimpse of the countryside on our first trip to Italy when driving from Rome to Tivoli. 5. Fields of sunflowers and olive trees in Spain. 6. The sunsets in Mazatlan. 7. Seeing the elephant seals during mating season here in California. Whale watching off the coast of San Diego. 8. Most recently our visit in the Camargue in the south of France and our visit and hike in the nature preserve there. 9. The mountains, both here in California and as a child in Colorado. All very different, but equally awesome to me.

May 16th, 2001, 11:53 AM

#45

Byrd

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cmt: Your mention of snowstorms brought back a really awesome event for us--the blizzard of March '93--10 inches of heavy wet snow, thunder and lightning, broken pine and cedar trees, high winds. Why was this such a shocking event? We live in southwest Alabama! We're somewhat familiar with snow since we go skiing in Colorado every year, but this storm was unlike anything we had seen out there.

May 16th, 2001, 12:22 PM

#46

Art

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Forgot to mention this one. The volcano going off right in front of me in Hawaii many years ago. The volcano forest (now gone from other eruptions). I also agree with Monument valley, Arches National Park and many other ares in Utah. Looking back down the switchback roads in the Swiss Alps in the early morning where I had driven the night before. The natural caverns on the Blue Ridge parkway and in New Mexico.

Sep 2nd, 2002, 11:45 AM

#47

renee

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Glacier Park in Montana early morning hiking to Iceberg Lake. It was so silent it seemed we heard flowers moving in the wind.

Sep 2nd, 2002, 11:50 AM

#48

mpprh

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Hi diving on great barrier reef mont blanc grand canyon alice springs arctic circle in winter death valley peter

Sep 2nd, 2002, 11:58 AM

#49

Keith

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Arctic circle in winter, Peter? Please tell us more about it

Sep 2nd, 2002, 01:31 PM

#50

betsy

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Didn't read through all the posts above, but the 1989 San Francisco Bay Area earthquake was pretty awesome!

Sep 2nd, 2002, 03:00 PM

#51

HereIn

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1-lying by the pool in Hollywood California and feeling an earthquake. 2-standing on a cliff overlooking the beach/ocean in Montauk NY and watching the hurricane tossed sea. 3-Waking up and walking out into the completely changed landscape of my front yard and street after a blizzard.

Sep 2nd, 2002, 05:55 PM

#52

duke

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1.Looking at the lush green fields with the mountains beyond while standing just outside the Wies kirche in Bavaria. 2. Taking an early morning walk through a pine forest in Michigan with the sound of the wind and the sweet smell of the pines.

Sep 2nd, 2002, 06:32 PM

#53

diane

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Any where in Ireland

Sep 2nd, 2002, 08:55 PM

#54

Melissa

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Looking at the Swiss Alps in person was incredible. Photos and postcards do not do them justice!! I just had some awe-inspiring stuff this weekend. Went to the Big Island of Hawaii and went to the top of Mauna Kea to watch the sunset, then drove halfway down to watch the stars (and the Milky Way!!!! Cool!!!). The next day we went hiking in the Hamakua Coast.....I felt like I had traveled to one of the ends of the earth, esp. when we looked precariously 300 feet down from one of the waterfalls! Nature certainly has a way of grounding you.

Sep 3rd, 2002, 01:52 PM

#55

wendy

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Staring out over thousands of miles of designated wild game reserve in South Africa from a mountain range... tiny dots crawling across the horizon were *herds* of elephant, giraffe, rhino, etc... As far as the eye could see, not a single phone/power line... total freedom for those gorgeous creatures. Later that night back at camp, we had a *bry* (grill-out) and a fabulous bottle of Bordeaux under the stars, the Milky Way, and a full WHITE moon, no dark spots where I am used to seeing them... *wild animal noises* were off in the distance ... we never went inside, we slept by the crackling fire (the only light for miles) under that expanse of sky and just... listened all night. The next morning, we were driving out and I stopped to take a photo of baby elephants playing under trees and in a shallow river, squirting water at each other and playing...until their *dad* came along , a bull elephant and charged me and I ran for the car... I'll never forget that summer.