Incredible TRAVEL experiences
 

I'm always looking for new experiences and places to go on holiday. Here are a few things that really standout in my mind, I'd love to hear yours to help me find new things to see and do.<BR><BR>Snowmobiling through Yellowstone on Christmas day. Early morning was shrouded in fog, land and trees blanketed in fresh snow, truly a winter wonderland with steaming, bubbling geysers and wildlife all around.<BR><BR>Eating at an outdoor cafe in San Gimiganano, Italy.<BR><BR>Gondola ride in Venice<BR><BR>soaking in the view at Positano, Italy<BR><BR>soaking in the view of Moraine Lake and Peyto lake<BR><BR>watching whales from a cruise ship in Alaska and from the coast of San Juan Island<BR><BR>campfire on cannon beach oregon at night<BR><BR>hiking to Delicate Arch and turning the corner to see the view for the first time.<BR><BR>driving into Zion for the first time in the evening sunlight<BR><BR>canal boat ride in Brugge Belgium<BR><BR>walking the medieval ramparts of Rothenburg Germany<BR><BR>hiking to the castle on the Mosel River<BR><BR>sight of Paris from the Eiffel at night<BR><BR>Antelope Canyon at 1pm with the magical light<BR><BR>bryce canyon<BR><BR>salem on halloween<BR><BR>Whirling Dervishes in Istanbul<BR><BR>Istanbul skyline at sunset

Snorkeling the great Barrier Reef<BR><BR>Hiking the pristine mountains of Alaska near Kenai<BR><BR>Walking through the shower gas chambers and peering in the ovens of the concentration camps in Austria/Poland.<BR><BR>The glowing/hazy beauty of Lake Como/Bellagio in the morning and evening<BR><BR>View from the Jungfrau of the valley toward Interlaken, Switzerland<BR><BR>Waimea canyon<BR><BR>

Besides the scenery and sights it is the people you meet who create an incredible experience. My favorites:<BR><BR>An overnight trail and camping trip with an authentic mountain man in the Grand Teton range.<BR><BR>Being invited to participate in an autumn Nebuta festival with a Japanese family.<BR><BR>Spending a day with Pacific island natives at the Polynesian Cultural Center in Laie, Hawaii.<BR><BR>Spending a week with the back stage people at EPCOT in Orlando seeing everything from the perspective of the people who work there.<BR><BR>I also have enjoyed snowmobiling in Yellowstone and whale watching from cruise ships in Alaska. Hong Kong Harbor at nighttime is another standout.<BR>

Five views are forever imprinted in my memory: Sunset over the Teton Mountains from Signal Mountain, the Grindewald to Jungfrau to Lauderbrunnen loop, Victoria Peak at night, the Forbidden City in Beijing, and Glacier Bay in Alaska.

Looking up at the stars in the bleak midWinter from the hilltop near the Weston Priory, in Weston, VT.<BR><BR>Enjoying a nocciola gelato alongside a fountain in the Piazza Navona.<BR><BR>Having a grasshopper at the Montparnasse bar in Mykonos, watching the sun set.<BR><BR>Eating a fresh fig, provided by one of the nuns at the St. Margarita nunnery in Cortona, Italy.<BR><BR>Yikes, it appears that most of my favorite experiences revolve around food and drink. :)

Seeing the Crand Canyon for the very first time. This was also my very first National Park experience but it was just the beginning of those experiences.<BR><BR>The spookiest experience was driving into the west entrance of Yellowstone for the very first time at 11:00 P. M. at night and seeing deer roaming around and steam coming up from the ground. We had been delayed with car problems and that's why were were coming in so late. <BR><BR>Utahtea

<BR>watching sunset on Grace Beach in Provo Turks & Cacios.<BR><BR>watching sunrise over the Grand Canyon.<BR><BR>viewing the Adirondack Mts from a boat in the middle of Saranac Lake on a sunny day.<BR><BR>Horseback riding in the Phoenix desert at sunset.<BR><BR>Seeing the Eiffle Tower lit up at night from a riverboat on the Seine (sp?).<BR><BR>Thanks for the memories.

ttt

A night dive off the Kona coast. Kneeling on the bottom around a flood light shooting straight up. 10 Ft Manta Rays doing barrel rolls inside the beam of light,feeding off the planton. Swimming straight for you and pulling up inches from your face, looping right over your head. looking right down their open mouths..Incredible to be sure!

We have people from all over the country stop by San Antonio during the Christmas season to enjoy the riverwalk and to listen to school and church choirs singing Christmas carols.

I enjoy the cherry blossom festivals in Japan. Hundreds of thousands of cherry trees break out into blossom all over the country. Most companies and many families spread their tatami mats out under the blossoms, sing songs, drink sake, and party all night.

Norwegian fjords.<BR><BR>Cape Breton Island.

ttt LOVE reading these! More please...

Having incredible sex with the most beautiful Columbian man that I met in San Francisco. He was a student there. I was visiting. SIGH... that was 1978.

Sleeping on a beach on the Oregon coast with no one there but me - looking up tosee so many shooting starts that I couldn't count fast enough to keep up with them...<BR><BR>Riding across the Arizona desert on an open bed car of a freight train and watching Air Force fighter jets play tage and do synchronized maneuvers in the middle of the night while I was passing through a landscape of 20 foot tall organ pipe (saguaro?) cactus under a full moon.<BR><BR>Arriving at the Gran Plaza of the majestic Mayan ruins in Tikal National Park Guatemala in the midst of a late day sun shower thunderstorm and watching a double rainbow emerge in the sky behind Temple I as the sune began to set.<BR><BR>Going on a guided cave tour in the Belize jungle in the Cayo District at the Caves Branch Lodge - did this for two days this past spring and it was one of the most incredible things I've ever seen or experienced - it is nearly beyond description. Planning to go back there for two more days when budget permits.

Canoeing on the Amazon river at dawn and watching beautiful pink (yes pink) dolphins arc over the water.<BR><BR>Boating through the rock formations in the Phi Phi islands off the coast of Thailand, on our way to the most exotic, tropical and Robinson Crusoe like island I've ever experienced.

Driving from Miami to Key West as the sun was setting. It was beautiful! The sun bouncing off the water.

-Watching a meteor shower in the Sierra's, it was like the sky was being ripped open.<BR>-At night on a beach in Cabo San Lucas, chasing crabs and walking in the moon light with my wife.<BR>-Walking in a stream with eels swimming around our ankles in Tahiti.<BR>-My honeymoon to Cancun, were I became a man.

That first view of the Canal in Venice after exiting the trian station there.<BR><BR>Walking the streets of Interlaken, Switzerland on a cool foggy morning and coming upon a horse jumping competition, the view of this event shrouded in the early morning fog, the horses breaths visible - unforgetable.<BR><BR>My first scuba dive in St. Thomas - yes, believe it or not, incredible dives there all week! The first glimpse of the turquiose ocean from a fishes viewpoint, swimming along side them, seemingly weightless - truly amazing.<BR><BR>Enjoying German beers at biergartens in small towns along the Eurail and watching people all the while - most notably Vilingen & Oberaumagau (sp?)<BR><BR>Endless morning walks along Grace Bay Beach in Provo, Turks & Caicos.<BR><BR>The silence of a long ski lift ride in Colorado through falling snow and the view of mountain peaks in the distance and tall snow covered pines below.<BR><BR>Biking along the Dogwood Canyon Trail near Branson, MO - a hidden little treasure with caves, waterfalls, rivers, cliffs on both sides.<BR><BR>Eating a delicious bier bratten with dumplings meal in Rudeshiem am Rhine in Germany after not eating all day.<BR><BR>The drive through Big Sur - the ocean below - breathtaking!<BR><BR>Biking from Vail Mountain to Copper Mountain in September. The Aspens - spectacular, the little lakes and treasures we saw that can't be seen from I-70 which more or less parallels the trail below.<BR><BR>Wow this is fun, reminds me how fortunate I've been to see so many of God's incredible wonders!<BR><BR>

Hey George:<BR><BR>Riding Horseback at night (x-mas eve) on the beach in Boca Chica, Dominican Rep. (& then having the lights go out in the city and just trusting the horse that's under you to get you back in one piece. He did)<BR><BR>Preparing to land on Eluthera, Bahamas (sorry about the spelling) in a seaplane and looking at that beautiful green sea!<BR><BR>And last but not least one of my fondest memories: Kicking back with a glass wine on the Spirit of New York on a balmy July evening in the summer of 2001 and looking over my shoulder, and then smiling and tilting my head all the way back as the Twin Towers came into view. I remember thinking, only in my backyard!<BR><BR>Enjoy the memories.