We've had nature experiences that we treasure from earlier travels and would like to hear yours for ideas for future trips. These are the places/times that you said "Wow!" and couldn't believe it was real.

Some of ours are:
driving under a canopy of golden leaves on a dirt road in Vermont;
watching humpbacks and orcas breach near Seward, Alaska;
looking at Yosemite Valley from the turnoff outside the valley;
chasing an endless sunset in West Nebraska;
standing in a field of flowers in the Texas hill country;
walkng among the redwoods on a foggy morning;
watching fish jump up over small waterfall swimming upstream near Mt Baker, Washington;
watching bear cubs frolic in Yellowstone;
watching bison flee from wolves in Yellowstone;
watching a beaver across a stream in woods near our home.

I'd love to hear your Wow! experiences.

Seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time.
Hiking and finally rounding the turn to see Delicate Arch in Arches National Park.
Watching the beginning of waterfalls in Zion after a thunderstorm.
Mesa Verde thunderstorms that shake the ground.
Driving to Alaska and finding bears and moose on the road.
Fresh snow on the ground and trees as we drive up to Tahoe.
Our 4 wheel drive trip to Angel Arch and crossing salt creek some 60 times. BTW, the don't allow this trip by vehicle any longer so it makes the memories that much sweeter.

To name just a FEW!

Thanks for the memories.

Utahtea

Hiking up the Napali coast on Kauai and gazing out over the ocean and seeing the aqua blue/green clear water and underwater reefs.
This wasn't on our travels, but this last winter when it snowed my husband and I took a midnight walk around our neighborhood and through the park. It was beautiful - with the falling snow and quietness. What topped it off was seeing a herd of 9 deer wandering through the park with snow on their backs. Looked just like a beautiful greeting card.

I am easily amazed, but some of my highlights are:
realizing that snowflakes actually look like snowflakes (trust me, in NC they look like big blobs of frozen white stuff, not like snowflakes - many people in Montana thought I had lost my mind); being at Mt. St. Helens and seeing the results of the fury of nature; standing in one of the geyer basins in Yellowstone and watching water boil right beside you; listening to the absence of sound in Yellowstone; being in the Canadian Rockies and seeing the awesome beauty of this earth.

When can I go back?

Waking up at the lodge at Crater Lake National Park (Oregon) to a "winter wonderland" following an unexpected early snowfall in late September. Horseback riding in the lush Waip'io Valley on the Big Island of Hawaii. Traveling along the Homakua coast on the Big island. Swimming in the bay at Lanai, about 20 yards away from a school of spinner dolphins.

"Seeing my home planet for the first time from outer space!"

I have to chime in to say I absolutely agree w/Utahtea!
Hiking & viewing that Delicate Arch for the first time ~just last month ~ was incredible!!
Also, the north rim of the Grand Canyon.
I need to add the drive through Monument Valley, and seeing Lake Powell emerge on the landscape ahead near Page, Arizona. What breathtaking scenery! It was all I had imagined and more!
Must also say seeing Niagara Falls, either from NY or Canada always makes me feel "wow" also. Tricia

Biking along the Cape Cod National Seashore in mid-September.

Tourists were gone, weather was perfect, and beauty magnificent.

Just returned from Alaska and have to say that the glaciers were incredible. Our boat left from Whittier and for five hours, everywhere you looked could have been on a postcard, not to mention sightings of seals, otters and a humback whale.

My first tidal pool starfish in Half Moon Bay, California.
Seeing a deer near a lake reflecting Mt Ranier.
Seeing the fog actually roll over the hills into San Francisco.

Seeing a banana slug in the Ho Rain Forest in Washington--hard to believe it was real

There have been so many!

Watching the waves crash into Thunder Hole in Acadia National Park.

Hiking to the top of a mountain in Vermont during peak foliage season in early October.

Watching the sun disappear behind the Grand Tetons with a double rainbow over us.

Sitting on the riverbank in the Old Faithful geyser basin in early evening as Riverside geyser erupts in an arc over the river, with a herd of elk grazing on the other side of the water.

Our first glimpse of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

Driving across the Bighorn Mountains in Wyoming.

Hiking down to Phantom Ranch in the inner gorge of the Grand Canyon.

Watching a thunder storm bear down on us in the inner gorge, with waterfalls suddenly spouting along the canyon walls.

Watching three condors soar overhead while hiking the Grand Canyon's North Kaibab Trail.

Standing under Deer Creek Falls in the Grand Canyon.

Driving into Zion Canyon in the early evening.

Standing on the rim of Bryce Canyon at sunset.

Driving down from the Kaibab Plateau and past the Vermillion Cliffs.

Monument Valley.

Driving the Million Dollar Highway from Durango to Ouray, CO.

Racing across the New Mexico desert in the late afternoon in order to reach Acoma pueblo before dark.

I'm sure there are more that I will think of later. It is an amazing country.

Sunrise at Sprague or Bear Lakes in Rocky Mountain National Park, seeing and hearing the male elk bugling and herding with their harems in Rocky Mountain National Park, snorkelling a coral reef at St. John or St. Croix (Buck Island NRA)in the United States Virgin Islands, Niagara Falls frozen over in the winter, the Great Lakes, the quiet and serenity of the Valley of Fire near Las Vegas. Now I am sad I am not in any of these places!

Hiking the trails thru Pictured Rocks Park in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, overlooking Lake Superior. Who would have thought the color of the water would be the same as the Caribbean? We walked over 5 hours that day & every time we turned a new corner, we'd say "Now, THIS is the best view yet!" Unbelievable. Only saw four other people in that 5 hour span, but heard a moose snort in the distance.

From our recent Alaska trip alone:

Watching bald eagles prey on smaller birds on the cliffs at Whittier.
Tidewater glaciers calving in Kenai Fjords National Park.
Seeing the salmon jump the Russian River Falls, at 12:30am (and it's still light out).
The arctic creatures of the tide pools in Homer during a -4 low tide.

...and from the rest...

Glow in the dark jellyfish in the Florida Keys.
Green lightning in a Florida hurricane a few years ago, when the water hitting the windows in our condo was coming sideways so hard it was spraying up through the seam of the window.
Snorkeling with a school of manta rays in the Bahamas.
Driving your car through Lion Country Safari in West Palm Beach, where you can stop in the middle of a herd of giraffes and look up out your sunroof at their kneecaps.

One nature experience I haven't experienced, but I've heard about, is a hotel in the Pacific Northwest (I believe on an island just north of Washington) that is located in an ideal location to watch natures fury as winter storms come ashore. Anyone have info?

Watching the turtles on Coldwater creek in Santa Rosa county,FL.Also the birds,mostly herrons,gracefully flying around.Sunsets and sunrises make things really nice,too!

Standing at the look-out over Trunk Bay on St. John USVI and marveling that those gorgeous, white-sand, postcard-perfect beaches we see in travel brochures really do exist. The cays and smaller islands in the distance look like beautiful deep-green humps on the back of a sea monster lurking just under the surface of the bluest water imaginable.

Hiking on the hillsides above Interlaken, Switzerland years ago.

The first time I snorkeled off Moorea in French Polynesia. Remember laughing with joy in my snorkel at the beauty of the life underwater.

Closer to home, hiking to the tip of Cascade Head north of Lincoln City, Oregon...breathtaking view.

The view from the ridge above the cirque on the north face of Three Fingered Jack in central Oregon, and a picnic amongst all the wildflowers in the meadow below.

And a second/third on the Napali coast trip.

Getting naked with my husband on the beach in Jamaica and laying in the sun with a Pina Colada in hand, side by side with my love, and actually feeling pretty comfortable with the full monty!
It sure did 'spice up' our love life, and was very liberating and fun!

Sleeping Bear Dunes in Michigan.

Niagara Falls: the awesomeness of the water constantly flowing.

Snorkeling for the first time in 1994, in the Bahamas....I was hooked after that. Since then, we have snorkeled in Barbados, Cozumel, Key West, Aruba.

Aruba -- the eastern side of the island and watching the waves crash.

Stone Mountain in Georgia.

Picture Rocks in the UP, Michigan.

We are so lucky to live in a country which has so much to offer!

Standing at the top of a hill in West Saguaro Park in Tuscon, Arizona with my famly watching the sun go down over distant mountains.