Monday, August 04, 2014

Photo Share: Favorite Places Traveled

First, I would like to thank everyone who submitted photographs for this photo share theme: A Favorite Place You’ve Traveled. What I enjoy most about hosting these shares is when the photographs start coming into my email box and then click on the attachments to view them for the first time. Like a kid, I get all excited as if opening birthday presents, eagerly anticipating what’s inside!

And as always, I oohed and aahed over the photos presented here.

What I really love about these photographs is the diversity. And they are also places that I, personally, have never been.

So without further ado, please enjoy some favorite places traveled...

Mark at Mark My Words

I was driving through Iowa, and saw on the map that Clear Lake was just a half-hour detour. I was familiar with the name, because - even though it was before my time - I knew that Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper had died in a plane crash in a field outside of Clear Lake on a snowy February night in 1959. After visiting the Surf Ballroom, where the three performed earlier on that fateful evening, I located a map that showed me where the crash site was. I drove several miles down a rural farm road in the middle of nowhere without passing another human being, and then I stumbled upon this marker. Buddy Holly's signature glasses. I parked my car here and trekked about a mile down a desolate soybean field, finding the crash site nearly unmarked save for a simple plaque and a few offerings left by others. I reflected on the loneliness of the site, and how it hadn't changed a bit in 52 years. And there, I felt still the power of three men who changed the face of rock 'n roll music, and died much too early.

One of the highlights of my trip, for sure.

Lisa at Peripheral Perceptions

Cancun, Mexico
We run away to the tropics to escape the Midwest winters and usually end up in Cancun, Mexico. We’ve been there so many times, it feels like home away from home! We took our first grandchild there when she was 5 months old and will introduce our youngest to the Caribbean sand this winter at about a year old. It’s our favorite place because 1) we can get on a plane at 8am and be on the beach by noon! 2) the beaches are sugar soft and 3) the water is a wonderful shade of relaxation.

Bijoux at Bytes From the Burbs

This picture was taken in the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park in Utah. It was around 7 pm and we felt as though we were the only ones in the park! I will always remember how silent it was there. The 'needles' in the distance look like a city, don't they? You can also see the 'potholes' filled with rainwater in the foreground, that hold tiny ecosystems. You feel as though you are on another planet there!

Akelamalu at Everything and Nothing

Assenza de Brenzone, Lake Garda, May 2014 - it just sums up the whole holiday.

Petra at Petra Michelle

Have always wanted to visit Great Britain and did for a month in 1985. I so loved the people, especially the Scottish who are embracing, hospitable, and lovers of life, I decided to live there for an entire year. Lived in Edinburgh which is an architecturally and culturally magnificent city and from there visited the breadth of Scotland, much of England, Wales, and even Ireland. Scotland was one of the highlights of my life with a trunk full of colorful and magical memories.

Valerie Morrison at Valerie Morrison Photography

This photo was taken on the outer banks of Duck, North Carolina. It's a favorite place of mine to visit because it was the first time in my life I truly experienced a vacation, a life of leisure. We've been going almost yearly for the last 9-10 years and I never get tired of visiting.

Rob at The Luna Park Gazette

Me in 2009 visiting the cliff dwellings in New Mexico. I was staying with my cousin and her family in Santa Fe and this was one the first places I went to see. It was fun at first but as I climbed higher I was really wishing I had just taken pictures from terra firma. But I'm glad I made it to the top, where I learned climbing down was a hell of a lot scarier than climbing up.

-----------------------------------------------------

Again, thank you to everyone who shared photographs for this theme!

I conclude this post with one of my favorite Frank Sinatra songs.

I don't know why, but this song always gets me jazzed about traveling. I have it burned on a CD I listen to whenever I fly. I give you, Frank singing, "Come Fly With Me."

Take it away Ol' Blue Eyes...

Happy travels and have a super Monday everyone! 

X