Melanie, I love hearing about your life! I know it probably sounds silly, but for someone like me who has never been where you live, the little stuff like makes where you live sound very romantic and charming. It's also a treat to simply listen to the use of a word or phrase that is different from here.
North Carolina is one of the states I've not been to, but either is Maine and I made an agreement with my girls that we'll visit there one day and have lobster. :thumbs: There are a few places I really love for their beauty. Here are a few of them:
1. Montana: That's where Yellowstone National Park is and it was neat to watch the water spring up from the ground and imagine that perhaps, at the beginning of creation, springs and mists like this may have been how the earth was watered. Plus it's just cool to see huge buffalo wandering around and ponder how our country used to be, used to look before so much was messed up by so-called progress. http://www.nps.gov/yell/photosmultimedia/yellowstonelive.htm Despite its touristy like advertisements, it's so vast that you don't have to worry much about running into a ton of people, although it does concern me that some of the criminal element has seemed to take advantage of that over the years, so while I'd love to go back, I'd not do so without having others with me and being prepared for an emergency. While it's unlikely, it's still a possibility.
2. Another place would be different part of Ohio during the Autumn season. For a while, I lived in a small town with a large Amish population. While there was little to do if one is into doing a ton of stuff, it is simply pretty to drive down a country road with all the brilliant colored leaves all over the ground and see an Amish man driving his horse and plough through a field right around sunset or stop and buy the goodies from their harvests from stands set up on their front yards. There is also a place in Mansfield called The Kingwood Center, with an old mansion on the premises and great gardens where peacocks and other birds roam free. There were never guided tours when I was there, so hopefully that isn't something one "must" do because I enjoyed going during quiet hours and being pretty much alone with my girls. http://www.kingwoodcenter.org/cms/
3. Oregon, especially Ashland. In Ashland, they have the Shakespeare theater with plays going on quite often and a number of quaint little shops and bookstores. They also have Lithia park, with perfectly manicured gardens against the backdrop of a forest. There is a drinking fountain there with natural mineral water. It tastes horrid, but people have been known to actually pay for it and bathe/soak in it as it is rumored to have wonderful properties. Some do drink it, but I cannot handle the strong taste, let alone pay for it! There is a cinnamon bear (and others) that occasionally come out, so people are supposed to be careful in the mornings and not go off beyond the boundaries. There are speed boat excursions down the Rogue River for the more adventurous, and the ocean isn't too far of a trip to take from there.
So if you end up coming here on a trip and happen to be near any of those places, you'll know what to look for!
North Carolina is one of the states I've not been to, but either is Maine and I made an agreement with my girls that we'll visit there one day and have lobster. :thumbs: There are a few places I really love for their beauty. Here are a few of them:
1. Montana: That's where Yellowstone National Park is and it was neat to watch the water spring up from the ground and imagine that perhaps, at the beginning of creation, springs and mists like this may have been how the earth was watered. Plus it's just cool to see huge buffalo wandering around and ponder how our country used to be, used to look before so much was messed up by so-called progress. http://www.nps.gov/yell/photosmultimedia/yellowstonelive.htm Despite its touristy like advertisements, it's so vast that you don't have to worry much about running into a ton of people, although it does concern me that some of the criminal element has seemed to take advantage of that over the years, so while I'd love to go back, I'd not do so without having others with me and being prepared for an emergency. While it's unlikely, it's still a possibility.
2. Another place would be different part of Ohio during the Autumn season. For a while, I lived in a small town with a large Amish population. While there was little to do if one is into doing a ton of stuff, it is simply pretty to drive down a country road with all the brilliant colored leaves all over the ground and see an Amish man driving his horse and plough through a field right around sunset or stop and buy the goodies from their harvests from stands set up on their front yards. There is also a place in Mansfield called The Kingwood Center, with an old mansion on the premises and great gardens where peacocks and other birds roam free. There were never guided tours when I was there, so hopefully that isn't something one "must" do because I enjoyed going during quiet hours and being pretty much alone with my girls. http://www.kingwoodcenter.org/cms/
3. Oregon, especially Ashland. In Ashland, they have the Shakespeare theater with plays going on quite often and a number of quaint little shops and bookstores. They also have Lithia park, with perfectly manicured gardens against the backdrop of a forest. There is a drinking fountain there with natural mineral water. It tastes horrid, but people have been known to actually pay for it and bathe/soak in it as it is rumored to have wonderful properties. Some do drink it, but I cannot handle the strong taste, let alone pay for it! There is a cinnamon bear (and others) that occasionally come out, so people are supposed to be careful in the mornings and not go off beyond the boundaries. There are speed boat excursions down the Rogue River for the more adventurous, and the ocean isn't too far of a trip to take from there.
So if you end up coming here on a trip and happen to be near any of those places, you'll know what to look for!
