For me, it's Central and Northern California. I've been lucky to see much of the world (though there is still much more to see, to be certain), and I have yet to see a place quite as perfect.
A buddy of mine now works for Apple computer, so I have a place to crash if I head up that way. He lives in Los Gatos, near San Jose, and is very close to the base of the Santa Cruz Mountains. So, for the first day, the matter of order was a trip to my beloved Monterey.
Went to the aquarium for the first time in about 10 years and was pleasantly surprised. It's still basically the same, of course, but now they have a young Great White and a couple sunfish in the big tank. It's the only place in the world with a Great White in captivity, and they know it can't last, but they are taking care of him for a little while until he gets a little bigger (he was caught in a fishing net). The sunfish they have there are gi-frickin-normous. The big one weighs about 1000 pounds and looks like a cross between a flounder, a flying saucer, and James Edward Almos. Just take a look at a picture of him here--I can't explain it. The pics of the jellyfish came out much better though.
After that, we did the 17 mile drive thing and had a couple whiskies out on the patio of the Spanish Bay resort listening to the Piper serenade the sunset that wasn't really there--pretty foggy. But listening to a Piper out on the tee box of one of the world's most beautiful and pristine golf courses...the fog just makes it better. Whatever sins Tom Watson may have been guilty of, forgive him. Spanish Bay absolves all.
The next day we went hiking in Big Basin Redwoods State Park. Incredible place--though the hike we took damn near killed me. I agreed to do the 10-mile-and-change hike vs. the 5-mile-and-change hike. Then I was talked into doing an 11-miles-and-change trail because the route looked fairly flat and there was more to see that way. Then, after starting out on it and, conspicuously, not being told about a detour, we were presented with a sign telling us about a controlled burn and an alternate route that added not just another mile or so, but a drastic elevation change for flavor.
Sunny point number 8 or 9, when they talk of an elevation change ranging in 1600 feet, they don't mean it in the same way as a mountain--as in go up 1600 feet and then down, but a continuous range in elevation of 1600 feet--up and down, and up and down....forever. Or so it seemed, anyway. *Then*, sunny point number 14 or so, the route ended up being uphill for the last 3 out of 4 miles. I could feel my legs starting to fail (as in, trembling and stinging quads fail) but, painfully, and thankfully, made it out of there. Enough of my sob story though.
The place is amazing. I've seen the films, the pictures, the documentaries, etc., but one is never quite prepared to really grasp how amazingly huge those trees really are until one actually sees them. And a few of those trees are older than Jesus--some maybe even older than Socrates or Julius Caesar. Most all of them over 200 feet (of which there are quite a few) are older than gunpowder, the Crusades, the discovery of the New World, Azteca, the Ming Dynasty, Islam, the Enlightenment, and the printing press. And these are trees. It's a great place to feel small and temporal. Pictures can be found here.
But before you think I've gone all hippie, know that my friend enjoyed driving his new V-8 Audi on the roads in and out of the place. I was jealous, but glad that he got more out of it than me since I was the one crashing at his place. What made me more jealous was the fact that he lives an hour or less from this place--and a shade over an hour from my beloved Monterey--whereas I live an hour away from......Casa Grande.
I had salmon with a Singapore curry sauce served in a banana leaf for dinner later that night! And it was under 20 bucks! The weather was beautiful. The women were beautiful. The scenery was beautiful. The gas stations sucked, but they are gas stations--they are supposed to suck. People there don't dine on hot dogs and taquitos with a half-gallon of orange Fanta to cleanse their palate, so they don't need nice gas stations. Instead, they eat things like salmon with a Singapore curry sauce served in a banana leaf and cleanse their palate with fine wine or gourmet coffee or ginger lemonade or, perhaps, just plain frickin' water, but it's good. godDAMMit is it good.
If that makes them snobs, fine, let me be a snob with them. But I would submit that they just know a shitload more about living well than most. No wonder they have all the money, talent, and innovation. If you were a gifted person sitting on a multi-million dollar idea, where would you want to live?
