Most beautiful natural scenery in US - Most beautiful city in the US

[Taverner]

OK...for me the most beautiful natural scenery is the Cascades in Oregon and Washington. Any time of year, and it's breathtaking.








And for cities, San Francisco of course :)

[Wetzelbill]

1. Good choices! I'll go with Glacier National Park and Seattle

Elliott Bay (body of water Seattle is located next to)

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

6. Wow

I like that second one!

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

7. kicking myself for not being their

and closer to 700 club

[EstimatedProphet]

9. I'll second you on Glacier

It's hard to believe how pretty it is without being there

[Taverner]

15. I climbed Middle Sister in the Cascades

The glacier was amazing, especially the ice sheets that had seemingly erupted out of parts of it.

Nothing I have seen since even remotely comes close.

[XemaSab]

2. Alaska and Santa Barbara

*end of thread*

[Joe Fields]

3. I'm in love with California's Redwood country...

but all the pictures in the world can't do it justice...

[Taverner]

14. No they can't

Anywhere in Humboldt County has amazing, breathtaking, shit-your-pants awesome Redwoods.

[Joe Fields]

35. Not to sound like Johnny Cash, but I've been most everywhere in the U.S.,

and Humboldt County is nearly impossible to beat. Redwoods, to me are the most awe-inspiring largest living things on earth. They are my religion, my tabernacle.

[Taverner]

39. And Arcata, CA is a pretty nice city to boot

Very VERY lefty city. Makes Berkeley look like Colorado Springs in comparison. Lots of old Victorian homes, redwoods all over town and LEGAL MARIJUANA. Yeah, you heard me. Legal. Like the county decided one election not to enforce marijuana laws and not assist the Feds in busing growers.

[Arkansas Granny]

4. I don't really have a choice for most beautiful city, but when it

comes to beautiful natural scenery, I nominate the Ozarks of Northern Arkansas.

[EstimatedProphet]

16. That's another good one

The Current river in s. MO is so blue, you'd think it was dyed.

[Radical Activist]

5. A couple

Favorite natural area, Great Smoky Mountains.



City, Chicago:

[davsand]

10. The Lake front and Lake Shore Drive--nothing anywhere to compare to it.

I can't find a photo to do it justice, but Chicago's lake front truly is an awesome sight. Want an awesome view of Chicago, the Lake, and Grant Park? Go to the Essex House on Michigan Ave. and get outside on that rooftop deck...

I will admit it--I loved San Francisco, and I liked New York. Even Miami was nice (well--parts of it, anyhow.) None of those cities held any more beauty, in my opinion, than Chicago.



Laura

[Left Is Write]

8. Lake Tahoe.

[lost-in-nj]

11. My Mom loved the cascades and Washington

I think seeing the US in an airplane is an awesome sight....
the flight from NJ to Vegas is awesome.....
going over the badlands is a sight
Not to mention the flight to Key West.....
the colors are amazing
The ferry ride from RI to Martha's Vineyard is pretty awesome to




lost

[Louis C. Phurye]

12. Wild, rugged beauty, hands down- Yellowstone.

Even with the over-crowded tourista areas. The geysers all have their distinct personalities, I've never seen anything quite like it, except for maybe seeing magma come out of the ground in Hawaii. This one, Grand Prismatic Pool was amazing, the steam rising up scatters the colors of the bacteria in the pool, giving the mist a rainbow effect. Otherworldly.

Incidently, I've climbed that peak to the farthest left, South Sister. Mount Bachelor in the foreground.

Im going with S.F. on beautiful cities too.

[mentalsolstice]

13. I'll go with San Francisco for most beautiful city

I'll challenge you on scenery...my favorites are the Smokey Mountains



or

Acadia Nat'l Park in Maine

[WritingIsMyReligion]

29. Oooh, Acadia is beautiful.

:thumbsup:

[chknltl]

17. Taverner: Any info on those shots?

Specifically the aerial one of the cascades. I recognize Mt Baker with the twin peaks directly behind her and Mt Shuksan to the right and slightly forward. That would make the closer of the two distant top right mountains Glacier Peak and a faded Mt Rainier as the one furtherest right. If This is the case then that straight line which runs between the nearest unknown peak and Mt Shuksan is the border between Washington and British Columbia. So what is that closest peak, the one in Canada? Is it Whistler or Garibaldi or what? I confess to never having seen this viewpoint before and that peak is a bit confusing to me. It makes me think that my whole notion of what I am looking at here is way off! There is a peak in BC visible from Bellingham Wa. that is kinda off in that direction though. Can you clear this mystery up for me?

Oh and I'll agree with you that the Cascades are drop dead gorgeous but...I think beauty is in the eye of the beholder. We live on a drop dead gorgeous planet! I love it all! (That is the testimony of one who feels Tacoma Washington is God's country as well...afteral: 156,000 alcoholics can't be wrong!)

[donco]

18. St louis skyline isnt too shabby

When they have it lit up at night.

[blitzen]

23. i'm almost sure they are, from the closest: Mt. Bachelor, Broken Top...

The Three Sisters (South, North, Middle), Mt. Washington (the little pointy one without much snow), Mt. Jefferson, Mt Hood (farthest away). The shot is taken from near Bend, OR--one of my old stomping grounds....Many years ago I climbed (really, hiked up) the South and Middle Sister...Even camped one night on top of the South--not a very bright idea, unless you like 80 MPH winds blowing your tent around.

[chknltl]

34. Thanks...that clears up other inconsistencies as well

Strangely enough Mt Baker does resemble that largest Mountain on the right as viewed from the north, it does have 2 peaks, (known as twin peaks), directly south which is why I thought what I thought at first. Mt Shuksan would also line up to the right of the one I mistook as Mt Baker BUT it does NOT look like the one in your photo at all...that bothered me as well as Glacier peak not looking like the one I thought off in the distance, it should have been a bit further to the left too! Mt. Rainier absolutely does not have a pointy top but would line up about where that mountain is in the furthest distance. All these inconsistencies were nagging at me but that Mountain in the foreground is close to an area I used to hike and bore no resemblance to anything I could remember being there!

It would be interesting to compare a shot looking south from the area I mistook with this shot.


btw: Like you, I once braved the trails and camped in areas I should not have. May 11th 1980 found me alone, (well there was a heard of elk bedded down close by so technically I wasn't alone the entire time), about 2 miles North Northwest of Mt. St. Hellens. Had I been a little wealthier back then I would not be telling you this. The very next weekend I took my girlfriend on her first excursion with me...we went to Mt. Rainier instead of Mt. St. Hellens because it was closer to home, gas $$ was our ONLY consideration. Yep we got clobbered by Mt. St. Hellens while up on Rainier but at least we were well outside of the devastation zone where I had camped the weekend before!

thanks for clearing up this mystery for me. Great photo!

[EFerrari]

19. Yosemite is the most beautiful place on this planet.

[LibDemAlways]

20. I second that. When you reach the valley floor and

behold El Capitan, it's just an incredible sight. Photos can't do that massive wall of granite justice. The whole park is breathtaking.

[EFerrari]

22. It's God's catcher's mitt.

:)

[ComerPerro]

26. lol, i think it is very big of you to admit that, lol

[EFerrari]

27. Lol! My husband and I used to save every year to be able to spend

as much time as possible eating gritty camp food and biking down to Mirror Lake Annex with our two sons so they could jump off of the big rock all afternoon.

It was so worth it. :)

[Gormy Cuss]

42. That second "image" isn't very pretty.

Too much red.

:+

[wildhorses]

21. gotta give the east coast some lovin' so i nominate

new york city



and the great smokey mountains has some interesting rock formations

[donheld]

24. I'll say San Juan Mountains of Colorado

[jobycom]

25. Call me a homer, but I'm partial to more flat, subtle beauty.

The Mississippi Gulf Coast may be a bit worse for wear, but even so, scenes like this get in your heart and stay there.






Then there's a nearby city, also a bit banged up, but with bones like these, it will recover (you might notice that I like water):

[EFerrari]

28. So beautiful. n/t

[terrya]

30. I've never been to San Francisco.

51 years old. Gay. Never been to San Francisco. Not a pretty picture.

[EFerrari]

31. Come on out. I'll be the beard.

:)

[jonnyblitz]

32. I managed to get stationed there twice while in the navy.

heehee! :P

[Taverner]

36. D00d that's just sad

Didn't you hear the Village People song?

[terrya]

37. I did...I just didn't act on it....yet.

I will. :-)

[Taverner]

38. A friend of mine, from Upstate NY, who is gay

Had never been to SF. Now granted, this is a guy who came out in his late 20's, and had lived a very sheltered life. Peace Corps brought him out of his shell, and gave him the confidence to come out. But I digress...

Anyway, on his first trip to SF, he was just stunned with happiness. It was like watching a kid in a candy shop for the very first time. And for the next year, he was scouring the net for Health Care job offers in the city. As he put it "if you're gay you just can't be sad in SF. It's paradise!"

[terrya]

40. Oh, I can imagine.

I've read enough of gay and lesbian history to know how important SF is. And...how joyously open the city is. I expect I'll have the same reaction as your friend...just sheer giddiness.

I am very eager to visit SF. :-)

[Taverner]

41. Check out Castro and Polk

Polk is the "high end" Gay neighborhood. Castro is the more "classic" Gay neighborhood.

It's the kind of place that makes your proud - if you're gay, proud to be gay...if str8, proud to be American :)

[never cry wolf]

33. I'm gonna cheat a little bit

Beautiful natural scenery I am selecting Lake of the Woods, Ontario. Part of the lake is in Minnesota however. It is a huge lake with 65,000 miles of shoreline with over 14,000 islands. My parents had a cabin on an island in snake bay. That is where all the film and pictures for the old Hamm's Beer "From the land of sky blue waters" ads were taken. It is my favorite place on earth.






For city, there's nothing like cruising down LSD headed into town...