One of the travel blogs in my RSS feed had a post a while back on his Favorite Experiences.  The list was full of amazing things this traveler had done in spots around the world.  It got me thinking. What are my favorite experiences?  I haven’t traveled as much as this guy, but I have been blessed with adventures in quite a few places around the world and have had many wonderful experiences while on these travels. These experiences vary wildly; from the spectacular beauty I have seen, to thrills and adventures, to places and events that have shaped who I am today.

After thinking about this for a while and perusing through some old photos, I came up with my own list.  Here are my favorite experiences #16-20.

#20 - Whale Watching in the Puget Sound

Back in 1993, a college friend of mine happened to move to Seattle and work at the same company as me.  One day, out of the blue, she called me up and invited me to go Whale Watching up in the San Juan Islands north of Seattle.  It was a weekday, which required missing work, but I was game.  So we headed off very early in the morning, catching the ferry to Friday Harbor.

Turns out, my friends dad was some Vice President of SeaWorld Orlando in charge of entertainment. Her dad was out in the Pacific NW with a group of SeaWorld orca trainers and photographers/videographers to capture footage of Orcas in the wild that they would then use during SeaWorld Orca shows.  We were gonna join this group for a day on the Sound looking for and photographing Orcas.

So we spent the day with Orcas on a private charter out around the San Juan Islands.  Seeing these graceful creatures gliding through the water or breaching was simply amazing.  This was one of my first real experiences witnessing animals in the wild, playing and surviving in their natural habitat. I think this day gave me such an appreciation for all the wild animals out there in the world that carried onto future trips to Yellowstone and Africa.  This was also my first real experience at photographing animals in the wild, a hobby that has since expanded with trips to places around the world where animals in their natural habitat can be seen.

Wild Orcas in the Puget Sound

I have seen many other whales in the wild since this trip, but there was just something about the combination of the private boat charter, skipping a day of work, and beautiful orcas in Seattle’s backyard that made this day extraordinary.

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#19 - Mount Rushmore at Night

Almost every summer when I was growing up, we took a family vacation.  We packed up the pop-up tent trailer or later the motor home and headed out west, camping and hiking through the Rockies and the southwest.  I have vague memories of campsites and hikes in places like Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, and Rocky Mountain National Park, but one of the most memorable events of all these summer vacations was one spectacular night at Mount Rushmore.

I am sure as a teenager, I was not the most overjoyed at visiting Mount Rushmore.  A bunch of Presidents carved into a big rock was not exactly my ideal vacation spot. We had arrived at the park late in the day and taken in the sites of the 4 Presidents carved into the mountain side.  Then we waited.  Standing out on a deck overlooking the monument as the sun set. As it got darker and darker into the evening, the stars started showing up.  It was a clear moonless night in South Dakota and once all the remaining daylight had vanished we were left with the most extraordinary view of the night sky. Stars everywhere. Milky way in plain view. Satellites and shooting stars racing across the sky clearly visible. I don’t think I have ever seen a night sky quite like that since.

Rushmore at Night (brianwrightphoto)

Eventually, at a prescribed time, they turned the lights on Mount Rushmore and lit up the monument and our starry sky disappeared. The monument all lit up at night was a pretty amazing sight, but it paled in comparison to the natural wonder above us during the wait for the lights.  I think I have been on the search for that same crystal clear and dark sky ever since.

#18 - New Years Eve in Times Square

This was a bucket list item that I was determined to check off, especially since I lived in NYC at the time.  I had checked off the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade a few years back, but the thought of standing for hours in possible miserable weather just to see a ball drop wasn’t too enticing.  But it was still on the list and was something I had always wanted to experience.

So momma and I did it up posh style.  We made reservations at the Marriott Times Square about 9 months in advance.  I thought that would just give us an easy home base, where we could easily drop downstairs an hour or two before the big event and then head back to our room right afterwards. But our surprise when we checked into the hotel changed our plans.

We had been upgraded to a fantastic room on the 25th floor that looked down on Times Square and directly at the famous New Years Eve ball. We were at eye level with the thing.  So, earlier in the day on New Years Eve, momma and I went down to street level, walked around a bit enjoying the street life and scenes as people started to gather.  We got our crazy hats and 2006 sparkly glasses, took a some photos, then headed back to our room.  We had two big ‘ol wing chairs in the room, so we moved them in front of the floor to ceiling windows, ordered room service champagne, and enjoyed the New Years celebration from the comfort and warmth of our room.

A bird's-eye view of New Years in Times Square

Maybe it wasn’t exactly as envisioned when it got added to the bucket list, but it was certainly a different perspective of this famous event.  We got to see things that aren’t normally seen by the folks on the street or on TV.  Like the cleanup crews that came by after all the crowds had departed, brushing all the confetti and glitter into the streets.  Or the next morning, when a very quiet Times Square was all cleaned up where the only evidence of the entire event was the left over confetti and glitter on the rooftops around us.

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#17 - Ueno Park in Tokyo During Hanamai

As I write this, I am sitting in Tokyo on my 5th trip to Japan.  My first trip here, back in Spring of 2008, had the fortune of falling during the cherry blossom season…. late March to early April.  Everyone said Hanamai (aka: Cherry blossom viewing) was so beautiful here in Japan so I had to see for myself.

I had been told one of Tokyo’s better spots for Cherry Blossoms was Ueno Park.  A co-worker and I headed there early one Saturday morning. We came into the park from the south side along the lakes lined with cherry trees. And it was indeed beautiful.  It was so calm and relaxing walking under the blooming cherry trees with the lake in the background. There were others out enjoying the pink-lined pathways. It was uncrowded and very enjoyable.

Ueno Park Cherry Trees

We found our way up to the main part of Ueno and to the station where we waited on another co-worker who wasn’t an early riser.  When we finally met up with him and got back into Ueno Park the scene had changed.  The peacefulness had been exchanged for miles and miles of blue tarps laid end to end under all the trees.  People were everywhere, drunk and partying on the blue tarps and covering every inch of the pathways under the trees.  For me, it was suffocating. How had something so serene and beautiful been turned into a something else entirely. The blue tarps, crowds of people, and empty sake bottle took all the beauty right out of the place.

The beauty and insanity of Hanamai in Tokyo

I guess you may be asking why this is on the list at all then.  Well, experiences are not all wonderful and great.  They are sometimes what shape and change you over time. The beauty of the cherry trees in Ueno was simply amazing, but like many things here in a very crowded mega-city, the sheer number of people trying to enjoy that beauty takes away from the beauty itself.  This experience has made me appreciate those times when I am in nature by myself.  Enjoying God’s creation without the crowds. It’s also made me focus at trying to find the beauty in a place despite the crowds or heading off to less popular or off the beaten spots, like in my recent trip to Nikko. It still was an amazing experience, both the good and the bad.

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Next up:  #13-16.  High latitudes, jumping off bridges, and how my love for the American Southwest got started.

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