Favorite Thing or Place Where You Live

[elseepe]

I didn't get around to the photography challenge this month, but it sparked me to wonder . . .

Do you have a favorite thing or a place in the community, city, or surrounding area that you like to visit?

 

[elseepe]

Currently for me, I think this is our Tohono Chul botanical garden. It is about 40 acres located within city limits and close to some major cross streets. It has lots of natural desert beauty and wildlife, and a mix of other garden areas demonstrating different native, or native adapted plants for our environment. I love walking the different trails there. There is also an art gallery, they promote local artists, propagate plants, they have different wildlife exhibits, and a well reviewed cafe (which I've never eaten at). And a fountain where kids can float boats.

 

[marijke]

We love going to the Provincial Domain (510 hectares) in our municipality... walking, cycling, playgrounds for the kids... water playground, picnic... Sports enthusiasts can go to the swimming pool, golf course, tennis and padel courts, and mountain biking...

You can go to the rowing pond... play mini-golf. The traffic park is fun for the children. There are regular performances on the event island.
Also highly recommended with children: the Living Heritage Route: a 2.5 km walking route past the stables of charming farm animals that our parents/grandparents knew...

There are all kinds of activities every week... e.g. themed walks, a visit to the lambs in the sheep barn, walking with the shepherd...

 

[elseepe]

We love going to the Provincial Domain (510 hectares) in our municipality... walking, cycling, playgrounds for the kids... water playground, picnic... Sports enthusiasts can go to the swimming pool, golf course, tennis and padel courts, and mountain biking...

You can go to the rowing pond... play mini-golf. The traffic park is fun for the children. There are regular performances on the event island.
Also highly recommended with children: the Living Heritage Route: a 2.5 km walking route past the stables of charming farm animals that our parents/grandparents knew...

There are all kinds of activities every week... e.g. themed walks, a visit to the lambs in the sheep barn, walking with the shepherd...

It sounds fun, I'm intrigued by "walking with the shepherd".

 

[IntenseMagic]

Oh gosh, that's tough. We have so many beautiful places around here! We love going to the New River Gorge Bridge (it's the longest steel span bridge in the western hemisphere and the third highest in the US), Cascades Falls, Brush Creek Falls, and several state parks. Lots of activities at all of them all year round!

 

[michelepixels]

Yes! I love to park by the river and sit in my comfy van, windows down, and read for an hour or two. All that is between me and the river view is a wide expanse of lawn, trees alongside the river, and a walking/biking path along the road. People are walking or bicycling by constantly, it's mostly peaceful (the street, though residential, is well traveled), and I feel the river breezes and hear the river roar.

 

[umyesh]

Michele you made me want to go read by the river!

I would say kayaking on the nearby lake is my favorite. We haven't been for way too long.

 

[scrapchyck]

My favorite place this time of year is Fern Ridge Reservoir. I love watching the sailboats on a sunny day, the paddleboarders and the inner tubers who hook up and float around. There are waterskiers, too, but that's out in the middle of the lake (wish I knew someone who could take me out there!) I sit in my chair and read, and in the heat of summer will float around sometimes, though I slipped while getting into the water a couple of years ago and hit my head something awful on that man-made lake bed. So, I'm wary now.

 

[Karen]

I think my favorite part of the town I live in is Lake Michigan and our beautiful beaches all along the coast. People hear "Lake" and they think of small inland lakes, but Lake Michigan is humongous and looks like the ocean. It's 45ish miles across in the narrow direction over to Chicago, but that's so far that you can't see the other side. Although I haven't gone in a while, I love beachcombing for beach glass in the early mornings.

 

[Brendazzle]

We just went to Loggerhead Marinelife Center for Earth Day and it made me realize how longs its been since we were there last. It's just down the road from where my husband & I went to college and about half an hour away from where we live now. When our son was a baby, we took him to a lot of sea turtle releases. Like, first word was "hi" to a sea turtle and we were on the news for his 10th release before he was 2 years old.

They just expanded their campus size again and it is gorgeous. The sea turtle hospital is the same size but they've got so many more rehab tanks than when I was in college. They also have several ecosystem tanks (a big one you can see from the turtle yard that has sharks, a shallow water tank with a chonky pufferfish, and a mangrove tank with stingrays), a cafe, an exhibit hall with both interactive video exhibits and some small tanks, and easy beach access for when it's sea turtle release time.

 

[elseepe]

Oh gosh, that's tough. We have so many beautiful places around here! We love going to the New River Gorge Bridge (it's the longest steel span bridge in the western hemisphere and the third highest in the US), Cascades Falls, Brush Creek Falls, and several state parks. Lots of activities at all of them all year round!

Any bridge around here is pretty small, and really just an overpass over what might become a moving body of water when the rains come -- so this would be fun. Definitely different from the river town where I grew up where there were about 5 or 6 bridges to cross the river at various places.

Yes! I love to park by the river and sit in my comfy van, windows down, and read for an hour or two. All that is between me and the river view is a wide expanse of lawn, trees alongside the river, and a walking/biking path along the road. People are walking or bicycling by constantly, it's mostly peaceful (the street, though residential, is well traveled), and I feel the river breezes and hear the river roar.

This sounds lovely -- again with the river.

 

[elseepe]

Michele you made me want to go read by the river!

I would say kayaking on the nearby lake is my favorite. We haven't been for way too long.

My favorite place this time of year is Fern Ridge Reservoir. I love watching the sailboats on a sunny day, the paddleboarders and the inner tubers who hook up and float around. There are waterskiers, too, but that's out in the middle of the lake (wish I knew someone who could take me out there!) I sit in my chair and read, and in the heat of summer will float around sometimes, though I slipped while getting into the water a couple of years ago and hit my head something awful on that man-made lake bed. So, I'm wary now.

I think my favorite part of the town I live in is Lake Michigan and our beautiful beaches all along the coast. People hear "Lake" and they think of small inland lakes, but Lake Michigan is humongous and looks like the ocean. It's 45ish miles across in the narrow direction over to Chicago, but that's so far that you can't see the other side. Although I haven't gone in a while, I love beachcombing for beach glass in the early mornings.

All of you with your "water" places have me itching to book myself on a trip to the beach -- not a lot of natural water areas near me -- or at least not close enough to make it any sort of a frequent trip, and they could be hit or miss depending on how dry we are.

 

[elseepe]

We just went to Loggerhead Marinelife Center for Earth Day and it made me realize how longs its been since we were there last. It's just down the road from where my husband & I went to college and about half an hour away from where we live now. When our son was a baby, we took him to a lot of sea turtle releases. Like, first word was "hi" to a sea turtle and we were on the news for his 10th release before he was 2 years old.

They just expanded their campus size again and it is gorgeous. The sea turtle hospital is the same size but they've got so many more rehab tanks than when I was in college. They also have several ecosystem tanks (a big one you can see from the turtle yard that has sharks, a shallow water tank with a chonky pufferfish, and a mangrove tank with stingrays), a cafe, an exhibit hall with both interactive video exhibits and some small tanks, and easy beach access for when it's sea turtle release time.

That sounds like a really cool place to go for Earth Day, I have been to an aquarium place probably since I took a work trip to Baltimore ages ago. But I love science and nature related centers/museums.

 

[littlekiwi]

To be honest not really. I know that seems weird but where I live has never truly felt like home even thirty years later so it's harder for me to find things I like about it. I've only ever tolerated it. I guess you could say living here brought me my school best friend....26 years later, we're still close. This move came from a failed relationship in the 90's for my mum where we relocated to get a newer bigger house we could afford. The relationship only lasted a few years, my mum bought out her ex and we've been here ever since. I do however always feel at peace heading out of town away from the traffic and to a smaller city that's close enough to home but far enough to feel different.

 

[scrapchyck]

All of you with your "water" places have me itching to book myself on a trip to the beach -- not a lot of natural water areas near me -- or at least not close enough to make it any sort of a frequent trip, and they could be hit or miss depending on how dry we are.

I'm feeling the need to be near water for sure! Ocean or lake, river or pond...any one will do!

 

[Lynnette]

Water is so healing! I definitely noticed this during Covid when made it a point to get outside and walk near the river or one of the nearby ponds everyday.
My very favorite thing about where I live is the mountains! I live near the foothills and I go walking in the mountains everyday. My house is just a few blocks out the frame of this photo:

 

[elseepe]

To be honest not really. I know that seems weird but where I live has never truly felt like home even thirty years later so it's harder for me to find things I like about it. I've only ever tolerated it. I guess you could say living here brought me my school best friend....26 years later, we're still close. This move came from a failed relationship in the 90's for my mum where we relocated to get a newer bigger house we could afford. The relationship only lasted a few years, my mum bought out her ex and we've been here ever since. I do however always feel at peace heading out of town away from the traffic and to a smaller city that's close enough to home but far enough to feel different.

Getting away to a place that lets you feel at peace is nice.

 

[elseepe]

Water is so healing! I definitely noticed this during Covid when made it a point to get outside and walk near the river or one of the nearby ponds everyday.
My very favorite thing about where I live is the mountains! I live near the foothills and I go walking in the mountains everyday. My house is just a few blocks out the frame of this photo:

That's lovely, what a treasure to have that opportunity so near.

 

[Meliora]

I love the safety for the kids where I live. It's a small community and the elementary school has 100 students only. They can roam free here and I don't have to worry.

 

[elseepe]

I love the safety for the kids where I live. It's a small community and the elementary school has 100 students only. They can roam free here and I don't have to worry.

that is a small school, that must be wonderful.