Geographical Bliss

We need the rain. It has been quite dry here. And, I like the rain. More yesterday's rain than today's rain though. Yesterday it was 65 degrees and rainy, today its more like 50 and rainy. I really would consider yesterday the first spring rain, and how refreshing it was! I walked from campus to my car, perhaps 4 or 5 blocks in it, and it felt great. My friends think I am nuts- but face turned upwards, hands held out, I love rain.

I hosted book club last night and it was a lot of fun. It was small compared to usual, but a good group. I had picked The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Place in the World as the book, but no one that was there, besides myself, finished it. I cannot blame them. I liked it, but it was over 300 pages, nonfiction, and really just began to drag after awhile, and it was not a quick read either. I think I enjoyed the Bhutan chapter and the Iceland chapter the most. I have had a strange fascination with Bhutan for quite sometime now, and it fed into that interest. Imagine a Himalayan country, locked away from the modern world, content with its identity and allowing the modern world in only so much as to not disturb its happy state of being. I would love to go there. While I have heard Iceland is beautiful, I did not know much about their culture, and reading about it in this book made me eager to visit. Of course my list of places to visit is miles long. But... If I were to do a top ten...

Top Ten Countries I would Like to Visit
(That I have not already been to)
1. Mongolia
2. Bhutan
3. Iceland
4. Turkey
5. Scotland
6. Antartica (OK - this is not a country, but I still think it fits on this list)
7. China
8. Cuba (A girl can dream... right? Maybe Obama will open up relations, as this is a very realistic place to want to go!)
9. Greece
10. Norway

Anyways, this book also interested me just because I am a person who is immensly effected by geography. It sort of drives Aaron nuts at times. I swoon over the lakes and trees of Minnesota. They give me an unexplainable sense of peace and happiness. I drool over mountains and cliffs. They provide me with a sense of adventure, curiosity, and of being alive. I dread the flat plains of Kansas. They fill me with a hopelessness and vulnerability. Ohio is just OK. Columbus is not an extraordinary place, it does not fill me with peace of adventure or awe, but neither does it cause me despair. Ohio is beautiful in its own way, a very agricultural way. Up in Amish country they have rolling green hills with sheep grazing and crops planted. It offers a certain contentment. Hawking Hills, the pride of Ohio in terms of accessible wilderness, offers some nice cliffs and forests, though it has nothing on Minnesota. I would like to explore Wild Ohio more, and may be planning some day trips to not-to-distant state parks besides Hawking Hills to see if perhaps Ohio has more to offer than I know. Until I discover something more, my heart pines for Minnesota, Lake Superior, and most specifically, Palisade Head.

I leave you with these (Palisade Head):