I actually LOVE the Southwest, National Parks - the whole she-bang! So much history that's just evident in the trees, the soil, the rocks.
In fact, I'm hoping that perhaps this fall I'll be able to go
Black Opal digging in Nevada. There are also some great fossil sites in Utah that I've been on the lookout for.
I guess I just get off on that kind of thing (yes, I am regularly watching Travel, History, Natl Geographic Channels and then some
)For me, going to the national parks and doing grimy, dirty, desert-y things brings me back to what I have had a secondary (or tertiary, or beyond... I've picked up so many interests through the years) passion for - archeology and anthropology. Though it may not be what I'm doing at the moment I'm standing there looking around, I get to have momentary flights of fancy where I'm doing some important research and am about to find something big...
We're all allowed to dream, right?
In an odd twist, though - I can go just about anywhere and have a flight of fancy. Though I'm tend to be somewhat realistic with my real life situation - it's nice to put myself somewhere, even if just in my head, for just a few moments. Maybe I'm walking down Madison Avenue, imagining myself an advertising exec (though maligned, I've much liked the idea). In Vegas I'm a showgirl for a moment. In Hawaii, I'm ready to live the aloha lifestyle. That's just me, though...
It's how I keep from going crazy.