My Comparison : My Favorite Place In My Life

As a child, I unraveled nature’s beauty and existence. Each new experience brought me feelings of excitement and joy, sparkling my imagination and igniting my curiosity. It all seemed so large back then. Oceans appeared endless as they reached towards the horizon. Treetops seemed to make friends with the puffy-looking clouds as they soared to the sky. Over the years however, as I have grown older and life has become more complex, I am beginning to think less and less about the natural world around me. I glimpse sunset stuck in rush-hour traffic trying to return school after debate practices and only listen to the pitter-patter of the rain when there’s a storm outside. Forests and oceans seemed less appealing as they became intertwined with the urban development. In a way, I was becoming more and more distanced from the so-called nature. So, with an overwhelming desire for adventure and to escape the masses, my family and I drove to Big Bend National Park in Southwest Texas last summer.

New Hampshire brings to mind serene forests, large moose and deer lurking behind the heavy greenery, miniscule towns with all familiar faces, and pale colored wooden homes with dark smoke emanating from the brick chimneys in the colder months. For the first 13 years of my life I lived within the state, and I look back fondly on it. I especially enjoyed how distinct

Hawaii and Wyoming are two states often visited because of the variety of activities they offer. Even though both states appear different, they actually do have similarities. Hawaii is a tropical island with a moderately warm climate year round. Because of its climate, visitors generally enjoy outside activities. Wyoming is a landlocked state that usually has cooler climate. However, in the summer, it can rival Hawaii for heat. In Wyoming people spend a great deal of time driving around, taking pictures and exploring new “bucket list” places. Also, activities such as hiking, wagon riding, and cookouts allow people to be outside during their visit. [Thesis]: Although both Hawaii and Wyoming have similarities such as amazing

My grandparents have two small wooden cabins there that they bought back in the eighties. It was meant to be a special family place where we could all meet. Although it was a four hour flight and an eight hour drive away, my parents, brothers, and I went up every summer for a week up to a month. The smells of my grandmother’s homemade delicacies and the feeling of the gravel on the car tires as we drove up the unpaved road left memories that take me back to that place. Picking blackberries from some wild bushes near the cabin and sitting on my Grandfather’s lap as we would look out from the porch into the thick forest enveloping the land around us, are just some of the memories I hold near and dear. One visit, a bear crept onto my grandparents’ porch on a rather rainy day. I watched from inside, staring into the eyes of the black beauty, drenched from ear to paw, just a few feet and a wall away. As I read Thoreau, these fond memories of my time away from the rest of the world come rushing back to me. His fascination with a world towards which, we have made ourselves outsiders, intrigues me as well. His yearning to know a place that has no way of ever being entirely known, is familiar to

It’s hard to pick a specific area of Vermont that has the deepest connection with me, almost every spot I visit sparks a sense of wonder within me. From the Burlington waterfront to the peaks at Stowe I always feel secure and at home in Vermont. On a typical winter's day I am feeling the effects of the cold air mostly through the wind. I can especially taste the crispness of the Vermont air as its refreshing more so than it is unbearable. When I’m up on the mountain during snowboard season I look out and see a field of white that encapsulates everything except the green treetops. A sight that often leaves me filled with energy and mental clarity, I can’t help myself but fall into deep thought whenever I am up on

The experience of visiting the Dyckman Farm House & Museum gave me the opportunity to have an understanding of how beautiful and soundless the city was. Similarly to what George J. Demko said on his essay “A Sense of Place”, “All places change. They change in themselves and they change relative to other places, and they may cause in other places. We may imagine there are certain places magically untouched by time or change.” This quotation indeed relates to the sense of magic surrounded to the Dyckman Farm House & Museum and how this old colonial-styled house is in the middle of subways, bus stations and buildings, yet it feels like time has not changed. The experience of visiting the Dyckman Farm House and Museum meant

Cape Cod has been my home for 17 years. It has been my family’s home for over 100 years. Cape Cod continues to inspire me everyday. Cape Cod has provided me a home to grow up in that valued education, my home has inspired me to go to college and pursue a career in the medical field. My Cape Cod heritage has built my belief that I can do anything I set my mind too. I have watched my family build up businesses, raise families, and help the town thrive. If my family can do it, why cannot I? Living on Cape Cod makes you realize you can achieve anything. We surrounded by incredible schools, hospitals, and opportunity. My Cape Cod heritage will inspire me for the rest of my life and continue to motivate me to do whatever I set my mind to.

The scenes journey along the Appalachian Trail captures the true magnificence and greatness of the eastern U.S. of wilderness. Starting in the Deep South at the foothills of the smoky mountains, this journey overwhelms one with southern beauty while also making one experience the South’s legendary simplicity and retreat from the urban gridlock of modern society. The Appalachian Trail’s scenery attracts many people from all over the world to witness it for them. Causing many people to come with their families and possibly volunteer.

I look up from my phone after the clock turns from 11:59 pm to 12:00 am and gaze upon Honey Pot Lake as it mirrors the pink and gold clouds illuminated by the setting sun’s rays as they bend over earth's curvature. I take in the beauty of the sunset and await the soon to come sunrise. As i, for the last time, experience the beauty of the pristine nature that bethel alaska has to offer, turn my head towards my adjacent friend and proclaim in a gloomy yet glad tone, “I never want to leave this place.” My experiences in bethel alaska from my two school immersion trips truly formed who I am today.

I live in a small town that goes by the name of Lafayette. The population is 4,500. Everyone knows where everything is, when everything is, and what everything is. As a child, my mother and I would go to a beautiful waterfall on a small back road when the sun was shining, when the trees and rocks were just right, and when it was damp and perfect for four wheeler rides. The Union Camp waterfall is majestic. The scenery makes a person speechless. We would always go when the weather was perfect. The waterfall is one childhood memory I will always remember. The activities my mother and I would do were always a blast. My trips to Union Camp waterfall are memorable because of the scenery, the weather, and the activities.

West Virginia has always been a part of my life, although I am not a resident. When I think of the state the first things that come to mind are college, beauty, and friends. My family has had ties for many years to West Virginia. My mother attended West Virginia Wesleyan College and my relation to the state grew stronger when I chose to attend WVWC. In the past three years I have become enamored with the state and all it has to offer. The pure, wild, beauty of the state is something I will never forget. From orienteering to the top of Spruce Knob with other students in the honor’s program to white water rafting the lower Gauley River with my roommates, I have enjoyed exploring West Virginia. During my time in West Virginia I have learned more

Times Square in New York City, Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C., and Denali National Park in George Parks, Alaska. The moments I spent in these places are characterized by my ability to roam for hours and just explore. Whether it be meeting street artists who are creating caricatures of tourists, running into John Kerry, finding grizzly bears in their natural habitat, these moments weren’t just mundane hours; they ushered in the notion of mindfulness. Every instant during these trips, I thought of living in the moment and not dwell on the past or the future. The unknown experiences that awaited me as the day progressed in these places correlate my ability to finally embrace one idea:

When people envision our beautiful little town, for the most part they think imagine the serene beaches, beautiful weather, and cool college town vibe. Oprah has even donned it the “happiest place on earth.” It’s doubtful, though, that either Oprah or the other visitors who come to

Ever since the Spring of 2004, I have been the source of a lot of headaches for my parents with my constant pleas to visit the Sparkleberry Country Fair. There is nothing like turning onto the dirt road entrance, rolling the windows down, and taking a deep breath of fresh Carolina air and Sunshine. The faint smell of boiled peanuts, cotton candy, and other mouth watering fair foods fill the air. Even now that I can drive myself, I can’t help but feel that childish sense of excitement and joy as I park the car, open the door, exposed to the culture and

At the tender age of two I moved from a development in the town of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania to the vast stretches of farmland that make up the area between Mechanicsburg and the neighboring town of Dillsburg. It was not a big move distance-wise, but it would forever change my life. If I would have stayed where I was I would have went to a different high school, had a different set of friends, and who knows where I would be today. While I did not know it at the time, (I was only two, cut me some slack.) my family and I moved within earshot of one of the most prestigious dirt tracks in the country. Each and every Friday night from early spring to late autumn thousands of people congregate at this track surrounded