Favorite Places by Ricky

I have many “favorite places” depending upon which part of my life I am remembering.  Only a few can be called absolute favorites throughout my life.  What follows is only a listing of those places which are withstanding the ravages of time upon my memories.

These places are listed in no particular "favorite" order.

1.   Disneyland – Peter Pan Ride (I first rode this in 1955)

2.   Disneyland – Alice in Wonderland Ride (I first rode this in 1955)

3.   Lake Tahoe – Emerald Bay (My first summer home at Lake Tahoe – 1958)

4.   LDS Manti Temple (Deborah and I married here in 1973)

5.   Mt. Rushmore, South Dakota (I recharge my patriotism here)

6.   Epcot Center – Journey Into Imagination with Figment (My family LOVED this ride.  We rode it three times in a row without getting off the ride to reenter.  This link is for the newest version not the one we saw years ago.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuPr7G-uBmM

  

7.   BSA Camp Winton (I was a boy camper 2 years and on the “Staph” in 1966.  The “staph” spelling was my idea.  My name is recorded around the “XX” brand left of center.)

8.   Disneyland Paris – Space Mountain (My youngest daughter, her friend boy, and I rode this twice.) 

  

9.   Step-father’s Tour Boat (I was his deckhand all summer in 1958)

10.   The California Redwood forest at Trees of Mystery.  Specifically, the “Cathedral Trees.”

Cathedral Tree video 1:48 minutes.

The Redwoods

Joseph B. Strauss

Here, sown by the Creator's hand.
In serried ranks, the Redwoods stand:
No other clime is honored so,
No other lands their glory know.

The greatest of Earth's living forms,
Tall conquerors that laugh at storms;
Their challenge still unanswered rings,
Through fifty centuries of kings.

The nations that with them were young,
Rich empires, with their forts far-flung,
Lie buried now-their splendor gone:
But these proud monarchs still live on.

So shall they live, when ends our days,
When our crude citadels decay;
For brief the years allotted man,
But infinite perennials' span.

This is their temple, vaulted high,
And here, we pause with reverent eye,
With silent tongue and awestruck soul;
For here we sense life's proper goal:

To be like these, straight, true and fine,
to make our world like theirs, a shrine;
Sink down, Oh, traveler, on your knees,
God stands before you in these trees.

© 7 July 2013

About the Author 

I was born in June of 1948 in Los Angeles, living first in Lawndale and then in Redondo Beach.  Just prior to turning 8 years old in 1956, I began living with my grandparents on their farm in Isanti County, Minnesota for two years during which time my parents divorced.

When united with my mother and stepfather two years later in 1958, I lived first at Emerald Bay and then at South Lake Tahoe, California, graduating from South Tahoe High School in 1966.  After three tours of duty with the Air Force, I moved to Denver, Colorado where I lived with my wife and four children until her passing from complications of breast cancer four days after the 9-11 terrorist attack.

I came out as a gay man in the summer of 2010.   I find writing these memories to be therapeutic.

My story blog is, TheTahoeBoy.Blogspot.com.