Day 197: Where would you go?

If you could choose one place to go, just you and no one else, where would it be?  Now before you answer with "Vegas baby!" just think for a moment about where you'd go if you really needed some alone time.  Don't think about the cost or time or whatever.  If no other conditions existed, where would you go?

Some of you may not even get this or could even fathom the notion of going anywhere without their spouse, families, friends or whomever.  I can understand and appreciate that some folks are actually very uncomfortable being alone and that's fine.  But I would think there are a number of you/us out there that cherish those moments of being alone, alone in our thoughts, meditations and prayers.  No other stimulus, opinions or influences other than the feelings and emotions in our hearts and the thoughts in our minds.

Most of you that know me know that the one place I would go for absolute solitude would be Death Valley.  It is my sanctuary.  I was compelled to go there many years ago to compete in a bicycle race (200 miles) through the valley floor.  Since then I returned every year to compete in a marathon.  Back in the day it was about athletics and trying to overcome the emotional hardships in my life at the time.  Since then my journeys were more for emotional and spiritual cleansing.  Instead of worry about my race times, I focused on everything around me, the sights, the smells, the tastes and the thoughts and feelings I had would lose themselves in the splendor about me.  My last trek to Death Valley was in 2008 and every year I yearn to go back. 

Running through the labyrinth of Titus Canyon or sitting atop Dante's View watching the sunset, I would get such a spiritual connection to my surroundings but more importantly, I had one-on-one time with God.  It was the place I could comfortably and without interruption lay out all my laundry before Him and just let things be.  No topic was off limits.  I could share every feeling and emotion, every fear and joy without some arbitrary go-between instilling guilt or shame because of my thoughts or actions. 

Today, living in Colorado, the Rockies give me some of that solitude, especially hiking the 14ers.  I think what made Death Valley so special and the Rockies a close second, was that in order to find that tranquility and the purity of the moment, I had to struggle to get there.  The bike race nearly broke me physically, emotionally and spiritually.  I now know, after the fact, that it was necessary to strip away the layers of my life (i.e. job, marriage, status, etc) in order to make that connection with God and to find real peace.  I had to be torn down to my core in order to finally surrender myself to His will and understand my place in His world. I'm not suggesting that you need to purge yourself like the Inquisition in order to find peace but if your life is filled with immense details and yet you still struggle to find meaning then perhaps you need to consider stripping away the parts of your life like a band-aide in order to finally hear the answers to your questions. 

So where would you go?