Hmm. Why not the desert? Every corner of the Earth features unique landscapes, and to pose a simple one or the other lacks imagination by the prompt generator, but I’ll bite.
The Mountains
Ahh, to be in the mountains. I came to them late in life. Majestic and beautiful, dangerous and challenging.
Some I have climbed alone, or shared experiences with others.
For more than a decade I have climbed them. Not the tallest mountains in the world, but high places that quicken the pulse and inspire nonetheless. Why go up? I can’t answer, but man has always aspired to reach the heavens, or be closer to the places that touch the sky.
The Sea
The prompt asks of the beach, but the beach is simply the doorstep to the sea. I have lived all my life at the edge of the ocean. There is a pull to it, that draws us back to our place of origin.
It is no small secret that when scientists examine far away worlds, they search for water. It is the special ingredient needed to create and support life. Life on our world crawled from the primordial soup, and perhaps we are permanently linked to our birthplace.
We wade in the waters of the oceans, and go down to the sea in ships.
I know when I’m close. The land flattens out, the trees falling away behind in the rear view mirror. The wind freshens, and I can smell the sea, a taste of salt in the air.
A glimpse of the horizon beyond the dunes, a thin flat line, as far as the eye can see, or pitch dark on a moonless night, the sound of the waves rolling ashore, steady as the beating heart of the world.
Someday I may leave the sea behind, but it shall never leave me.
An Unmapped Route: A Hiker's Blog 