In an effort to climb out of persistent writer’s block, I used a list format on yesterday’s post to try and jumpstart some creativity. And, you know what? I liked that approach so much I thought, say, why stop a good thing? Making a list is a good way to make my mind dig around a bit and come up with some answers to a question, and then I can just write short paragraphs to elaborate on each point. And hey- it is still an exercise in writing. And seven items on a list feels just right.

So, here is another entry in my Seven Things series.

Here are seven places I would hop on a plane and fly to tomorrow if I was given a chance to do just that.

1. Newfoundland

From the first time I watched the movie “The Shipping News”, I was interested in exploring some of that bleak, uncordial terrain I saw in the film. I mean, heck, they pull an old house across a layer of ice on a frozen bay in this place. Part of me just wants a good answer to “Why would anyone live there?” And another part of me would enjoy discovering that answer. And to be fair, I just like the name of the place, Newfoundland. I suspect anywhere where life amongst nature is challenging, the people who live there are warm and supportive and dependent on each other, because they really need each other.

2. Santorini, Greece

Compact white-walled villas built practically on the water? Yes, please. I would like to visit this island Elysium purely for the visual feast of solid, incandescent colors that my eyes can wholly interpret and appreciate. And I wouldn’t mind the time spent in the sun and the sea.

3. Swiss Alps

Driving to and through the alpine town of Ouray, Colorado, I thought, “If this is what being in the Swiss Alps is like, I would love to experience that.” And it was suggested to me that the Alps take the whole “big and tall” thing to the next level. I enjoy vertical ranges, so it would make sense spending some time in those mountains would bowl me over.

4. Normandy

Unaware of it significance at the time, a friend and I took a ferry across the English Channel from Portsmouth to Cherbourg on the evening of June 6, 1994. When we debarked and walked the waterfront near the landing, patriotic detritus lay everywhere, covering walks and lawns and berms. Then it clicked, and I was bummed I had not had the foresight to cross the channel one day earlier, so we could spend some time in Normandy. My main reason to visit that coastal region of France would be largely to walk the grounds where American and Allied soldiers came and fought and died, for liberty.

5. Scotland

Most of the desired destinations I selected for this list were chosen because of the beauty I have seen in photos of those places- and I have discovered I take immense joy in witnessing that beauty in places first hand. Unsurprisingly, my following of several British landscape photographers on YouTube whose photo treks led them into the highlands, lowlands, and isles of that country quickly persuaded me that Scotland is photographer’s playground. I’ll forego the golf, but would be happy to spend afternoons wandering paths and trails by and above the sea.

6. Toronto

As a curveball to my nature-dominated list of destinations thus far, I add in this big Canadian city, because I like Canada, and I like big cities, and, well, Toronto just looks pretty remarkable. Cosmopolitan and rich in history, I could long wander in its museums and theaters, on its lakefront paths, and under the city skyline on its bustling boulevards. I am not big on shopping, but I like electric metropolises where businesses boom and people play, and Toronto fits the bill. And my legs would be wiped out and my feet hurt each night from all the walking I’d do around that town.

7. Jerusalem

I’d be massively remiss if this city did not end up on my list. As a Christian, a long-time student of religions, and a one-time classical history minor, Jerusalem is the epicenter of so many historical events, and a principal seat of Judeo-Christian culture. In many ways, it is a place I rely need to visit, like a pilgrim of old, to sit and to pray and to walk in the Holy City.