I got to shoot FTs at halftime of a Rockets in the late 80s. This was the contest where you coudl win a car, and you had to hit a FT, a 3 pter and then a half court shot.
1) Walking my grandparents' tree farms on the side of a big hill. A forest of mango, jack fruit, and rubber trees. Just seemed peaceful. Would love to do it again some day (sans being bombarded by 30 pound jackfruit falling from 10-20 feet in the air .). 2) Getting to shake the hand and talk to 1979 Physics Nobel Prize winner Sheldon Glashow. I still remember asking about tachyons and faster-than-light travel. As a high schooler, that moment blew me away.
sunrise in the western Sahara in Morocco. also, climbing up the pacaya volcanoe in Guatemala at dusk while it was very active. red hot lava flows less than 300 yards away!
Maybe because it's getting blasted by Jeanne today and it's in my thoughts, but the most beautiful place I've been is a secluded beach in the Abacos of the Bahamas. My wife and I honeymooned in a house there -- we spent the entire week on the sunny beach and never saw another soul on the sand. It was like our own little private paradise.
Probably the vatican. After studying all the artwork in highschool and then finally getting to see it all. It was amazing. Riding in a US Tank in Saudi Arabia during the Persian Gulf War.
Hands down the Isle of Capri in Italy. The place is like Heaven on Earth. The water is soo gorgeous the women are so gorgeous, and the Island itself well you guessed it... gorgeous.
In 1997 I was with VH-1 as a VJ, when my contract expired they decided to go away from the VJ format and elected not to renew my deal. The last thing I did was the 'Michael Jackson Video Collection' which was a 3 hour program featuring his videos and yours truly. I left New York a little disappointed however my first gig after the cable job was headlining the Las Vegas Improv, one of the top clubs in the country. After my shows one night I went to the Hard Rock cafe with some dancers from the Harrah's production show. As I sat at a blackjack table, all over the casino on all the monitors my Michael Jackson thing came on. I sat there and collected adulation for the next couple of hours, I have never felt more like a celebrity. Performing on stage at Radio City was pretty cool too. But to adhere to the thread title, The Vegas Hard Rock in early '98.
Two professional and one personal: Once when I played with Billy Joel's band during sound check at the Summit. That was awesome. The second was when I did a 3-hour show with Zakk Wylde (guitarist from Ozzy) here in Houston. The personal was with my wife in a suite on a cruise ship pulling into a Carribean island early in the morning. It was really peaceful and quiet and we could look out on the lights of the island. That was pretty damn awesome.
Hard to say the top, but picking among natural hot pools for the one with the perfect temperature and watching Volcano Arenal (Costa Rica) go from those pools with my wife is one of them.
Coolest thing? You should do this again, Gene, after a period of time. I honestly can't pick from several, especially with the "clothes on" caveat. I'll choose one... Standing under a full moon, in front of the Taj Mahal, in the summer of 1965. I was a teenager, and it was definitely the coolest thing I had done up until that time. It glowed from within. It had an indescribable beauty that just woke something up inside me, and I've never been quite the same since.
This is exactly what I thought of when I saw this thread. That is such an amazing view. A tie with that for me would be seeing the Golden Gate Bridge from the north and off to the west a little bit. I love driving up that hill, stopping at each little pull off, then watching the bridge get further and further away the higher you go. I also love that first view of downtown Chicago when I go there for the first time in a trip to see my parents.
My idea was to provide fuel for daydreams and we are doing a fine job! We could have easily devolved into an ego thing. I am older and have had more dumb luck than most so I'm going to list a couple of more. *Lipped out birdie ay #8 at Pebble Beach - Pebble was like a trip to Mecca for me but it turned out bittersweet. We started in the mist and the first 4 holes frankly are not that impressive, But playing out #6 you go out on to a jut of land in Monterey Bay on the short #7 tee box the sun came out and it turned glorious. We could see all of Carmel and Point Lobos. Then on #8, which Jack Nicklaus called the the most dramatic hole in golf, I 360'd a birdie putt that would have been heaven. However they had grown the rough up for the US Open and the greens were actually really bumpy (they sucked!) and I didn't break 90. *Having a Rueben and a beer on the hotel restaurant terrace at Lake Louise, Canada - Cool air, bright sun, gorgeous glacier blue lake with the big glacier behind it. *1974 Driving up to Disney World for the first time, cool jazz on the cassette player and the orange barrel just coming on *riding the Alpine Mountain Slide at Breckenrige CO - up the mountain on a ski lift then down the mountain on a wheeled sled inside a plastic luge track, pushing the speed right up to the point where you scare the crap out of yourself *Diving right offshore in the Caymans - 1/2 mile off the (formerly?) sugary 7 Mile Beach, the Cayman Wall drops of 2000' feet stright down below you.
coolest place has to be Venezuela..... all the women have plastic surgery so theres no such thing as ugly... nice mountains
I saw it for the first time this summer, and honestly, i wasnt iimpressed much. Im glad we didnt waste earlier summers to go there...
I think climbing Mt. Delphi after visiting where the old Delphic Oracle was was pretty cool. We climbed up during the middle of a thunderstorm, and out of no where, we were suddenly in the clouds with this lighting storm all around us. We ran down the mountain soakiung wet. Visiting St. Francis' Hermitage in Assisi was pretty cool as well. St. Peter's in Rome is breathtaking. And the top of the Koln Cathedral is a sight as well.
BNB...i hiked that volcano as well! awesome, isn't it! i was one of 6 people to reach the crater...and then it started shooting out smoke like crazy. i couldn't see more than a foot ahead of me and we all started just running back covering our mouth and nose. the group was turned back 10 minutes earlier but we were so far ahead that they couldn't tell us...cuz the guide wasn't worried about us, he was trying to take care of the slower people. but yeah, we all got down safe, but everytime i blew my nose for the next week there was black ash or something coming out. i lived in guatemala for 6 months in 2003. i also hiked agua and acatenengo (the one overlooking fuego) while fuego was active. i got pictures looking down on fuego while it was shooting up heaps of smoke and i could see some lava bubbling.
I believe he said with your clothes ON. Wow, Jeff, Zakk Wylde? How does that work ... how long does it take you to learn all the songs? Black Label Society stuff?
