Places with Personality

I love unique places.  Places with Heart, that seem to have a personality all their own.  I enjoy  discovering wonderful little hole-in-the-wall venues like hidden treasures.  I relish in the spirit of independently owned places, where the love and characters of the owners and workers seems to have seeped into the walls.  Places that are out of the ordinary- from parks to art galleries- and places that speak to my own personality.

Some of my favorite places in the U.S. are Savannah, Little Five Points and Warm Springs, all in my native Georgia, and Colorado Springs (or rather certain areas outside of it, such as The Garden of the Gods and Mountaindale.)  I love the scenery of the Rocky mountains, and the culture- a mixture of Native American, Celtic, Mexican- that underlies the place.  I love the woods, the mountains, and the rivers.  I love the wildness of the land and the free-spirited, open people.  However, other places hold equal portions of my heart.  I love historic towns.  I love the unique, elegant yet flamboyant soul of Savannah, the close, friendly, lost-in-time feeling of Warm Springs, and the colorful, artistic storefronts of Little Five Points.  I love the old bed and breakfast inns that mingle refinement with relaxation like a kind, old, matronly aunt.  I love the colorful charm and quaint beauty of Riverstreet and the Market Square in Savannah, and of down town Warm Springs.  I love the unconstrained, lively, new age viberance of Little Five Points.

In fact, my idea of paradise is something of a blend between such places.  Imagine a beautiful terrain of forests and mountains, in which there nestles a historic little town filled with unique shops, restaurants, art galleries, small theaters and friendly denizens. Where there is a huge, old fashioned bookstore between a new age coffee shop and a laid back Irish pub.  Oh, and did I mention that this would be an Otherworldly place? Magic would be real, and elves, fey, and other such beings would be included in the population- though perhaps unknown to most.  Perhaps such a notion is foolish, but perhaps not.  Sometimes I wonder if some of my favorite places might hold such denizens.  It seems somehow fitting that creatures of faerie- who are connected so much more to the spirit and heart of things than humans- would feel my same attraction to unique and beautiful places.  Sometimes I wonder if the place I dream about exists in some quiet little corner of the world, or if my job is to create it- to dream it, write it, paint it- and to make it real?

Or is this place only in my heart?