Lens Artists Photo Challenge #64: Countryside and/or Small Towns

This weeks Lens Artist Photo Challenge is Countryside and/or Small Towns. Originally, I had planned on taking a drive in the area around my house to explore the country roads, but then realized there are a whole slew of countrysides and small towns from trips past to share.

Each of them represent an amazing experience and are trips that will remain in my mind forever!

Thanks to Amy at The World is a Book for this weeks Challenge! You can see others interpretations here as well.

Enjoy!

Several years back, I did a 2 week road trip through Portugal – the day I drove through this valley was one of the best days of the trip – I had the whole place to myself, had my windows rolled down and listened to Michael Jackson the whole way through! This is the Douro river in the port wine region. It cuts across northern Portugal for about 200 miles from Spain to Porto and eventually flows into the Atlantic Ocean.

For those who have trekked to the Everest Base Camp, you will recognize this – it’s an overview of Namche Bazaar! There HAS to be a Far Side cartoon with these horses – I wonder what they are thinking about now. We spent a couple of nights here to acclimatize for our trek – loved this little town and the Sherpa who live here!

This image is of a sheep herder in the Dolomites – I loved watching him keep all of these guys and gals in line. We were convinced there were Ibex in the herd, but no such luck. I took a little video and watch it when I want to add a little bit of magic to my day. It looks like the herder is walking to the end of the earth!

This is Japan…I am about to post about a trek I did there a couple of summers ago. THIS image is from my first day experiencing the Japanese countryside. I had no idea this existed in Japan – not sure why – I think maybe because my only frame of reference was Tokyo!

I recently posted about a pencil and crayon incident in Laos. To counter balance that post, thought I would share one of the best days of that trip – cycling through the countryside – so much fun. I couldn’t tell you which town this was, but I can definitively say, Laos is my favorite SE Asian country!