Where can I go to enjoy wind blowing through trees?

April 30, 2013 1:35 PM

My love takes great pleasure in wind blowing through trees, preferably rustling, leafy, big trees. Looking for vacation spots where 1) there are guaranteed trees and highly likely wind, and 2) we can get a warm, toasty room with a great view of said trees. Other than those two criteria, it can be anywhere, any time of year. Where and when would this be?
posted by quarterframer to Travel & Transportation (18 answers total)

In the US or actually anywhere?
posted by Potomac Avenue at 1:38 PM on April 30, 2013

In the US you want to look into Leaf-Peeping, especially in New England.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 1:40 PM on April 30, 2013

Response by poster: Yes, absolutely anywhere, thanks. Leaf-peeping in New England is marvelous, but I'd consider the wind there more of crapshoot unless you have a specific time and place in mind where wind is more or less a sure thing.
posted by quarterframer at 1:47 PM on April 30, 2013

I think you may like the wilds of Santa Cruz and environs. Try the Chaminade resort there. It's in a foresty part of the city, plus Santa Cruz is so cool.


Yosemite? The Ahwahnee hotel is beautiful.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 1:56 PM on April 30, 2013

We almost always have wind in Bismarck, North Dakota! Seriously, Chicago has nothing on us—a 15 mph wind is considered a merely "breezy" day here. You could take a ride on the paddleboat on the Missouri River and enjoy the water and wind through the trees all along the riverbanks.
posted by Eicats at 1:59 PM on April 30, 2013

Northern California- Mendocino county along the coast.

Also Big Sur along the coast.
posted by amaire at 2:07 PM on April 30, 2013 [1 favorite]

Oh! Tahoe/Truckee. In the winter.

Get a cabin. The sound of the wind in the trees and the snow falling on the trees. That is SUCH a thing.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 2:27 PM on April 30, 2013 [4 favorites]

I've just this week visited Savannah GA and Beaufort SC, both of which are breezy with beautiful tree-lined streets. As an added bonus, you get the spanish moss which looks great as well.
posted by bessel functions seem unnecessarily complicated at 2:41 PM on April 30, 2013

The best tree for this is Cottonwood. Like, even one cottonwood tree can create a symphony of leaves quaking. The wikipedia page says "An important feature of the leaves is the petiole, which is flattened sideways so that the leaves have a particular type of movement in the wind." American songwriters have rhapsodized:
Let me be by myself in the evening breeze
And listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees
Send me off forever but I ask you please
Don't fence me in
posted by mattbucher at 2:47 PM on April 30, 2013 [1 favorite]

I'm going to cast my vote for Hawaii. Nothing like the scent of Plumeria in the evening breeze.
posted by effluvia at 2:58 PM on April 30, 2013

Response by poster: Oh yes! Some good answers to #1, but if anybody has specific ideas on #2 to go with them that would be fantastic. Room with a view of these well-winded trees.
posted by quarterframer at 3:40 PM on April 30, 2013

Seconding Hawaii. The trade winds are always there and staying in one of the jungle areas provides plenty of trees. Toasty year-round.
posted by kamikazegopher at 4:13 PM on April 30, 2013

Yes to Tahoe/Truckee ... amazing ... the wind in those giant pines.
posted by henry scobie at 5:39 PM on April 30, 2013

Near/Around the Columbia River Gorge, there is a reason Hood River has some of the best wind surfing anywhere.
posted by iamabot at 6:50 PM on April 30, 2013

I feel like quaking aspens should be great for this, and I think of them being in Colorado and adjacent states especially - but don't know a particular place to recommend.
posted by LobsterMitten at 7:32 PM on April 30, 2013

Cabins in Flagstaff can provide the above requirements. Surrounding Flag are a lot of options for hearing/feeling the same if you're into nature walks such as: apple orchards (or any trail in Sedona/Flagstaff) and the aspen trees on the mountain outside Flag.

Seconding the Colorado notion; Telluride specifically comes to mind. If you like camping there is a site in the Ilium Valley just outside Telluride nestled where two mountains meet (one covered in pine the other in aspen) with creek adjacent.

Fish Camp is a little village inside/outside Yosemite National Park with great cabins/houses for rent and I would wager that finding a quality rental near any National Park would succeed. : )
posted by MansRiot at 9:31 PM on April 30, 2013

Rent a lakeside cottage in Muskoka (Canada) in the fall (late September/October). You won't be disappointed.
posted by pick_the_flowers at 12:39 AM on May 1, 2013

It's windy in Minnesota. I'd recommend the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in Northeast MN during the summer.
posted by hannahelastic at 1:09 PM on May 1, 2013