The Restorative Power of a Beautiful Place

I was recently in the Tetons for a long weekend, and on the very first day my thought was that I did not want to leave.  It was not a realistic thought.  First and foremost, it was not my  decision to make.  I was a guest in someone's home for heavens sake.  The other was that I have obligations that I might welcome the chance to shed, I am not likely to actually do so.  Instead I just enjoyed the beauty of the place, and didn't think too far into the future.
The reason this hit me like a ton of bricks is twofold.  It has been an avalanche of daily bad news coming out of the current administration, who are hellbent on destroying everything good that has happened in the last 25 years (maybe going back even further).  the other is that I was reading some hard to swallow literature, one being the Mueller Report, which chronicles just how criminal the guys in charge are and by implication, how corrupt the Republican party is.  The other was even more saddening.  The blow was cushioned by the surroundings in a way that was surprising and enlightening.  An attention to place can really make things better.