Connected To A Place

Have you ever traveled to a new place and immediately felt so connected to it you could picture yourself easily re-locating?

My wife often says she felt this way the first time she visited London. Recently a friend told me about her niece - born and raised in Houston - who re-located to Anchorage soon after her first visit. No other person or relationship was involved in the decision; she fell in love with the place and told her parents she couldn't imagine living anywhere else. Work? She'd find it once she got there. And I've known more than a few people who told me they made only one visit to the place they subsequently moved to after stopping full time work. I've also noticed some striking similarities in the language these folks use to describe this experience.

My closest experience is a distant and vague memory from my first cross country driving trip in 1972. Something about Salem Oregon spoke to me. I wish I'd been more disciplined back then about writing in a journal. It would be nice all these years later to read my own words about why that particular place exerted such a pull on me. If you've had this experience, what connects you to your special place?