100 Places

Like most wanderers, I enjoy traveling. I couldn’t imagine not taking every opportunity that comes my way to jump into the car for a road trip, or book a flight that lands in a place my feet have not yet been. I look forward to exploring new places with all of the senses I have at my disposal – sight, smell, touch, sound. I want to experience as much of this world as I can, while I’m still a part of it and while it is still here.

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To understand where I’d like to go, it’s important to know where I’ve been and what I’ve seen:

2001: Australia (Perth, Fremantle, Nannup, Esperance, Albany, Kalgoorlie) Rottnest Island; Kalgoorlie Gold Mine

2002: Ireland (Shannon, Ennis, Dublin, Belfast); Scotland (Stranraer, Edinburgh); England (London) Cliffs of Moher; Guinness Brewery; Dirty Dick’s pub; Edinburgh Castle; Camera Obscura; Stonehenge; Big Ben; Westminster Abbey; St. James Park; The Eye; Queen Victoria Monument; Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace

2002: Mexico (Cancun) Tulum

2004: Italy (Venice, Murano, Burano, Lido, Florence, Lucca, Pisa, Rome) St. Mark’s Square; Uffizi Gallery; Spanish Steps; Il Duomo; Michelangelo’s David at the Galleria dell’Accademia; Ponte Vecchio; Piazzale Michelangelo; Castel Sant’Angelo; Piazza Navona; Campo di’ Fiore; Colosseum; Arco di Constantino; Pantheon; Roman Forum; Bocca della Verita; Circus Maximus; Rome Zoo; Piazza Venezia & Capitol Hill; Piazza del Popolo; St. Peter’s Square & St. Peter’s Basilica; Vatican Museum & the Sistine Chapel; Leaning Tower of Pisa; many fountains, including Trevi Fountain; Venice Film Festival

United States (Maryland, Washington D.C., Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, California, Colorado, New York, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Alabama, Ohio, Hawaii, Maine, Illinois) – All of the D.C. monuments & museums; Grand Canyon; Redwood Forest; Disney World; Teton Mountains; Yellowstone National Park; Carlsbad Caverns; Luray Caverns; Churchill Downs; Kauai; Las Vegas; Valley Forge; Blackwater Falls; Hungry Mother State Park; Shenandoah River/Valley; Assateague & Chincotegue Islands; Finger Lakes & Watkins Glen State Park; L.L. Bean Flagship Store; Chicago

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I’ve titled this list “100 Places,” however I will not try to list 100 places today and it is completely possible that my list will eventually top out at way more than 100! Despite my unwavering tendency to alphabetize, these places are listed in no particular order whatsoever.

1. Alaska (Denali National Park, Aurora Borealis)

2. Colorado (Mesa Verde National Park)

3. Cambodia (Angkor Wat)

4. Australia (Great Barrier Reef, Sydney Opera House, Ayers Rock, 12 Apostles, Great Ocean Road/Walk and Melbourne)

5. Galapagos Islands (off the coast of Ecuador)

6. Africa (The Serengeti, Victoria Falls and Mount Kilimanjaro in Kenya)

7. Easter Island (off the coast of South America/Chile)

8. Egypt (Pyramids of Giza, The Sphinx and the Temple of Deir El-Bahri)

9. India (Taj Mahal – after the restoration is complete)

10. China (The Great Wall, The Forbidden City in Beijing and the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang)

11. Utah (National Arches Park)

12. Greece (Milopotamos Beach in Ios, Parthenon)

13. France (the medieval town of Carcassonne, Cannes, Paris, the Louvre, the Musee Vivant du Cheval and the Eiffel Tower)

14. Canada (Vancouver, Nova Scotia, Cape Churchill for the polar bears in autumn, and Quebec for the Winter Carnival)

15. Pennsylvania (Fallingwater – Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous 1937 house)

16. Iceland (Reykjavik and Stokkur Geyser)

17. Switzerland (Zurich, Grindelwald and to see, but not climb, the Matterhorn)

18. South America (Amazon Rain Forest)

19. Maine (Acadia National Park and the DeVore’s in Bath)

20. Oregon

21. Bonaire (Netherlands Antilles)

22. Italy (Apulia, Naples, Poisitano, Perugia, Sicily and Sardinia)

23. Japan (Uji, Kyoto and Mt. Fuji)

24. Sweden (The Ice Hotel in Jukkasjarvi, Ostermalm district in Stockholm)

25. Netherlands (Amsterdam)

26. Argentina (Patagonia, Glaciers National Park, Iguazu Falls and Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires)

27. Germany (Rhine Valley & Neuschwanstein, the castle that Cinderella’s castle is modeled after)

28. South Dakota (Badlands National Park)

29. Scotland (Loch Ness, Isle of Lewis)

30. New Zealand

31. England (The Cotswolds, Chester in Cheshire, the White Cliffs of Dover and Northumberland to see Hadrian’s Wall)

32. Czech Republic (Old Town Square in Prague and The Charles Bridge)

33. Arizona (Grand Canyon – again! – and the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum to see the hummingbird exhibit)

34. Ireland (Blarney Castle in Cork)

35. New York (Niagara Falls and the Bronx Zoo)

36. Belize

37. Peru (Machu Picchu)

38. California (San Diego & the Gaslamp Quarter, Catalina Island, Legoland in Carlsbad, Napa Valley and to drive the Pacific Coast Highway)

39. Washington (Kalaloch Cedar and Nolan Creek Cedar in the Olympic National Park, Orcas Island)

40. Spain (Madrid, Ibiza, Andalucia and Canary Islands)

41. Florida (Florida Keys)

42. Dominican Republic (Puerto Plata and the Amber Museum)

43. St. Lucia

44. Fontaine Bartholdi in Lyons, France, because Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi worked with Gustave Eiffel (of the Eiffel Tower) to make it, and he also created the Statue of Liberty

45. St. Croix (Buck Island, where the coral reef is protected by a national park and you can snorkel!)

46. Poland (Tatra Mountains)

47. Michigan (Mackinac Island)

48. Cape Cod and Nantucket Sound

49. Kostnice in Prague – 40,000 human bones

50. Bali

51. Myanmar (Pagan)

52. Puerto Vallarta

53. Puerto Rico (El Yunque National Forest)

54. Amsterdam

55. Massachusetts (Boston)

56. Barbados

57. Estancia La Bamba (15 minutes outside San Antonio de Areco, near Buenos Aires)

58. Finland (Oulanka National Park)

59. Hawaii (Maui)

60. Botswana (Duba Plains Camp or Savuti Camp for a safari)

61. Texas (La Villita, North Star Mall & the world’s largest pair of cowboy boots, River Walk, and the Liberty Bar restaurant in San Antonio)

62. China (Jiuzhaigou National Nature Reserve & Nuorilang waterfall)

63. Ukraine (Swallow’s Nest neo-Gothic castle in Yalta)

64. Denmark (Skagen, Copenhagen and Nyhavn Canal)

65. Brazil (Iguazu Falls)

66. Bora Bora Lagoon (Society Islands, French Polynesia)

67. Bahamas (Nassau)

68. Namibia (Etosha National Park)

69. Austria (Salzburg and Vienna)

70. Guadeloupe (Iles des Saintes & Marie Galante - French West Indies)

71. Bolivia (Copacabana and Lake Titicaca)

72. Greece (Dodecanese – on the island of Rhodes, the largest inhabited medieval town in Europe)

73. Amalfi Drive in Campania, Italy

74. Ecuador (Cotopaxi National Park)