Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Seeing the USA

Last week I gave you my top 25 international travel spots.  I had a blast writing the post, and so today  as March winds down (Hurrah!), I'll do my top 25 domestic (USA) places to visit. Note-these are not in any particular order.
Are you ready?

2-Falling water-the house by Frank Lloyd Wright in the Pittsburg, PA area
Visit that part of Pennsylvania too.


3-the MOMA in NYC

4-The Biltmore Estate in Ashville NC, and while I am there- might as well see Smokey Mountain National Park.


6-Olympic National Park- We didn't make it there on last summer's trip to the area.
7-Go back to Portland, Oregon to actually sight see the city-we were there last summer on a quick stop on way through to go to Voodoo donuts.
I actually saw this sign!

Next trip, we spend some city time.

8-La Brea Tar Pits and LA
Yes, most people want to go to Los Angeles and see the stars, which I would love also, but I have always wanted to visit these fossil sites, ever since I was a geeky little girl.

9-Drive south or north through the middle of the country and hit those states I haven't been too-North Dakota, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Minnesota- somehow I've been west and east but not a lot in between.
 Photo link

10-Travel in the Inside Passage to Alaska from Seattle area or Vancouver


11-Hawaii
Oh which island to visit?  Kauai? Maui? See the volcanoes on the big island?
Map of Hawaii  
12- Drive from Fairbanks over the Arctic Circle to Prudhomme Bay/Deadhorse, Alaska
 Great blog post about the drive!
13-  Drive from Miami out to Key West, Florida over the bridges-the Overseas Highway
Photo credit

14- Complete my visiting of all 58 National Parks (and also hit lots of the monuments and historic sites too)(I've done 20 of the parks and a bunch of monuments too!) Two of my top choices to visit are Teddy Roosevelt Park in North Dakota and also Big Bend in Texas.
 List of all parks



15-Visit all 50 states-I've been to 36 (For some reason I thought it was more than that!)



16-visit Downeast Maine (way over by Atlantic Canada), and Aroostock County, Maine

17-drive route 66

18-visit Austin and San Antonio, Texas



19-Big Sur and Monterey, California



20-Explore Western Massachusetts
I grew up in Central Massachusetts, but mostly we went east- towards Boston.
There are museums to visit (Mass MoCa), homes of some famous authors for example Emily Dickinson, mountains to hike, and Normal Rockwell villages. I've been to Western Massachusetts several times but its an area with a lot of new discoveries left for me.

I love visiting old homes, if you can't tell.




22-Hudson River Valley
I would never even have known about this place if it hadn't been for an Anthony Bourdain  TV show. Looks so pretty. Not that far off from me either that I should really make an effort to check it out.



23-Oregon Coast
I was lucky enough this past summer (2014) to visit parts of the coast around Astoria, and it was absolutely gorgeous.  I'd love to go and explore a lot more.



24-Visit some local places I have never made it to- like the Edward Gorey House on Cape Cod, the Kennedy Library in Boston, a few hikes in  I have never done...
photo credit

There are so many little local hidden treasures  that I just haven't seen or haven't seen in ages. Always so much fun to discover those. There's so much local beauty and history and  culture and art. Sometimes we focus so much on the far away we forget the nearby.



25-And lastly:
link to image
I'd love any suggestions you could make. You might know a hidden gem.  As with even local places, there are so many places I just don't know about. You know, those discoveries on the adventure that aren't planned. The places you come across when you're not looking for them. The places someone mentions you should check out, and then you are glad you did.

Hope you enjoyed your arm chair trips today.
Thanks for stopping by my blog.

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