To celebrate July 4th, (I hate fireworks) 10 Places in the United States, it's just plain fun to go to. I used to travel a lot, once upon a time, so here's something I think you'll really enjoy.
Caveat #1, I have not traveled to Oklahoma, Nebraska, Iowa, and North Dakota. So don't expect mentions Hawkeyes, Huskers, and land of a thousand nicknames.
Caveat #2 I like History, museums and all that such. I watch the History channel when they don't air the following; shows on any military conflict or hardware after 1935, reality shows on husky people, shows on UFO's or some other such nonsense, and or a show on equipment. When I was a child, I sat down and read History books. Yep. I like history.
Caveat #3 Just because something you like or think is exceptional isn't on here doesn't mean I didn't go there or enjoy it. It just means I like this better.
Starting off our list,
# 10 Independence, Missouri. Harry S. Truman's National Historic Site. I went there, not expecting a darn thing, and came away with holy cow. The tour is literally of Harry Truman's house. And they don't have the ropes, the security, etc. etc. that all those other museums have. It's his house, they haven't changed it. I half expected him and Bess to come through the door. It didn't look like a thing had changed. Go, it's an experience. Also, I touched Truman's hat. It was just hanging there, just like he left it. They told me not to, and I did it anyway. Sorry Harry.
Next on our list, Beautiful Colorado
# 9 Pike's Peak, Colorado I took a train up to the top. At one point, the guide at the front said, "Okay, the front of the train is now several stories higher than the back. Oh, and while it takes us two hours to get up to the peak, it takes half an hour to get down." And at the top, is the highest point in the continental US. And it's beautiful. And windy. Don't wear baggy clothing. Not that I would know from experience.....:o
From the Friendly Confines....
# 8 Wrigley Field, Chicago, Illinois. Quick confession, I like baseball, I like the Cubs, and I've toured the Louisville Slugger Baseball Museum more than once. I went to Wrigley for a game once. I got there late, and the Braves had already scored 2 in the top of the first and we barely got in our seats to see the Cubs answer back with one run in the bottom of the first. We had seats up in the Upper Deck, so high we could see Lake Michigan, and feel the breeze coming off it. Neither team scored again, and the Cubs lost. It was the perfect game.
A kind old lady welcomes you to
# 7, The Statue of Liberty, New York City, New York. It's a beautiful view, It's a beautiful statue, and its meant so much to so many. It was a gift from the French for our 110th birthday, so it's a symbol of friendship with France. It's a symbol of Freedom, that's what the torch means. It's a symbol of a new world, that's what a lot of people first saw when their ship pulled into New York Harbor. And the immortal poem inscribed on the plaque is worth repeating here.
The New Colossus
From Ford to a place where you'll have a hard time finding a place to ford...(hey, they all can't be gems)
# 4, The Grand Canyon, Arizona. The first time I saw the Grand Canyon, I stopped and stared for ten minutes. It's incredible, awe inspiring, and just from any angle you ever see it at, is the most amazing place you'll ever see. And to anyone who rides a burro down the Canyon walls, hats off to you, because I ain't doing that.
From the Grand Canyon, to the greatest sacrifice...
# 3 Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia. "Here lie heroes. Please tread quietly." Is what it should say over the gate. The final resting place for American Servicemen and women. If you are an American and you don't get emotional here, you've got ice water in your veins. This is hallowed ground.
John F. Kennedy's grave is marked by an eternal flame. A memorial for the crews of the Columbia and Challenger are here also.
And the Tomb of the Unknowns. Guarded 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, no stopping for inclement weather. Guard is changed every half hour while the cemetery is open, and every two hours when it is not. And of course, the inscription on the tombs that represent Americans who've died in service to the country, but have not been identified.
HERE RESTS IN
HONORED GLORY
AN AMERICAN
SOLDIER
KNOWN BUT TO GOD
Choked up yet?
From the Arlington Metro stop, you take the blue line all the way around until you hit...
# 2 Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C. What it represents, what's happened here. It's incredible to contemplate. First a monument to a great president. Incredible structure, incredible architecture, incredible view out onto the reflecting pool.
And it's not just beautiful, it's functional. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered, "I have a dream" from the stairs of this monument, Marian Anderson sang "My Country Tis of Thee" from these stairs after she was turned away from a concert hall because of her race, and Richard Nixon lost his ever lovin mind on these stairs and got into an argument with college students at 4 in the morning over the Student Strike of 1970. Oh, and the rockettes danced on the stairs of the Lincoln Memorial for President Bush's inaguration.
I suppose if Barack Obama ever develops a flair for the dramatic, he'd deliver his inaguration speech from those same stairs if he won.
From I have a dream to a dream, # 1
# 1 Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida. The Space Program. The home of NASA. Home of the Apollo and Mercury programs. Where Columbia and Challenger flew. Where missions to the International Space Station are still being flown. Where great deeds were not just done, but are being done.
One of the most exhilirating expriences in the world must be to be sitting in the grand stands watching the numbers tick down to zero and watching a shuttle take off.
Well, that's my list. If you think you can do me one better, there's a comment section, prove it! Betcha can't!
Caveat #1, I have not traveled to Oklahoma, Nebraska, Iowa, and North Dakota. So don't expect mentions Hawkeyes, Huskers, and land of a thousand nicknames.
Caveat #2 I like History, museums and all that such. I watch the History channel when they don't air the following; shows on any military conflict or hardware after 1935, reality shows on husky people, shows on UFO's or some other such nonsense, and or a show on equipment. When I was a child, I sat down and read History books. Yep. I like history.
Caveat #3 Just because something you like or think is exceptional isn't on here doesn't mean I didn't go there or enjoy it. It just means I like this better.
Starting off our list,
# 10 Independence, Missouri. Harry S. Truman's National Historic Site. I went there, not expecting a darn thing, and came away with holy cow. The tour is literally of Harry Truman's house. And they don't have the ropes, the security, etc. etc. that all those other museums have. It's his house, they haven't changed it. I half expected him and Bess to come through the door. It didn't look like a thing had changed. Go, it's an experience. Also, I touched Truman's hat. It was just hanging there, just like he left it. They told me not to, and I did it anyway. Sorry Harry.
Next on our list, Beautiful Colorado
# 9 Pike's Peak, Colorado I took a train up to the top. At one point, the guide at the front said, "Okay, the front of the train is now several stories higher than the back. Oh, and while it takes us two hours to get up to the peak, it takes half an hour to get down." And at the top, is the highest point in the continental US. And it's beautiful. And windy. Don't wear baggy clothing. Not that I would know from experience.....:o
From the Friendly Confines....
# 8 Wrigley Field, Chicago, Illinois. Quick confession, I like baseball, I like the Cubs, and I've toured the Louisville Slugger Baseball Museum more than once. I went to Wrigley for a game once. I got there late, and the Braves had already scored 2 in the top of the first and we barely got in our seats to see the Cubs answer back with one run in the bottom of the first. We had seats up in the Upper Deck, so high we could see Lake Michigan, and feel the breeze coming off it. Neither team scored again, and the Cubs lost. It was the perfect game.
A kind old lady welcomes you to
# 7, The Statue of Liberty, New York City, New York. It's a beautiful view, It's a beautiful statue, and its meant so much to so many. It was a gift from the French for our 110th birthday, so it's a symbol of friendship with France. It's a symbol of Freedom, that's what the torch means. It's a symbol of a new world, that's what a lot of people first saw when their ship pulled into New York Harbor. And the immortal poem inscribed on the plaque is worth repeating here.
The New Colossus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Still beautiful.
From the Shores of a New York island, to equally grand monuments.
# 6, Mt. Rushmore/Crazy Horse, Black Hills, South Dakota. The scale is, must be seen to be believed. You could stare at Mt. Rushmore for hours. It's that impressive. And if that doesn't get your patriotic juices flowing, the night show will.
Crazy horse is a horse of a diff....you get the point. It's a monument of scale and size that is hard to comprehend for me. It's just, incredible. And keep in mind, both carved out of mountains.
From Mountains to Motor city....
# 5 The Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, Michigan. The Smithsonian may be the nation's attic, but this is the nation's garage. Autos, planes, all meticulously laid out. To give you an idea of what's in here, if it got driven, it's in here. Rosa Park's bus, JFK's limo, the Wright Brothers bicycle shop, Thomas Edison's lab, Lincoln's chair from Ford's Theater, it's not just a museum, it's a museum you'll enjoy. With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Still beautiful.
From the Shores of a New York island, to equally grand monuments.
# 6, Mt. Rushmore/Crazy Horse, Black Hills, South Dakota. The scale is, must be seen to be believed. You could stare at Mt. Rushmore for hours. It's that impressive. And if that doesn't get your patriotic juices flowing, the night show will.
Crazy horse is a horse of a diff....you get the point. It's a monument of scale and size that is hard to comprehend for me. It's just, incredible. And keep in mind, both carved out of mountains.
From Mountains to Motor city....
From Ford to a place where you'll have a hard time finding a place to ford...(hey, they all can't be gems)
# 4, The Grand Canyon, Arizona. The first time I saw the Grand Canyon, I stopped and stared for ten minutes. It's incredible, awe inspiring, and just from any angle you ever see it at, is the most amazing place you'll ever see. And to anyone who rides a burro down the Canyon walls, hats off to you, because I ain't doing that.
From the Grand Canyon, to the greatest sacrifice...
# 3 Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia. "Here lie heroes. Please tread quietly." Is what it should say over the gate. The final resting place for American Servicemen and women. If you are an American and you don't get emotional here, you've got ice water in your veins. This is hallowed ground.
John F. Kennedy's grave is marked by an eternal flame. A memorial for the crews of the Columbia and Challenger are here also.
And the Tomb of the Unknowns. Guarded 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, no stopping for inclement weather. Guard is changed every half hour while the cemetery is open, and every two hours when it is not. And of course, the inscription on the tombs that represent Americans who've died in service to the country, but have not been identified.
HERE RESTS IN
HONORED GLORY
AN AMERICAN
SOLDIER
KNOWN BUT TO GOD
Choked up yet?
From the Arlington Metro stop, you take the blue line all the way around until you hit...
# 2 Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C. What it represents, what's happened here. It's incredible to contemplate. First a monument to a great president. Incredible structure, incredible architecture, incredible view out onto the reflecting pool.
And it's not just beautiful, it's functional. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered, "I have a dream" from the stairs of this monument, Marian Anderson sang "My Country Tis of Thee" from these stairs after she was turned away from a concert hall because of her race, and Richard Nixon lost his ever lovin mind on these stairs and got into an argument with college students at 4 in the morning over the Student Strike of 1970. Oh, and the rockettes danced on the stairs of the Lincoln Memorial for President Bush's inaguration.
I suppose if Barack Obama ever develops a flair for the dramatic, he'd deliver his inaguration speech from those same stairs if he won.
From I have a dream to a dream, # 1
# 1 Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida. The Space Program. The home of NASA. Home of the Apollo and Mercury programs. Where Columbia and Challenger flew. Where missions to the International Space Station are still being flown. Where great deeds were not just done, but are being done.
One of the most exhilirating expriences in the world must be to be sitting in the grand stands watching the numbers tick down to zero and watching a shuttle take off.
Well, that's my list. If you think you can do me one better, there's a comment section, prove it! Betcha can't!
