list – Page 9 – Lemon Drop Pie

My husband and I love to travel. It is probably more accurate to say that Ed loves to travel and he drags me with him. I love telling people that when I was six months pregnant with Emmy, he dragged me up the side of a mountain just to see a waterfall. I may have been a little out of breath, but I made it, and the view was gorgeous. Most of the tourist attractions we visit are outdoors, and we usually have to hike to see them. Since today is National Tourist Attraction Day, here are just some of the places we’ve been.

waterfall — Great Smoky Mountains National Park

10. Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Ed and I rented a little cabin on the side of a mountain. Lily was two at the time, and we spent a week exploring the Smoky Mountains. It is a beautiful place to visit!

9. Castle Rock State Park, Illinois

This time, instead of hiking while pregnant, I carried Emmy all over the place in her baby carrier. Castle Rock is a beautiful bluff in Illinois that not many people visit. It’s on the Rock River in Northern Illinois.

Climbing Castle Rock — Hiking on Castle Rock

8. Mammoth Cave National Park

If you’ve ever wanted to go caving but are a little afraid, this is the place to go. Park Rangers take visitors on guided tours of the cave, and this cave is so big it’s hard to feel claustrophobic. Located in Kentucky, there are also a lot of hiking trails in the forests surrounding the cave entrances. It’s an amazing feeling to be hiking in the woods on a hot summer day, and then feel the cool air coming out of a cave entrance. The caves are always about 67 degrees Fahrenheit, so even if you visit in the summer, bring a jacket to wear in the cave!

7. Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Michigan

The best way to see Pictured Rocks is by boat. The cliffs tower over the waters of Lake Superior and are pretty spectacular.

picturedrocksMI — Pictured Rocks, Michigan

6. Rocky Mountains National Park

The mountains of Colorado are also gorgeous, and in a very different way that the Smoky Mountains. The Smoky Mountains are blue, rounded, and yes, smoky. The Rocky Mountains are craggy and sharp, with snow topped peaks.

5. Niagara Falls

Touristy, check. Beautiful, check. Loud and wet, check.

4. Denali National Park, Alaska

Just plain wilderness. I’ve been up to Alaska three times (I have relatives in Anchorage) and each time I’ve visited it has been completely different. The weather, the mountains, the animals…beautiful beyond description!

3. The Grand Canyon, Arizona

One of our best vacations yet!

2. Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

A place I’ve wanted to visit ever since I taught about it as a second grade teacher. Seeing the cliff dwellings was amazing! Preserved for centuries, the dwellings were only discovered about 100 years ago by a couple of cowboys.

1. Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona

Seriously, one of the most amazing places in the world that has been forgotten.

petrified log — Petrified Forest, Arizona

Ed, Lily, Emmy and I are looking forward to more adventures next summer…California, here we come!

Click the Tuesday Ten button for more tourist attractions at The Golden Spoons!

I was born 45 years ago, in 1969. I know, it’s hard to believe, isn’t it? I look so young! 🙂 This week for the Tuesday Ten, the theme is the year you were born. Here’s some events from 1969:

10. The song “Sugar, Sugar” by The Archies was number 1 on Billboard’s top 100 hits. Hard to believe that this was a band…in a cartoon!

9. I was born at the beginning of February, and my sign is Aquarius. So it’s appropriate that the top 2 song on Billboard’s chart was “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” by The Fifth Dimension.

8. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford was released in theaters.

7. The first automatic teller machine in the United States was installed in Rockville Centre, New York. I use the ATM all the time, and had no idea that ATMs have been around since the year I was born!

6. Some celebrities who are the same age as me are Jason Bateman, Jennifer Aniston, Cate Blanchett, and Christian Slater.

5. On June 22, actress Judy Garland died from a drug overdose at the age of 47. She was only two years older than I am now.

4. After 147 years, the last issue of The Saturday Evening Post was published. Famous for covers by Norman Rockwell and other artists as well as publishing authors such as P.G. Wodehouse, The Post was founded back in the day by Benjamin Franklin. The Saturday Evening Post made a comeback in 1971, and is still published today.

3. From August 15 to August 18, the Woodstock Festival was held in upstate New York, featuring some of the top rock musicians of the era.

2. The Battle of Dong Ap Bia, also known as Hamburger Hill, begins during the Vietnam War. The movie Hamburger Hill is made in the 80’s, and while it is based on this battle, the characters are fictitious.

1. On July 20, when I was 5 months old, my parents watched the lunar module Eagle land on the lunar surface with about 500 million people worldwide. Neil Armstrong took his historic first steps on the Moon at 10:56 pm ET. My mom thought she had the flu; in reality, she was pregnant with my sister.

Tuesday Ten is hosted by Lisa from The Golden Spoons and Rabia from The Liebers.

What happened the year you were born?

Please share!

Like this:

Please share!

Like this: