Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Oh, The Places I've Been!

No, this post isn't about the book by Dr. Seuss. It's, perhaps selfishly, all about me.

I sometimes feel a bit envious when I hear about other people traveling to foreign lands and exotic destinations.

Since coming to California when I was not quite five years old the only places I've visited out of this state are Athens, Ohio, Lubbock, Texas, and Bend, Oregon. None of those are exactly famous tourist destinations. I've also been to the outskirts of Reno, Nevada, but never saw the impressive parts of that city.

Between my food allergies and my husband's extreme fragrance allergies, traveling has been difficult.

Poor little me.

But I clearly remember the Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty and Bronx Zoo that I often saw as a young child. And I remember driving across the Great Plains and over the Rocky and Sierra mountain ranges when we came to California.

And I've lived most of my life in a spectacularly beautiful state.

I've stood on top of Glacier Point in Yosemite, crossed the Golden Gate Bridge more times than I can count, and visited zoos in San Diego, San Francisco, and Oakland. I've been to beaches at Santa Cruz, San Francisco, Drake's Bay and many other locations, and climbed Mount Tamalpias and Mount Whitney. I've been to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the Lawrence Hall of Science, and dozens of museums in the San Francisco Bay Area and the Gold Country of the Sierras. I've toured the state capitol building in Sacramento and gone camping beneath the trees in many beautiful places.

Come to think of it, I've been to lots of places other people pay thousands of dollars to visit.

Lucky me!

Where do you like to go on vacations?


2 comments:

penelope anne cole said...

Hi Jan, I've traveled a lot when I worked for the government: all over the SF Region teaching workshops in CA, NV, AZ, HI, and Korea (visited Tokyo on that trip.) For the Navy I worked in HI, in Guam and the PI. In Europe, to Sicily, Rome, London, Scotland, Madrid, and Rota, where I was based. I Eurailed across Europe with my Dad (Spain, France, Austria, Germany, Italy), and then to London, Scotland, Paris, Brussels, Rome, Istanbul with my Mom. I've traveled to or through nearly all the states except Alaska, North Dakota, Maine, Vermont, Tennessee. Most states I feel I know from books, movies, and TV. I've lived in Washington, California, Hawaii, Texas, Maryland, Virginia, Alabama, Rota Spain, Istanbul Turkey, and, Asuncion Paraguay (though a couple of those places were only for 6 months.) Nowadays, I don't travel much. I have dogs and cats that keep me home. And I like to sleep in my own bed, now it's day trips in and around the SF Bay Area.
http://www.penelopeannecole.com

Janet Ann Collins said...

Wiw! I'm impressed!