951 Places Left To See

On a recent layover in the Denver airport, Christina and I picked up a book called 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. Here are the places on the list I've seen:

• The Costwolds -- mentioned, for example, here.
  
• Canterbury Cathedral -- some colleagues and I visited it on September 8, 2001.
  
• London -- for example, here.
  
• Hadrian's Wall -- I visited it with my parents in the summer of 1994 or 1995.
  
• Bath -- Christina and I went there in 2003.
  
• Stratford-upon-Avon -- I saw a play here in September 2003.
  
• Stonehenge -- Christina and I visited here in April 2003.
  
• York Minster -- I'm pretty sure I visited there in the 1993-95 time frame.
  
• Scotch Whisky Trail -- We stopped here on a trip to Scotland I took with my parents in the summer of 1994.
  
• Highland Games -- This was the highlight of the aforementioned trip. The Queen was there, too!
  
• Edinburgh Castle -- for example, here.
  
• Bruges -- I went there in May 2000.
  
• The Blue Mountains -- Christina and I visited there in July 2002.
  
• Sydney Opera House -- We visited there on that trip, too.
  
• The Great Barrier Reef -- Ditto.
  
• The Inside Passage -- I visited there in September 1996.
  
• The Getty Center -- Christina and I visited there in June 2002.
  
• Hollywood -- We visited there on the same trip.
  
• Monterey Peninsula -- I visited there in December 1995.
  
• The Pacific Coast Highway -- I first drove it in 1992.
  
• Everglades National Park -- I visited there in January 2003.
  
• Walt Disney World Resort -- I went there with my parents in 1976 and 1980.
  
• Savannah -- I visited there around 1995.
  
• Art Institute of Chicago -- I went there in November 2003.
  
• The French Quarter -- Christina and I visited there in April 2001.
  
• The New Orleans Restaurant Scene -- same trip.
  
• New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival -- same trip.
  
• Chesapeake Bay -- Right in my backyard.
  
• Bellagio -- We went there in our August 2001 trip to Vegas for Martin and Jeanene's wedding.
  
• The Las Vegas Strip -- same trip.
  
• The Adirondacks -- I visited there in June 2004.
  
• Finger Lakes -- I visited there in May 1998.
  
• New York City -- I visited there on a 7th grade field trip.
  
• Gettysburg -- I visited there on a 6th grade trip.
  
• Pennsylvania Dutch Country -- I went to "math camp" there several summers in the mid-1980s.
  
• Philly Food -- Christina and I sampled it on our trip in August 2003.
  
• Independence National Park -- same trip.
  
• Beaufort and the Low Country -- circa 1997.
  
• The Heart of Charleston -- I first went there for a conference in 1994.
  
• Low Country Cuisine -- circa 1997.
  
• Monticello -- Christina and I went there right after our wedding in October 2002.
  
• Colonial Williamsburg -- I visited there on an 8th grade field trip. Boy, they knew how to pick those field trips, I guess!
  
• The National Mall -- in my backyard.
  
• The Smithsonian -- also in my backyard.
  
• Banff -- We visited there in May 2003.
  
• Niagara Falls -- I first visited there in conjunction with a debate tournament in Buffalo in 1987. It's also the first time I ever left the US (albeit briefly).
  
• Vieux Montreal -- I visited there on a trip in May 2002.
  
• Chichen Itza -- We went there on our honeymoon in October 2003.
  

Wow, there were a lot of neat moments captured on that list. What amazes me is that 23 of them -- almost half -- are place I've only visited in the 4 1/2 years since I started this blog. I think it's partially because I've opened my eyes and tried to look for new opportunities to see the world. It's also partially because Christina has encouraged me to look around and see more of the world.

I don't think this is as good to use as a "checklist" as the World Heritage list -- there are far too many expensive hotels on the list. But it's interesting to see what I've managed to visit. I'll probably look around for things on the list that are possibilities for future visits, and I'll note it here when I visit them.