Ending Our "101 Places to See"

Well, now that we've all reached 12 in this family, I think it's a fitting time to put the well-worn "101 Places" book away and call it a triumph.

We have visited 85 places since we found this book in February 2010.  It's informed the majority of our vacations and weekend excursions over the last 4 years.  Here is a link to the first blog post where I wrote about this book. 

You can see all 85 of our adventures here.

As the boys and I talked about wrapping up this adventure, I asked them if they had a favorite 101 thing.  They both took the book and flipped through it where we had written the location we visited on each page.

I'm imaging #10 - A Faraway Island when we went to Hawaii.

Or maybe #19 - A Rock Art Site in Moab, Utah.

Or #12 - An Old Growth Forest when we visited Yosemite and Muir Woods in California.

Or #30 - A Marvel of Engineering - the Empire State Building in NYC.

Surprisingly, the boys said:

Thomas - Our Local Courthouse or A Farmer's Market

Brennan - Your Parents' Workplaces

Who knew?

This little book has traveled with us all over the US - Hawaii, California, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, DC, Virginia, Missouri, Illinois, Texas, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine, Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan, Louisiana, and Ohio.

I learned about places that I probably would not have thought to visit when we were traveling, like

A Peace Garden

(The Korean Bell of Friendship in San Pedro, CA)

Or, a U.S. Mint when we traveled to New Orleans

Or to trace our steps on Route 66 as we traveled through CA and AZ as part of "An Endangered Place".

The book has given us a lot of great memories!

Here are the places that we haven't made time to visit.  

Maybe we'll get to some one of these days, who knows?

A Working Farm (we have several right down the road)

A Swimming Hole (does a lake count?)

A Kooky Capital

A Crazy Dream House

A Geyser or Natural Hot Springs

A Wetlands (I hear there's one nearby)

A Pigpen (Brennan says no thanks)

A Sensory Garden

A Living History Museum (Thomas has been, Brennan hasn't)

A First-Rate Secondhand Store  (We have Second-Rate ones)

A Hall of Fame

An Artist's Inspiration

A School That's Different From Your Own

A Weather Spot

A Recording Studio

It's been an awesome ride, thank you!