
Another Landmark: the Baha’i House of Worship, Chicago, IL
I often think about participating in Cee’s Share Your World Post and I have a few times. I could not pass it up this week.
Her questions and my answers:
What is the most famous landmark or building you have ever seen?
This is a fun one, because I have been very fortunate to see so many wonderful ones. I think I will list them in the order I saw them. When I was about 10 or 11 we took our only big family vacation and drove from Wisconsin to California to visit family friends and visit a lot of family on the way there and back. We went to the Grand Canyon, Great Salt Lake in Utah, Estes Park, Mesa Verde, China Town in San Francisco and the Pacific Ocean. In my college years I saw some really famous places as I did my major traveling. I saw Machu Picchu and the Galapagos Islands, the Terra Cotta Soldiers in Xian, China, the gorgeous hills of Guilin, China and the neon of Hong Kong. My husband and I met while we were both living in Taiwan and we have explored Yellowstone and the Tetons, Beartooth Pass, (not the most famous, but one of my favorites), the Golden Gate Bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Empire State Building, the Old North Church in Boston, the Eiffel Tower and the Louve, the Eiger Mountain, Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany, and so many landmarks in Italy that I could post about that place for years. I don’t know which of these you would call the most famous. I think the Eiffel tower may be in the top 10. In any case, my favorite landmark or building I have ever seen was Michelanglo’s statue of David.

Portland, Maine mini-vacation
Do you like long vacation or lots of mini-vacations?
I love mini-vacations. My migraines and vertigo make long vacations difficult without a lot of rest days planned in and that is a challenge for me. Now that we are living on the east coast there is so much to see and do so we have already had a lot of mini-vacations. We have lots more planned and I will be sharing, doors, trees, and flowers from all the places we explore!
What is your favorite National or State Park?
I love National and State Parks and my favorite so far is Arches National Park in Moab, UT. We had the luxury of exploring it extensively when we lived in Utah and it never disappointed.
What is your fantasy vacation?
I have 2 big fantasy vacations that I hope we will be able to do in part or whole someday. One is to go back to Italy and explore Venice and Murano and go back to Rome and Florence. I would love to spend a month or more there really getting to know a few corners of the country and painting and taking photographs.
My other fantasy vacation is what I hope we will do when my husband can retire. I would love to go to all the National Parks in the 48 contiguous states on a grand tour with a little camper. We want to go to something in each of the states and find any odd roadside attractions. Not sure what we would do about our cats as they do not enjoy travel, but this one is still in the dreaming stages. Do you see some common themes in these questions? I love travel and so does my husband. It is literally what brought us together.
Optional Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up? I’m grateful for the new friends I’m making here in New Jersey. I’m grateful that my health is good enough that I can work on art most days. I made some bookmarks for people to color and I colored one copy for myself. I’m grateful for the new car that we got that will be able to tow the little camper we hope to get in the next few years! I’m grateful for my wonderful husband who I hope to travel with for many years to come. I’m looking forward to progressing on a big new mandala that I’m working on for a show in September! I’m also looking forward to getting Botox in a little more than a week. My migraines get worse as it wears off – I get it every 3 months and I’m almost due.

bookmarks
I hope you have a beautiful day!