From Sea to Shining Sea

I was looking through some pictures I had taken from a recent trip I took across the country. Among them was a picture I had taken of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. I started to realize just how many great landmarks and monuments I had seen with my own eyes over the years.

I have stood near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. I have viewed Seattle from the top of the Space Needle. I have snapped a picture of the Washington Monument and the Jefferson Memorial from a moving car. I have seen the Wright Brothers Memorial near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina from a passing car. I have stood on top of the World Trade Center. I have viewed with awe the Gateway Arch by the Mississippi River. I have walked atop the Four Corners Monument where Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico meet. I have stood at the base of the Statue of Liberty. I have wandered on the beach of the Puget Sound near Seattle and the Albemarle Sound in North Carolina. I have swam in the Great Salt Lake. I have been inside the McLean House in the old town of Appomattox Court House and stood at the edge of Saylor's Creek Battlefield--the last major battlefield of the Civil War--preceding the surrender of Lee to Grant. I have also seen the wonder of Rocky Mountain National Park, Zions National Park and Arches National Park.

I have crossed the Columbia River, the Missouri River, the Mississippi River, the Kanawha River, the New River, the Ohio River, the Kansas River, the Platte River, the Des Moines River, the Wabash River, the James River, the Patomac River and I have been under the Hudson River. I have seen the rocky coast line of Oregon and the sandy beaches of southern California and Long Beach Island NJ. I have rafted down the Green River and the Snake River and I have dipped my feet into the Colorado River.

I have been in Seattle, Portland, San Fransicso, San Diego, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City (where I was born), Denver, Kansas City (both of them), Des Moines, Indianapolis, Columbus, Charleston WV, Richmond VA, Washington DC, Louisville KY, New York City, St. Louis and a lot of other small towns in between.

And I have been in 26 States (Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Kentuky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland, New Jersey, New York) and Washington, DC.

What a beautiful country!!

PS: I have yet to see the Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone National Park, or the Alamo. I have also never been to Disneyland nor set foot outside this country.