Before You Die

In the January 2008 issue of the Smithsonian Magazine there is an article titled “28 PLACES TO SEE BEFORE YOU DIE.” Looking over this magazine’s list, there were 19 locations I had not seen yet, and of those, 16 were in areas I have no desire to travel. Why would anyone in their right mind want to see the Antarctica or climb Mt. Kilimanjaro? However, the magazine article did start me to thinking. Wouldn’t it have been better if the Smithsonian had presented “28 Place to see while you are still physically able?” Another title might have read, “28 Places to see if you have $280,000 to spend.”
Listed below is the
Riverside Review’s list of 28 places to see (before you die) and all are located east of the Mississippi River and within a two day drive of Poland, Ohio. Check off those you have seen and send me the names of any places you think I should add to the list. I am dying to know.

1. Niagara’s Horseshoe Falls, New York and Canada
2. Chautauqua Institute at Lake Chautauqua, New York
3. Pittsburgh’s Golden Triangle from atop Mt. Washington.
4. Greenfield Village and Ford Museum, Dearborn, Michigan
5. Millennium Park in downtown Chicago, Illinois (opened 2006)
6. Lincoln Museum, Home and Grave in Springfield, Illinois
7. Gaylord Opry Resort & Convention Center, Nashville, Tennessee
(with its 9 acres of indoor gardens.)

8. Replica of the Parthenon (full size), Nashville, Tenn.
9. Natchez Trace Parkway (any part of the 444 mile historic route)
10. Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, Tenn. (next to Rock City)
11. Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield, Marietta, Georgia
12. Stone Mountain Park east of Atlanta, Georgia
13. Andersonville Civil War Prison (stockade) near Americus, Georgia
14. The Old City of St. Augustine, Florida (incl. Spanish fortress)
15. Downtown Savannah, Georgia (incl. Fort Pulaski)
16. Fort Sumter, Charleston, South Carolina
17. Kitty Hawk, North Carolina
18. Williamsburg, Virginia
19. Tomb of the Unknown Solder, Arlington Cemetery, Washington, D.C.
20. Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C.
21. George Washington’s Plantation at Mt. Vernon, Virginia
22. Atlantic City Boardwalk, New Jersey
23. Harpers Ferry National Park, Maryland
24. Gettysburg Battlefields, Pennsylvania
25. Empire State Building, New York City
26. Statue of Liberty, New York City.
27. Brooklyn Bridge, New York City
28. West Point Military Academy, New York

The above list of “places to see” can all be reached by automobile without expensive travel plans. All have some historical value and are inspiring. Of course this list can be expanded to include the North American Continent and beyond, but first let us see those places that are within our reach. Hollywood has gotten into the act by releasing The Bucket List in which two cancer patients, played by Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, break out of their medical ward and embark on a life list that includes sky diving and visiting some of those places listed in the Smithsonian Magazine.