# The Grand Canyon- ever been? Or other famous places you've visited?



## SunshineOnMe (Jan 11, 2014)

Just returned from the Grand Canyon. One word- wow! I could only look for a few minutes, the sight was so overwhelming, and the depth gave me zaps of "eeeep!" It was crowded the day we went, but the sound was muted and hushed because that gaping canyon swallowed up the noise. 

I realized I've never seen a picture that comes close to representing how incredible it is.

What famous sights have you seen?


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## Kay Bratt (Dec 28, 2011)

I would LOVE to see the Grand Canyon one day!  

I have visited The Great Wall of China, The Terracotta Soldiers in Xi'an, and also swam and snorkeled the Great Barrier Reef off Australia. I also got to sun on the sands of Phi Phi island in Thailand where The Beach (with Leonardo DiCaprio) was filmed. Another time, we were actually vacationing in Thailand when the big tsunami hit, but were lucky enough that at the last minute we'd changed our destination to the other side of the island that was protected. Sadly, the place we'd visited the year before ended up being wiped out and thousands of people died. 

I've become quite the homebody these days, but wish I could travel more within my own country and see all that I've missed. Maybe one day when I retire I'll have time and energy enough to buy an RV and just go from site to site.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

SunshineOnMe said:


> Just returned from the Grand Canyon. One word- wow! I could only look for a few minutes, the sight was so overwhelming, and the depth gave me zaps of "eeeep!" It was crowded the day we went, but the sound was muted and hushed because that gaping canyon swallowed up the noise.
> 
> I realized I've never seen a picture that comes close to representing how incredible it is.


This^ was my reaction to seeing the Grand Canyon. It was incredible.

I'd love to see the Great Wall of China. Also Australia.

I have seen the Eiffel Tower, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, St. Petersburg, Russia (incredible). When hubby retired, we bought an RV and drove it to Alaska. My review of the Alaskan Range is that they're what the Rockies want to be when they grow up.

So much to see, so little time...

Betsy


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

bookmarking this to post my list later.

regarding the Grand Canyon, I have to admit that as much as I loved it, I loved Bryce Canyon more.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

telracs said:


> bookmarking this to post my list later.
> 
> regarding the Grand Canyon, I have to admit that as much as I loved it, I loved* Bryce Canyon *more.


"Hell of a place to lose a cow." -- _Mark Twain_


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

Of things of a somewhat similar vein, when I visited Niagara Falls (many years ago now), I ended up finding the rapids/gorge area downstream from the falls much more beautiful and enjoyable to visit -- just too much people-stuff in the immediate area of the falls for me.

I took a drive through Rocky Mountain National Park maybe a decade ago that was absolutely gorgeous. A few of my photos:


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## Tony Richards (Jul 6, 2011)

Yep, I've been to the Grand Canyon whilst visiting Vegas. One tip for anyone who does it that way. You're taken there on a small plane. Book the EARLIEST tour, because if you leave it till midday or the afternoon, the thermals over the desert are genuinely fierce and the plane gets knocked around like the ball at a Nick's game.

Then again, some people might like that kind of thing.


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## Nancy Beck (Jul 1, 2011)

So glad you enjoyed your time at the Grand Canyon, Sunshine! 

Visited the Grand Canyon a loooong time ago.  Words can't describe it well, and pictures don't do it justice; you _really_ have to be there to take it all in.

Went to Niagara Falls. In a word, spectactular. I took a picture of the falls, but I don't remember where I stashed it. I'll find it one day (hopefully).

Went to England and Scotland back in the late 1990s - had a wonderful time. We were in London, York, Edinborough, and a one day train trip to Aberdeen, Scotland. Did that last on a whim. My fave was York. We stayed at a bed and breakfast that had a lovely English garden, a tiny bar inside, and yummy breakfasts. We also took a side trip to Tadcaster, which is home (to those in the beer world) to Samuel Smith's. The only other people on the tour were about 10 people from Newcastle, and we had a rip roaring fun time! Wish we could have stayed for the eats at a diner next door, but had to take a train to Edinborough.

We were in Edinborough right around the time J. K. Rowling had started writing the first Harry Potter; I always wonder if we might have passed by her and her little one.  Anyway, went to Edinborough Castle, and what was really cool and had me teary-eyed was the playing of bagpipes early in the morning. There was just something about being in Scotland, the slight breeze...it made me quite wistful. Not to be missed.

Oh, let's see...also went to San Francisco on an absolutely beautiful day!  We were there on the 199th anniversary of the San Francisco Earthquake - we were wondering why there was a siren at one point during that day, and we found out by turning on the TV,  because we'd forgotten that date! We also went and ate breakfast at Mom's, which is a well-known breakfast joint in San Francisco (Momlettes, anyone?). The thing about that place is not only is all the food yummy, but it's teeny tiny: You have to get there at a certain time in order to get inside, or you're stuck outside in a (long) line.

Also went to Vegas, which was okay (not really into all that glitz, but everyone should go at least once). Stayed at the MGM Grand and the ride on the gondola (inside, because it was cheaper & they had the blessed AC on) at the Venetian actually made me cry cause it was kind of romantic.  But the highlight of that trip was going to Hoover Dam. All the history of how it was built, why it was built, all the Art Deco everywhere (I'm into that kind of stuff, lol), it was a fantastic little tour.

I've gone on other trips, but those are the ones that really stand out for me.


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## SunshineOnMe (Jan 11, 2014)

These are very cool responses! Ya'll are making me want to get my traveling shoes on.  Love the pictures!


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## crebel (Jan 15, 2009)

My traveling sounds a lot like Nancy's!  I have been to the Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls - truly spectacular (the Falls even more so from the Canadian side).  I was fortunate to travel in England and Scotland in 2005.  I found that to be almost overwhelming, anywhere you visited or were just standing along the streets, you are surrounded by thousands of years of history.  That overwhelmed feeling was particularly strong for me in Westminster Cathedral.  It was hard to take it all in and I would love to go back.

Nancy mentioned Harry Potter, we were in Scotland/England right after the big DaVinci Code reading frenzy.  We spent an entire day at Roslyn Chapel and it was fascinating after reading the book.  We also got to see the military tattoo at Edinburgh Castle and that was certainly one of the highlights of our trip.

That same fall, we visited Australia and New Zealand.  Spectacular scenery and wonderful people.  If we ever win the lottery, we will have a second home on the south island of New Zealand (around Milford Sound); it's the most beautiful place I have ever been.

I've lived in Jamaica, WI as well as Japan, and loved my time in both places.  So many sights to see in Japan and Hiroshima is a poignant place of reverence, sadness, and strength of overcoming such great destruction. While living in Japan (courtesy of the USMC), we got to take a short trip to Hong Kong while it was still part of the Commonwealth.  It is fun to be able to say I have been there, but not necessarily one of the places to which I wish to return.

In August I get to go to Ireland for a week!  If I had unlimited funds, I would travel, travel, travel.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

okay, working backwards....

last year i did a trip to Alaska that included a cruise on Prince William Sound and got up close and beautiful with glaciers and two days in Denali National Park.

year before that was India, which included the Taj Mahal.  It's a big white building.  I had more fun in Ranthanbore Tiger Preserve.

2011 was a National Park tour which started in Rapid City and included Mount Rushmore (way cool), Yellowstone, Bryce Canyon, Zion Canyon, Grand Canyon, Lake Powell, Salt Lake City and Las Vegas.

In 2010 I went to Scotland and went to Edinburgh, Loch Lomond and Stirling and Loch Ness (no monster sighting)

2009 was Peru and Ecuador.  Machu Picchu and the Galapagos Islands.  

2008 was Australia.  Great barrier reef, Ayres Rock, Sydney Opera House.

2006 was South Africa, including Kruger Park, saw all kinds of animal.s

I've also done the Wailing Wall in Israel, the Eiffel Tower in Paris and its replicas in Tokyo and Las Vegas.  

Mount Fuji

Stonehenge and Bath.

London a few times.

Niagara Falls and the CN Tower in Toronto.  

I live in NYC, so all the iconic NY structures.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

oh, I forgot, I've also been to Washington D.C. a few times and been touched at the various memorials (i love the Korean War Memorial and the FDR memorial).

I've also done Disney in Florida.

And San Francisco and LA.  

And this year I get to see the butter statues at the Iowa State Fair.

(and I'm going to Chicago, Portland, an Alaska cruise and the New Mexico balloon festival)


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## Tripp (May 28, 2009)

I have had my share of travel experiences and while not as much as some here, memorable none the less.  When I was a kid, my parents got a Winnebago camper.  I think we hit every state in the continental US.  I probably didn't appreciate it enough but it was still cool.  

My husband and I did the Black Hills for our first trip together.  The biggest surprise for me was Mt. Rushmore.  We went to the night lighting ceremony and it was very moving.  I would recommend it to everyone (if they still do it).

I have been to Rome, Florence, Venice, Paris, London, Amsterdam and NYC.  There is so much more out there that I want to see.  And I want to go to Alaska and Hawaii so that I can say I have been to all the states.  Oh and Australia and New Zealand is on my list as well.  Too many places to see and not enough time or money.


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## Nancy Beck (Jul 1, 2011)

sstroble said:


> The older I get, the more I realize that my dad's military career carried a lot of sacrifices but an intangible benefit -- the places we saw as kids:
> Petrified Forrest
> Grand Canyon
> The crater made by a meteorite that was featured in the movie Starman (Jeff Bridges and Karen Allen)
> ...


Fascinating travels! Love this kind of stuff. 

On a general (driving a car) West U.S. trip, went through the Petrified Forest and would have gone to the Crater, but it was pretty out of the way on our route (bummer; would've loved to have seen it). Glacier National Park was also included on that trip, and what I remember the most, strangely enough, was a diner that specialized in pies. (Can't remember the name, though.) Muir Woods was part of our San Francisco trip. Statue of Liberty I would have gone to because the ferries can do both that and Ellis Island, but my mother was pretty exhausted after doing the Ellis Island tour, so my oldest brother and I didn't push it.

I'd still love to see the Statue of Liberty. At least I've gone up the Empire State Building (its lobby warms my Art Deco heart ).

I have a piece of the Berlin Wall I got from an East German pen pal when that was brought down - probably the closest I'll ever get to Germany, lol!


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## Nancy Beck (Jul 1, 2011)

crebel said:


> My traveling sounds a lot like Nancy's! I have been to the Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls - truly spectacular (the Falls even more so from the Canadian side). I was fortunate to travel in England and Scotland in 2005. I found that to be almost overwhelming, anywhere you visited or were just standing along the streets, you are surrounded by thousands of years of history. That overwhelmed feeling was particularly strong for me in Westminster Cathedral. It was hard to take it all in and I would love to go back.
> 
> Nancy mentioned Harry Potter, we were in Scotland/England right after the big DaVinci Code reading frenzy. We spent an entire day at Roslyn Chapel and it was fascinating after reading the book. We also got to see the military tattoo at Edinburgh Castle and that was certainly one of the highlights of our trip.
> 
> ...


So true about the Falls on the Canadian side - way more impressive. 

I envy you that you went to Australia and New Zealand - two places I'd love to visit! Climbing that bridge in Australia would be awesome (among other things, of course! ), and as a LOTR nut, I'd love to visit any of the sets still left over from those movies in New Zealand.

And Ireland! Real bummer, as I was scheduled to go there back in 2007, but that's when all kinds of personal stuff happened, and didn't get to go.

crebel, whereabouts in Ireland?


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## crebel (Jan 15, 2009)

Nancy Beck said:


> So true about the Falls on the Canadian side - way more impressive.
> 
> I envy you that you went to Australia and New Zealand - two places I'd love to visit! Climbing that bridge in Australia would be awesome (among other things, of course! ), and as a LOTR nut, I'd love to visit any of the sets still left over from those movies in New Zealand.
> 
> ...


I wasn't brave enough to climb the bridge in Australia, but happily watched others do it from the patio of the Opera House! Snorkeling and scuba diving off the Great Barrier Reef was fantastic as was the day at Ayers Rock ending with an outdoor bbq under the stars (skip eating emu if it is offered - yuck). One thing I did not know about Australia before going there is how many camels there are. There are as many "watch out for camels" signs there as there are "watch out for deer" in Iowa. We did a camel ride and that was fun as was the very touristy holding and having my picture taken with a koala.

On the Ireland trip later this summer, you will think I am silly that I can't tell you many specifics. My sister-in-law and her fiancée are getting married at a castle in County Cork (after a courthouse ceremony here in Iowa) in the area where the Quiet Man was filmed. They have made all the arrangements for family to join them and I am along for the ride! I know we are flying in to Shannon.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

i did a day trip to Muir woods when I was in SF.  Had a great time until I started itching and wheezing.  Guess who is allergic to redwood....


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## 31842 (Jan 11, 2011)

I LOVED the Grand Canyon! I remember standing there on the rim thinking to myself that if I started that day and walked every day of my life, I still would not see it all. The enormity of it put so much into perspective. A buddy of mine proposed out on that glass walkway. He said that he figured he'd be so terrified, proposing would seem a breeze. 

I've seen the Rockies and the Sawtooths and the Sierra Nevadas. I've hiked along the Appalachian trail. Dipped my toes in the Atlantic and Pacific and the Gulf. Stood at the mouth of the mighty Mississippi and drove over it through various states from north to south. Saw the Great Lakes - once it was so cold the waves had frozen.

My favorite wonder, though, was the Seven Sisters of Sussex. Maybe it was just my brainspace at the time, but it just knocked me back on my heels with its beauty.












Betsy the Quilter said:


> My review of the Alaskan Range is that they're what the Rockies want to be when they grow up.


I LOVE this!


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## Nancy Beck (Jul 1, 2011)

Beautiful picture, Kate!  My first thought when I saw it was the White Cliffs of Dover.


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## SunshineOnMe (Jan 11, 2014)

I love these stories and pictures!


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## 31842 (Jan 11, 2011)

Nancy Beck said:


> Beautiful picture, Kate!  My first thought when I saw it was the White Cliffs of Dover.


You're not alone! I had seen pictures of the Seven Sisters and thought they were the White Cliffs of Dover, too, so had planned an entire trip to Dover specifically to see them. About a week before I was scheduled to go, I went to a Rick Steves' slideshow and learned that the cliffs I wanted to see were actually the Seven Sisters. They sit in a protected park area and are usually the ones used in movies about the White Cliffs of Dover (hence the confusion). Dover has a castle on top and wooden apartments built into the cliffs (they were made in WWII for the army in case of German attack), though. I can't help but think how sad I would have been if I had flown all that way and stood there next to the very industrial Dover ferry terminal in the very developed town and not known. It was kismet that I happened to stumble on that slideshow! Saved my trip!


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

I've been to most of the places in United States listed by others here. The most interesting easily accessible places that are really amazing that I've been in the United States are Bosque del Apache, a National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico. If you go there in the winter usually in December, it is used as a way station for migrating birds especially Snow geese to rest and refuel. If you are there at sunrise you will see spectacular takeoffs of over 10,000 geese at once if you are lucky. Sometimes they fly directly overhead at low altitude and the noise is deafening. Here are a few photos.







The other domestic little known but cool place would be the anhinga Trail in the Florida Everglades. Despite being called a trail it is on asphalt and boardwalk, and is easily wheelchair accessible. It is an amazing place to visit in the spring when the birds are nesting.

I have threads here and not quite Kindle of trips to Alaska in winter (including aurora shots) and up the Mekong River. You can find the Alaska trip by searching for ice Road claw. The Mekong trip can probably be found by searching for Mekong as you would expect. I believe I called the thread apocalypse claw. I'll probably come back and post some more about overseas later.


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## SunshineOnMe (Jan 11, 2014)

LOVE the pictures!! We have snow geese migrate through here, and it's freaking amazing.


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## Shayne Parkinson (Mar 19, 2010)

I'd love to see the Grand Canyon some day - Bryce Canyon, too (my in-laws went there with American friends, and loved it). 

I've travelled fairly comprehensively within New Zealand, from the very top to Stewart Island in the south, so any famous sights here there's a reasonable chance I've been to.  I've spent quite a bit of time in Sydney and Melbourne, have scuba dived on the Great Barrier Reef, and have visited Uluru and the surrounding area (loved Kings Canyon). Borobodur in Indonesia was stunning. Egypt: the pyramids and the Valley of the Kings. 

Years ago we lived in the UK for a couple of years.  When not working we used to fling the tent in the car and go on our travels the length and breadth of England, Scotland and Wales, and as far southwest as the Scilly Isles, north to the Orkneys. We've also travelled quite a bit in western Europe, mostly in France and Italy, and have visited a fair few of their well-known sights, as well as many more obscure ones.


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## metal134 (Sep 2, 2010)

telracs said:


> oh, I forgot, I've also been to Washington D.C. a few times and been touched at the various memorials (i love the Korean War Memorial and the FDR memorial).
> 
> I've also done Disney in Florida.
> 
> ...


I've been to DC as well. That place is just landmark after landmark after landmark.


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