Saturday, July 01, 2006

American History


This is cool ... I bought a USA Today yesterday so I could get more about MLB than my hometown newspaper, and I ran across an article in the Travel section. The article, "10 great places to steep in American History," is not only important, but I felt pretty good about the fact that I've been to 6 of the 10 places listed. The 10 are:

1. The Old North Bridge (Concord, Massachusetts) - Nope, haven't been here.
2. The Old North Church (Boston, Massachusetts) - Here either.
3. Fraunces Tavern (New York) - Nope.
4. Old South Meeting House (Boston) - Um, nope. Not here either.
5. Independence Hall (Philadelphia) - YES! Was there a few months ago. Very cool place.
6. The National Archives (Washington) - Oh yeah, was there, too. Can't find the words to describe how cool this was.
7. Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine (Baltimore) - Here, too. Was there ... um, four years ago.
8. American History Museum (Washington) - Bingo! Loved this museum the most. I felt at "home" there.
9. Betsy Ross House (Philadelphia) - I walked by, walked in, and felt like I was in TOURIST HELL ... so I walked out and went down the road to see the Quaker church and Franklin's grave.
10. Yorktown Battlefield (Yorktown, VA) - Was there in 2002 when we took a few history majors to Williamsburg. Saw Jamestown that week, too. The photo of me above was taken in Williamsburg on that trip. The guy in the photo is that of a student, Jason Schoudel. He is a local sheriff's deputy so it was funny to have him on the "other side" for once!

There ya have it. I'm missing numbers 1-4, but I got the rest! I am going to New York in September, so I'll have to see if I can make it to Fraunces Tavern. As far as going to the other three in Boston ... well, I'll have to keep my eye out for any higher ed conferences slated to be presented in Boston. I'll get the top 10 soon ... but hey, 6 outta 10 ain't bad!

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