My PTSBIC List

On the one hand, this has nothing to do with writing, and on the other, it has everything to do with it.

I'm from Backwoods, Georgia, and until I was in college, I'd never traveled to any state except Florida, unless you count a trip to Minnesota my parents and my sister and I took when I was a baby. Since I don't remember it, it doesn't exactly count.

In college, I went to Nashville with a Gamma Beta Phi group, and the college professor who was with us took us to see the the Parthenon there. It was amazing to me. And it completely fueled my dreams to travel to the real Parthenon one day.

Since then, I've logged a few thousand miles -- I've been to DC, to Virginia, to Texas, to Alabama, to Florida again, and to China. I don't count the layover in San Francisco as anything but that. However, I can tell you that when you've been flying 18 hours with a new baby, the Golden Gate Bridge looks gorgeous from an airplane window.

Still, there is so much of this country that I have yet to see. The Husband's job and my dayjob don't lend themselves to long vacations or the money to fund them. Too, with a kid, it's hard to take advantage of those last-minute-grab-your-suitcase-and-go deals.

But travel to me is the ultimate writer's education. Being under a different swath of sky, standing, literally, in another person's footsteps, gives you insight you're not going to get from The Travel Channel.

Some time ago, I created my PTSBIC list -- Places To See Before I Croak.

Here are a few in no particular order -- why, yes, I DO have the Niagra Falls on there. Don't laugh.

1) NYC
2) DC with The Kiddo
3) Philadelphia
4) Springfield/Chicago
5) The Grand Canyon
6) Mt. Rushmore
7) The Caribbean
8) The Bahamas
9) Paris
10) London
11) San Francisco
12) Yellowstone
13) Follow Lewis & Clark’s route
14) Boston
15) Niagra Falls
16) Italy – Rome
17) China with The Kiddo
18) Denver
19) Trip that Tess Gerritsen took to Turkey
20) Greece/Athens
21) The Pyramids
22) Trip down the Mississippi

This is just a few ... but tell me, where do you want to go to feed your Writer's Soul? Or what other great spots need to be on my PTSBIC list?