100 Places To See In Your Lifetime-Heaven On Earth#23-Galapagos Islands-"Some 600 miles west of Ecuador may be found 19 isles that form a special place all its own. Charles Darwin first brough the archipelago to fame a century and a half ago, and since then countless visitors have come to see the famed tortoise, iguana, penguin and all the others that make this a bastion of uniqueness."

100 Places To See In Your Lifetime-Heaven On Earth#22-Great Wall Of China-"The largest man-made thing on earth, it stretches like a palpable dragon for somewhere between 1,678 miles and 6,214 miles, depending how you measure it. There are loops and, in places, quadruple walls. By any measure it is one incredible barrier, nearly 20 feet wide at the base and 30 feet high. The Great Wall figures heavily in Chinese art and mythology."

100 Places To See In Your Lifetime-Heaven On Earth#21-The Acropolis-"The attainments of ancient Greece perhaps makr the apex of human civilization, and the highest point in Athens itself is reserved for the Acropolis, built in the 5th century B.C. atop a craggy walled hill in honor of Athena, the city's patron goddess. There are four surviving structures, including the Parthenon. Here, time stands still, and glory abounds."

Bows and flows of angel hair, ice cream castles in the air, feather canyons everywhere, I've looked at clouds that way. But now they only block the sun, they rain and snow on everyone. So many things I would have done but clouds got in my way. Tears and fears and feeling proud to say "I love you" right out loud, dreams... and schemes and circus crowds, I've looked at life that way. But now old friends are acting strange, they shake their heads, they say I've changed. Something's lost but something's gained in living every day. I've looked at life from both sides now, from his and hers, and still somehow. It's life's illusions I recall. I really don't know life at all.
100 Places To See In Your Lifetime-#20-Statue Of Liberty-"This can be done two different ways. You can actually go to Liberty Island and step inside of Miss Liberty (though you can no longer ascend to her crown.) Or you can just take a boat ride through New York Harbour and pass nearby her. Either provides a thrilling experience that any American, or any advocate of freedom and tolerance, will be ever grateful to."

100 Places To See In Your Lifetime-Heaven On Earth#19-Yosemite National Park-California-"What an abundance of splendor! This central California national park offers a trove of natural wonders, such as one of the most famous river valleys anywhere:El Capitan, the world's tallest unbroken cliff, Yosemite Falls; three sequola groves; elaborate glacial features; and some 750 miles of maintained trails that meander amid 1,400 flowering plants and a profusion of birds and mammals."

100 Places To See In Your Lifetime-Heaven On Earth-#18-Mammoth Cave-Kentucky-
"For those looking for something truly out of the ordinary, this epoynymous national park in Kentucky delivers the goods. At 360 miles, it is three times longer than any other cave system in the world, and has an unrivaled array of geological formations and underground lakes and rivers. There are lighted paths, of course, and for the more daring a wild-cave tour is available." I am not really impressed by this at all, because we have a cave just like this here in Okinawa at "Okinawa World" and you really have to be into the earth and what makes it up to get excited about this kind of thing, different rock formations and names of all that stuff and I most definately am not of course....To me when I went through it, it was just a wet cave with water dripping everywhere cause it was underground, and we were underground, so it always stayed wet like that, and always had more developing...uuugghhhh guess it's fasinating if you are into that kind of thing, but after awhile, it was nothing but a big bore to me cause I didn't understand it all...Nice to see though, just to say that you got to see one, and experience what it was like, but I definately don't wanna make it part of my life where that would be something I would always be talking about is what develops in different caves....I'd take unpacking anyday other than that....Got most of the boxes unpacked, now it's just all laying around and up to me to rearrange it or do something with it..Shoving it in a box and stacking them back up sounds pretty good to me right now...This is 7 years of everything since Italy...I'm not wasting any more weekends doing this so every night this week I"ll do some and should be done by the end of this week....=) good night everyone hope to get my pics on here this weekend I hope I hope!!!! =)

So another day of unpacking and another day of mishaps...yesterday it was me finding chocolate from someone who sent it to me here and it had gotten shoved away..They were the round chocolates, and they had been sitting for so long that they had turned white...I unwrapped one and was looking at it, and my husband asked me over and over what it was, and I finally said it was chocolate after having my thoughts interrupted....I get a responce that he thought it was a miniature model of the moon...hmm I don't have ANYTHING whatsoever that is space related...nothing, not sure at all what I would be doing with models of the moon or anything that resembles space...Yes, I threw them out, but I never would have thought of something like that myself...Today, I had something even worse happen...I have one of those wooden calanders that I change the dates in every month along with the month of the year by sliding them in and out...not sure if anyone else knows what I'm talking about, but it's just a calandar you keep up yourself...I hung that one up yesterday, thought it would be fine...today though, it fell off the wall from all the way at the top where it had been hanging..directly coming down and hitting the lightswitch full force breaking it off, and shattering into a few pieces on the floor....Nothing that can't be fixed since it's wood and not glass or anything like that...But it completely broke the light switch off and it's just a sqaure hole in the light panel now.... We can't turn the light on or off now, it won't do anything, and I honestly had absolutely NO IDEA that you could even break off a lightswitch.....Brand new place and that happens...I'm done with trying to hang up anything else, since I seemed to be cursed with something where everything goes wrong but seems to be funny after it happens...That has never happened to me, but I guess there is a first for everything...I think I'll leave the hanging up stuff to others who actually know how to use certain tools and don't go through 3 or 4 nails trying to hang one object up without bending the nail in half just trying to hammer it in...I'm done after that happened!!! Just glad it didn't happen in front of anyone or to someone else!!!!! good night everyone hope u have a good week...more unpacking for me everynight....=p
100 Places To See In Your Lifetime-Heaven On Earth#17-Nanchez Trace-"Thousands of years ago, this trail was established by buffalo, and then Indians and trappers trod the path. By the late 1700s, the Trace had sprouted so many hazards, such as bandits, that it became knows as the Devils Backbone. Ironically, today this national parkway, which runs from Franklin, Tennessee, to Natchez, Mississippi, has nothing to detract from its lush southerness: for 444 miles there are no gas stations, souvenir shops or fast food eyesores."

ARRRGGHHHH!!!! I can't put my pics on here until we find our 3rd computer that we use to upload and size them with....Today we got the living room area partially finished...I still have things to clear off from the sides, and hang up on the walls, but for the most part, it looks way better than going around several stacks of boxes to get to the other side....We got one wall in the computer room here cleared off, so it's making headway..I just don't like doing it cause it's so boring...I'm going to get done with this, only to have the movers come back a few months later and rip everything apart again and move us a 2nd time....I'm not even going to unpack everything, I'm just going to make it livable is all, cause this is so boring and exhausting work.....This was my 2nd weekend of being tied to doing this...I"m looking at least 4 more weekends to have everything looking normal...More of this again tomorrow...really I absolutely can not WAIT to go out and have fun again...being stuck in the house unpacking is the biggest drag ever....I"d rather be on a trip....=p good night everyone...hope u all are having a good weekend....=)
100 Places to See In Your Lifetime-Heaven On Earth-#16-Yellowstone National Park-Wyoming/Montana/Idaho-" The first national park anywhere in the world, Yellowstone is situated in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, with an average elevation of 8,000 feet. Every 88 minutes Old Faithful performs for one and all, and there are more than 200 other geysers among its 10,000 hot springs. There are, as well, bison, bear and wolf, lakes, rivers, and waterfalls. and fossil forests and fishing."

100 Places To See In Your Lifetime-Heaven On Earth#15 SanFrancisco Bay Area
"The City itself is, famously one of the most exciting anywhere, sophisticated but whith an undeniable air of the derring-do of the Old West. Just outside of town, though, are an abundance of places that anywhere else would be the sole focus of
attention: Muir Woods, Mount Tamalpais, Lake Merritt, Sausalito, Tiburon and so many others-and only an hour away is the wine country."

I am still working on the game of unpacking....I tried to brighten my mood today by hanging up some nice curtains I got...With putting one on top the other, and with them being trasnparent, it looks purple in a way, and actually goes very nicely with my dark green carpet.... My goal is to have my living room area
completely done this weekend...Then next weekend, computer room, (this one I am in now), then the weekend after that, storage room...may not even mess with half the stuff that's in there, or perhaps not any of it, since we leave in just a few months from now....I just got to get out of this barracade of boxes...but I don't miss the other place at alll, oh wow is it nice to be outta there!!!! I never wanna live in a place that scrunched up ever again!!!! I want to get through all this though, so I will have time to do the stuff that I wanna do again!!! I really can't stand unpacking a bunch of boxes, and breaking them down, hanging stuff on the walls to get it off the floors, and doing the same thing again to another box...=p Just over and over and I have to stop after so long, cause junk like that bores me to death...I"m more interested in decorating than I am with unpacking boxes....I hope to get my prints up from The Vatican when I was in Rome of famous paintings that I love there...Just anything to brighten my mood helps tremendously...It is doing nothing but raining here on and off these days...I'm glad I am capable of making my own decisions and not following the rest of these absolutely know-nothings...I just need someone else out there to tell me that there is nothing wrong with me, since everyone else went to the Okinawa Sushi Bar tonight, and I of course (I am pretty sure I made the vomit face when they asked me if I was going...) decided to skip out and get work done of course...I have all kinds of unpacking to do still, and there is no way I was going to sit 3-4 hours at some disgusting restaurant I would just be sitting at, cause I hate everything here, I don't like anything...nothing, no use talking to me about it, or trying to talk me into it...I would be so bored to death outta my mind anyways, and ohhh wow don't even try to get me to sit at a stupid table trapped between 3-4 people....I never sit at a table, I can't sit still long enough to do so...When I do manage to sit at one, it's just to eat, and when I'm finished, I get up and leave right away...not sit 3-4 hours talking nonsense....I really can't wait to get back to normal society who won't bother me about liking or not liking sushi cause I never will like that mess...uggghhhh having my fried chicken and my peach cobbler sound awfully good for the weekend...along with Mexican and Italian in there somewhere inbetween... You know, NORMAL STUFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Pleaseeee get me away from these weirdos!!!!!!!!!!!!!! good night everyone....24 more hours until the weekend....=) xxx

100 Places To See In Your Lifetime-Heaven On Earth#14-Mount Rushmore, South Dakota
"In 1924,Doane Robinson of the South Dakota HitoricalSociety contacted the sculptor Gutzon Borglum about the notion of carving statues of western heroes like Buffalo Bill and Lewis and Clark into the Black Hills. Borglum became entranced but wanted to work on a national scale, thus the visages of four Presidents would be created, over a period of 14 years. A monument to America, on a scale that awes those beholding it."

Today I got my much awaited surprise in the mail here finally...not exactly for me,I will put it on here this weekend between all the unpacking and everything....can't wait for u all to see it and perhaps print it off if you like....=) good night all...100 Places To See In Your Lifetime-Heaven On Earth#13-Florida Keys-"This 106 mile string of natural gems provides a throughly "other" feel, yet you don't have to exchange currency or get a visa because, amazingly, you're still in the States. From Key Largo out to Islanmorada-the Sportfishing Capital of the World-to the terminus at Key West, where the sunset ignites an evening carnival, the Keys are a different world."

100 Places to See In Your Lifetime-Heaven On Earth-#12-Great Smoky Mountains-North Carolina/Tennessee " Snaking through North Carolina and Tennessee, these ancient hills have bequeathed some of the country's finest locales, including a 72-mile segment of the Appalachian Trail and of course, the national park. The forestland is one fifth virgin growth-red maple, hickory, beech-and blessed throughout with pristine streams and a rich underground."

100 Places to See In Your Lifetime-Heaven On Earth-#11 Hoh Rainforest-Washington-"It is very unusual to find a rainforest in a temperate climate, but the Olympic Peninsula, not very far from Seattle, has a classic example with Hoh. Warm Pacific winds passing over mountains are quickly cooled and turned into moisture. Marked by an unrivaled lushness, the hushed rainforest has life thriving in the canopy, at midlevel and on the floor."

100 Places To See In Your Lifetime Heaven On Earth- Monument Valley Arizona and Utah-#10 "No other place so says "This is the American West!" as does this 2,000-square -mile section of Arizona and Utah, whish is not a valley at all but a wide, flat landscape of red buttes, spires, mesas and arches. Think of the sublime scenery in John Ford's classic western films and you'll understand why it must be encountered in person." Well 5 days of work and still hardly a dent was made at all...It took 2 days to fully move us, 4 moving trucks for all my stuff, and now that I am here, I can't find half of it...I think about 2 months I will finally have everything in organization and looking halfway decent again and I can finally get pictures once all these hideous boxes are outta here and hauled off....This is all that I"m going to be doing for the next few weeks, so I won't have much time at all to be on here...It's been killing me, cause I practically live on here since I have absolutely nothing to do with military hot heads..sorry can't stand the arrogance and "I'm better than you" attitudes...cause that's how it's coming across to me...I should have another room done this week, and will have much more time on the weekend to spend on here...It's sooo much nicer to be in bigger and nicer place that I actually like...maybe I"ll be in better moods for the rest of the time that I'm here since my time here is finally widing down....With all the stuff I have stuffed in boxes and stacked up, I'm out today and my eye catches this nifty looking Hello Kitty Japanese wall clock that made me where I couldn't breathe for a few minutes...It was high on the wall, and all wood with gorgeous metal face and Hello Kitty around in certain places for the numbers and a pendelum swinging....and from being $70 with discounted down to just $40...don't try and talk me outta anything when that is thrown at me...I went right up to the people working there and said that I wanted that Hello Kitty wall clock and they had to get the ladder and everything to get it down to box it up...I have like 7 others all different that play cute little music tunes everytime it strikes a new hour...This one doesn't play music, but I knew I would never see something like that again and they have nothing like that in the states...All sports oriented junk or American football teams and I don't care about that stuff...Once I get it up, and get the rest of everything else organized, I'll take pics just of that and show what I just couldn't pass up, even though it took 4 trucks to get me over here everything of mine mostly...Sorry too cute and you get me around that and I forget everything else....Not gonna change ever I don't think..that hasn't been the first time something of material value has stopped me in my tracks and taken my breath away...let's see, pink laptop, pink digital camera, bracelet stand, new mall discovered, coloured pens, Cherry Dr. Pepper brought over here finally to Japan!!!!!!! I can't even think of everything now, but I would be walking, and see whatever it was, and totally stop in my tracks...Anyone else this has happened to, I would surely love to meet them...I feel like I'm the only one obsessed with anything that has colour added to it...good night everyone I'll be on tomorrow for sure I was just super busy the last 5 days unpacking stuff, and I"ve been sooo tired from it...can't wait for my relaxion days ahead of me...I'm guessing maybe around Labour Day...2 more months....sooo long from now it seems like...

100 Places to See in Your Lifetime Heaven On Earth-#9-Big Sur, Monterey County, California "There is a stretch of Highway 1 in California about a hundred miles long that is, for many, the most awesome place anywhere. On one side forest and mountains rise up to the sky, while on the other the Pacific Ocean stages a dizzying series of ravishing tableaux. Miraculously, the area has endured a minimum of developement, though there are a few excellent places to eat and sleep. This one is a must."

#8-100 Places To See In Your Lifetime- Heaven On Earth- Denali National Park, Alaska- "Nearly half of the total acreage of America's national parks is in Alaska, which will surprise no one who has been to the 49th state. For decades, Denali was the only such park, a signed distinction. The name is from the native Athabaskan term meaning "the high one," perhaps a reference to Mount McKinley. North America's highest pea. In the summer, there are everywhere radiant visions, and wildlifeon an epic scale." All I have been doing for the past 3 days is unpacking and unpacking going to breakfast or dinner, then maybe going to pick up a few things I can't find, or am sick of trying to look for, then back to unpacking some more....I keep that up until about midnight cause I want to get through this.... I am sooo thrilled beyond belief to be out of that other place that we were in before...I went from having only 2 closets to having 5...and from one hallway to 3 or 4....I can actually walk normally in here without scooting along the wall afraid that I"m going to bump into something..I could reach up and touch the ceilings, here the ceilings are actually high enough where I wouldn't be able to do that...I think it will be about 2 months until I finally get everything looking normal and getting it in order...then right when I do, it will be just about time to move again....I'll just be psyched about getting out of here, sick of these people and this stupid attitude they keep throwing around, but I never liked them anyways and still don't and that's not going to change cause I simply have no interest in them...No more climbing stairs for me and I Love it toooo much.....Nothing is going on here exciting at all now...I just have my work cut out for me everyday for about the next 6 weeks.I"m sooo glad I got my internet connection at home again finally....I only had to go about 2 days without it....I really wish I had been here all along, but nothing I have anything to do with...Well besides my cats throwing a fit with me trying to get them over here, and drawing blood on one of my fingers,and me going off and yelling in some stupid females face at the ice cream place tonight I think I'm way better off here than I have been the entire time I have been here...just keep them far away from me and we'll be just fine....=) I found everything from Italy I got, and I've nearly got 2 rooms done....just about 3 more to go....back to doing the dirty work I guess....it's going to be a lonnnng night...=) good night to everyone else though....xxx

100 Places To See In Your Lifetime Heaven On Earth #7-Charleston, South Carolina-One of the bastions of the old Southern culture, this South Carolina city on the Atlantic has been hit by war, fire, hurricanes, as well as other calamities,but survives as one of America's grandes dames. Picture-perfect streets and courtyards are host to Colonial homes and churches, while Charleston's parks and gardens are widely celebrated for their exqusite designs."hi all far and wide....I"ve been sooo busy moving for past 2 days here it's insane... now we're all moved to a new place, but I"m barracaded in and surrounded by boxes on top of boxes....Just 5 more months left and I have to do all this again and do the big overseas move......I'm just too happy I don't have to climb up and down any stinkin' stairs anymore coming or going...when I get everything fixed up I will post pics on here and show everyone my talent....I'm too excited cause tomorrow I"ll get my internet connection hooked up at home....=) good night everyone I just stopped by the cyber cafe for about an hour to catch up with you all....I'll chat with u tomorrow between unpacking boxes and hurling them across the room after that cause I'm so sick of doing this already just only after the 2nd day....xoxoxo take care....=)

hi everyone...such a bittersweet moment really...this is my last night here and then we'll move to another place here...I'm glad to get out of this one, cause it's so smashed, but this is where we all met so I'm kind of torn both ways...thanks to you all for being my friends and chatting with me so many times.... I will meet with u all for the rest of the week at the cyber cafes here until I get my internet up and running again and my place in order...I've got boxes stacked to the ceiling and they are still not finished...talk with u all soon....=)100 Places To See in Your Lifetime-Heaven On Earth-#6-Acadia "Maine's rocky, evocative shoreline merges potently with spiky stands of evergreens and granite-domed mountains in the first site east of the Mississippi to be deemed a national park. There may be no other locale in the country that is so pleasingly defined by rusticity."

100 Places to See In Your Lifetime Heaven On Earth-#5- Nantucket, Massachusetts-(this is the ONLY place out of the section of the United States I have been to and I absolutely still LOVE it there...I went up to Cape Cod with my family and then to several other little towns around there, and this was one of them...sooo beautiful I loved it there, it didn't even look like it was in the United States....) "Perhaps the most charming place on earth, this little , becottaged island 26 miles off Cape Cod steals the heart of all who come. Once a viral whaling port, Nantucket has fiercely resisted commercial poisoning and retained much of its centuries-old flavour. Still, there are boutiques and eateries of a high order. The island's beaches are long, wide, sandy, and open to all."

100 Places To See In Your Lifetime-Heaven On Earth #4 Lake Tahoe-California/Nevada border" This alpine lake on the California-Nevada border is a glistening attraction every month of the year. During warm times, with its surrounding ring of snowcapped peaks, it is a mecca for walkers and cyclists, while its extraordinary clear waters and breathtaking beaches keep bathers more than happy. In winter, the skiing is sensational. And for the more sedentary, there is the clarion call of casinos from the Nevada side." Loved these videos that my friend sent me on here today and yesterday for us....I've never seen them or heard of them but too funny...of course you have to have a sense of humour to enjoy stuff like this.....=)****can someone pleassseeee tell me what she is saying in the 2nd video!!!! I know what they are referring to, I just want to know what she is saying!!!! it's too annoying not knowing!!!!!

100 Places to See In Your Lifetime-Heaven On Earth #3-Kauai, Hawaii


"There are certainly resorts & golf & all that sort of thing but what places this Hawaiian Island a cut above the others is its combination of fabulous beauty--think waterfalls everywhere--& fewer tourists. Sea cliffs, grottoes, jagged mountains, Pacific beaches & the astonishing Waimea Canyon are some of the reasons for Kauai's nickname: the Garden Isle." hi all, sorry that I don't have much time to be on here, I'm trying to get some things packed up cause I am moving to a different place this week, and we are taking stuff over ourselves after tomorrow before the movers come in the middle of the week for the big stuff...I'm just mostly dealing with all my stuff...I will have internet by next weekend, but it will be out for 3 days so I"ll just deal with going to the cyber cafes here....hope u all are doing great and are enjoying your weekend....=)"I Am...Amazing, the architect of my destiny. Beautiful, both inside and out. Courageous, being true to myself. Dynamic, constantly changing and growing. Enlightened, knowing all is well in the world. Fallible, perfectly inperfect. Grateful, for each and everyday. Heathy, full of energy. Intuitive, honoring the still small voice within. Joyful, celebrating the truth of my being. Kindhearted, reaching out to others. Lovable, exactly as I am. Miraculous, a precious child of the universe. Now Here, fully in this moment. Optimistic, anything is possible. Prosperous, manifeting abundance. Quick to build bridges, not walls. Resourceful, obstacles are my stepping stones. Spiritual, having a human experience. Trustworthy, speaking the language of the heart. Unique, the only me there is, was, or ever will be. Valuable, I make a difference. Wise, open to all of life's lessons. Xcited, about living and loving life. Young at heart, delightfully childlike. Zestful, happy to be me!!!!! visit: www.romeoandjuliet.it