ocicat's VirtualTourist Home Page

My travel pages are very incomplete... but I'm working on them! I've logged in all places I've been to remind myself to start writing about them. If you email me about a particular place, I'll do my best to answer your questions.

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All your life you are told the things you cannot do.

All your life they will say you're not good enough or strong enough or talented enough.

They will say you're the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this.

They will tell you no, a thousand times no, until all the no's become meaningless.

All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly.

And you will tell them yes.

~~~~ For more quotes, see the log below ~~~

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I never want to be in a place in life where I am not planning my next trip.

The last trip was a loop up thru the Great Lake states...IN, MI, WI, MN, IA, MO and back home.

Finished that one...what's next? Tanzania...Greece...New Orleans...New York City...

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1. Have chased a tornado
2. Received Best In Show at the County Fair
3. Swam with dolphins in Key Largo, FL
4. Taught ESL
5. Attended a Billy Graham crusade (Nashville, TN)
6. Adopted a retired racing greyhound, Misha.
7. Have gone white water rafting
8. Been on a mission trip to Africa (Tanzania)
9. Have driven the length of the Blue Way Parkway (NC).
10. Walked in Red Square – Moscow, Russia
11. Have stood in the geographical center of North America
12. Am a certified CPR instructor – Red Cross and Am. Heart
13. Saw Haley’s Comet
14. Learned to cook injeria in Ethiopia
15. Sponsor a child (two actually!) thru Compassion International
16. Cruised on the Danube River
17. Drove onto frozen Lake
18. Have watched the Northern Lights (in ND)
19. Rode a fishing vessel from Seattle, WA to Ketchikan, AK
20. Raised pedigree show cats (Ocicats) and Granded one of my own breeding
21. Took part in several 2 day trail rides (on horseback)
22. Driven the Natchez Trace
23. Am an EMT-I
24. Have worked in community theater (stage manager)
25. Attended a memorial service at Ground Zero
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1. Walk along the Great Wall of China
2. Visit Scotland
3. Have one of my photos published in National Geographic
4. Attend a running of the Kentucky Derby
*5. Visit the Sequoia forest - DONE
6. Free lance write to support my traveling habit
7. Learn to fly an airplane
8. Throw a huge party and invite all my friends
9. Get all my photos into albums
10. Go on a hot air balloon ride - DONE on the Masai Mara
11. Explore Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming)
12. Take a mule ride into the Grand Canyon (Arizona)
*13. Slide down a huge sand dune - DONE
14. Walk along a black sand beach
15. See an active lava-spewing volcano
16. Visit all 50 states in the USA -- have done 34
17. See some spectacular Northern Lights in Alaska
18. Watch the sun set over the Grand Teton Mountains (Wyoming)
19. Visit Death Valley, California in August
20. Visit the Holy Lands of Israel
21. Visit Petra, Jordan and explore the ruins
22. Own an Andalusian horse
23. Learn to speak Spanish
24. Go on a 25-mile bike ride
25. Spend the night in an ice hotel
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In the USA:

1. Acadia National Park - Bar Harbor, ME
2. Grand Teton National Park, WY
3. Yellowstone, WY
4. Glacier Bay, AK
5. UN Headquarters, NYC
6. Kauai, HI
7. Pacific Coast Highway
8. Niagria Falls
9. Boston, MA
10. Chincoteague Island for pony penning
11. Saguaro National Park
12. Upper Pensulia, MI
13. Great Dismal Swamp, VA & NC
14. New England in the autumn
15. Wycliff mounds, KY
16. Sanibel Island, FL
17. Mackinac Island, MI - DONE!
18. Great Sand Dunes National Park, CO
19. Golden Spike National Historic Site, UT
20. Mount St. Helen's, WA -- DONE!!
21. Erie Canel, NY (barge ride)
22. Taos, NM
23. Hanna, WY
24. San Diego, CA
25. Zion National Park

Worldwide:

1. Australian Outback
2. St. Petersburg, Russia
3. Thru the Panama Canal
4. Galapagos Islands
5. Scottish Highlands
6. Pyramids of Giza
7. Athens, Greece
8. Tuscany region of Italy
9. Great Wall of China
10. Cuba
11. Viet Nam
12. Prague
13. Southern Spain
14. Angkor Wat
15. Petra, Jordan
16. Jerusalem, Israel
17. Galloway region of Scotland
18. Sahara
19. Antarctica
20. Prague
21. Peru
22. The Sistine Chapel
23. The top of the Sydney Harbor bridge
24. Mt Kilimanjaro - before the snows melt
25. Morocco

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States I have NOT visited:
1. Connecticut
2. Delaware
3. Hawai'i
4. Idaho
5. Louisiana
6. Maine
7. Massachusetts
8. Montana
9. Nebraska
10. New Hampshire
11. Oklahoma
12. Oregon
13. Rhode Island
14. Utah
15. Vermont
16. West Virginia
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1. NC - Mt. Mitchell (4X) - 6684'
2. TN - Clingman's Dome - 6643'
3. MO - Taum Sauk - 1772'
4. GA - Brasstown Bald - 4784'
5. AR - Mt. Magazine - 2753'
6. IA - Hawkeye Point - 1670'
7. ND - White Butte - 3506'
8. IL - Charles Mound - 1235'
9. IN - Hoosier Hill - 1257'
10. OH - Campbell Hill - 1549'

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Phone card, National Parks annual pass, High Pointer's membership card, leftover coins from various countries, business cards with your snail mail & email addresses to give to new friends, AAA card, guide book and map for your newest journey, some stamps from wherever you're at - so you can drop a post card in the mail, a bottle of water and some munchies, a handful of balloons or bracelets to bring laughter to children,
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Ethiopia trip 14 - 30 July 2003

My dear friend Belaynesh and I. She was teaching me how to do the Ethiopian coffee ceremony. That beautiful dress I have on was a gift from her. She made it by hand!
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Those who travel...

There are the "sight seers". The "see 16 countries in 2 weeks" tours were made just for them. They've been there, done that. Have the T-shirt and post cards to prove it. You can spot them by their loud voices, bad attitudes and constant critical remarks.

Then there are the "tourist". They have come to see something in particular and have made preparations by studying up on what that is. There is appreciation for a culture different than their own. You spot them on local tours (one hosted within the area) and in the historic areas, and they are usually are a fairly happy lot. They bring home objects that remind them of the place they saw.

Finally there are the "travelers". They come to be a part of the culture - to know it from its peoples, its history, its food, its everyday life. They learn a bit about the base history of the area (to be able to hold a conversation with someone they hope to meet) but they keep their mind open to what can be taught by a person they meet. You usually DON'T spot them as they blend in with the locals or at least look like they belong there. They bring home gifts given to them by the people they have met and shared with (and to whom they have brought gifts for - because they *knew* they were going to meet someone fascinating on the trip).

Now in my 40s, my life list is about me. It's things I want to experience. Things I want to become part of my soul.

There's a quote I've heard that has embedded itself in me "But do you know what the Sistine Chapel smells like?" I don't know what the Sistine Chapel smells like (yet) but I do know the smell of an African savannah and have seen lions living free. I have stood in the spray of Yosemite Falls and felt the vibrations it causes. I know the dead and hopeless feeling of a town who has seen too much hate and killing. I have ran my hands along the wall of a place I was taught to fear when growing up (the Kremlin Wall, Moscow Russia) while standing beside my Russian friend. I have tasted Navajo fry bread, made just for me inside a hogan in Monument Valley.

These are all part of me now. And I want more. So much more...

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