"Wherever you go, it becomes a part of you..." ocicat's Profile

2011 Trips --

Sept/Oct - Scotland. 30 days.

May/June - WA state: Seattle/Tacoma area, Port Townsend. 2.5 Weeks

May - Natchez Trace from Nashville to just inside Mississippi, west to Shiloh National Battlefield, on to Clarksdale, MS, on to Memphis and home. 1 Week.

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Upcoming - Scotland tour. 30 Days.

Akutan, AK

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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 (four 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 Adak Island, Alaska to Seattle, WA.
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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Tanzania

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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High Point North Dakota - White Butte

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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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hotel in Pecs, Hungary

Get organized
Get fit
Create a signature dish
Come up with my own chili
Come up with my own pasta salad
Come up with my own hamburger
Come up with my own cheesecake
Develop my own BBQ sauce
Show one of my own bonsai
Finish my quilt (hand quilting)
Own a Clan Hanna tartan shawl
Make a water garden
Learn to write good haiku
Learn to play pool
Do an acceptable water color painting
Fly in a biplane
Learn to roll my own sushi - DONE!
Win a photography contest - DONE!
Get a magazine article published
Write a child's book for my niece & nephew
Create my own personal stationary
Hang a tire swing from a tree
Travel to New Orleans
Travel to Shiloh National Battlefield - DONE!
Read the Bible all the way thru and make note cards
Learn to throw darts
Learn to build simple furniture
Memorize a poem
Raise my own vegetables
Make a compost pile
Put in a shooting range
Learn to do ikebana flower arranging
Learn to make jewelry chain
Go on a spiritual retreat
Go to the races at Churchill Downs
Bake a soufflé
Have dinner at Tony's in St Louis
Go on a 20 mile bike ride
Go on a "dinner train" ride
Rent a convertible and go on a weekend road trip
Tour the Frank Lloyd Wright home in St. Louis
Learn to make a coil basket
Finish my NOW book
Learn to play one song on the piano
Learn to play chess
Learn to knit
Go to a hot springs spa
Get a massage
Make batik print

Sister at heart

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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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Badlands, South Dakota

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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