"Climbing the Hill in My Own Way" PinkFloydActuary's Profile

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Why PinkFloydActuary?

I never was one of those clever people who could come up with a great screen name, so I simply melded the name of my favorite band with my chosen profession, and there you go! As far as I know, it's a dorky enough choice that nobody else uses it across the Web, so if you see it elsewhere, there's a good chance it's me.

For those of you who love Floyd as much as me, I try to slide a reference in here and there (such as the title of this page), I hope you enjoy them!

Traveling

Mount Rushmore

If I had unlimited resources (and a little more writing talent), I'd simply travel all the time and write about this wonderful planet. I'm sure lots of folks here feel that way too.

My top goal is to see all of the national parks. Some of the remote parks in Alaska will make that a stretch, so my more realistic goal is to get all of those in the continental US. So far, I would say my favorite is Yellowstone, by a mile. I hope to get back to there and spend a little more time exploring it in even greater detail.

My favorite destination is Las Vegas - I'm not sure if there are two more polarized favorite vacation destinations than a National Park and Las Vegas, but I love them both. 2011 brought my 23rd visit to Vegas, and again I was amazed at how much there was I hadn't seen before.

What's next?

http://www.epgsoft.com/VisitedStatesMap/

I'm of the mindset of seeing a little of everything and then going back to see places we like in depth. I'd like to hit a little more in the southwest in the upcoming years (Big Bend, Guadalupe Mountains, Carlsbad Caverns and Saguaro.) With a 4 and 6 year old now though, the nature trips may need to take a backseat for a while.

Spring of 2011 brought a visit to the last of the continental states I hadn't touched down in: Rhode Island. 48 down, just Alaska and Hawaii to go!

Updates

Rocky Mountain National Park

The fall brought very short trips to Ft. Lauderdale, New York, and Atlantic City...pages coming soon.

We had our annual trip to Vegas in August - multiple new restaurant and hotel reviews now available. Read all about it here!

I still need to get some things up there about Gurnee. I hope I can go out and get some pictures from around town one of these days....

My Personal Top 12

Since I've only ventured outside the US twice, and that was into Canada, I probably don't have as diverse of a set of experiences to choose from. However, that doesn't stop me from having my 12 favorite destinations in alphabetical order (I couldn't decide who wouldn't make the cut anymore):

1) Acadia National Park - the whole Maine coast is fantastic, and the few hours spent here weren't close to being enough
2) Arches National Park - the trails, the scenery, one of the best
3) The Black Hills of South Dakota - so many wonderful natural sites and mountain-side monuments
4) Bryce Canyon National Park- the best park outside of Yellowstone
5) Crater Lake National Park- You'll never see a prettier shade of blue
6) Devils Tower National Monument- Close Encounters of the cool scenery kind
7) Glacier National Park - Alone with the bears and this Montana beauty
8) Las Vegas - Never a dull moment after nearly two dozen visits. Always something new
9) Multnomah Falls- The whole Columbia River Gorge is something spectacular, and this is the crown jewel
10) Olympic National Park- So many different landscapes - something for everyone
11) Yellowstone National Park- I'm already planning out for the next trip out there
12) Yosemite National Park- As beautiful as advertised.

Vegas Archives

Me and a friend at M & M World Las Vegas

On my Vegas page, you can read my trip reports - the highlights of our annual- ish treks out West. Because I can only store 10 at a time, my archives will be stored here on my homepage.

Intro Updated Dec 31, 2011
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Personal Pages (3)

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Comments (26)

Martin_S. Jan 23, 2012 at 11:00 PM Report Abuse

With a 4 and 6 year old now though, the nature trips may need to take a backseat for a while.
Shalom John, saw this comment on your page and just wanted to tell you that traveling with a youngster on those nature trips makes them extra special. You get a new glimpse of things through their eyes and we enjoyed hiking with our daughter Tal.
Martin
VT_Tipoftheday Jan 4, 2012 at 5:19 PM Report Abuse

Hey John,

Just wanted to congratulate you on winning Tip of the Day for your great tip about the new 9/11 Memorial at Ground Zero in New York City. I haven't had the opportunity to visit it yet, but I grew up in Connecticut, so I really want to the next time I get back East. I thought your insight into the logistics, both for ticketing and security, were particularly helpful... and the photographs are also awesome!

In addition to being featured on our VT_TipoftheDay Profile page (http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/1596b1/), you’ll also be on our VT Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/VirtualTourist) and our VT Twitter (https://twitter.com/#!/VirtualTourist_), so feel free to link to them or retweet! And keep up the great tips!

Congrats again!
Blake
garridogal Sep 25, 2011 at 6:25 PM Report Abuse

Enjoy Ft. Lauderdale. At least you won't have to dodge the Spring Breakers!
BruceDunning Jul 1, 2011 at 3:57 PM Report Abuse

Now you can blow off a few fireworks early and celebrate staying active. Have a great day.
hunterV Dec 18, 2010 at 10:50 AM Report Abuse

Pink Floyd is right,"Come on you target for faraway laughter, come on you stranger, you legend, you martyr, and shine! "
Donna_in_India Jul 2, 2010 at 4:22 AM Report Abuse

Hi John - wishing you a very happy birthday!
pedroswift Nov 1, 2008 at 9:20 PM Report Abuse

Hi John, Just a thankyou for the "States Visited" map. Had not seen that before visiting your pages (via Craters of the Moon, by the way). Looking forward to our next visit to a NP/NM in USA. regards peter
mikelisaanna Oct 30, 2008 at 9:44 PM Report Abuse

Happy Birthday from the Garden State! We share your love of the USA's National Parks. They have given us some of our best vacations.
mikehanneman Jun 25, 2008 at 12:43 PM Report Abuse

Happy Birthday from Mike in Iowa!
Babzz Jan 17, 2008 at 5:40 PM Report Abuse

Thanks for visiting my Niagara page John. Hope you do make it out there soon. And once you've conquered the American parks, Canada has some really nice ones too!