A Web site that gives readers the chance to pick their favorite places in the country to stand has identified a Nebraska site among the top 100.
Posted: Thursday, July 9, 2009 12:00 am
One of Nebraska's wonders (take a guess - the Capitol or Carhenge?) is among the 100 "most wondrous, inspiring or thought-provoking" places in the USA.
At least, according to the folks at www.stoodthere.com.
That's the site where you can vote for your favorite place to stand - and even post photos of yourself standing there - until the first of December, when the Greatest Place to Stand in the United States will be decided and the "full results will be given to the World's Media" (which sounds a lot like the wording in the letter sent to the newsroom by a man claiming to be the Second Coming, so stay tuned).
A friend sent me the list.
I'd seen three of the top five: Hoover Dam (looking down); the Statue of Liberty (from a boat headed for Ellis Island); the Grand Canyon (on my knees).
Of the other two, I'd missed the Everglades altogether and only seen the Alamo on ABC during college bowl season (lots of early Texas voters, apparently).
In all, I had some connection to 41 of the 100 wonders - natural and otherwise- on the list.
I'd spent the most time at two Top 100 spots: No. 75 Mount Rushmore (annual South Dakota pilgrimage); and No. 56, our own Carhenge, a testament to creativity and the rust-proof power of the once mighty American-made automobile. Sorry, Bertram Goodhue.
So, OK, the list is subjective.
It's still fun to look at, tally your traveling cachet.
There were places I'd stood (the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia; the Bean in Chicago).
Places I'd stopped to gawk (Grand Central Station, Monument Valley, the Badlands of South Dakota.)
Places I'd stayed (Times Square, Death Valley). And places I'd driven by, broke and in a hippy van in the early '80s: (the Vegas Strip, the Hollywood Sign, the Bonneville Salt Flats).
There were wonders I'd toured (the White House, the Museum of Modern Art, NYC). Wonders I'd hiked (the Mesa Verde cliff dwellings in Colorado, Bryce Canyon in Utah).
And wonders you couldn't make me climb, even in an elevator: the Sears Tower, the Gateway Arch.
I didn't count Niagara Falls (a fly over). But I did count Alcatraz (spotted from Fisherman's Wharf.)
My Where I Spent My Summer Vacation List has huge gaps east of the Mississippi (Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, N.C.; Oglethorpe Square, Savannah, Ga.; Plymouth Rock, Mass.) I also seem to have missed the Rust Belt (Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, Mich.; Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland).
I've been nowhere near Alaska (Glacier Bay), Hawaii (Waimes Canyon), or any place with geysers (Yosemite) or very tall trees (the Sequoias).
I wouldn't mind some day seeing the Lost Sea in Tennessee or Bourbon Street or Petrified Forest National Park. I'll pass on Graceland, thank you. I'd love to check out the Roswell UFO Museum, but I'll die happy without a glimpse of Churchill Downs.
I do wonder about No. 93: Amish Country, Intercourse, Pa. The name, mostly. (What the Amish might have been thinking.)
Stood There is waiting for your vacation photos, your commentary on what they've overlooked and your vote.
The World's Media awaits.
Reach Cindy Lange-Kubick at 473-7218 or clangekubick@journalstar.com.