where would you go?

[piperdbh]

Suppose a fellow XMarker were coming to spend a few days at your house and you wanted to show him/her the sights of your area. Where would you take him/her, and why?
For example, if Jock Scot were coming to my house for a little while, I'd take him for a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway, go to Grandfather Mountain, and, if he wanted to see it, the Biltmore House.
If I were going to the French Alps, Robert and the Lady Chrystel might take me to some of the places they've shown through their photographs.

Here's the assignment: figure out where you would take your visitor, then post pictures of the place, along with a brief description of why you would go there. You get extra points if you're kilted in the pictures.

[Jock Scot]

Go steady there. You might get a little tired of me after the third month!

[Riverkilt]

Lotsa places.


First, a hike to Horseshoe Bend overlook of Glen Canyon of the Colorado River.


Then a float trip down the Colorado River from Glen Canyon Dam to Lees Ferry - you can look up at the overlook and see tiny people on the edge of the cliffs.


Then over to Paria Beach an Paria Riffle at Lees Ferry, the start of Marble Canyon.


And a hike down Cathedral Wash into Marble Canyon - if I can do it, you can do it.


And a walk out on the old Navajo Bridge where you can look straight down into Marble Canyon - like on the new Hualapai Sky Walk.


Then to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.


Then around to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

[ForresterModern]

No pictures right now but hope to follow up and add some later.

Louisville, Kentucky, is home to the greatest horserace of all time, the Kentucky Derby, each May, with its nearly as famous sister race the Oaks run the day beforethe Derby, both at historic Churchill Downs. It is a beautiful racetrack, with great views of the paddock as well as the track, and has a fantastic Kentucky Derby Museum. Spring and fall the have some weekend evening racing which is exciting as can be, since most races occur while most of us folk are working during the day time.

Muhammad Ali Museum, an extremely thorough and captivating collection of history and memorabilia combined with interactive segments that show the life and times of "The Greatest" boxer of our age.

The Speed Museum and several other well endowed art collections, some of the largest in the midwest US, rivalling many in much larger cities.

Fourth Street Live, a lively afterhours part of downtown populated with bars, restaurants, clubs, comedy clubs, and in general all manner of after dark entertainment.

Louisville Slugger museum---yes a museum dedicated to the baseball bat, and the largest manufacturer of them in history, along with a lot of baseball related historic memorabilia.

The Bourbon Trail----actually two different trails (three if you count the downtown walking trail of whiskey bars). An eastern loop around Lexington sends you on tours of several historic bourbon distilleries, as does a similar but more popular western loop tour of distilleries around Louiville.

If you are smart you will take the backroads for the Bourbon tours and see some of the most beautiful bluegrass horse country in America, extending in a broad swath from Louisville to east of Lexington, including some farms that allow tours, and several specific historic museum like farms for retired or other famous racehorses.

Fort Knox----yes that Fort Knox, the one with all the gold. Although you never really get to see the vaults themselves, it is an interesting historical tour of the gold repository as well as the Army base it just happens to be situated on, one of the largest in the US.

A daytrip to visit the Shiloh battlefield in northwest Tennessee, site of the first major battle of the Civil war fought outside of Virginia, in the West, where Ulysses S Grant first made a name for himself in the Union Army by rallying overwhelmed troops to finally take the field at the end of one of the longest and largest single day battles of the war. The start of his Mississippi River campaign to cut the Confederacy in two, ending with the Vicksburg siege that effectively sounded the death knell for the confederacy, coincident with the confederate loss at Gettysburg. It all started at Shiloh.

A Louisville Bats minor league baseball game, a University of Louisville football or basketball game, or a short trip down highway 64 to watch the University of Kentucky basketball team play a game. We are blessed with two of the country's top college basketball programs only 70 miles apart.

The mighty Ohio River, with the Belle of Louisvile riverboat tour.

A day trip to the Red River Gorge with some of the midwest's most beautiful hiking trails and stone formations, thankfully saved from the Tennessee valley Authority dam builders 20+ years ago by the Sierra Club and other nature activists.

And of course, our renowned southern hospitality would bring the many local kilties out for a fantastic "kilt night" in honor of the guest vistor at one (or more) of our favorite local venues.

jeff

[toadinakilt]

Rock City, Ruby Falls, the Incline Railway...
The Walking Bridge near Coolidge Park...
The Hunter Art Museum... well, actually, the entire Art District and Northshore area across the Tennessee River...
A day trip over to North Carolina and the Nantahala River Gorge...
And then over to Rhythm and Brews or JJ's Bohemia for some beer and live, local musical talent.

It's a small town, but it's my town.

[Riverkilt]

Maybe a quick trip over to Zion and the Virgin River


Or up Paria Canyon to Lonely Dell


Or a short hike to the Mushroom Rocks in upper Paria Canyon


Or up into Utah to frolic on the "Lunar" landscape


Or a jaunt to the Wahweap Bay arm of Lake Powell and Castle Rock.


Or into Antelope Canyon - a narrow slot canyon


Or up Cottonwood Canyon to The Narrows


Or voyage uplake to Rainbow Bridge.

[Standard]

I'd take a visitor on a mini tour of the midwest. Starting with our state capitol of Springfield, Illinois http://www.visit-springfieldillinois.com/ we'd visit the State Capitol building, the Abraham Lincoln home and tomb, and of course the new Lincoln museum http://www.presidentlincoln.org/ .

Next a trip through Hannibal, Missouri http://www.hanmo.com/ to tour Mark Twain's cave, and the old downtown area with the Tom Sawyer exhibits.

A drive down along the Mississippi river would take us to St. Louis, Missouri to see the Gateway Arch http://www.gatewayarch.com/Arch/, Grant's Farm http://www.grantsfarm.com/ . A tour of the Anheuser Busch breweryhttp://www.anheuser-busch.com/ and a St. Louis Cardinal's baseball game http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=stl followed by a tour of historic Cahokia Mounds http://cahokiamounds.org/ would send us back into Illinois.

We'd then travel through part of the cornbelt and some of the most fertile farm ground in the world on our way to Chicago, Illinois. Once in Chicago a trip up to the sky deck in the Sears Tower http://www.theskydeck.com/info.asp an off broadway show http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/off-...ay-in-chicago/ some shopping on the Magnificent Mile http://www.themagnificentmile.com/ lunch at Pizzaria Uno for an authentic Chicago deep dish pizza http://www.unos.com/newmenu/dd_pizza.html an afternoon at the Field Museum of Natural History http://www.fieldmuseum.org/ to see Sue the T-Rex dinosaur and finally end with a Chicago Cubs game at the historic Wrigley field http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=chc and end our trip with a walk along Lakeshore Drive and the beach.

This trip which could be enjoyed in about 4 days could easily be stretched to a week by including a few more sights such as the St. Louis Zoo, a tour of the Catepilar factory in Peoria, or the John Deere factory in Moline, Illinois, and obviously many more sights in and around Chicago.

[Riverkilt]

Maybe a jaunt out to the Navajo Reservation to explore the rezlands


A drive up Black Mesa to the Tsegi Canyon overlook


A tour to the Anasazi ruins in Mystery Valley just south of Monument Valley


And of course Monument Valley itself


Up to the Black Mesa high country forests


Deep into the rezlands high country near Shonto for a Traditional Navajo Wedding


Down to the Painted Desert near Moenave


South of Red Lake to Blue Canyon


Coal Mine Canyon south of Tuba City


Dinosaur tracks and coprolite near Tuba City


and finally, historic Antelope Pass above Bitter Springs

[ForresterModern]

NO fair. Ron's got all the good places.

j

[Inchessi]

Next time I find myself out west, I am gonna drop in on RiverKilt!

Now I must admit to my outdoor spirit, I would make them suffer through a day of Fly fishing along the White River. Then I may drag them north for some Walleye fishing, and possibly end the week deep water trout fishing. If there is some time left I may drag them around the Hoosier Forest. I do love walking those woods.