Jeremiah's Top Five Travel Destinations

Tag. We're it. Again.

Angie Lee, of Seven Clown Circus fame, has tagged us with the assignment (that makes it sound fun, doesn't it?) of creating a post of the top five places we'd like to visit or revisit. I'll leave Tamara to post her own answer when she gets around to it. I admit that it was difficult for me to narrow the field. Greece, Russia, Britain, Italy and Roswell, New Mexico might be in the top ten, but they were edged out of this post by my top five choices. Remember, the following are my choices, so we'll probably never go, or return to any of these places unless they make Tamara's list as well.

Oh, and I'll let you guess which are the visits and which are the re-visits.

5. Easter Island

Giant stone heads, great surfing, and fresh seafood—this is one destination you wouldn't find among Tamara's top five.

So why do I like to hang out with the creee-peeee Moai? One word, baby: UFO.

Okay, so maybe that was an acronym…

4. China

The Great Wall sure made a great backdrop for our family portrait this year. Not only did all the children look and smile at the same time, but there was a complete planetary alignment, the Loch Ness monster just happened to be checking out some landlocked China lakes in the distance, Jackie Onassis popped her head over the parapet to the left, and the photographer snapped the shot before Bigfoot (or possibly a yeti—it was China after all) had ducked behind some bushes.

What's better than seeing the Olympics in Beijing? Maybe seeing the Forbidden City. Maybe taking a tour of the Three Gorges Dam. (Yeah, sorry all you 1.5 million of displaced residents. Hope you had flood insurance.) Maybe seeing giant pandas chowing down on bamboo shoots. My bet, however, is on the food.

Kung Pao chicken! Mongolian chicken! Sweet and sour chicken! Do the Mu-shu!

3. Mount Kilimanjaro

The wild dogs cry out in the night
As they grow restless longing for some solitary company
I know that I must do what's right
Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti

Mount Kilimanjaro rising from the early morning mists. Now that's an image I won't soon forget. What a great place for a very memorable family bike trip.

2. Washington D.C.

It's all about money and power. The District of Columbia is the seat of government of the mightiest nation on Earth! See the grandeur of the Capitol building. Marvel at the loftiness of the Washington Monument. Buy sheets of money, at cost, of course, at the Bureau of Engraving & Printing. Grease the palms of your representative a little more than the special interest groups have and you can make some real change. Where else can you find such a cesspool of vice and corruption? Ah, yes—Vegas! (Yes, Las Vegas, curiously enough, did not make the list.)

What happens in D.C. stays in D.C.

Unless you're later indicted.

1. Paris

Ooh-la-la! Italy might have better architecture, art, and food, but Paris brings home the gold in the romance category. What could be more romantic than strolling through the Jardin de Tuileries arm-in-arm with your lover, listening to someone play La Vie en Rose on the accordion? Okay, you're right—floating down the Seine on a barge, dining by candlelight, and listening to someone play La Vie en Rose on the accordion. (Seriously, is this guy following me?)

They might only be runners up, but the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, and not-too-distant Versailles take the sting off of not being in Italy.