U.S. Travel Destinations

I have done a fair amount of traveling abroad, but I have done very little travel within the U.S. save for a few business trips. I have such a desire to see the world and yet I tend to ignore the country I live in when I am making destination plans. Below is a list of the top 15 places within the U.S. that I hope to visit within the next five to ten years. God, that sounds like such a long time frame. Actually, ten years and 15 destinations might be a little ambitious considering I plan on doing international travel during that time as well. Although, a lot of those places can be knocked out at the same time or can be quick weekend trips.

• New Orleans
• Seattle
• Nashville
• Austin
• Louisville (Andrew, I promise I will make it for the Kentucky Derby soon!)
• Portland
• Denver/Colorado
• Memphis
• St. Louis
• Cincinnati
• Atlanta
• Miami (I have a feeling this one will be the first off the list)
• Washington D.C. (Actually, this one might be first off the list... depends on if Caroline moves or my brother graduates first)
• Maine (for lobster!)
• Boston*
• New York*

The asterisks mark the two places on the list I have previously visited, but am dying to visit again. 

In other news, I made chili for the first time last night in preparation for a chili cook-off my friend, Flo, is hosting next month and it was a semi-flop. The recipe I used called for 3 tablespoons of chili powder which looked like a HUGE amount next to the rest of the spices it called for. It also called for a sizeable amount of cumin and minced chilis in adobo sauce. I should have trusted my instincts because, as you can imagine, the dish turned out to be overpoweringly smokey. I could barely taste any of the other ingredients in the chili so the recipe will definitely need to be tweaked before it is contest eligible. I will say though that the addition of unsweetened chocolate added a layer of flavor I did not know could exist in chili. If anyone reading this has any chili secrets, I would love to hear them! :)