28 Places to See Before You Die

This month's issue of Smithsonian magazine arrived in my office this morning and an article featured on the cover caught my eye.

According to Smithsonian, these are the 28 things you should seebefore you die:

For their glimpse into the past

Mesa Verde
Pompeii

Tikal

Petra

For their feats of engineering

Pyramids of Giza

Taj Mahal

Easter Island

The Great Wall of China

For their ability to amaze at different times of the year

Aurora Borealis

Serengeti

Iguazu Falls (Brazil)

Machu Picchu

For their fine works of art and design

The Louvre

Zen Garden of Kyoto

Uffizi Gallery

Fallingwater (Frank Lloyd Wright's house)

Because they are some of nature's most spectacular sites

Yangtze River

Antarctica

Mount Kilimanjaro

Grand Canyon

For their presence of gods

Pagan

Parthenon

Angkor Wat

Ephesus

Because time may soon run out on these sites

Venice, Italy

Amazon Rain Forest

Great Barrier Reed

Galapagos Islands

Many of these places have previously been on my list - Petra, Pyramids of Giza, Taj Mahal, Easter Island, Great Wall, Aurora Borealis, Serengeti, Angkor Wat, Fallingwater, Galapagos Islands, Uffizi Gallery - great excuse to return to Florence!

It surprised me that I've been to two of the places - Pompeii, just recently on our honeymoon, and the Louvre, in 5th grade, which means I didn't really appreciate it.

Other places on my list include the distant (Austrlia and New Zealand), the sacred (Sacre Coeur in Paris, again, I've been but didn't appreciate it), the metropolitan (Seattle, London and Chicago), the beautiful (the Almalfi Coast of Italy) and the random (Buenos Aries). My desire to go to many of these places centers around my interest in photographing them.

What places are on your list?

I'll close with some pictures from Pompeii, in honor of its mention on Smithsonian's list: