Random Friday: Dream Vacations

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I think I'll be doing Random Friday a little differently this week.  The assignment is all about dream vacations, but I want to focus on just one of mine.  Y'all can do this however you please: multiple dream trips, one giant trip that includes everything on your bucket list, just one trip like me...whatever floats your boat.

So I was planning to do a trip to France for this post.  But then I got to thinking... my ultimate fantasy vacation would be to visit places in all my favorite books.

First stop on our fictional tour... Concord, Massachusetts from The Mother-Daughter Book Club series!

I'd visit Walden Pond and Orchard House, walk down Main Street, go in the library, and stop at Kimball Farm for ice cream. (Kimball Farm is a real place, guys!)

Orchard House, everyone!

Next stop, Washington D.C.!  Why am I choosing D.C.?  Well, since Roseville, Virginia (Gallagher Girls) is fictional, I figured the next best thing would be a stop to the International Spy Museum, and then over to Langley, Virginia for a visit to the CIA Museum.

All right, where to next?  How about...the Midwest, where we'll make a couple of stops?  First up, we'll head to Mankato and Minneapolis, Minnesota, home of the Betsy-Tacy series.  The childhood homes of the author, Maud Hart Lovelace, and her childhood best friend, Bick Kenney, were transformed into the childhood homes of Betsy and Tacy and are open for tours.

While we're there, we have to stop at the Bow Street apartment building from Betsy and Joe and the University of Minnesota (the "U") in Minneapolis, and the Carnegie library, Lincoln Park, and the site of the Opera House in Mankato.

Now we'll head down to Chicago, Illinois where we have to go to Evanston and Northwestern University for Time Between Us and Time After Time and then make stops at Chicago icons for Divergent.

  

  

The "Bean" (Cloud Gate), Navy Pier, and the John Hancock Center, all of which are mentioned in various books in the Divergent trilogy.  One of my favorite parts about Divergent is that I recognize all the little references to the places in Chicago, such as the El and O'Hare International Airport and the Ferris wheel on Navy Pier.

I'm ready to head overseas!  For Just One Day, I thought the best place to visit would be Stratford-upon-Avon, since a large part of the plot revolves around Shakespeare.  So, not only would I visit Shakespeare's birthplace and his wife's family cottage, but I would totally have to take in a show at The Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

Now it's just a hop, skip, and a jump across the English Channel as we head into mainland Europe.  On my leg of the trip, we have to make a stop in Amsterdam, in honor of Hazel Grace Lancaster and Augustus Waters (The Fault In Our Stars).  This stop will include a visit to the Anne Frank House, of course.

And last, but certainly not least, I'm heading to China, which Terra, Jacob, and their mothers visit in North of Beautiful.

But guess what?  This literary tour isn't ending just yet.  Head over to Dreams and Dragons, where Sarah is continuing the trip in collaboration with me.  I can't wait to see her choices!  And I can't wait to see everyone else's posts, too. :)