In the same spirit as the "5things"  posts Pez started about 4 months back (http://pez.multiply.com/journal/item/152?mark_read=pez:journal:152)... 

What are  5 memorable places that you've been (be the 'place' be a country, a city, or a pizza joint)  ... and why are they memorable to you?

Here's mine...

1) Grenoble, France.  We traveled extensively through Europe  when we lived there my Jr high years... but mot of it's long since a blur.  But I remember Grenoble -- it was the destination of both the first and last roadtrips we took over there. Each trip was completely different (probably because I'd changed so much in the 19 months or so in between), but both are good memories..

2) The Rocks.  These are a bunch of big flat concrete blocks haphazardly piled along Lake Michigan in Evanston, IL, to hold in the dirtfill.  In college, I loved to study there the rare occasions when weather permitted.  Over the years, students had painted the rocks with everything from rants and swear words to poems and marriage proposals. Lots of scope for the imagination. (I rarely got much actual studying done.)

3) Garden of the Gods. I was first awed by the red rocks on a roatrip when I was 18. Then again as I posed for cheesy photos all around them on my honeymoon, and now at 32, I get to see those magical red rocks every morning on my commute to work.

4) Brazoria County, Texas. 30 miles from nowhere. Thanks to Habitat for Humanity, I learned to drywall, spackle, install windows, and to avoid pigs feet and collard greens at all costs. 

5) Fiske's store in Holliston, Massachusetts (my Mom's hometown).  The local mom and pop shop that has eveything an 8 year old could imagine, and many things you couldn't. A magical bonus trip whenever we visited Nana and Pompa.