United States
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Spend a night alone in a fire lookout tower
The stove is small enough to heat with one armful of wood, and by dusk the windows go dark orange with the sunset instead of black, because you are above the treeline on all four sides at once.
Best time:Summer, when fire-season access roads and trails are clear
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Drive Route 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica
You start in Chicago traffic, cabs leaning on their horns, and by day four you're the only car on a two-lane road in Oklahoma with grass growing through the centreline.
Best time:Spring or autumn, avoiding northern winter closures and desert summer heat
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Sit on the bench where Forrest Gump waited with his box of chocolates
Chippewa Square is a quiet square with live oaks and Spanish moss, and every year a few visitors wander in looking for a bench that was never really there.
Best time:Spring or autumn, to avoid Savannah's summer heat and humidity
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Photograph Half Dome from the spot Ansel Adams stood in 1927
In April 1927, Ansel Adams climbed to a ledge above Yosemite Valley with a glass-plate camera, a heavy pack, and only a couple of plates left.
Best time:Late June to early October, once the high trail is free of snow
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Qualify for and run the Boston Marathon
Hopkinton's town green is small and unremarkable, the kind of place you'd drive through without noticing, except every Patriots' Day since 1897 it has filled with people who ran a qualifying time somewhere else just to stand there.
Best time:Patriots' Day, third Monday in April