So far, I’ve mentioned in previous posts that Seattle is one of the top walking cities, one of the most literary cities, and is NOT one of the rainiest cities. In more recent news, Seattle also has the fifth highest percentage of volunteers (out of the country’s 50 largest cities), and results from a AAA survey showed that Seattle ranks third in this summer’s “hot spot” domestic travel destinations. (I think Seattle Times must have one person solely dedicated to scouring the Internet for lists that include Seattle…)

In Seattle, about 36.3 percent of people had volunteered in the previous years. The cities that came out ahead of us were: Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., where about 40.5 percent of adults volunteer; Salt Lake City, 38.4 percent; Austin, Texas, 38.1 percent; and Omaha, Neb., 37.8 percent.

In the AAA survey, the other hot destinations were: Orlando, Vegas (ick), Seattle, New York, Los Angeles/Orange County. I bet Orlando and LA/OC are on the list because of Disney. Last year, the top five spots were the same, except Hawaii was swapped out by Seattle this year. Imagine that! If I had to make up my own list of domestic destination suggestions, this is what it would be: San Francisco, Hawaii, Seattle, New York (although I have never been there), and Montana (I’ve never been there either, but I hear it’s beautiful!)…or maybe the Oregon Coast…or the Gulf Coast…argh, those are all too scenic for people and can’t compare to Disneyland, I guess, which is why my list differs so much from the AAA survey. :P (I guarantee you that if you check out places on my list, you won’t be gauged for admission fee or pay outrageous amounts of money for mediocre food that you digest while waiting in long lines under the beating sun!)

And speaking of lists, Melanie asked me if Harry is not one of my top five characters, who ARE my fave five? I had actually written that post without giving it much thought, but I think this would be it:

1. Dumbledore
2. Ron
3. Hermione
4. Fred and George
5. Hagrid
(And moving beyond that, #6 is a tie between Sirius and Lupin, and #7 is Harry.) I actually like Snape and Professor Trelawney a lot, too, but I dislike them in the books. I found I only liked them in the movies because the actors (Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson) who portray them are great.

Here’s Melanie’s list:
1. Lupin
2. Ron
3. Tie between Harry and Hermione
4. Dumbledore
5. Fred and George

If you could make a list, what would it be about, and what/who would be on it?