The country holding captive the birthplace of the religion I grew up with, Christianity, of the ethics that shaped me, has withered beyond redemption. It seems hell-bent on withering spirituality throughout the world.

From my untrained eyes, the collections seem to be more contemporary than historical. In fact, you can rent the venue for personal and business functions. There are permanent displays as well as seasoned highlights of contemporary artists. At the time of my visit, the featured artist was Ayana V. Jackson. Kudos to the architects and the exhibit designers who gave each room its own personality.

I used to live around the Washington, DC area in my college days and I’d been to the Smithsonian Museum and the different monuments. But it never occurred to me that this is the town where President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. So to my delight and surprise I found out, through a museum information booth, that the original Ford Theater where he was shot and the house where he died had been preserved all these years and it was just a few blocks away.

Olivia had lost 20 pounds. Aside from the usual office clutter, her office was piled with memorabilia and certificates and awards covered the walls. We reminisced the good times with her husband who was a frogman and demolition expert. Dan was among the first batch of the newly created US marines. His covert team gathered intelligence for the Cuban crisis and the Vietnam war. Dan even opened the hatch for Neal Armstrong when the Apollo 11 capsule landed safely in the ocean.

We put together a selection of our readers' responses to our earlier poll of Favorite Domestic Destinations. Here's to safe and fun-filled tours as travel to domestic destinations is slowly opening up.