Despite the recent events at the Boston Marathon, there is a lot of beauty in our world. And I think people need to recognize that now more than ever.
As CNN points out, it's also summer vacation planning season so Gogobot recently put out their top choices for natural wonders of the world.

They include:

1) The Diamond Head State Monument, Hawaii
2) The Grand Canyon, Arizona (which, can I say - personally - I think is overrated. It's cool, but overrated. Nothing to plan your cross-country trip around, like we did in the below photos. I hear there is a larger canyon in Mexico - Cooper Canyon. I'm wondering if that might be more impressive.)

(A shot I took on my second visit to the Grand Canyon, cross-country trip - July 2011)

3) Muir Woods National Monument, California (can't beat the feeling of walking through a redwood forest)
4) Old Faithful Geysir, Upper Geysir Basin in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

(Waiting for Old Faithful to fully-erupt)

 

5) Gullfoss, Iceland (part of the usual tourist loop called the Golden Circle outside Rekjavik)
6) The 12 Apostles, Australia
7) Iguacu Falls, Argentina/Brazil (according to a CNN caption, it's nearly three times larger than Niagara Falls on the NY/Canadian border)
8) Badlands National Park ( I could not agree more here - it truly is an amazing and unexpected sight in South Dakota, not a bad place to stop and stretch your legs when visiting Mount Rushmore and/or the Crazy Horse Monument)

(Hiking around the Badlands is certainly no easy feat, with very crumbly/unique terrain)

9) Arthur's Seat, Scotland (I'll hold my tongue here, though I kinda think the Scottish Highlands are a better visit than a volcanic hill outside Edinburough)
10) Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania (ohhh, someday.....)

Others on the top 25 list:
#11 Niagara Falls, #12 Matterhorn, #15 Red Rock Canyon in Las Vegas, #16 Maroon Bells in Aspen, #18 Yosemite Falls in Yosemite National Park, #19 Joshua Tree National Park in California

My new site I want to visit:

Antelope Canyon, Arizona #21 - (It looks like a screensaver)

(Inside Lower Antelope Canyon

from the Wikipedia site)