Results: US Today Readers' Choice 10 Best Museums

US Today has announced the results of the Readers' Choice 10 Best in the Museums categories. Let's see what the results were and if any of my picks were the winners!

Best Children's Museum

I picked the Strong National Museum of Play. It placed #7. The winner is the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh. I've never been there, but if anyone thinks it's better than the Strong, I need to add it to my must-visit list. 

Best Free Museum

I voted for the National Museum of American History, but it didn't even place in the top 10. The winner is the Toledo Museum of Art. I loved our visit there. It's hard to believe such an outstanding museum is free. 

Best History Museum

I voted for the Legacy Museum, but it did not place in the top 10. This doesn't surprise me, for two main reasons: 1) It is much newer than the other nominees, meaning fewer people have been there. 2) It covers a very unpleasant subject. My honorable mention, the Mill City Museum, placed #8. The winner is the Heinz History Museum. Another reason to visit Pittsburgh someday!

Best Maritime Museum

My vote, the National Museum of the Great Lakes, came in at #2! The winner is the Maine Maritime Museum, located in Bath (population 8,817), a city I've neither visited nor heard of until I just looked it up. It's not far from Augusta, which is one of the few capital cities we still need to visit, so we'll definitely add a stop in Bath to that trip. 

Best Music Museum

I voted for the National Museum of African American Music, but it didn't place in the top 10. The winner is the Johnny Cash Museum, also in Nashville. 

Best Open Air Museum

I'm really surprised that Colonial Williamsburg didn't place in the top 10. The winner is Plimoth Patuxet Museums.

Best Pop Culture Museum

My vote, Museum of Pop Culture, did not place in the top 10. The winner is the National Comedy Center in Jamestown, NY. 

Best Science Museum

I voted for the Exploratorium and it didn't make the top 10. The winner is the Center of Science and Industry in Columbus, Ohio. 

The winners for the Art categories aren't out as of the time I'm writing this, but as soon as they are released I'll let you know how I did and who won each category.

CityQuiz

Have you heard of CityQuiz? The concept is simple: name as many cities as you can. It sounds easy, but it is surprisingly challenging. And quite addictive! There are several versions, but I focused on the US quiz. The interface looks like this: 

You think of a city, type it in the box, and then it appears on the map. Big cities have big dots and small cities have small dots. It keeps a running total of how many cities you've named and what percentage of the urban population that represents. You can save your progress and work on it for as long as you want. I chose a different strategy: I gave myself 24 hours, refrained from looking at anything (maps, old blog posts, etc) that would remind me of cities, and tried to name as many as I could. They came fast and furious at first, then I would think of a few more here and there. Looking at my map, you it's pretty obvious where I've traveled and where I haven't. 

As you can see, I named 550 cities, representing 32% of the national urban population. I'm pleased with that. Of course, as soon as my 24 hours were up, I thought of dozens more cities! More on that later. 

The vast majority of the cities I named are in California. That makes sense; I've lived here all my life. My second best state was Washington, where my parents grew up. We visited often. 

It would have been pretty embarrassing if I'd missed any states entirely since I've been to them all. I've been to almost all of the state capitals (not to mention I spent 11 years drilling them into the heads of my 5th graders) so there's no way I would have forgotten those. I'm pleased that I remembered all of the US cities over 500,000 and more than half of those over 100,000. 

If you're going to try CityQuiz, this is where you should stop reading. Or keep reading if you want. Consider the cities I mention to be a free gift toward your total. 

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Here are the smallest cities and the rarest cities that I named. 

So what did I miss? 

The largest city I missed is Virginia Beach, Virginia. The largest city I missed that I've actually visited is Santa Ana, California. The most annoying city that I missed is San Bernadino. I KNOW that I added it, but I must have had a typo or forgotten to toggle the state to California or something like that. The largest city I missed that's on my list of Future Travels is Cincinnati, Ohio. That's pretty annoying too. 

Now check out this blog post by the creator of CityQuiz, Ian Fisher. 

'One Little Word' Tag Display (16 Years and Counting)

For 14 years, I displayed my One Little Word tags from cords, hanging directly on my wall. In 2025 when I made my 15th tag, I ran out of space with my current set up and moved the tags to a wood panel. I was really happy with how they looked, but it was only a one-year solution. There was no space for any additional tags. 2025 Cindy decided that was a problem for 2026 Cindy. 

2026 Cindy had been thinking about it for awhile (and occasionally shaking an angry fist at 2025 Cindy) before coming up with a solution that will last for 14 more years. I started with this 24x12" frame, then used Folk Art's Licorice (affiliate links) to paint the base black. I arranged my tags and stuck them in place with loops of washi tape. I still need to fix some little spacing issues and then put in the plexiglass, but this is how it looks now:  

I love seeing all my tags together and am excited to have so much more space for future years. I really hope I'm still making One Little Word tags 14 years from now.

I Love You, California

I've been to all 50 states, but I've only lived in one: California. Why move away when you're lucky enough to have been born in the best state of all? I combined old maps with scrapbook supplies to make this layout about the three cities where I've lived. The title is our state song, I Love You, California. 

I Love You, California (affiliate link)

I spent the first 18 years of my life (1972-1990) living in Livermore. It's about 45 miles east of San Francisco. Our family moved to a new house when I was 11, so I had two different addresses in Livermore. 

I moved to Davis for college in 1990. Davis is 15 miles west of Sacramento and 74 miles northeast of San Francisco. I spent two years in the same dorm in Davis, then lived in three different apartments between 1992 and 1997. 

I have lived in Fairfield since 1997. Fairfield is equidistant between Sacramento and San Francisco, about 45 miles from each, and about 15 miles east of Napa. I originally moved here to reduce my commute to Vallejo where I was teaching, but it's been almost 20 years (!!!) since I quit that job to be a full-time mom. I lived in an apartment first, bought a house while I was single, then moved to our current house with Steve just after we got married. 

I've had a total of 9 addresses in my life. Based on my age (almost 54), I'm right on track to be an average American in that respect. (There are many ways in which I am not an average American: my reading level is higher and my height is lower. I'm more widely traveled and have fewer children than average. This article about the "Average American" is really interesting.) We don't have any plans to move in the near future, but I doubt we'll live in this large, two-story house into our golden years. 

I really enjoyed putting together this layout. It's very unusual for me not to use photos on a page. I had fun working with the maps instead. I earned two more points for Twisted Scissors in Game 3 of the BYSS Winter Olympics: one for using green and black, and a second for incorporating circles. Go Scissors!

Beautiful Vermont

Vermont is one of my very favorite states. It is stunningly beautiful and full of interesting things to see and do. I would return to Vermont in a heartbeat. Someday!

Beautiful Vermont (affiliate link)

When we visited Vermont in June 2023, we were amazed by how lush and green everything was. No wonder it is the Green Mountain State! Naturally, I wanted to scrap the page using green to highlight that, which worked well for Game 3 of the BYSS Winter Olympics. 

I earned two points for Twisted Scissors: one point for using green and black and a second point for incorporating circles. I'm counting the dots on the background paper as circles. Which they are. Go, Scissors!