8 Places to Find Moon Rocks

I recently finished listening to all the content that came with my virtual pass to TravelCon. The amount of information was incredible. Rather than pick and choose the sessions that relate the most to my business, I opted to watch it all. Even the topics that have nothing to do with me have been interesting and have opened my eyes to the challenges and opportunities in the world of travel journalism. I've learned about the needs of those who travel with disabilities, the concerns of obese travelers, and the sometimes-deadly risks faced by openly LGBTQ+ people who visit certain countries. I've heard presentations about becoming a travel agent, working as a digital nomad, hosting a travel show on PBS, and living the #vanlife. I've learned about trends in travel: prices everywhere are up, reservations are crucial, and flexibility is a must because rules and procedures can change on a dime. I've heard about effective techniques for pitching brands and organizations, and I've taken tons of notes during every session about growth strategies, analytics, monetization, and marketing. 

I also wrote down this quote by Jason Cochran, Editor in Chief of Frommers:

"Writers will often twist themselves into knots to make a list. Often I get pitches for things that are off the wall, like 8 Places to Find Moon Rocks. It's interesting - it may be good in a magazine, but not for someone writing digitally where we're based on clicks. No one is searching for where to find moon rocks."

 

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I know he's the expert, but I don't think he's correct. Someone IS searching for where to find moon rocks. There may not be a lot of people, but the number isn't zero. How do I know? Because no matter what search term you can dream up, someone is looking for it. My blog ranks #1 for "twinkie narwhal" and it actually generates traffic. I guarantee you that if people are searching for "twinkie narwhal," then people are searching for where to find moon rocks. 

Just for fun, here are some of the other search terms where I rank #1. 

So who ranks #1 for the "place to find moon rocks" search term? Not surprisingly, it's NASA.gov. It's the best place to go for ANY moon rock information you want. NASA lists the known locations of all moon rocks; Wikipedia has an interesting article about missing and stolen moon rocks. 

Obviously, I can't compete with NASA for "8 places to find moon rocks." But there is one search term I'm confident will be #1 for me: "8 places to find moon rocks that Cindy deRosier has seen."

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Eight Places to Find Moon Rocks that Cindy deRosier Has Seen

1. Smithsonian National Museum of National History

2. Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

3. US Naval Academy

4. Indiana State Museum

5. Chabot Space and Science Center

6. California Academy of Sciences

7. Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library

8. Clark Planetarium

I've actually seen moon rocks in more places than those eight. I mentioned the moon rocks in my blog posts about Huntsville, Columbia, and Raleigh. There are probably others, considering the number of museums I've visited in my life. 

All this moon rock research reminded me of a random fun fact. In 2012, my friend Brenda found a meteorite worth $20,000 and had a worldwide 15 minutes of fame. It was really exciting. I haven't had an international 15 minutes of fame yet. Honestly, if "twinkie narwhal" and "boston tea party drawing" aren't going to do it, I'm not sure what will.