More families are scattering their loved one's ashes/cremated remains. Some may leave a little ash behind each time they make a trip or perhaps leave all of the ashes at one specific site of great meaning to their beloved. Here are some popular destinations where family and friends have traveled to scatter the ashes or cremated remains of a loved one.
Multiple Destinations: Wife Takes a Scattering Road Trip
| A woman travels the globe, "spreading her husband's ashes in more than 20 places. A growing number of people are opting to cremate their loved ones in order to scatter their ashes -- a way of prolonging their goodbyes." |
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Disneyland in Anaheim, CA
Walt Disney's theme park Disneyland, in Anaheim, California has shut down the Pirates of the Caribbean ride several times when people have been spotted dumping ashes into the water. Another favorite spreading ground is the Haunted Mansion cemetery.
Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco CA
An unknown male visitor stops at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, CA
and tells the doorman it was his father's favorite hotel and "dream to
be buried" there. The man then handed doorman a $100 tip to "take a
little walk" while he "spread the ashes of his father along the hotel's
flower beds", just off Mason and California Streets. The man said the
Fairmont "was as close to heaven [as his father] ever got in this life." Brown, W. (2010). At the Fairmont, it was ashes to ashes, dust to. San
Francisco Chronicle. Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, CA |
Outer SpaceA grandson and space fan sends grandmother's ashes up in a meteorological balloon at 100,000 ft into the stratosphere. |
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Central Park, New York City, NY
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Lake Michigan, MI
In her book, "If I am Missing or Dead", author Janine Latus describes the ash scattering memorials held for her sister Amy. One is held at an outdoor chapel at a Michigan youth camp the Latus family attended as children. There they spoke about her favorite things, sang songs, and then spread her ashes into the cattails. (Her mother and father "had divvied up the ashes". Her father buried his share at a Catholic cemetery.) The next day the family drove to Lake Michigan, another favorite spot of Amy's, where the family held their third memorial for her. Each family member walked into the water waist deep, took a handful of ashes, and let them fall into the water, before they released all the remaining ashes. The family then played some of Amy's favorite games on in the water and flew kites in her memory.Santa Anita Racetrack, Arcadia CA
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Yacht Race, Sydney, Australia
Wild Oats XI, the five-time line honors winner, scattered the ashes of Gary Ticehurs, the ABC helicopter pilot who died in August 2011 during the Sydney to Hobart yacht race.Pacific Ocean, Hawaii
Every time someone in my family dies, after they are cremated, we fly out to Hawaii with their ashes and take a boat out to the very same GPS coordinates where we have been spreading the ashes of all our family members for the last few decades. ~C.O., Portland, OR
Charlotte Airport, North Carolina
In her book, "You Can't Drink All Day If You Don't Start in the Morning", Celia Rivenbark reflects on a friends story after picking up her father's cremated remains in "A long time ago, I had a friend whose father died and was cremated. He loved two things in this world, she said: hot dogs and flying. So she put him in her carry-on, flew him to the Charlotte airport, bought a jumbo dog with mustard and relish, put his urn on the little round table, ate half the hot dog and one hour later, boarded the plane for the hour long flight home, her daddy stowed safely back in her carry-on. It was a great story, and walking along with the purple velvet box o' Daddy I thought I knew exactly how she felt sitting in that airport restaurant, toasting her dad with exactly one-half of a cold Bud Lite."
| Gaza Beach | St. Lucia, Caribbean Sea |
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Please share your ash scattering stories. Are there any special locations you recommend? Do you have any advice for others trying to decide on the best destination for their loved one's ashes?
