my USA travel history…

So much for my 4 day weekend plan to add new pins to my novel locations board… That didn’t happen. I got sidetracked by Hawaii and pinned this photo of Kilauea. Look at the stars and the glow of the lava. Absolutely incredible. And I am going to see that in February!

Travel has always been high on my bucket list. It’s been part of my life since before I could walk. And you know I like history – I can probably blame my Dad for that. He was always good about combining travel with a history lesson.

I grew up in South Carolina, but Mom’s huge Italian family was in New York & New Jersey; Dad’s was in Iowa. Annual treks to the northeast for summer vacations included stops along the way – historic battlefields from North Carolina to Pennsylvania, and places like Washington, DC, Mt. Vernon, and more.

Trips to Iowa were less frequent. We’d head there once every 5 years for Dad’s high school reunions. Side trips weren’t part of those vacations because it was such a long drive, but I did see a heck a lot of the USA. By the time I was 18, I’d been to every state east of the Mississippi River except for Mississippi, Alabama, West Virginia, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Rhode Island. Before I turned 20, I’d traveled through all the southern states with the exception of Arkansas (was there back in 2004 or 2005 doing an onsite college campus visit with my daughter) ; and I’d been to New Mexico, Arizona, and California.

I didn’t add many new states between ages 20 – 40. I lived in Maryland, North Carolina and Florida those years, and travel consisted of visiting relatives who lived in the eastern USA.

And then I took a job in Kansas. Yes, Toto. Kansas. Travel began picking up – some related to the job, some vacations. I’ve now been to every state west of the Mississippi River except for North and South Dakota, Alaska & Hawaii! The only east coast state I’ve missed is Rhode Island. Five states to go and I will have been to all fifty. And I’ll scratch Hawaii off that list in 3 months.

How many states have you been to? Do you have a favorite? If you haven’t traveled to the USA but had the opportunity to go to one place, where would you go?

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Image credit: Stars, and the glow over the Halemaumau crater of the Kilauea volcano on Big Island, Hawaii by LoveBigIsland, distributed under CC-BY-NC-SA 2.0
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bigislandhawaiianvacation/5855473605/

  1. alibrariangirl Avatar
    alibrariangirl

    Wow. You go girl! Travel is exciting, though the only place I have been outside the USA is Cancun. Someday I’d like to travel to a country or two in Africa and the Middle East. Maybe I’ll see you there!

    1. Char Avatar

      I’m hoping to get to Italy and Austria in 2015. And maybe North & South Dakota! 🙂 I keep reading about your NYC trips and would love to catch up with you there.


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