All 50 States Series (Part 1)

I’ve been wanting to do something for a long time and I thought about trying to cram it in during the month of June, leading up to today - July 4, 2026 - America’s 250th Birthday. But I decided that it doesn’t have to be on a deadline. 

Starting today, I’ll be doing a series about our trips to see all 50 of the United States of America. It will mostly be for personal documentation but will also be a surprise for C. We celebrate our 32nd anniversary this month (July 2026) so THIS surprise will be my gift to him this year. And, crazy enough, the contemporary theme for 32 years is “conveyance” which relates to travel and transportation. I didn’t plan this because of that - but how perfect - a theme that represents the journey through this life we’ve traveled so far. 

C knows I have always wanted to put together photo albums from each trip. I’ve completed a few…but, I am a bit of a perfectionist and the ones I have done are so detailed. There’s no way I’ll ever do them all if I try to keep up that level of detail. This series will help me get my thoughts together, document the trip routes, recall the things we saw, what we learned, etc., so that I can finally get those albums done and printed. 

The idea to take our girls to see all the states was ALL C’s idea. Since he was a kid growing up in Mississippi, he had a dream of traveling. After we got married, we took trips to see my family in Texas, work trips to Florida, family trips with his family to places like Tennessee, North Carolina, and Arkansas. So we had covered almost the entire Southeast. 

But one year, we decided to do something different: a trip to Chicago so that we could take our daughters to The American Girl store. We would be celebrating both of their birthdays with a small celebration in the cafe at the store (with their dolls, of course - pics below!) and we invited C’s parents to come along. 

When C was mapping the route we would take to Illinois, he planned for us to make some stops along the way:

• St. Louis, Missouri, for going to the top of the Gateway Arch
• Springfield, Illinois, for a tour of Abraham Lincoln’s home
• Moline, Illinois, to visit the John Deere museum
• Dearborn, Michigan, to experience The Henry Ford and Greenfield Village
• Niagara Falls on the Canadian and American side

It was when he was putting all these plans together that he decided this would be the beginning of an adventure to see all 50 states. And since his parents came along on that first trip, they were in on it, too. 

We did it. Between driving long distances, hopping some flights, renting many cars, and booking a smattering of train and boat excursions, it took us about eight years. We couldn’t see and do everything, but we packed in some awesome and memorable trips. When we got close to all 50, we made sure that when we touched down on the island of Oahu, Hawai’i, that it was our 50th state. 

I’m sharing for personal documentation, yes, but also adding to social media, my blog, and my youtube channel because that’s what is going to keep me on track to finishing this feat. 

I did this wall of memories one year as a Father’s Day surprise for C. He was out of town for about a week and I planned and finished it so that he would come home to this finished wall.



This wall represents some highlights of the adventure…to name a few:

• seeing Half Dome at Yosemite for the first time
• landing on a glacier in the Alaska Range, with Mount Denali in view
• sunrise at Volcano National Park
• randomly happening onto the World’s Largest Pistachio at McGinn’s Pistachio Tree Ranch
• the article in our local paper about our adventure
• meeting artists along the way
• eeing Billy Joel in concert at Madison Square Garden
• a snowy evening in Time Square after seeing our first Broadway play

But there is much more - hundreds of memories and tons of stories. From breathtaking views of nature to quirky roadside attractions and from interesting people we met along the way to the historical spots we experienced, all of it invaluable. Between the quality family time and the learning experiences, it’s something that can never be taken away. 

So, here I go! Keep me accountable on seeing this through! I have been drawing all 50 States along the last year so I’m going to have some new art to introduce along the way in this series. And, if there’s interest, I may put together a pdf of our trip routes. 

Happy 250th to the USA and Happy (early) Anniversary to C :)