Well, I can dream, right? While this summer has been anything but easy, it has been fun. During June and July, my husband and I drove 7000 miles, visited 19 states, and took thousands of pictures. We drove the Blue Ridge Parkway (for book research and stock photos), Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park (more pictures), up through the Smoky Mountains and down to the Indian village (more book research), and back home to Texas on the first trip in June.
On this first trip, we hiked parts of the Appalachian Trail, hiked down (and back up, OMG) to waterfalls, saw black bears, and fell in love with the Smokies.
We thought that was it until Fall, until our daughter decided she’d had all she could take of Boston and needed us to come get her (and her third floor walk up full of boxes). So we took off again, this time taking a different route that took us through the Ohio Amish country, past two Great Lakes, through the Allegheny and Adirondack mountains, across Lake Champlain, and through the White Mountains, to the Maine coast.
On this trip, we fell in love with the Amish country (and the food!), swam in a waterfall pool in Ithaca, NY, took the ferry from New York to Vermont, and photographed the Portland Head Light (the world’s most photographed lighthouse.)
I’ve now visited 39 of the 50 states, and hubby has visited 48. So, of course, we now have a goal to visit all 50. And Canada. We’ve been to Mexico, so once we visit Canada, we’ll have the North American continent covered.
We’re hoping, finances willing, to travel this fall to California, up the west coast to Washington, and across the northern states as far as the Great Lakes, and back down, catching a few more states we haven’t visited along the way. Then next summer, we’ll finish off the lower 48 we haven’t seen, and make that trip to Alaska and across Canada.
I love traveling with the hubby. He’s extremely knowledgeable about so many things, so every trip is a learning experience. And more fodder for the books yet to be written.
Have you ever taken a major trip? What’s your favorite destination and favorites stops along the way?
Authors of Main Street 