The first state I was ever in was New Jersey. That is where I was born. There were only 48 states then. The last two came into the union when I was a child.
I made it to my fiftieth state while driving back to Seattle. Utah was the last one. I had planned to make it there while driving east but a late spring snowstorm kept me from going. I wanted sun not snow so I passed up the chance to finish my states then.
I actually had been in Utah – in the Salt Lake City airport a number of times but since I was only there to change planes it didn’t seem like I could count that as actually being IN the state. Until this trip I also had only been in Kentucky because I had been in the Cincinnati airport, which oddly is in Kentucky, not Ohio.
I knew I wanted to complete my state adventure on this trip. I got to Kentucky when Rachel and I went to Chicago in May.
Some of the states were easy to get to. Growing up in the Northeast, we took family trips along the east coast often. Every college student drove to Florida at least once. I picked up more states when I drove to Seattle the first time to move there. Then it was fairly easy to pick up the west coast states. The middle seemed hardest but then I had a job that I had to travel. It was during those years that I picked up most of the Midwest. North Dakota took some doing. I got to Oklahoma because I had to be in Wichita and I had a car so I drove the 70 miles to Oklahoma just to take it off my list. Hawaii and Alaska were special trips with Rachel.
Utah was beautiful. We traveled through the Northwest corner, skipping Salt Lake City. We spent a night in Ogden. The prairies give way to the mountains and the pine trees appear again. The air was clear and dry. The Great Salt Lake is huge. We were amazed to see seagulls there but then the water is salty!
What do I now after see all the states of the US? It is a HUGE country and so very diverse. I wish all of our elected officials were required to drive through all the states and go to little towns and really see how different people think about the issues. Most want food on the table, safe schools, good friends and work to support them.
Now that I have had a taste of this whole country I feel more ready to taste the rest of the world. Keep reading to see what comes next.
