50 by 60

Hooray!  I've now visited all 50 of the states in the United States of America!  It has been an exciting goal to achieve and I'm so happy that I have been able to see so many beautiful sites in this great land of ours.  We have been impressed with the kind people we have met and the history we have learned.
This whole quest started in 2006.  We took Rick's parents to North Dakota so that they could visit their final state and get all 50 completed.  They were both in their 80s and wanted to visit that last state while they were still able to get out on the road.  The thought hadn't even occurred to me that I too might be able to visit all 50 states in the USA.  With their encouragement, along with Rick, we set out to finish visiting all 50 states.  We took inventory of how many states we had visited.  He had visited many more than I had because he had driven across much of the US on several occasions.  I had a LONG way to go.  We set our goal and hoped to achieve it by the age of 60.  Rick finished his goal by age 58.  

I've tried to reconstruct the years that I visited each state.  To the best of my knowledge, it went like this:

1.  Born in Idaho in 1955

2.  Visited grandparents in Utah that same year and every year thereafter.

3.  Went on a family trip to California to visit family in Menlo Park, CA when I was in third grade in 1963 

4.  Traveled through Nevada to get there.

5.  Visited Yellowstone National park many times in my childhood, going through West Yellowstone, Montana 

6.  and Wyoming during the 1960s. I traveled around ID, UT, and Yellowstone National Park in WY, MT for about 19 years.

7.  Flew on an airplane for the first time when I was 19 years old going to Oregon with my sister Janet in 1974.

8.  Traveled to Tucson, Arizona to visit my brother Gary and his family in 1978.

9.  In 1979, Rick and I flew to Colorado on our honeymoon, visiting Denver, Colorado Springs, Boulder and Fort Collins.

10.  Flew to Hawaii in 1983 after my dad died with Rick, his mother Pat and my mother Mary.

Went to Hawaii again in 2011.

11.  Flew to Amarillo, Texas to visit my sister Mary Ann and her family in 1985 and drove to TX with our family in 1999 to visit our friends the Coils in Dallas for Thanksgiving.

12.  Traveled through New Mexico on that trip and stopping in Albuquerque (which would later become the home of one of our children.)

13.  Flew to Virginia in 1988 to visit my brother Gary and his family, with Janet and Dave.  

14.  Also visited the Amish country in Pennsylvania and Gettysburg, and Washington DC. 

15.  Rick and I flew to Florida in 1997 and took a cruise out of Miami to Key West, Cozamel, and Tulum, Mexico.

16.  Our entire family flew to West Virginia in 1998 to visit Rick's parents Pat and Vern who were serving an LDS mission there

17.  by way of Baltimore, Maryland.

18.  Visited places in Virginia

19.  Drove through Delaware

20.  Stayed in New Jersey and took the ferry to

21.  New York City.  Later drove to Palmyra and Niagara Falls.

22.  Rick and I flew to New Orleans, Louisiana in 2001 where I attended a convention with the Orem City Planning Commission.

23.  Went on a family trip in 2003, driving to NV, CA, OR and Seattle, Washington when Jordan returned from her LDS mission in Venezuela. 

24.  We went to a BYU football game at Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana

25.  and visited Chicago, Illinois with our dear friends the Philipps family in 2005.

26.  Took Pat and Vern to South Dakota in 2006 to see Mount Rushmore and then on to

27.  North Dakota where we stayed for a short time, eating lunch and chatting with a few locals.

MADE THE GOAL TO VISIT ALL 50 STATES.  HALF DOWN, HALF TO GO!

We drove to Calgary, Canada in 2008 and passed through the entire state of Montana, seeing Glacier National Park among other sights.  Spectacular! 

28.  Went on a cruise to Alaska for our 30th wedding anniversary in 2009.

29.  We  took Rick's parents back to visit some of the sites they loved in the east where Vern had served his mission many years before and and visited Boston,  Massachusetts, New York City and Washington DC, driving around that beautiful country in the fall in 2009.   

MAKING PROGRESS, ONLY 21 MORE TO GO!

30.  Flew to Jackson Mississippi in 2011 to attend a BYU football game at Ole Miss with Jake, Jordan and Andy.  Rick and I then spent the next week traveling through the south in our rental car visiting sites in:

31.  Tennessee

32.  Kentucky

33.  North Carolina (little did we know we would be returning to visit another of our children who live here)

34.  South Carolina

35.  Alabama

36.  Georgia

37.  Arkansas, finally ending up at another BYU game at Texas.

38.  Another BYU football game in 2012 (funny how that worked out) took us back to Notre Dame where we also set out to visit neighboring Ohio.  We met us with Dave, Courtney, Jordan, Jake, Andy and Chelsea.  Rick and I then rented a car and drove to 

39.   Michigan

40.   and then on to Minnesota and 

41.  Wisconsin with Andy and Chelsea tagging along.  I was doing through chemotherapy during this trip and didn't feel that great, but I wanted to continue to see the sights in these neighboring states.

42.  In 2013, Dave and Courtney moved to Boston, MA and we decided to take that opportunity to visit more New England states.  Rick and I rented a car in Boston and drove around to visit more of New England including Rhode Island,

43.  New Hampshire

44. Vermont (Rick's 50 state and birth place of the Prophet Joseph Smith)

45.  Maine where we went to Acadia National Park.  Amazing!

THE GOAL WAS IN SIGHT!

46.  Coincidentally, BYU announced that they would start their season playing Nebraska in 2015, so plans were made to finish off my last five states by visiting the mid-west while also attending the game. How convenient!  Besides being a great game against Nebraska, (BYU won in the last second) we were able to visit some amazing places.  Jake and Ellie drove around with us in Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska.  We drove around to LDS church history sites.

47.  We flew into Kansas City, Missouri and rented a car and off we went to visit

48.  Kansas

49.  Iowa

50.  And finally, OKLAHOMA driving nearly 2400 miles in 8 days!!

Our goal criteria was that we had to set foot on the soil of any particular state, talk to a local and buy food or something else if possible.  Landing in airports didn't count.  We visited many state capitol buildings along the way, presidential libraries, national parks and other points of historical interest. We learned so much about the history and the people of our great land.  We listened to books on tape that were unique to a particular area and enjoyed passing some driving time that way.  

I've got to give a HUGE shout out to my husband who made this happen.  He bankrolled the trips with air fare, rental cars, hotels and food.  It isn't an inexpensive goal considering all the distances that must be covered traveling from state to state.  He really wanted us to enjoy our time together and to meet this goal.  I love and appreciate him for making it happen, especially because so many of our trips did coincide with BYU football games!  We ate wonderful local food, trying to avoid the national chains as much as possible.  We also shopped in grocery stores and found healthy food ready to eat much of the time. We bought a case of water and put it in the trunk of the car so that we always had a good supply on hand.  We used a Garmin GPS system early on and then reverted to Google Maps to get around.  The only down side to this much travel was the need to use so many public restrooms.  Not a fan.

There were a few states that we only passed through briefly that I would like to revisit.  We only briefly visited Kentucky, Minnesota, Ohio, Michigan and Florida.  I would love to return to visit more of those states and spend some more time in Maine.  Of the 25 largest cities in the USA, I would still like to visit Houston and San Antonio/TX, Detroit/MI, Tampa and Orlando/FL, Louisville/KY and  Cincinnati and Cleveland/OH and get off the beaten trail to see some other smaller areas in MN.   I've been to 20 of the 25 largest cities in the US and hope to get to see a few more. 

One very wonderful thing that comes from traveling around the US, is that now I can visualize what that area is like when I hear it mentioned.  I know where all of the 50 states are on a map and I know the state capitols and have visited many of them. 

Rick and I love to travel! We are proud members of The All 50 States Club! It was been absolutely a joy to meet this goal!

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Taylor and Brian

A few weeks ago, my darling niece and her handsome man got married in the Logan LDS temple.  It was a beautiful day attending the ceremony with family and friends and then afterwards enjoying a lovely outdoor reception.  I'm so proud of Taylor and Brian for reaching their goals and being married in the temple.  Taylor looked stunning in her lace wedding gown and the yellow colors were perfect for a summer wedding.  I love them and wish them much happiness as they start their first home, attend school and work to continue to achieve their goals.  They are off to a great start. Their day was beautiful!

All of my siblings were in attendance.
We don't often all get together, so this was a special occasion.
  My sister Carol who is in yellow is the beautiful mother of the bride.  

Cute McKayla loved being a flower girl.

Praise to the man!

I'm so grateful to the prophet Joseph Smith.  I know that he was God's instrument in restoring his power and authority to the earth once more.  Joseph and his family suffered through unimaginable challenges and in the end, he sealed his testimony and his teachings with his own blood when he was martyred by a mob in Carthage, IL.  He was chosen as a pure, clean vessel in his youth and was schooled and taught through the power of God during the times of restoration when the authority of God was restored to the earth once again.  He and his brother Hyrum were faithful men who were true to their beliefs.

We recently visited the places where Joseph Smith and his family walked, talked, slept and lived.  It was a very moving experience for me.  I have heard about these places since my youth, but it was an entirely different experience to see, learn and experience first hand the places of the coming forth of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the church of which I am a proud member.  I have no illusions that Joseph Smith was a perfect man.  He was human.  Some mistakes were made, but more things were done right than wrong.  Given the history in that time period, there are things that we don't understand in our more modern world.  I still give him tremendous credit and I am grateful for his exemplary life.  I also appreciate that the LDS church is being more forthcoming with information about the life of Joseph Smith and the early saints.  I have read these accounts and they do sled light on the occurrences of the early church organization and the events that took place there. There is so much negative information about Joseph Smith, but I choose to read the account from the sources that are credible and that build faith rather than destroy it.


Rick and I started out visiting Liberty jail in Liberty, Missouri

Hard to imagine four or more men
sharing this tiny space for four months during the winter months
 without proper food, clothing or bedding.

Independence, Missouri

The Community of Christ church owns
this land in Independence, MO.

The future temple site at Independence, MO.

The Community of Christ church in the background.

Winter quarters, Nebraska (with Jake and Ellie)

Jake and Ellie at the Winter Quarters visitors center.
We are all so grateful to our pioneer ancestors who came before us and paved the way.

So wonderful to share these great learning experiences with Jake and Ellie.

Beautiful Winter Quarters temple outside of Omaha, Nebraska.

The Winter Quarters temple grounds on a beautiful but very hot and humid day in Omaha after attending church.

Kanesville tabernacle at Council Bluffs, Iowa (with Jake and Ellie)

Ellie was ab out the same size of this little pioneer girl
who came west with her family to cross the plains.

Nauvoo, Illinois (with Jake and Ellie)

The beautiful Nauvoo temple that was rebuilt to replace
 the one the Saints left to destruction, fire and mob ruin.

A statue built to Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum as they
rode out of Nauvoo for the last time on the road to
Carthage where they were killed by a angry mob.

Attending the Nauvoo temple was a very meaningful
 opportunity and I will always remember how I felt there.
  Such a great spirit is present in this special temple.

The Mansion house where Emma and Joseph
 lived very happily for a time before he was martyred.

The grave sites of Hyrum, Joseph and Emma.

A beautiful statue of Emma and Joseph commemorating
 the organization of the Relief Society
and the beginning of charitable work.  

Carthage jail, Illinois

The side view of the Carthage jail.

The room where the killing took place.
  The prophet Joseph was shot andfell out of the window
 on the left and his brother Hyrum was also killed here.

Shots in the door still remain from the angry mob of killers.

A statue of Joseph and Hyrum the two brothers
 who died defending what they believed.

After spending the day in Nauvoo, I had the opportunity at the end of the day to sit alone by the graves of Joseph, Hyrum and Emma Smith.  Other Smith family relatives are buried on this site as well.  It is right on the edge of the mighty Mississippi river.  It was late in the day and as dusk was coming on, I sat on the bench and shed some tears of gratitude for the prophet Joseph Smith and what he accomplished in his short life.  I thanked Joseph, Hyrum, Emma and the entire Smith family for the trials they endured to help restore the church of Jesus Christ to the earth again.  I am eternally grateful to them and hold them in high regard.

"He lived great, and he died great in the eyes of God and his people; and like most of the Lord’s anointed in ancient times, has sealed his mission and his works with his own blood; and so has his brother Hyrum. In life they were not divided, and in death they were not separated!" Doctrine and Covenants, section 135.