50 by 50
Do you all remember my 101 in 1001 blog post from 2013?
Me neither!
It's been a long time since I wrote that post, but it was interesting to look back at it now - some 15 years later - and see how much I accomplished. I edited it this morning because I was curious how many of the 101 things I actually did.
To my surprise, I did do most things on the list! It may not have been within the 1001 day time frame. At some point I stopped keeping track. Should you go back and read it, as an update to that post, I edited the font to red for the things I never did, and blue for the things I never did that are no longer applicable/no longer want to do them.
At a New Year's Eve party a couple weeks back, we were talking about goals, and I mentioned I would like to visit all 50 of the United States. Brian said he did not like my goal (he also said it would be easy??) and that I should just travel wherever I want to travel instead of going somewhere for the sake of checking it off a list.
I kept thinking about the valid point he made, but also about my logic:
1. The United States has a lot to offer and I can find something awesome in any state! Our country has some of the most amazing destinations in the world - beautiful beaches, deserts, mountains, small towns, cities. It's easy and convenient to fly domestic. Domestic travel is less stressful and less time consuming. It's often safer. There's no language barrier.
While I'd love to travel the world and value the importance of experiencing other cultures, there's not a ton of international destinations on my bucket list. Israel, for sure, but you can see how challenging it can be to make an international trip happen!
2. I'm already half way to my goal. I counted and my number is currently at 24.
3. The average American only visits 12 states in their lifetime and less that 1% have visited all 50 states.
So that's how I came up with my 50 by 50 goal. Visit all 50 states by age 50.
Similar to 101 in 1001, it has a ring to it. And it gives me a lot of time, but maybe not *that* much time, given I've only been to 24 states in my 37 years of life. So I have allowed myself 13 years to visit the remaining 26.
I won't get to any new states this year, but I did already have some future trips mentally planned in my head - kayaking in Maine, skiing in Vermont, visiting the Pioneer Woman ranch in Oklahoma.
Some years may have nothing new added, and some years I may knock out a few. Between 2021-2023, I went to eight new states, so Brian is right that it may be easy if I have a couple more of those "bigger" years.
Most surprisingly, I have not been to Texas or California. (I'm not counting airport layovers or driving through without stopping as actually visiting a state). Brian probably goes to those two states the most for his business travel, so I am sure I'll have opportunity.
I likely drove through PA when going to NY, but I was young and, if so, I don't remember. Same for New Mexico. There's a good chance we drove through it when we were in the Navajo reservation, but I couldn't recall for sure, so I put it on the "not visited" list.
It may be odd that I made this goal on an off year. I have no new states to visit this year or any plans at this point, but I'm excited to explore new places in the coming years!
I circled back to the conversation with Brian a few days after initially mentioning it, so that I could better defend my goal and tell him about my idea of accomplishing it before age 50.
"You'll have to live to age 50," he said.
I told him I had already thought of that. :)
Add "living to be 50" to my goals list.
I'm curious. How many states have you been to? I'd love to know!
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