Starting off

I decided to start a special blog to record our family travels.  I have always loved traveling and I had the chance to travel a lot before I got married.  Now, that the little boys are a bit older and my older boys will be leaving for missions and colleges soon, I decided if I wanted to take trips with the kids, now was the time to do it.

I have always had a goal of visiting all 50 states, and that doesn't include just the airport.  (I've been to the Atlanta airport more times than I can count, but I haven't counted Georgia as one of the states I've been to.)   It also doesn't include the cross-country trip my mother and I took on a Grayhound Bus from Seattle to DC when I was little that I have absolutely no memory of.  To date, I've been to 29 states.  I want to enjoy time with my kids and hopefully, instill in them an appreciation for, if not a love of, the country we live in. 

I first noticed my little ones' interest in where we were going, when on a trip to Lake Havasu, we overnighted at a KOA in Needles, CA.  When we crossed the state lines into California, there was a lot of excitement from the back seat.  This happened again when we crossed back over into Arizona the next morning.  Since both the little ones are learning about states and can recognize the Arizona state flag, I realized this was something that they could relate to.  I bought some of the refrigerator magnets at the KOA store for them to put up at home and also purchased some post cards and placemats to put out to remind them of their trip to the London Bridge.

Since I get 3 weeks of vacation each year, and I can only carry over a few of those days at the end of the year, I decided to go ahead and plan a big 2 week vacation each summer, traveling to as many states as possible each time, with a 4-year outline covering all 48 contiguous states and most of the Canadian Provinces with future plans to visit Hawaii and Alaska. 

Along the way, we will be visiting as many LDS temples as we can without completely going out of our way, sometimes, zigzaging across states instead of merely taking the most direct and quickest routes.  I've already visited 26 temples myself and done sessions or sealings in almost all.

I've been mapping out and planning this upcoming 2013 summer trip several times already.  It's not quite finalized, but if all goes as planned, we'll be visiting CA, OR, WA, Vancouver, Canada, ID, Alberta, Canada, MT, WY,UT, NV and stopping at 29 Temples, only missing San Diego (we've all been there before on another trip to Sea World), Boise, Twin Falls, Billings, Vernal, and Monticello.

It may seem a little ambitious, but I think the kids are up for it.  It will be an adventure for sure, and hopefully memorable and enjoyable as well.  I look forward to taking a lot of pictures and I know the boys will all enjoy taking pictures of their own as well

I'll start off by posting this pic taken from our trip to Lake Havasu last summer when we stayed at the Needles KOA.  I'm sure this will be the first of many wild and crazy pics in front of KOA signs, since that's where we'll be staying most of our time out on the road.

(For the record, the states that I've been to are, in alphabetical order, AZ, CA, CO, FL, HI, ID, IL, IN, IA, MD, MI, MN, MO, MT, NE, NV, NJ, NM, NY, OH, OR, PA, SD, TN, TX, UT, WA, WI, WY, and the list of Temples I've been to is Seattle, Portland, Oakland, LA, San Diego, Las Vegas, St. George, Manti, Provo, Mt. Timp, Jordan River, Oquirrh Mountain, Salt Lake, Vernal, Bountiful, Odgen, Logan, Idaho Falls, Boise, Cardston, Dallas, St. Louis, Laie, Orlando, Snowflake, Mesa)