I have set a new travel goal for myself: all 50 states in 30 years. I am 28 now, so I have less than two years to finish them up. Unfortunately, a lot of the states I lack are the biiiiig ones out west {ie North and South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, etc} and not conducive to easy traveling between them, unless you are looking for a very long road trip {and I am not}.
I have 21 states yet to go. I know of ~6 I will definitely travel to this year, and will likely add some additional side trips on as time permits.
In the graphic above, hot pink represents the states I have traveled to already, and light pink represents states I have yet to go.
I am planning some of my upcoming trips with an extra day or two padded in there to accommodate a quick visit to nearby states. For example, I need Louisiana and Mississippi. I will be visiting New Orleans in May, and plan to take an extra day and drive to Mississippi.
I will also be taking a long weekend after a work trip to Pennsylvania to go to Connecticut and Rhode Island–just a few hours from where my meetings will be taking place!
I plan to visit Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana all together this summer, checking out some of the national parks {and that would leave me at just 14 states remaining after I complete the above trips!}.
Nevada will get crossed off the list in December with a conference in Vegas {13}.
I definitely want to travel to Fairbanks, AK when I can see the Northern Lights {typically September through March}.
My heart is so full and I am so excited to be planning these trips. I can’t wait to see new places, try new things, and make new memories.