Future Travels

In the fall of 2014, Steve and I decided that we would take our then-8-year-old son to all 50 states before he turned 18. By April 2023, we had been to 42 states, with plans to visit the final eight in the next five months. All went as planned, and we visited our 50th state on July 29, 2023. 

During these travels, we had a secondary goal: to visit each of the capital cities. By the time we'd been to all 50 states, we'd explored 44 of their capitals. In September 2025, Steve and I visited our 45th capital city. We still have five capital cities to visit, including: Pierre (South Dakota), Springfield (Illinois), Augusta (Maine), Richmond (Virginia), and Tallahassee (Florida). Those are the purple states below, with the location of their capital city marked with a star. 

The yellow pins on the map mark cities I've never visited that I am especially interested in seeing. Topping the list is Memphis, Tennessee. We were supposed to spend three days there during our Trip to Nowhere. I'd planned a really fun itinerary and it was heartbreaking to contact each place and cancel. Other cities I am particularly excited to visit include: Knoxville, Tennessee; Savannah, Georgia; Charleston, South Carolina; Cincinnati, Ohio; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and three in California - Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, and Catalina Island. 

We have visited four Presidential Libraries (Johnson, Clinton, FDR, and Kennedy) run by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Although very different, I have loved them all and am now interested in visiting the rest. There are nine we haven't visited. I've marked them on the map with orange circles. All remaining Presidential Libraries are outside the NARA system; they're not on my map, even though I'm interested in visiting some of them. The Obama Library is slated to open this year; it's marked with a pale orange circle. 

There's a final category that will have a big impact on our future travels: National Parks. I'll talk more about those tomorrow.