States I Have Lived In or Visited

As a child my family usually took a vacation each summer by car.  One of the things we did to make all the time in the car most interesting was to color in the states which we saw license plates from.  It was fun to see how quickly we could fill up that map and how colorful we could make it.

My children have also asked me on several occasions how many states I have been to.  At times this is hard to figure with out having a map in front of me to make sure I remember all of them. So for both of those reasons when I saw this on a blog I follow, Heartfelt Balance Handmade Life,  I knew this was something I needed to do.  It is kind of fun to see exactly where I have been.

Now to the map legend:

• I have lived in Minnesota. Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana.  All except for Minnesota, have been at some point in my adult life.  I lived in Missouri for several years as a child. I also visited Illinois and Wisconsin as a child.  I have seen a number of historic and points of interest in these states.
• South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma were states we visited on vacation trips during childhood. We did a lot of sight seeing in all of these states as well.
• Remaining states were places I have visited during college or after. 
• The states of Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York represent a vacation trip my husband, children and I took several years ago. We visited my husbands grandmother in New Jersey. So we had a whirlwind 9 day car trip to NJ and back.  We were in a part of New Jersey right across the Hudson river from New York City, so we made full use of the opportunity and spent the better part of a day in NYC.  We visited the American Museum of Natural History (of Night at the Museum I fame) and walked some of the streets of Manhattan  as well as experiencing the subway. 

          Other highlights of the same trip included Hershey's Chocolate World in Hershey, PA  and the
          Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton Ohio.


As I have thought about my travels around I country I realize how fortunate I have been to see so much of the country and all of the great sites in these states.  But, I can't help but be sad that my children have not thus far had the same opportunities that I had to see so much.  Hopefully before they grow up we will have the opportunity to see more of this fascinating and varied country.

If you would like to make your own map, you can do so here.

 If you color your map, please share.  I'd like to hear about your travels.