Where I've Been

[llcoolvad]

Visited US States Map from TravelBlog



Well, this year added quite a few states to my "where I've been in the U.S." list. Kind of funny the straight line across the country my route created, but if this showed just the actual route instead of the whole states, it would be ONE ROAD for a huge chunk of it. I probably shouldn't claim Wisconsin, but I spent many hours there — probably more than I've spent in Rhode Island or Delaware, so why not.

Goals for next year: More states! Spend more time in the ones I've already visited.

Comments

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

I decided to put all the states I've lived in (Oklahoma, California, Louisiana, Florida, Illinois, Texas, and Massachusetts) and all the states I've visited and can tell a story of some kind about. Here's what happened:


create your own visited states map
It looks surprisingly like your map!

Obviously I've been to Alabama. I've also been to Missouri (on the way to Illinois) and surely I've been to Oregon. I also know I've been to more of those eastern states; definitely all the ones from Maryland to Massachusetts.

For future years, I vote that you visit Texas. And I'm not talking about Amarillo here. Central Texas!!

When you travel, what do you like to do? Hiking? Museums? Restaurants? Historical Monuments? Bus tours?

[llcoolvad.livejournal.com]

It sorta depends where I am. When I traveled in Europe (sounds grand, doesn't it? In reality I just went to France and the UK) I did a ton of walking and riding trains and going to museums and eating food (France — really really good food, UK — mediocre food and a lot of McDonald's). We did a double-decker bus tour in London, which kind of crossed off all the important monuments and such. We did a lot of museums; the Louvre, the British Museum, the Tate, etc. When I went to London with Patrick we went to a couple of plays, too, so that was pretty awesome. I also spent some time hanging out the window of my youth hostel in Paris, just looking at the street.

I also like to wander around and see how people live, mostly. Eat in restaurants, haunt the used book shops, take a ton of pictures (it never happened if I can't take a picture of it); in fact, picture taking opportunities drive a lot of my travel.

I guess I'd say I like urban travel; I have never camped, so I can't say that I wouldn't like that, but when I travel I kind of like to see a lot of people doing busy things. Even when I've gone to beach communities I spend very little time actually at the beach and much more time wandering around looking for the next thing to do. I never have visited a resort or gone on a cruise, but I'm not ruling those out. They sound swell. And I *loved* the Grand Canyon — but you can't get more of a picture taking opportunity than that!

From your map it looks like you need to spend some time in DC and surrounds — I love Baltimore and even parts of Virginia were pretty cool. Although there's an awful lot of Virginia. The couple of times I've been to DC were pretty fun. Lots of museums of course (and I think they're all still free) and lots of famous stuff to look at, plus good restaurants. Expensive, but entertaining. Very clean public transportation, as I recall. Maybe go for a protest? I did once, it made it a lot more interesting.

I do want to go to Texas again. Can't judge the whole state from Amarillo! Always wanted to head your way and see Austin, but I also want to see the gulf coast and all those wide open spaces. And I really want to see the deep south, too, which I neatly avoided when we took our trip. I've never even been to Florida, and half of my extended family spends at least half the year there!

Otherwise I'd like to go to Oregon and Washington and Illinois (just Chicago) and I think that's it for the northern states. Maybe Michigan. Gotta get back to California, barely spent any time there at all. Colorado seems like a good idea.

Sigh. I need a limitless expense account and a ton of time!

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

In Austin you might enjoy restaurants, the duck-bus tour (I forget what it's called), the wildflower center, the Alamo Drafthouse (movie theatre with weird movies and food), and a tour of the capitol. You might like to see Enchanted Rock (a giant pink granite bubble of a rock), Inks Lake State Park (for interesting desert plants and a beautiful blue lake), an outdoor concert, and some campus libraries or plays. We're not so great with the monuments or museums. Oh, we do have some bookshops and a ridiculous large Whole Foods that feels sort of like Europe with little eateries inside. Spring is our best season.

I thought you saw plenty of open space on your trip to California! The coast has nice parts but also oil spills.

Yep, Washington DC is on my list for the museums, plus Oregon and Montana (in summer) because they're beautiful. I also want to drag R. to Moab, Utah to visit Arches National Park and surrounding areas. I'd also like to drag him to Hot Springs, Arkansas in the autumn. And R. has relatives in the Florida Keys I want to visit. And I have relatives in Phoenix, where he'd like to visit. R. wants to take me to places in Oklahoma.

I've never had urban vacations until fairly recently--they're definitely more fun in more foreign places where just going to a grocery store is an experience.

I agree about the camera. But taking pictures isn't enough. I need to put them together into a scrapbook thing. (I don't need all the cutsie scrapbook decorations, but I do need the running commentary. The occasional souvenir is nice, too--like ticket stubs.) Then I get to re-live the trip over and over. I only have these for west Texas (Davis mountains, etc.), Belgium, and Switzerland so far, but they're great.

What you need is a job where you get paid to travel to conventions and you get enough vacation time to be able to leave home early or return late.

[llcoolvad.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's a good point. I had a travel type of job exactly once, and frankly loved it while I had it (I was running a traveling book fair), but now it seems sort of exhausting. I might have changed too much since then to like that lifestyle.

I did see a lot of wide open spaces, but I didn't get a chance to stop and sort of absorb the feeling. We were busy rushing from one place to the next, so I'd like to spend some time somewhere completely flat -- see what it's like.

I should probably start making scrapbooks, as I save all that crap -- ticket stubs, receipts, whatever -- but I am so damned indecisive I'd spend days on one trip. "Would this look better here? Or here? And what do I want to say for a caption?"