#50!

I can't say that I was all that well traveled of a kid.  Family vacations consisted of visiting family, and when you live in Minnesota and family lives in exotic locations like Michigan and Nebraska, well, you don't rack up a whole lot of states driving between those.  We did move to Arizona for a few years though, and in junior high drove from Indiana to California.  Then in college I took a road trip out to the west coast and back to MN.  At some point, maybe by the time I started dating Eric, I realized that I had actually seen a fair number of US states.  Maybe 30 or so.  But the East Coast.  Wow, that was just one long stretch of 15 states or something, none of which I had visited.  So during residency interviews I hit up most of them.  And suddenly, all I had left were a few southeastern states, W Virginia, Vermont, and Alaska (I got Hawaii in college on the way back from a trip to New Zealand).  Eric and I started planning vacations specifically to get to states we have never seen before.  And just before leaving for Kenya, I hit #49.  Alaska was all that was left...and it seemed a long ways away. :)

Fast forward 2 1/2 yrs.  When Eric's parents suggested an Alaskan cruise, I was thrilled for several reasons.  Deep down inside, the peak of my excitement was seeing #50 finally within my grasp.  And on May 28, 2012, I stepped off the boat onto the dock in Juneau, Alaska.

 Here is Eric's family, graciously helping me celebrate, and Eric's dad waiting at the end to welcome we into the 50 State Club (he made it about 10 years ago in Vermont).

Some interesting tidbits.  I can remember visiting EACH of the 50 states.  Meaning, I have visited them all in more or less recent memory.  Wyoming was the "longest ago," in 1993, I think.  My first state (of birth) was Ohio.  I have lived in seven of the states.  Eric's first state was my last state.  My favorite state?  Hm.  Maine and Alaska are both hard to beat!

Ah, victory.  What's next?  Well, there's the seven continents list...only South America and Antarctica to go...