Travel Goal Getter Travel Blog

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member spotlight - Caden

2/12/2019

All 50 presentation to Caden at Hawaiian Luau

Welcome to the All Fifty Club Caden!

Caden was surprised by being presented his All Fifty States Club certificate and T-shirt at a Hawaiian Luau on New Year's Eve! What a memorable way to celebrate an amazing accomplishment - All 50 States Visited by Age 13!

Congrats also to Linda and Mark Kirby, Caden's grandparents, who helped to get him there and gave him so many priceless memories.

Caden started his travels at 4 years old with a road trip to Wisconsin Dells with his grandparents, aunt and uncle, and his love of travel began. Since then he has been to 19 countries with his grandparents as well as all fifty states. His final state was Hawaii where he was surprised by being presented with his All 50 States Club certificate and T-shirt at a Luau on New Years Eve. What an awesome celebration!

Another favorite memory was taking a helicopter ride to Hubbard Glacier where he hiked on the glacier and drank the glacier's clear, cold water. He also loved a dog sledding trip while he was in Alaska. Some memorable moments at Yellowstone Park were seeing wild buffalo, deer, moose and elk, and riding in an old-fashioned covered wagon to a great outdoor cowboy steak cook-out. Hiking through the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee and seeing the sights in Washington D.C. were other highlights.

Caden's younger sister, Kaylee, will be joining the Club soon as she only has 3 left. She didn't want to go to "cold, cold Alaska", so Mark and LInda will be going back to Oregon, Washington and Alaska. Caden is now traveling international. We are looking forward to issuing him a certificate for the Traveler's Country Club and the Continent Club certificate someday. May his grandparents have enough money and time to get him there! We are touched by thinking of all the memories he shares with his grandparents as they completed his amazing feat of traveling to all fifty states completing at age 13!

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT - THe FAGEN FAMILY

10/2/2018

Sarah, Peter, and Andrews from California are 50 staters and are now members of the Continent Club now as they completed visiting all 7 continents this summer.
Final State: Michigan. Final Continent: Africa.

When you visit the world what places stand out above the rest? The Fagens came up these favorites when they applied for the Club, but I'm sure as with many, they have so many memorable travel experiences - it is so hard to narrow it down to just a few!

USA Favorites

World Favorites

Sarah's favorites
1. Dogsledding on a glacier in Alaska
2. Marrying my husband in Iowa
3 Giving birth to our son in California
4 Climbing to the crown of the Statue of Liberty in NYC

Sarah's favorites
1-Climbing to the top of Machu Picchu, Peru
2-Swimming at the Great Barrier Reef, Australia
3-Running in the mist from Victoria Falls, Zambia
4-Sailing around the Cape Horn, Chile & Drake's Passage to Antarctica.

Peter's favorites
1-Alaska dogsledding on a glacier
2-Arizona rafting the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon
3-Iowa meeting and marrying my wife
4-California birth of our son

Peter's favorites
1-Visiting Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro
2-Scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia
3-Visiting Victoria Falls in Livingstone, Zambia
4-Rafting the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon

Andrew's favorites:
1-Going to a Boston Red Sox game at Fenway Park in Boston, Mass
2-Going to a Florida State football game in Florida
3-Going to a Duke basketball game in North Carolina
4-Walking the Freedom Trail in Boston Mass

Andrew's favorites:
1-Walking a cheetah in Zambia
2. Swimming at the Great Barrier Reef
3. Climbing to the top of Machu Picchu
4 seeing Antarctica

Member Spotlight - Dorothy Murray

10/1/2018

Dorothy Murray of Ohio is an inspiration to us and especially to her grandchildren. She has an impressive travel record of visiting all 50 states, 40 countries and 6 continents. But one of her biggest travel pleasures were to places she had likely been before. She took each of her four grandchildren on not only one - but FIVE special "Nana & Me" trips to U.S. cities they wanted to visit. She hoped to instill in them a love of travel as well as an interest in seeing new places and trying new activities. The biggest blessing to her though, was the one-on-one time she was able to spend with each grandchild in the process.

With grandson Noah at the Rocky Statue in Philadelphia, PA

With grandson Tanis getting ready for a bi-plane ride over San Diego

With granddaughter Madison in the Grand Tetons

With grandson Hunter on the Brooklyn Bridge, NYC

member spotlight - ding ning

6/10/2018

We are proud to welcome Ding Ning from Henan, China into the All Fifty Club. He visited all 50 on trips between March 2016 and May 2018 while studying as an international student at Northeastern University. At the young age of 27 he has visited 52 national parks and holds the title as the first All 50 Club member from China.

What is your all-time favorite place to visit?
Every national park I visited! These amazing and unique national parks have brought me too much wonderful memory, making me totally a super fan for diverse nature and wildlife!

What are 1-4 of your most memorable travel experiences? Please share where you went and what you did.
1. For the first time encountering a wild bear in Virginia, then becoming a bear lover and searching them in Alaska.

2. Exploring the volcanoes in Hawaii and California during their active period.

3. Hiking in Guadalupe Mountains, Arches, Haleakalā and so on.

4. Getting stunned by the beautiful sceneries of Crater Lake, Congaree, Yosemite and so on.

Final States - Hawaii and Alaska

good job amaura!

Ding also recognized his car "Amaura" for taking him to the lower 48 states. Amaura, his trusty Subaru Outback, traveled over 38,000 miles.

Amaura's memories: Parking in a comfortable garage, rugged mountain roads, crowded city streets, and high speed Midwest highways. Favorites: I-70, I-90, and I-5 highways

magnet collection of every state

Ding shares that "Traveling to all 50 states as a foreigner will be my life accomplishment!" "I truly love the diverse nature and culture of the united 50."

Check out some of his favorite pictures at:
www.instagram.com/ding_journey

We wish him many safe and happy travels in the years to come!

Border crossing challenge

6/10/2018

What is your next travel goal? Most of us love looking at maps. Bob, a 50-stater, shared a new challenge with Club. The Border Crossing Challenge (BCC) described below will open your eyes to a different way of looking at state visits. I realized there are many parts of the country that I haven't been to on my travels. More places to go...

Border crossing challenge (BCC)

by bob rainville from massachusetts

Each of the 48 contiguous states touches at least one other state, and some touch as many as 8 other states. For instance, Massachusetts shares a border with New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island. If one adds-up the total number of these state/state borders, the total is 107. Each of these represents a potential border crossing (See attached list). The BCC challenge is to cross as many of these borders as possible.

There are, of course, land borders and water borders. This challenge involves any border that one can cross on foot or by boat (but see special notes below) or other land-based vehicle. Air transportation of any sort is not a valid border crossing method for this Challenge.

Worksheet to Log your border crossings created by Bob Rainville

Other details—for this BCC challenge, it does not make any difference which direction is used for each border crossing. Crossing from Massachusetts to Vermont is the same as crossing from Vermont to Massachusetts. In addition, for those who keep good records of their travels, historical border crossings can be used to achieve their 107 BCC goal. I propose that, for reporting purposes, the total number of border crossings be used. As an example, my current BCC total is only 83 even though I’ve been in all states once and most states twice or more! It will be very interesting to see if anyone has made all 107 border crossings!

So there it is, the newest challenge for those who enjoy their travel experiences and revel in the desire to conquer the best our country has to offer. Good Luck!

Special Notes

This challenge applies only to the 48 contiguous states. Alaska and Hawaii are not part of the challenge.
The following water-only borders are not part of this challenge.
1. Rhode Island/New York
2. Michigan/Illinois
3. Michigan/Minnesota
Land crossings can be made by foot, riding an animal, motorized or non-motorized vehicle, on land or over a bridge or through a tunnel. There should be some sign nearby to indicate that a border is being crossed.
Water crossings can be as simple as swimming or wading, or involve boats, including ferries. For instance, crossing Lake Champlain by ferry is a valid crossing for the Vermont/New York border.
Sitting/standing on the circular four corners monument (where the four states of Arizona, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico meet) automatically results in six border crossings. Note also that this is the only way to get two of these crossings.

Are you the first to have completed all 107 border crossings? If so - let us know so we can recognize you as an All Fifty Club Record Holder!

It has been brought up that there may be 109 crossings. The 107 vs. 109 is being reviewed.

Thank you to Bob Rainville for coming up with this new travel challenge and working through the details!

Bob completed all 50 in 2013 and has spent the night in each state and photographed all but one state capitol. Final State: South Dakota Favorite: HIlton Head, SC

member spotlight - Richard Pazara

2/7/2018

Calling Richard Pazara a Travel Goal Getter, is a tremendous understatement. He is a Travel Goal Getter on steroids! Richard shared that, "Travel has been my main hobby since I retired in 1994. Having both the time and interest, wandering around to both famous and not-so-famous places has been my major endeavor. New places to visit almost always take president over return visits. The serendipitous moments I've enjoyed in unlikely places is something I will always treasure........One of the best rewards of self-planned travel."

Richard has achieved the Travel Goal Getter Troika by qualifying for the All Fifty Club, Traveler's Country Club, and Continent Club. Beyond that it is hard to know where to begin with his many travel accomplishments.

ALL FIFTY CLUB

Not only has Richard visited every state but he has visited every COUNTY in the USA. 3,144 counties! Some memorable moments were "driving through the national grasslands of Western Nebraska that at sunset in the wind looked like the ocean." and watching "the multiple fireworks ashore on July 4 as the grain freighter I was on was anchored in Lake Huron." This final state was Hawaii in September 1982.

Country club - platinum level - 144 countries visited

Richard has visited 144 countries all over the world. In nearby Mexico he has been to all 32 states and nearby Canada he has visited all 10 provinces. He remembers "the little Indonesian man who struggled for several minutes to practice his English as we rode on a local bus in Surabaya so he could welcome me to his country." And the help and concern of the French skiers and mountain guides as we were trapped at the top of a wilderness mountain due to a un-predicted storm and tram failure" . His favorite country in the world to visit is Greece.

ISLAND HOPPING

Now going beyond countries, he is counting the number of islands he has been to. According to Richard, island-hopping has a name - "nesomania". Whatever it is called he has it! So counting islands, true islands that can only be reached by sea or air, he has been to 631. Some sources say there is over 180,000 island in the world so this will keep him traveling if needs a reason!

CONTINENT CLUB - all 7 continents

AIR TRAVEL
His air travel started in December 1968. He has flown 4,959,433 actual miles on 7194 flight segments on 924 different airlines to 1,682 different airport landing locations. Eight round-the-world trips contributed to these high numbers. It is remarkable that he has been able to keep track of all these numbers!

SEA TRAVEL
Richard started traveling by sea beginning in August 1980. It includes 83 voyages with 239,663 nautical miles sailed over 872 nights with 582 port visits. This resulted in visiting all seven continents, 208 Trans-Atlantic crossings, 86 Equator crossings and 70 International Date line crossings.

skiing

Enjoying the slopes has also been a big part of his travels. He has skiied at 1,241 different ski areas in 31 different countries. I haven't asked Richard yet if he brings all his winter gear with him while he travels! (update: he does) That is a travel accomplishment in itself.

Though Richard says travel is his hobby, it seems like a full-time job to me!

We wish Richard more safe and happy travels. Thanks for being a travel inspiration!

Note: Richard doesn't stop so his numbers above may not reflect his most recent travels.

Mighty maine

2/3/2018

By: Alicia

West Quoddy Head Light House, Sail Rock and Lubec, ME

On my 50 state journey I visited Kittery, Maine located right across the border from New Hampshire. I put my foot on the ground, breathed the fresh Maine air, and saw a lighthouse. Surely I ate lobster in Maine, but I can’t remember. This is enough of a reason for me to go back to Maine! Our members have shared many, many reasons to see more of what Maine has to offer.

Before we get to the reasons, let’s clear up a couple things first. Many think Maine is the most northern and the most eastern states in the United States, besides Alaska. That is the way it looks on most maps. Believe it or not Maine is not the most northern at all, Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, and Minnesota all extend farther north. Flat maps vs. true longitudes and latitudes. Maine is, however, the most eastern state. A plaque designates this at West Quoddy Head Lighthouse, pictured above, while overlooking Sail Rock the most easternmost point.

Doesn’t the idea of driving up the coast of Maine on U.S. Route 1 sound great? It truly is as it has sandy beaches and picturesque boating towns but it isn’t like driving Highway 1 in California on which you are driving right up along the coast. Maine is full of tidal inlets making its coastline actually larger than California. Member Jeff Short described it as “meandering up and down the various peninsulas and finding one beautiful seascape after another and wonderful small towns." And “This trip is one to be done at a slow pace and with a willingness to just explore.”

There are many towns to stop at along the way. Two favorites are:

Bangor
All 50 stater, Thomas Beecken, visited Maine and stayed at the “haunted” Lucerne Inn and also happened to see Stephen King outside his home pictured above. A private tour company offers tours around town about Stephen King as many of his stories take place in Maine based on actual places.

Kennebunkport
President George H. W. Bush's summer home has given this Maine City some name recognition.The White Barn receives excellent member reviews for upscale lodging and dining.

Acadia National Park

One of the main sights to see in Maine is, of course, Acadia National Park. NPS calls it the “crown jewel of the Atlantic Coast”. Picture yourself sitting in the pre-dawn light with a flannel blanket wrapped around you as you are one of the first to see the sunrise in the U.S.A. on Cadillac Mountain. If you like dramatic scenery you might find yourself wanting to spend more time at Acadia.

Lobster

You gotsa have some lobsta! Lobster roll, lobster hoagie sandwich, lobster dinner.
Lobster shacks are ready to serve you some of the state specialty! To learn more about the lobster industry take a Lobster Boat tour. This has been a hit with families.

Other Maine Favorites
Climbing the stairs at Portland Head Lighthouse, crossing the US/Canadian border into Roosevelt Campobello International Park, attending a Marine Science program on Appledore Island, climbing the highest mountain in Maine - Mount Katahdin, canoeing on Moosehead Lake, going to the beach in Yorkville. kayaking, canoeing, camping,
whale watching, fly fishing, so many great travel memories.

As you plan a trip to the Northeast consider the potential sights and experiences that are farther north than stepping your foot across the border.

Stephen King house picture via Creative Commons Ron Cogswell
Quoddy Lighthouse picture via Creative Commons Ron Cogswell
Acadia National park picture via Creative Commons David Brons
Maine lobster dinner via Creative Commons Renne Johnson
U.S.National Grid Map

"pee wee" harrison and tyrone "Hollywood" brown

10/1/2017

"Pee Wee" Harrison and TyRone "Hollywood" Brown spun a basketball on the New Mexico Capitol steps

Former Globetrotters Les "PeeWee" Harrison and TyRone "Hollywood" Brown have not only trotted around the globe but they have made their way across the country. They have spun a basketball at every state capitol and state line.

One would imagine their trip was crazy fun and created so many smiles as they paraded around in the red-white-and-blue. Their trip in 2016, however, had another purpose. Les and TyRone, along with Studies Weekly and the Responsibility Foundation, were spreading a message of responsibility. During this "Drive for Responsibility" they encouraged students to think responsibly and vote in the mock presidential election as they spoke at school assemblies and gave presentations at the State Capitols.

The trip was also an awareness and fundraising campaign for a proposed Statue of Responsibility, which is to be a sister to the Statue of Liberty to be built on the West Coast. Imagine future generations, and hopefully us, adding the Statue of Responsibility to our bucket lists!

Pee Wee's Favorites: his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska, spinning a basketball on Vice President Pence's finger,spinning a basketball at Motown and Graceland.
Hollywood's Favorites: New York City, seeing different cultures from all walks of life and performing in Madison Square Garden.

golfing across the USA

10/1/2017

Paul Waber and Mark Celeste joining Chuck Cosgrove on round of golf in Chuck's 50th state

Chuck Cosgrove from North Carolina, golfed his way across the USA. He is an avid golfer who has played for more than 50 years. The idea to golf in all fifty states began on his honeymoon when he and his wife, Linda, played at Pali Golf Course in Hawaii in October 1986. After he played the Anchorage (Alaska) Country Club course with his daughter in 2001 achieving the goal was in motion. Among his highlights were rounds at Torrey Pines (CA), Coeur D’Alene (ID) and going back to Hawaii with his wife and playing Ko’Olina. He mixed in several university courses such as Rutgers (NJ), University of Georgia, LSU and Michigan State.

Lowest Scores - 82s at Rutgers and at Cobbs Creek in Philadelphia PA. (Chuck says he is a bad golfer - but this doesn't sound bad to us!)
Best Round - 92 from the tips on Course #2 in Pinehurst NC that he played with his Godson.

His friends Paul Waber and Mark Celeste joined him for his 50th state. They all wore shirts with "Final Round - 50 states in 25 years" as they played at Bandon Dunes Golf Course in Oregon in June 2015. To make it a little more authentic, they all wore knickers!

Now that his 50 state journey is complete, he is now working toward golfing in all the Canadian provinces.

Safe and happy travels........ and golfing!

From lebanon to the u.s.a. From JFK to lAX to JFK

9/30/2017

We congratulate Afif Abla as the first All Fifty Club member from the country of Lebanon and the first All Fifty Club member from the Middle East. What an inspiration!

Afif drove from New York to Los Angeles and back over the course of 39 days and 13,872 miles. He actually went from airport to airport - JFK to LAX! He went to 27 states on the way there and 21 states on the way back and visited more than 25 national and state parks.

Afif Abla's route up and around the USA

He experienced Death Valley at its finest at 118 degrees and cooled off in West Yellowstone, Montana at 39 degrees.

It is an understatement to say he saw so much in such little time. How could he remember all that he saw? No worries for him - He can enjoy his trip over and over again by looking at his amazing collection of the more than 20,000 photos he took! His photography is absolutely breath-taking and took me back to some of my personal favorites. A few of his pictures are shown here, but you can check out more on his Facebook page www.facebook.com/afifablaphotography.

We are looking forward to seeing his pictures of Alaska and Hawaii someday!

Favorite place: Grand Canyon National Park
48 contiguous state goal completed: August 19, 2017