Our Dream Fulfilled

Way back in early 1959 as Jerry and I were dreaming of our lives together, I said I wanted us to travel the world, like my parents had done!  Jerry stated, in a matter of fact tone, that first of all, we would have to travel the US and go to all the states here, then maybe we could go to some other countries!

I had been to many states because my family traveled a lot but this was something Jerry and I wanted and needed to do together. So I threw out all the states I’d already been to and started fresh with Jerry. He lived in Michigan and I was attending Spring Arbor College in Michigan. My parents were living in Indiana and we were married in Indiana so those two states started us out…

…on our honeymoon, we visited all the northeastern states including all the New England states. We were on our way. New York, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio . We took pictures all along the way but guess what…we used a movie camera so now 54 years later I don’t have the pictures I want! I had the movie made into a video. Now I need to have it put onto a DVD.

My parents moved from Indiana to Colorado so our next big trip was to visit them there. Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado.

Then my parents moved to Oregon! So we went on west to visit them and also Lorraine, my sister’s family. Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, North  Dakota, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming. On another trip west we went through South Dakota.

Our oldest daughter, Pam, went to college in Kansas so we drove her there, stopping to visit my brother, Richard and his family.

For our silver anniversary Jerry and I went on a cruise to Alaska!  We went on Holland/American Lines, our ship was the Nuiew Amsterdam.   It was a fabulous experience for us.

Our daughter, Christy and her family, moved to North Carolina, then to Georgia, on to Alabama and finally to South Carolina. So we’ve been to all these states and to get to them we went through Mississippi, Kentucky and Tennessee.

We went on a working trip to Haiti and on the way spent a day and night in Florida.

We drove to Mexico twice and those trips  took us through Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri,  Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Arizona and we met my younger brother, Bill and Vel in California.

The crowning state for us was Hawaii! We went to Oahu, where we stayed in a condo for four days. Then we boarded a Norwegian Cruise Liner, Pride of America and cruised the islands, going to Hawaii (the big island), Maui, Kauai and back to Oahu! It was fabulous! We went with daughter and son-in-law, Pam and Gene. Our cousin, Kay, joined us. We’ll never forget this wonderful travel time!

After 54 years of marriage we have now been to all 50 states!

Along the way we’ve also gone on some fabulous trips around the world! We’ve been to five continents! North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Africa! We’ve traveled together to Malaysia, Jordan, Israel, Egypt, The Netherlands, Belgium, Paraguay, Brazil, Haiti, Mexico and Canada. I’ve also done some traveling on my own so I can also count Thailand and Japan.

Are we done traveling? Oh, I hope not…