North Dakota

On Sunday Yvonne and I were discussing our photo map that we have hanging above our television in the family room, and I pointed out which states we planned to visit this fall. I also shared which seven states weren't currently in any vacation plans - North Dakota, Louisiana, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Alaska, and Hawaii. At one point I had included Missouri and Kansas in the plan for the trip this fall, but I ended up including TN, AL, MS, AR, OK, and Texas instead. She suggested that maybe we should include Missouri and Kansas and include AL, TN, and MS with our trip to GA and FL next year. It got me thinking, and I decided to formulate a possible plan to visit all 50 states by the time Oliver graduates from high school (and possibly Nadia graduates from college if she goes to a four year school right after HS). I have to say I've never had a burning desire to visit North Dakota, but there is something to be said about accomplishing a goal of doing at least one thing in all fifty states. Since we already plan to be in Montana and South Dakota this fall, I thought I'd see if we could do something in the southwest part of North Dakota that wouldn't add too many hours of driving to our trip. The Theodore Roosevelt National Park seems to be the best choice. If we eliminate Devil's Tower, WY from our trip, then a trip into North Dakota will only add 2.5 hours of driving time.

That left six states that hadn't been put into a possible vacation. Nadia had asked that we visit England during her senior year of high school. I asked the boys today where they would like to visit during their senior year. Ian said Hawaii. Oliver asked for Africa at first (because of the animals he'd like to see there), but then he said Alaska. I have wanted to go to Hawaii for decades. I've never had a burning desire to go to Alaska primarily because I'm not a fan of cold weather, but I know it's a beautiful place, and again if we've visited all 49 other states and are able to visit Alaska, I'm all in! So I realize these are totally just hypothetical plans but here's one possible way we could hit all 50 states before Oliver graduates from high school. Paul prefers our vacations to be taken in the fall, which is fine when all three kids are homeschooled, but after Nadia graduates from high school that probably won't be possible if we want to include her on the trip. If these plans actually happen, the kids will have been in all 50 states, DC, England, France, two provinces of Canada, Guatemala, and at least one country in South America. Iguazu Falls and Machu Picchu have been on my bucket list for decades, but since the Towfighis will be living in Ecuador we might visit Galapagos Island and Quito. Who knows? We never visited them during all the years they lived in Turkey. We had talked about meeting in Greece at some point, but we never made it to Greece or Turkey. So hopefully we will make it to South America while they are living down there. Time will tell if we actually make it to all fifty states or not, but there's no harm in making possible plans toward that goal. 

• Fall 2021 visit TN, AL, MS, AR, OK, TX, NM, AZ, UT, CO, WY, ID, MT, ND, SD, MN, IO, WI, and MI for the first time plus spend time in WV, KY, IL, IN, and OH again
• Fall 2022 visit Georgia for the first time and spend time in Florida again 
• Summer 2023 visit Delaware for the first time
• Fall 2023 visit Quebec, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine for the first time and spend time in CT, RI, NY, and MA again
• Summer 2024 short term mission trip to Guatemala  (use that Spanish we've been learning!)
• Fall 2024 visit Nevada, Oregon, and Washington for the first time and spend time in California again
• Fall 2025 England and France
• February or March 2026 - New Orleans, Houston, and San Antonio which will be a first time visit for Louisiana and a second time in Texas
• May 2027 visit Missouri, Nebraska, and Kansas for the first time and also spend time in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa again
• May 2028 Hawaii!
• January 2029 meet the Towfighis somewhere in South America (use that Spanish we've been learning!)
• May 2030 visit Alaska, which would be our 50th state!