I've always been interested in maps - even as a child, I'd pour over the atlas that came with the encyclopedias my parents bought (I read those too but that's another story), and dream of traveling further than the closest swimming pool to our town (about 20 miles away).
My first plane ride was when I was 18, and I traveled to the East Coast of the US - and saw so many amazing things. New York City, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Williamsburg, Niagara Falls, Newark... it was there that my travel bug really lit up. I'd made it my goal to visit all 50 states.
Fast forward a few years to about 2007. I'd been to about 35 states by then, and that goal was looking pretty doable - and non-challenging. My friend Ryan told me about this program in Idaho where you could go to every county in the state, get a stamp, and when you were finished you got a certificate from the governor. I thought - what the heck, a reason for a road trip - and drove up.
During the few days I spent driving around Idaho, I realized a few things. 1. I enjoyed 'collecting' the counties of Idaho. 2. I had no idea how beautiful some parts of Idaho were- I had only seen the Snake Valley in south-central Idaho and hadn't been terribly impressed, but I saw Bonners Ferry, Coeur d'Alene, Wallace, Salmon - all amazing places I'd have never seen if I'd 'checked' Idaho off my list. 3. What else was I missing in the other states? I'd been to the corner of Arizona, but what else was I missing in that state? and 5. What about visiting *all* the counties in *all* the states? Now THAT is a challenging goal!
And so my map coloring days began.
