38%

Over this past choir trip to Ohio, I had the privilege of crossing the river into Kentucky! For most people walking across a bridge is really no big deal, but for me it meant visiting another one of our 50 states. I walked over with my friend Derek on the 4th of July. We ended up getting stuck over there because the bridge closed down for the fireworks! So not only did I set foot on Kentucky soil, but got to enjoy the 4th of July fireworks from the bank of a river in Newport, KY. What a great memory for me to keep of that state. When I post about choir tour I will add some great videos and pictures from the fireworks!

I did a recent count and I am up to 19 out of 50 states visited. 6 more and I will have achieved 50% of the states! I know I can do this! Each trip I take seems to present more and more opportunities to branch out and visit new places! I couldn't be more excited to keep traveling and visiting different states, different countries, and more importantly experiencing different cultures!


visited 19 states (38%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or Like this? try: Eddie the DJ

Couch Surfing

As I have discussed before one of my goals was to visit all 50 states- or at least "be in all 50 states at least once"... Since my past excursion of couch-surfing experience to Maine I added a few more states almost entirely finishing the East Coast. Here is where I have been:


visited 17 states (34%)
Create your own visited map of The United States

And the exciting news is that this year my choir is going to Rhode Island! Which will totally complete the East Coast for me! Hooray!

Now back to couch-surfing. Most of you probably have seen photos on my facebook of my recent trip to Maine. It all started with my friend Ryan suggesting we try out couch-surfing: (basically this online organization that lets you connect with other people who offer to host you in their homes for free). Now I know this sounds totally unsafe and a little bit insane to stay with total strangers but there are checks and balances to the whole system to help keep the users of the site honest, and safe! Either way, I thought Ryan was crazy when he was telling me about the site- but once I looked at it, I totally agreed- this sounds like an adventure!

Long story short, we both joined couchsurfing.org and started the search for a place we could visit over a long weekend we both had off of work. We figured driving would be our cheapest option so that narrowed out places like California or Florida! So I started considering my life goals- all 50 states- which ones hadn't I been to? Then it hit me- Maine, Vermont, or New Hampshire! Why not all three? We set out our search for hosts that lived in these areas and ended up setting our first destination in Bar Harbor, ME with Anne. We decided we should stick to one or two states and ended up finding great hosts in ME and MA! So after Bar Harbor we planned on visiting Meara in Camden, ME then Jennie and Bart in Somerville, MA. (We took a senic route to get to Bar Harbor via Vermont and New Hampshire!)

The whole experience was amazing we left on a Thursday and returned Sunday night drove 24 hours total and traveled more than 1000 miles! All the people we met were amazing and we were lucky enough to make really great connections with some of our hosts!

Check out some of my awesome trip pictures!

Highlights of the trip were:
Watching the earliest sunrise on the East Coast! 
Amateur rock climbing on sand beach
Watching a local toughcats concert in Camden
Playing Ultimate Frisbee for the first time ever
Seeing Walden Pond
Speed Sightseeing in Boston
Epic Ikea trip!
And of course countless hours in the car with Ryan :)

I would certainly recommend couch surfing to anyone who wants to travel for really cheap- the site is free and all the people I met were really wonderful! Check out my couchsurfing profile to see what the site is like- and I can try to answer any questions you might have!