Travel Thoughts

Hope everyone had a great weekend. I had quite the busy day yesterday! Trent and I shopped in the cities all day - I got a couple cute pairs of jeans and some art supplies (can't wait to start on a couple of art projects!) Then we met up with some friends for pizza and a Quad City Mallards game (hockey) - we won 7-1! It was an awesome game! After the game we headed over to the District and saw the Dave Matthews cover band the Trippin' Billies at Rock Island Brewing Co. We didn't get to bed until about 3:00 and lost an hour due to daylight savings time. So it was quite the night! I am definitely worn out today. I've had a sore throat the past few days, too, which hasn't been fun, but I'm getting through it!

On a random note, I've been thinking about traveling a lot lately. Partly because my mom left for Italy yesterday! SOO jealous. Now my dad and I are the only ones in my family who haven't been to Europe. (My sister went a couple years ago on a school trip) I would love to go to Europe, but really, I just want to go somewhere I've never been before. Like last year when we went to the East Coast. It was such an awesome experience. I'm excited about our little trips we have planned for this summer, but next year we are definitely going to have to go somewhere different and new! 

I made this little map with all the states in the US I've visited, so we can start planning where we're going on our next big vacation. (I've been to 25 of the 50 states- halfway there!)  

(You can make your own map Here or at a number of other websites. Just Google "States I've been to map".)

I went on family vacations every year as a kid, and got to see many of the states in the good ol' US, and even Ontario, Canada. From Mount Rushmore, to Niagra Falls, to the Mall of America, to Disney World...

Not only did I used to take vacations with my family as a kid, Trent and I have traveled to quite a few spots already in our five years together, including St. Louis, Milwaukee, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.

Even though I've seen so many cool places, I can't wait to explore more! Trent and I are thinking it would be awesome to go to either Colorado, Washington, or California next year. Neither of us have been to any of those states. We definitely need to go west next year I think!

I think any of the following vacations would be cool for next year:

1) Washington - DMB plays almost every summer at the Gorge in George, Washington. We could also maybe see Seattle and Portland and some of the west coast.

(Image from here)

2) Colorado - We could see the Rockies and of course see Dave at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre! If we drove, we could go through Kansas, another state I've never been to, and go to Worlds of Fun on the way - an amusement park Trent went to as a kid.

(Image from here)

3) California - There are so many possible places we could go in CA! Napa Valley, San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles...any one, or multiple places would be awesome. 

(Image from here)

Living in Illinois, it's always exciting when you leave the Midwest! I definitely prefer road trips to flying, although I've only flown once when I was about 10, so I don't have too much to compare! haha. I just like to sit back and watch all of the scenery change along the way. As of now, I am thinking a drive to Colorado next year would be pretty awesome. :)