Updated States List

I finally wended my way down to New Mexico over the Fourth of July holiday. We were down in Blanding visiting my wife's brother's family when we decided to make the trip to the Four Corners. It was a little underwhelming, but it was kind of neat to go there. Photos can be seen on my family blog.

My ideal visit to New Mexico would have been to approach the Four Corners carefully, and put one foot squarely in the middle so that I could say I've had one-fourth of my foot in New Mexico, and that would be the extent of my stay in the so-called Land of Enchantment. But it is impossible because the road that goes into the monument area comes from New Mexico. So unless you do some creative rugged hiking, you go to that square state well before you ever reach the monument.

I don't know if I'll ever visit New Mexico again. If I do, it will probably be for a BYU-New Mexico football game, and I will knock two items off of a couple of different lists: University Stadium and the Albuquerque New Mexico Temple.

Also, I used to always have Montana on my "Visited States" list, but I guess I am not completely sure I had ever been there. I went on a Scout trip back when I was a priest, and I always thought we had gone into West Yellowstone. However, I can't say I was completely positive about that. But last week Jessica, Hayden, and I officially went to Yellowstone and entered Montana, so I can now count it for sure.

I don't know what the next 'new state' will be for me. Certainly a future business trip or job interview could take me to a number of places. My wife's sister's family, the Horstmanns, live in Cleveland and the possibility is always there for us to make a trip out to Ohio (though the chances of this potential vacation dropped severely after learning that this state reportedly has no good milkshake places. A good milkshake place is a must). If my family goes on a vacation to Spain next year, then the layover possibilities could put me in either Georgia or New York. I've always wanted to go on a cruise, which could take off from Texas or Florida (or could take me to Alaska if I chose such a cruise). I can't see any driving vacations to any new states...I guess the best possibility would be to drive to Mount Rushmore or something, where I could check off South Dakota. I don't know...this map could look the same for quite a while.