My World of Make Believe

In my world of make believe I like to pretend many things but my most favorite thing to imagine is that some day I will travel again.  I used to travel a lot before I had children and settled in for the long haul.  I love to travel, in fact there almost nothing I love more!  Since having children I haven't left the state, that is a lot of years of no travel for this lady.  I say that I am pretending I will travel again because more than likely I won't be able to ever afford to leave a 200 mile radius of my current home.  But lets not dwell on reality, it's a downer. 

Recently my sister told me about a family that had the goal of visiting every state park in our state before their oldest graduated.  My sisters family has decided they want to try and visit 48 states before their oldest graduates.  I have decided to come up with my own dream vacation list.  I am making them as realistic as possible in the hopes that we may actually get to a few of these places.  My oldest is now 6 so that gives us 12 year to get all these trips knocked out! 

1)  Duluth and the north shore of MN.  We love this area and have spent a lot of time there in the past, can't wait to experience it again with my children. 

2) Wisconsin Dells.  This one will be water park mayhem but the kids will love it and I will be thrilled to leave the state again if only to prove it is still possible. 

3) The Black Hills.  I did this one as a teenager and it is a great place for camping restlessly while you worry you will be trampled by buffalo that roam about. 

4) New Orleans and Galveston.  I haven't ever been to either place and it is a cryin' shame I tell ya!

5)  Chicago.  Museums, traffic, Lake Michigan and deep dish pizza. 

6) Niagara Falls, Boston, New York state, Pennsylvania and all that jazz. 

7) The Apostle Islands.  Haven't been there but heard they are fabulous. 

8) Nashville, Atlanta and South Carolina.  Love Nashville.  I have been to Atlanta and South Carolina and there was nothing all that memoriable in either one but I figure they deserve a second chance, mostly because they are about 60 degrees warmer then this state in the winter. 

9) Florida, minus the money sucking, long lined nightmare that is Disney. 

10) Yellowstone. It is an American tradition.

11) Seattle.  We can stare at all the hippies while drinking coffee. 

12) Forestville and Southeastern corner of MN.  A lovely corner, especially in the fall.

13) Itasca State Park.  For frolicking in the headwaters of the Mississippi. 

14) Puerto Rico.  I have been there but it is worth a second trip. 

So there it is.  A goal of 14 trips to get done in 12 years.  This is by no means everywhere I would love to visit but these are the ones my kids should probably see before leaving the nest and that won't require passports or expensive air fare.  You will notice a glaring hole in the Southwest of the United States.  You may wonder if I have something against this beautiful area of our country and the answer is yes, yes I do.  I have absolutely no desire to go there.  Seriously.  Not sure why and I don't have a single reason.  So if we happen to get to it, the Grand Canyon would be grand but it isn't at the top of my list.