It’s vacation time and I love to travel! I love everything about it: talking about travel, swapping stories about places we have been and places we might want to go. That is why I want to add a place in our newsletter where we can do just that.

I want all of you to send me your travel stories with pictures. Tell us about a trip you have taken (about two pages, including the pictures), Our newsletter community can share the excitement. We may even be inspired to make your favorite place, our own destination. I will try to include a couple of your stories with each newsletter. I can hardly wait to start reading them.

Part of my love of travel is exploring new places. James and I both enjoy thoroughly exploring each location we visit. We tend to put a lot of miles on the car during vacations.

Someone once told me that the average person who lives in the US visits only six states during their lifetime. I determined right then to see all of the states. Any time we are within four driving hours of another state, we add the new state to our travel plans. I have visited almost all of them now. Maine, Oregon, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Minnesota are still on our list. Our youngest son, Matthew does not like car trips. We will enjoy different kinds of vacations while we still have him with us. Meanwhile we are planning ahead to fill our “empty nest” days with some awesome road trips. We will drive to Maine and Canada for our first trip. Next we will cover North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota. Finally we will visit Oregon and I imagine we will find something within a four-hour drive that we need to add on!

Meanwhile, send me your stories and pictures!