Columnist
Given the ongoing
pandemic gripping both the nation and the world, journeying to faraway
destinations is clearly not prudent right now. It’s been nearly six months
since I last left the state of Maine, which for someone who works less than 25
miles from New Hampshire seems highly unusual.
Like many teachers and
parents, I enjoy discovering new places and revisiting old haunts when school
is out. But since traveling this summer involves a high level of risk, the only
borders I’ll be crossing will be the ones between local towns. And while
wandering around in locales more virus-afflicted locales than ours is currently
inadvisable, there’s no harm in taking vicarious excursions by writing,
dreaming, or reminiscing about them.
Late in the 1980’s my
youngest sibling and I informally decided to see which of us could venture to
all 50 of the United States first. We each had jobs involving frequent domestic
travel and/or short-term relocation, and at the time neither of us was
encumbered with children or a significant other. My sister insisted on some
basic rules, one of which was that for a state to count you had to either stay
overnight there or consume at least one meal within its
borders. Her proposed requirements rendered my claims to both Utah (layover
between airline flights) and Iowa (a drive across a bridge from Nebraska for a
30-second cameo appearance) null and void, but nothing tangible was at stake.
We also mutually agreed that an actual prize might take the
fun out of it, so after concurring on guidelines the competition began.
By the mid-90’s each of
us had legitimately checked off 48 states.
But then she got married
and subsequently became a parent, and a couple of years later I went down that
same winding road. It’s a quarter-century later, we’re still deadlocked at 48
states apiece, and today I’m waving the white flag. It’s time to admit, however
reluctantly, that I am not going to win the contest.
These days travel is
expensive, not to mention potentially hazardous to the health of older people,
a demographic into which, by nearly everyone’s definition, I now fit. In
addition, I have little things like a mortgage and some college educations to
pay for that weren’t a factor back in the 20th century. That my nominal
opponent still needs Alaska and Hawaii and isn’t any more likely to get to
those places than I am to check off the two states remaining on my list is of
little comfort. I’m still holding out hope that a trip to Oregon is in my
future, but if I ever have the money necessary to go to Hawaii overnight (or at
least eat a meal there), I’d undoubtedly opt to use it for something else.
But I can lay claim to a
significant consolation prize: I’ve been to every Canadian province! I got my
ninth and tenth when my three children and I motored out to Colorado and
Montana eight summers ago and circled back through Saskatchewan and Manitoba on
the way home.
It doesn’t look like I’ll
make it to Canada this year. But while physically roaming far from home isn’t
currently an option, few if any states are more attractive for “staycations”
than Maine is. Thanks to our state’s unique geography, visits to Poland,
Norway, and Denmark are all within easy driving distance. If I’m yearning for
something more exotic (or less Nordic), Mexico and Peru are both doable. Maybe
I’ll even try China, if they’re letting people from Cumberland County across
the great wall that I imagine surrounds the place. <
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