As a child my father insisted I learned the 50 states and capitals which then paid off repeatedly when tested on this topic in geography and civics (and again on countless trivia nights). At that point I had only been to Jefferson City in my home state of Missouri. Topeka wasn't far from KC but the rest seemed so distant I just assumed I would never visit them, they were just words in a book and points on a map.
As a young father myself I tried to slowly ease my kids into learning the capitals, something I feel every US citizen should know. This proved to be a struggle (and continues to be to this day). At one point Dave said to his brother and I, "why do we need to learn this we're never going to go there?!" That's when an idea was born.
There is no reason why we CAN'T go there I said to him. I explained the many regions of the US held exciting levels of art, history, culture and food. I made an agreement then with my two young sons that if they worked to learn the capitals I would work to take them to them. At least one of us is holding up our end of the bargain. lol
Since then I have added two more members to the family, remarried and visited 25 state capitals and the District of Columbia with our eyes on finishing the set at some point. My oldest is 20 now and goes on trips less often but our vacation frequency has increased over the last half dozen years so there's no reason why we can't finish it. To count as "visited" we must make it onto the grounds of the capital building. Now due to the limited hours of most tours in some cases that means we just walked around the outside but whenever possible we head inside to explore.
Our "signature" shot is of us all standing in a circle under the rotunda looking down and snapping a selfie looking up at us and the impressive architecture above us. I lead the family (sometimes begrudgingly if it's been a long day) through all the floors and whenever possible into the Senate and House chambers. We've had some fun experiences like when we got to hold $1 million in the treasury of Little Rock Arkansas, run around and sit in the seats of the Senate in Dover or being a small part of a commercial in Denver.
Ana and I agree that aside from DC (which you can't compete with) our favorite capital building is in Harrisburg, PA. The architectural design inside is nothing short of break taking. We've had a lot of near visits like when we were within 30 minutes of Helena this year but didn't quite have enough time. That's ok just another reason to hit the road and see the beauty America has to offer!
Visited as of Today
Atlanta, Georgia
Austin, Texas
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Boise, Idaho
Cheyenne, Wyoming
Columbus, Ohio
Denver, Colorado
Des Moines, Iowa
Dover, Delaware
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Indianapolis, Indiana
Jefferson City, Missouri
Lincoln, Nebraska
Little Rock, Arkansas
Madison, Wisconsin
Montgomery, Alabama
Nashville, Tennessee
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Pierre, South Dakota
Raleigh, North Carolina
Richmond, Virginia
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Salt Lake City, Utah
Springfield, Illinois
Topeka, Kansas
Washington D.C.
(And yes I've found a geocache in all of them!)
Yet to Visit
Albany, New York
Annapolis, Maryland
Augusta, Maine
Bismarck, North Dakota
Boston, Massachusetts
Carson City, Nevada
Charleston, West Virginia
Columbia, South Carolina
Concord, New Hampshire
Frankfort, Kentucky
Hartford, Connecticut
Helena, Montana
Honolulu, Hawaii
Jackson, Mississippi
Juneau, Alaska
Lansing, Michigan
Montpelier, Vermont
Olympia, Washington
Phoenix, Arizona
Providence, Rhode Island
Sacramento, California
Salem, Oregon
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Tallahassee, Florida
Trenton, New Jersey
7/23/2021
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