State Trek

~State Trek~

trek vi. trekked, trekking, treks. [Afr., to travel by ox wagon Du. trekken to travel.]
1. To make a slow arduous journey.
2. To travel by ox wagon in South Africa.
n A journey or leg of a journey, esp. when slow and difficult.
2. A migration.
trekker n. One who treks.

My vacation in 2002 took me through 23 states. The tour covered the Midwest, Northwest, Southwest and a flight up to Juneau, Alaska. I'd like to report that all went exactly as planned, but I can't. I'll get to that later. The states I visited are, in order, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Washington, Alaska, Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, back through Ohio, and home to Pennsylvania. A few of these I was in more than once. Like Ohio, which I was in first and last, and Oregon which I crossed into several times. All in all I crossed 41 state borders.
I selected "America the Beautiful" for the background music for this page because it truly is. Purple mountains majesty, amber waves of grain, spacious skies, beautiful lakes, wonderful forests, magnificent deserts, rolling hills, flowing rivers, glacial ice that was snow 250 years ago, before our country came to be, and babbling brooks. This is America the beautiful. You can view all the photographs, and look at so many postcards from all over this country; but until you see it with your own eyes, you haven't begun to see. The only type of terrain I did not experience on this trek through the states was a swamp. I'm saving that for my vacation next year when I complete my journey through the 50 states.
I hope you will enjoy these photos as much as I enjoyed placing them here for you. I hope all of you will have the chance to see America the Beautiful first hand. It's something else!
This page is finally completed. Thank you for your patience while I constructed these fifty-five pages. I do hope you enjoy the story of my trek. If you have any comments, corrections, or criticisms, please leave a note in my guestbook. Thank you, Thomas.
Click on the photos to enter each page.

America the Beautiful

My journey began in Ohio	Then to Michigan and Pictured Rocks NLS
Click here to see Pictured Rocks National Lake Shore
The dairy farms of Wisconsin	Across the Mississipi into Iowa

West to Nebraska and a sunrise	Me at The Badlands N.P. in South Dakota
Click here for Chimney Rock and Scott's Bluff	Click here to see The Badlands N.P. Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse
Me at Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota	Montana at Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park
Theodore Roosevelt National Park (Wildlife) Theodore Roosevelt National Park (Landscape)
The Entrance to the Blackfeet Nation.	Glacier N.P in the morning mist.

The Mountains of Glacier National Park The Waterfalls of Glacier National Park
The Little Big Horn Battlefield This is the view from Last Stand Hill.
Wyoming near the Lower Falls at Yellowstone N.P.	Yellowstone National Park
Mount Washburn and the Wildlife	The Hot Springs and Thermal Basin
The Canyon and the Falls	The Grand Tetons National Park

Some flowers in front of Utah's Capitol Building
North to the canyons of Idaho	The Nez Perce Nation Idaho
Snake River Canyon	Hell's Canyon
For a friend Many states	This is me at Mount Ranier Washington
Grand Coulee Dam	Mount Ranier

Me at the Mendenhall Glacier Alaska	Sundown from the Oregon Coast
Tongass Rainforest/Mendenhall Glacier Alaskan Wildlife	The Oregon Dunes Azalea State Park
Here I am at Yosemite California	Me at the Strip (photo by Cat) Nevada
Yosemite National Park Death Valley National Park	For a look at Las Vegas, Nevada Click Las Vegas.
Standing on the edge Arizona	The Grand Canyon Part 1

The Grand Canyon Part 2	I was Enchanted in New Mexico
The Four Corners Monument The "Infamous Route 126"
Colorado, Rocky Mountain Plains	Kansas, definitely a plains state
Missouri, Gateway to the West	The Gateway Arch
Illinois, Land of Lincoln