I’m back with my 50 States Wrapped series and today’s post will cover Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa! I will continue to add books from each state. If you missed the previous parts to this series, you can check my post about Alabama-California and my post about Colorado-Georgia!
Hawaii
Like Alaska, Hawaii was one of the states that are harder for a lot of people to visit and we got it done early, for our honeymoon in 2001. The trip started out on a difficult note when Dave had appendicitis the week before! (this was 6 months after our wedding – we couldn’t go right away because I was in grad school). Luckily, he had a fast recovery and while he couldn’t lift the suitcases at the beginning of the trip, by the end he could. We had a great time and visited Oahu, the Big Island, and Maui. I really want to go back! My pictures were taken with film so I don’t have them to share here, but here are some books that take place in Hawaii.
Idaho
We visited Idaho when we went to Yellowstone. We drove from Grand Teton into Idaho, and we stayed overnight in Lava Hot Springs. You can read about that trip here.
Books that take place in Idaho:
Illinois
We actually visited Illinois before moving to the midwest, when Gabbie was a baby and we met some friends in Chicago for a weekend. The pictures from that trip were some of the ones I rescued when I found my Alaska pictures!
I believe I was also in Illinois when I met up with the same group of friends when I was pregnant with Zachary. We visited Chicago as a family a few times, seeing the Museum of Science and Industry, walking around the city on foot, and spending a day in Chicago in 2019.
Books that take place in Illinois:
Indiana
Indiana was a we’re moving to the midwest state, as we drove through and stayed in Indianapolis on our way to our new home in Kansas.
We also drove through Indiana the last time we drove to NJ in 2021. This is somewhere near the university, I believe.
Books that take place in Indiana:
Iowa
Iowa isn’t too far from Kansas and to get to Omaha, you drive in Iowa. So I have been through it a few times, as well as on the way to visit the kids at camp in Wisconsin. I wrote about some of the strange roadside attractions you can see in Iowa!
The last time I was in Iowa was on our way to ND in 2020. The kids have been there more recently on their way to youth group weekends!
Books that take place in Iowa:
Have you been to any of these 5 states?