I am wildly curious, hopelessly inquisitive, and tirelessly observant. I bore easily and am constantly planning something. Even when I am laid out on the couch marathoning Netflix in my snuggie, there are a million ideas, plans, and lists running through my head. In short, when I am not busy or kept mentally stimulated/challenged my brain finds a multitude of other things to occupy itself.

The transition to full time work in the real world has been unprecedented. After years of pushing myself in my studies and extra-curriculars, I landed a fantastic job at an even better company. It all feels so worth it except for one thing: I am bored. Being a college new hire in my subset of engineering and industry doesn’t lend itself to being immediately at the competency level needed. Translation: I need a lot of training and experience before my job gets exciting. I am learning to cope with that. It’s not like I don’t have work. It’s just that the amout and pace are not what I expected.

Enter the quarter life crisis: some days I’m good and ok with being patient, and other days I’m my overthinking self that is unsure of what I am doing. My solution? Stay busy on my own time. Get new hobbies. If I’m not getting that at work, I at least need to spend my time outside of it challenged.

Work made me restless. I wanted to get back to traveling. This stage of my life doesn’t include a million demands on my time. I wanted to take full advantage of that. Then reality got in the way. Time and money: the foe of an traveler. I get two weeks of vacation but every other Friday off thanks to 9/80 scheduling. I have a budget for traveling but don’t want to drop a lot of money on a short trip. Beyond that, I need to be somewhat financially savvy with savings and retirement funds.

The answer to all these issues is the 51 Capitals Project. Domestic travel is cheaper than international based on airfare alone. I wouldn’t need to fly for every trip. I can put my 9/80 weekends to good use with little need to take actual vacation days. There are no concerns for changing currency, global phones, or crash courses in foreign languages. Finding travel buddies is easier when it’s a quick weekend jaunt to somewhere in the country. Most importantly, I could save my international locale wish list for more opportune times and explore the beautiful, thought provoking, and interesting parts of my own country. Yeah. MERICA.

It started as visiting every state as a way to see the most and keep the destination ideas fresh. Why focus on just one region or type of place? The capitals were added when I realized that not every state has a huge tourism draw but they do all have a center of government. It became a way to have one consistent element or theme in each trip. When I researched it, I found that most state capitals are a decent car/train ride away from a major city OR another state’s capital if it wasn’t a major city in its own right. BOOM. A way to experience more of each state. The idea to make it 51 capitals and include Washington D.C. came because I have always wanted to visit- my mom too. I how to make that trip longer and bring her along.

I didn’t take up a hobby that was cheap or easy on a daily schedule. So what? The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. If you are going to do something, you do it big and you do it right. Welcome to my journey.