I’ve gotten quite a lot done. Here’s a look at what remains:

French knots for:

Kansas City (both sides of the border)
Hometown
Dad’s family farm
Arkadelphia, Jonesboro, Russellville, Memphis
Tulsa, OKC
St Louis
Conway, Little Rock
Los Angeles
Overnight layover in Charlotte, NC
Helena Blues Festival
Atlanta, GA
Multiple visits to WI (Kettle Moraine, plus ???)
One long trip to MI (Mackinac Island, plus???)
One short but important camping trip to Minnesota
Visited DC with Granddad — outline
Houston to visit Laridian! — French knot
New York — French knot
New Jersey — knot
A trip to near (but not in) DC when Acorn was very small indeed — need to find out exactly where this was!
Detroit, MI
Atlanta, GA
In AR:
*Cotham's in Scott, AR which is no longer there, the Plantation Museum which is at Scott and the Toltec Mounds which is out in the Scott/Keo area of AR.
Petit Jean. Sugar Loaf? Diamond mine, twice. Hot Springs.
Heber Springs, Mountain View and the Blanchard Springs Caverns at least twice
Mount Pinnacle
Fayetteville
Ft Smith
Bentonville/Rogers
Bella Vista
Eureka Springs
Mountain View
Arkadelphia
Magnolia
Texarkana
Pine Bluff
West Memphis
Jonesboro
Harrison
Woolly Hollow
Paris/Mt Magazine

Hearts and stars:
loved ones in WA and WY, OK, TX, AR, NC

Road trips:

* driven from Durham to DC, up the I-85/95 corridor, and had lunch in Richmond, I believe. He's also traveled to Baltimore, MD. (aquarium, mostly), and the air and space museum in Herndon, VA.
* flown to Orlando, Florida, and traveled within Florida to Disney World, The Kennedy Space Center (at Cape Canaveral), through Tampa (had a meal there) and along the coast from St. Petersburg up to about Tarpon Springs.
Trip by train from LR to Chicago and back
Girl Scouts trip in senior year: road trip all around TX — contact troop leader for help remembering details — running stitch and French knots
Trip through IA to Kansas City — stopped overnight in IA due to blizzard
A week in MS — don’t remember where exactly, my brother might know. I was doing a favor for his friend. Acorn was very small, but he was a good traveler! knot if I can discover the city.

Within NC:
* Durham to Boone (and Tweetsie Railroad park), Asheville, Mt. Airy, Greensboro, Hillsborough, Wilmington (along 40), Topsail Island, Carolina Beach, Emerald Island, Kure Beach, the Outer Banks. He's been to the aquariums at Fort Fisher, and Pine Knoll Shores, and in Tampa, FL and Baltimore, MD.
AR:
*Gaston's on the White River, driving from Sherwood to Marshall, Harriet, Yellville on up to Bull Shoals and to Gaston's

Bedtime update! I had to move the hoop while I was working today and it was time to move it again when I called it quits, so I had Acorn hold the map up so I could get a picture of the entire area I’ve done so far.



I’m glad I’m doing these daily updates so I can see how fast I really am working! Today I added Tennessee (minus its east border because that’s the west border of NC, and will be red), Kentucky, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. Tomorrow I’ll probably start with Texas to finish the Southwest, then head east along the coast and see how far I get with the trio of AL, GA, and FL.

In other news, I’ve figured out that our next trip should be to West Virginia. Why? Well, you’re not going to be able to tell we haven’t visited it by looking at the map, because we’ve visited all the bordering states, and it’s landlocked. To fail to visit it seems dishonorable!

I’m planning my first-ever embroidery project! It’s ambitious, because when am I not? A vintage map of the US (sorry, AK and HI, you weren’t part of the US then) on which I’ll free-form embroider my and Acorn’s travels so far in our lives. (Well, the ones in this country. We each have some international travel under our respective belts.)

Thus far, my memory tells me:

Born in Kansas City (French knot for the city, outline the state)
Moved to AR (French knot for our unmarked hometown, and for Dad’s family farm, and outline the state)
Childhood road trip to PA to see my sister graduate from college — running stitch for route, French knot for destination. Outline state?
Camps all over AR (Arkadelphia, Jonesboro, Russellville, anywhere else?)
Miscellaneous trips to OK
High school band and choir trips to various places in MO and TX— will have to search memory or look up
Girl Scouts trip in senior year: road trip all around TX — contact troop leader for help remembering details — running stitch and French knots — possibly outline state?
College in Conway, lived in Little Rock afterward (French knots)
Many, many layovers in Los Angeles. More than 24 hours spent there total. At this point in my life, it counts.
Overnight layover in Charlotte, NC
Favorite places around AR (French knots) — more on these later
Visits to Memphis
Helena Blues Festival
Long drive to Ohio through TN and KY — outline state, knots in Columbus (where we studied languages for the summer) and Cincinnati(?) (where we visited a weekend), running stitch for the route
Drive from AR through LA and MS to AL and FL
Atlanta, GA — job interview

Whew! Then it’s:

Moved to Chicago — French knot for the city, outline the state
Acorn born in Chicago
Multiple visits to WI (Kettle Moraine, plus ???)
One long trip to MI
One short but important camping trip to Minnesota
Trip through IA to Kansas City — stopped overnight in IA due to blizzard
Various trips back to AR — mark both eastern and western route with running stitch
Visited DC with Granddad — outline
Houston to visit Laridian! — French knot
New York — French knot
New Jersey — knot and outline state
A week in MS — don’t remember where exactly, my brother might know. I was doing a favor for his friend. Acorn was very small, but he was a good traveler! Outline state, knot if I can discover the city.
A trip to near (but not in) DC when Acorn was very small indeed — need to find out exactly where this was!
Trip by train from LR to Chicago and back

For Acorn (don’t be fooled, he was along for some of the above, I was along for some of the below):

Outline his Dad’s home state of NC where he visits every summer
Drive from Durham to DC, VA, MD (running stitch, French knots)
Orlando, FL and Disneyworld plus various locations in FL
Detroit, MI
Atlanta, GA
Many more locations in NC and AR but I’m verging on a migraine so I’ll list them later!

Oh! Also: loved ones in WA and WY I want to indicate somehow.