State #7?

Ok, so we started in Illinois, headed east to Michigan, jumped on a plane that stopped back in Illinois then landed in California, drove to Arizona, then up to Utah and west to Nevada, then north west back into California.

So that's six states. Enough for six weeks? Hmm, perhaps not.

When we were in Yosemite, we started to think about Portland. Which is in Oregon FYI. 753 miles away. 13 hours and 15 minutes' drive. We could do that, right? Add another state to our list? Number seven?

Alrighty then! We found a cheap HI-hostel in dowtown Portland, got supplies, hit the road about 8.30am on Monday and prepared ourselves for two long days in the car. In about six or so hours we could get to Medford, Oregon - about half way.

A few hours into the journey the weather was getting hotter, the scenery was getting more beautiful and the thought of driving for two days (even from the passenger seat) was getting less and less attractive. "There's a McDonald's. Can we pull over?" I ask, tentatively.

Adam's sixth (Lucy) sense kicks in, realising that I want to look on t'interweb to rethink this epic drive.

Within an hour (mainly due to crappy WiFi connection), we'd cancelled the hostel in Portland, got a good deal on a Best Western in Wine Country and decided never to drink Maccy D's Strawberry Lemonade ever again.

Sorry, Portland. But this was just too good to pass up.

Flag me up

Meet our map.

It's been with me through a couple of house moves, quietly waiting to be un-rolled and admired on the wall. When we last moved in September, the trip was becoming more of a reality (my three-month sabbatical form was inches away from my Editor's signature and Adam was getting ready to give his notice) and we now had wall space big enough to do the map justice.

After a couple of trips to Hobby Craft for some card/foam backing, duct tape and straws later, the map was erected and ready to be flagged. So many flags. Flags in New York, Boston, Niagra Falls (ooh, maybe a couple in Canada); flags in Ann Arbor, Michigan (Allie!), Chicago; one for Nashville, Tennessee (hello Dollywood); flags in Austin and Houston, Texas, and while I'm there why not a flag or two near Dallas; flags all over California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah and aaalll the way up to Portland, Oregon.

I love the flags. But turns out each flag represented a vast amount of our savings. Ouch. Bad flags. So as the calculator came out, so did the flags. Out comes Boston, out comes New York, out comes Niagra. Ann Arbor? Chicago? Staying. California: them flags ain't moving. Utah, Nevada, Arizona: no movement there. Tennessee had to give, as did Texas (the country music lover in me cried a little). Portland? Perhaps... but we'll take it out for now; we need another to cram into California. And we're now down from three months to six weeks.

So, with the mean old budget calculated, the flags remained in Chicago, Ann Arbor, California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah. Not too shabby. And a six-week holiday is not to be sniffed at. That's one and a half magazine cycles for me, and approximately 256 hours of agency photographing for the boy. That's a lot of holiday.

We love you, flags. Bring it on.