Mile Marker 50 Mile Marker 50 Mile Marker 50 Mile Marker 50 Mile Marker 50

Follow my journey with updates and behind the scenes photos from the places I visit, travel hacks I learn along the way and what it’s really like to cram a lifetime of travel into 1 year!

Mile Marker 50 Promo Video

Trip 24: It’s all in the perspective

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Funny how perspective changes when you look at something from a different angle… Maybe that color on the wall hits differently… or the solution to a problem seems obvious. I was reminded of this when I walked BEHIND a waterfall on our trip to Highlands, NC. From the front the waterfall created the perfect cascade…

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Trip 23: Chasing Waterfalls

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Forget what the song says. North Carolina is the perfect place to chase waterfalls. Sorry, TLC. Until I started planning a 3-night road trip with my teenage daughter, I had no idea how many of these majestic beauties there are in the state. Unlike most of our trips, we didn’t plan to stay in a…

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Trip 22: A private island getaway

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My parents are stuck in time. I don’t mean my mom dresses like it’s the 1970’s or my dad wears 80’s neon. I mean my image of them is stuck in time. For some reason, I always think of my parents as being in their 50’s, but since I am in my 50’s that’s not…

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Trip 21: The end and the beginning

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So, I didn’t make it to 50 places I’ve never been the year I turned 50. I managed to finish 21 trips before I turned 51. I know, I know, it’s not ‘my fault,” but it still sucks to write those words. No one could have predicted COVID would lock down the entire world on…

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Trip 20: Mackinac Island and all the feels

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“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” The path I’ve already walked is is what it is. Right up to this very moment there is nothing I can do to change what has already happened. What happens next, however, is my decision. Each…

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Trip 19: My Mom Rocks

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My mom rocks. Ok, actually both my parents do. ( Heck, I named my daughter after my Dad!) But for this blog, I’m talking about my mom. I’m 50 years old now and, so far, my mom has joined me on 2 of 50 trips to 50 places I’ve never been. The first was in…

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Trip 18: Music and Memories in Athens, GA

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My youngest sister sends me a link to a song at least once a week. Most of them speak to her state of mind or something our family is experiencing. Almost all of them I have never heard before but I look forward to getting them. I appreciate a catchy beat or a well-written lyric…

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Trip 17: A reunion in Cape Cod

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The older I get the smaller my circle of friends becomes. At a certain point in life, you stop meeting as many people.. You no longer make time for the ones who haven’t earned the title… you get rid of the complainers, and the drama team cause ‘ain’t nobody got time for that’ at this…

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Trip 16: My favorite travel companion

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I took my daughter on her first trip when she was just 14 days old. Her Great-grandfather had died (on my ex’s side) and we had to go home for the funeral. Her dad was working as usual and that left me hauling bags and a baby halfway across the country by myself. If you’ve…

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Trip 15: Mayberry to Merlot, a Small Town to Love

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I grew up in a small town. Home for me is farmers on tractors and playing barefoot. It’s messy ponytails and cute boys in pickup trucks. It’s football games and backroads. My life has taken me from Florida to California and then to North Carolina. But as I travel to 50 places I’ve never been…

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Why Mile Marker 50

We all have mile markers that profoundly shape the way we see the world. What matters is how you choose to rise above them. My mile marker was the perfect storm: the end of my 23- year marriage, a change in career, and a daughter becoming a teenager all while I was staring at 50. I needed to set my sights on a better future. Now I’m traveling to 50 places I’ve never been the year I turn 50…

It feels good to have my own dream!
Let’s make reinvention fun!
What will you do with your mile marker?

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