Luggage - a Legacy and an Adventure

I graduated from high school in 1975. My parents gave be a 3 piece set of Samsonite luggage for a graduation present. This was quite ironic at the time since my family really did not take family vacations. Oklahoma is the only state I had been to before my senior trip to Florida; and going to Oklahoma was really just going to the lake.
When Greg and Chad each graduated from high school I followed suit and gave each of them a set of luggage. We did take family vacations, ski trips, and mission trips outside the state; so I knew the kids would have opportunities to use luggage.
However, I really had not thought much about luggage, until I was on this last trip staring at many pieces of luggage. It was at that point that I realized the symbolism of luggage, travel, and the legacy that Bennie Scoggins started many years ago with the graduation present. Greg, Chad, and I all travel more than the average person with our luggage to different places with different purposes, but each with an adventure (or job) just waiting to be experienced.

Alaska - The Last Frontier

August 9, I lacked one state on my bucket list item to visit all 50 USA states. I really started this adventure the year, Chad graduated from college. Up to that point, my life (and money) was my kids. In 2007 both boys were gainfully employed and off my payroll. I treated myself that year to a trip to Italy, France, and Spain. I also got married that year. But that is the year, that I started my bucket list. I was on a plane looking at the USA states and started putting x's on the states that I had visited. I believe at that point I had been to about 35 states. I made a list of the states that I needed to visit, and the adventures began. Most of the states were visited with my sister and Cheyrl. We usually would take a spring trip, a fall trip, and a summer trip each year.
In March of this year, Diana and I started planning an Alaskan cruise with Brenda and Dominic Lampe. In June, Diana, Cheyrl, and  I got my 47th, 48th, and 49th states (Montana, Idaho, and Oregon). We also visited Washington and Canada on this trip.
On August 7, Diana, both Rick's, and I started this last adventure. We flew to Seattle. We had a great day and half with a friend. We dug clams and picked up oysters for dinner. Brian cooked us clams, oysters, crab, and steak for dinner. We visited the Ballard Locks, Pike's Meat Market. and a car museum in Seattle. Saturday, August 9, we boarded our cruise ship and off to the Last Frontier we sailed. Sunday was our day out at sea. Monday, my feet touched Alaskan ground in Juneau, thus finishing off this bucket list item. I will do another post with pictures of this great trip.