Collecting memories by the numbers

Ever heard about a someone with a strange hobby?

Call me a numbers junkie or a completist.

For me, it may fundamentally be because my father was a math teacher. I’m all about the numbers. Some collect places, but not objects. Others collect stamps or coins; I collect and catalogue memories, documented with an occasional photo.

And, I like to collect every single one of those memories — for a matched set.

Enjoying driving is helpful with this odd hobby.

I’ve visited every state but Hawaii and Alaska. I’ve even traveled to every state in the Continental U.S., at least twice, except South Dakota.

I took a nine-day road trip from Florida to Nebraska and Iowa just to say I’d been there. It drove my traveling buddy nuts. I just had to cross those state lines.

The final state, within the Lower 48, that I stepped foot into was North Dakota. You don’t travel through North Dakota on your way to anywhere else. You have to make the effort, and truly want to go to North Dakota.

Four of us once drove across the Mississippi River from Memphis to Arkansas. We pulled over, every one of us opened their door and stuck their foot out. We then immediately crossed back into Tennessee.

One of my newer hobbies is visiting state capitols. I’ve been to 28 and love those domes and rotundas. The skyscraper capitol buildings in Fargo and Tallahassee are way cool, too. Capitol tour guides are often experts and have an expansive knowledge of the buildings and the politics inside these showplaces.

It was a nice surprise, when in New Hampshire, Gov. Chris Sununu stopped in the hallway to chat.

It’s nice to hear about what the different objects on state flags symbolize. So far, the Capitol in Harrisburg, with its Moravian tiles, wall paintings and huge chandeliers was the most spectacular and ornate capitol.

I even shot a photo of state Sen. Andy Dinniman in front of a fireplace in his capitol office.

I love to hit parks. I’ve walked in 38 national parks, of 59 in the system, and another 50 or so national park units; including historic parks like Valley Forge. I haven’t missed the national seashores either, including Assateague Island.

I lived and worked within view of Half Dome in Yosemite and worked at Independence Mall. In Yosemite, in 1987, I paid $11 a week to sleep in a tent with a wooden floor. It was $28 a week to eat from the buffet line. Of course, I only earned $3.83 per hour. Most every weekend I backpacked, away from the crowds, into the backcountry.

I’ve netted more than 60 Florida state parks and viewed countless alligators and armadillos. With few hills, it’s easy strolling in the Sunshine State.

Consider the glass creations of artist Dale Chihuly. I’ve seen his work in seven places and the most spectacular example of his stuff is local, at the Borgata, in Atlantic City.

It’s best I don’t tell you how many diners I’ve seen from the inside.

The work of Architect Frank Lloyd Wright is worth traveling across the country to see. I’ve visited his headquarters in Wisconsin and Arizona. I’ve been to a synagogue he designed in Elkins Park and, of course, Fallingwater, where a creek runs beneath a home.

I’ve explored about 30 ski areas. No two mountains are alike. Everyone is distinct and different.

During the past 18 years, for newspapers, I’ve covered about 50 municipalities in three states, and attended about 950 municipal meetings. There are reporters who enjoy going to meetings and those who don’t. The soap operas that occur at these public meetings are engaging, but after three hours I begin to fidget.

I’ve written more than 6,000 articles. There have been almost 300 columns, like the one you are now reading. They are all called “Small Talk.”

Within the past year, I’ve compiled 59 stories about the Sunoco Mariner East 2 pipeline and I’m still not bored.

I’ve traveled on most of the single and double-digit interstates. I’ve looked out the windows at almost all of I-95, I-10, I-70 and I-80. I’ve sat in traffic jams on the Beltway around Washington and on Los Angeles interstates. These superhighways are fast, efficient and a great way to see the country. When you have time, it’s also nice to get off and enjoy the secondary highways, like Route 66.

Don’t ask me why I haven’t picked up the rest of them, but I’ve read 93 of the Random House list of the 20th Century’s best 100 novels.

In case you weren’t aware, you can also collect subway rides like you can state capitols.

I’ve ridden on nine subway systems, a couple in non-English speaking countries, along with the quarter-mile open air subway that runs beneath the U.S. Capitol building in Washington DC.

I’ve visited about two thirds of Philadelphia’s more than 100 museums. My favorite museum is one of the closest, the Brandywine River Museum. Please, go see it sometime soon.

It’s a blast to stand on the highest points in each state. The days are past when I’d consider climbing Mount Rainier or Denali just to say I’ve done it. It would be far less strenuous to return to North Dakota.

That’s my collection of places and things I can never hold. I bet you have a collection too, even if you never realized it. I’ve got a long way to go, but the joy is in the journey. As you may have noticed, I haven’t finished any single list. Time to get busy!

BILL RETTEW JR. – DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA Some of us collect state capitol buildings like this one in Vermont, while others collect baseball cards.

BILL RETTEW JR. – DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA Wingspread, in Racine, Wis., is one of many Frank Lloyd Wright buildings worth traveling to see.

BILL RETTEW JR. – DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA Ohio’s Cuyahoga National Park is just one of America’s 59 national parks.