As of March 19, 2016, we have completed our journey by playing in a volleyball tournament in each of the 50 states! The mission was concluded on beautiful Kauai, Hawaii, six and a half years after we imagined it - and having it end just as we imagined it.
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Two of my husband's and my favorite hobbies are volleyball and to travel. In 2009, we traveled to Colorado to play in the Mother Lode, one of the country's largest volleyball tournaments. We discovered that combining a tournament with our trips made them more meaningful and gives us lots of great memories.
This website is intended to document our trips, mostly for our own enjoyment, and hopefully for us to someday look back on having visited all 50 states.
This website is intended to document our trips, mostly for our own enjoyment, and hopefully for us to someday look back on having visited all 50 states.
"I have found out that there ain't no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them." --Mark Twain
I think some people take the beauty of our country for granted; growing up I'd always hoped to travel the world, but what I've found as we've gone from state to state is that there's a lot to be seen right here. Each state has something that makes it unique: perhaps its the sites and attractions it has to offer, or the food, or its unique people (I love hearing different accents!).
I also feel that volleyball is under-rated. Some of the athletes we've seen are as impressive as some professional basketball, football, and soccer players. It's unfortunate it doesn't have as large of a following in our country as some of these higher paid sports.
On one of our favorite trips, Utah, we were wandering through Arches National Park with volleyball in hand (as always). We stopped at an interesting rock formation to kick the ball back and forth, up and down a sandy hill along a canyon, and noticed and older gentleman with a black, bushy beard (and rather expensive looking camera) taking our picture. "I'm sorry, but it's not everyday you see someone kicking a soccer ball here," he said. We corrected him by explaining that it's a volleyball, understanding his confusion that we were in fact kicking a black and white ball around. We proceeded to explain our goal to play in every state, and he listened intently and we rambled on about where we've been, why we're in Utah, etc. He nodded when we finished and simply said, "It's good to have a passion." Whoever you are: thank you for, after only a 5 minutes conversation, understanding what we're about.
In some way, I hope that our travels and our story, and maybe even this website, are a way for us to give back to the sport and the country that have given so much to us. Please feel free to contact us with any questions about places we've been or played, and we'd love any recommendations for tournaments to play or places we shouldn't miss!
Hope to see you on the courts,
Scott & Andrea Stonebraker
I also feel that volleyball is under-rated. Some of the athletes we've seen are as impressive as some professional basketball, football, and soccer players. It's unfortunate it doesn't have as large of a following in our country as some of these higher paid sports.
On one of our favorite trips, Utah, we were wandering through Arches National Park with volleyball in hand (as always). We stopped at an interesting rock formation to kick the ball back and forth, up and down a sandy hill along a canyon, and noticed and older gentleman with a black, bushy beard (and rather expensive looking camera) taking our picture. "I'm sorry, but it's not everyday you see someone kicking a soccer ball here," he said. We corrected him by explaining that it's a volleyball, understanding his confusion that we were in fact kicking a black and white ball around. We proceeded to explain our goal to play in every state, and he listened intently and we rambled on about where we've been, why we're in Utah, etc. He nodded when we finished and simply said, "It's good to have a passion." Whoever you are: thank you for, after only a 5 minutes conversation, understanding what we're about.
In some way, I hope that our travels and our story, and maybe even this website, are a way for us to give back to the sport and the country that have given so much to us. Please feel free to contact us with any questions about places we've been or played, and we'd love any recommendations for tournaments to play or places we shouldn't miss!
Hope to see you on the courts,
Scott & Andrea Stonebraker
Our hi-tech state tracking device - a.k.a. a map with volleyball stickers on it....
...which evolved into this!
50 States = 50 T-shirts Quilt