Where We've Been: We Keep a Pin Map
Jan. 11th, 2026 04:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerYears ago I got the idea, "Let's make a map of all the places we've been!" I made it a simple, DIY craft project. I bought a cork bulletin board sized about 24"x36", got a folding USA roadmap from AAA, trimmed the map to fit, then stapled it into the frame. With the cork board surface beneath the paper map we could stick colored map pins into it.
At first there weren't many pins. Understand, we started this back in the mid-late 1990s after we'd moved out to California together. Most of the original pins were where we'd lived in college and where we stayed on our cross-country drive moving to California. But over the years we've added a lot more pins. Here's a pic from a few weeks ago:
Our homemade pin map has been a fixture in our house for a few decades at this point. For the first few years it'd be a ritual— no, a celebration— when we'd come home from a trip and add a new pin, or possible a few new pins, to the map. Over the years as we've filled in the map with pins in places we've wanted to visit we often come home without a new pin to add. So now it's a special celebration when we visit a new place and can add a pin!
(A note on pin meaning: We decided from the beginning that pins would only mark places we stayed overnight. If we marked every place we simply visited, some areas of the map would get extremely crowded. Plus, what counts as "visited" if not an overnight stay? Is there a minimum visit time, like it has to be over 3 hours to count? What if we just pause somewhere scenic to take pictures? We limited it to overnights to make it simple and sane.)
At first there weren't many pins. Understand, we started this back in the mid-late 1990s after we'd moved out to California together. Most of the original pins were where we'd lived in college and where we stayed on our cross-country drive moving to California. But over the years we've added a lot more pins. Here's a pic from a few weeks ago:
Our homemade pin map has been a fixture in our house for a few decades at this point. For the first few years it'd be a ritual— no, a celebration— when we'd come home from a trip and add a new pin, or possible a few new pins, to the map. Over the years as we've filled in the map with pins in places we've wanted to visit we often come home without a new pin to add. So now it's a special celebration when we visit a new place and can add a pin!
(A note on pin meaning: We decided from the beginning that pins would only mark places we stayed overnight. If we marked every place we simply visited, some areas of the map would get extremely crowded. Plus, what counts as "visited" if not an overnight stay? Is there a minimum visit time, like it has to be over 3 hours to count? What if we just pause somewhere scenic to take pictures? We limited it to overnights to make it simple and sane.)
no subject
Date: 2026-01-13 12:21 pm (UTC)What're the two in Massachusetts(?) It looks to me like Boston and somewhere on the north shore (Salem maybe?) but there's not quite enough resolution to tell.
no subject
Date: 2026-01-13 02:39 pm (UTC)In Massachusetts the pins tell an abbreviated version of the story. There's a blue pin in Boston, because we've both been there, and a yellow pin in Westwood, for a trip I made there. In reality there could be, like, 10 different yellow pins for places I've stayed while working in and around Boston. There isn't enough room for them all. And the positioning of any one pin can get a bit off as the cork surface behind the map is a bit squishy and pins sometimes wobble.