The Rein Family: Newest members of the "Save the Best for Last" club

UPDATE: FEB. 22, 2024

They did it!

My niece, Peggy, her husband, Eric, and their two daughters, Melanie and Meredith, completed their goal to see all 50 states.

With two just left—Minnesota and North Dakota—the Reins this past week flew into Minneapolis. (Didn’t see too much right away other than some farmland outside of the city but they could check Minnesota off their list and they planned to go back to the North Star state to see more a few days later.)

Next stop was North Dakota—the final state for them to see. And what a visit it was for them. The highlight was being inducted into the “Save the Best for Last Club.” Membership into this exclusive club is reserved for those who have visited 49 states before journeying to the Peace Garden state.  

“I’m not going to lie. I cried a little when we crossed into North Dakota because we actually did it,” Peggy said. “We were excited, and the girls were happy to get number 50. Eric and I just high-fived each other feeling accomplished and glad we were able to give this to the girls.”

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Seeing the U.S.A.

(And yes, sometimes in a Chevrolet)

May 2023

by jodi marneris

Full disclosure here: Peggy is my niece. She and her family live in Georgia. I’ve been loving hearing about their trips and seeing their photos, so wanted to share. Fasten your seat belts and enjoy the ride!

May 2023--It'’s looking like the Rein family— Peggy, her husband, Eric, and their daughters, Melanie and Meredith, are going to become members of the "Save the Best for Last" club.

As of this writing, they have been to 48 states since setting out roughly seven years ago on a mission to visit all 50 states before their daughters turn 18. Melanie is 16; Meredith is 14.

They’ve seen all but Minnesota and North Dakota—two states they plan to visit next spring break or summer. “Definitely not in the winter,” Peggy says.

My research—and I use that term loosely—shows that for some reason North Dakota is often the final state for those trekking the U.S. You’d think the North Dakotans would be offended—but they aren't. Instead, they turned it into a celebration.

People who make the Peace Garden State their final visit become members of the "Save the Best for Last" club, complete with certificate, bumper sticker, and T-shirt to mark the occasion. (Note: The Reins didn’t know about this “club” until I discovered it and shared the news with her. Peggy says they didn’t purposely leave North Dakota for last. They just never made it there. Not yet anyway.)

When the Reins complete their mission, they also will be part of a very small number of people who have seen all 50 states. According to a survey completed just a few months ago, the average American has visited 17 states. How many have seen all 50? Roughly only 2%. They’ll also be the only people I know who have done this.

They’ve enjoyed discovering the country's treasures, but there’s more to these travels than just crossing some state lines.

“We started this in 2016, after one of my close friends passed away and she was only 41. She and her husband had always talked about all the things they wanted to do and they never got to do it. So, we decided we’re not going to wait anymore,” Peggy said.

For Melanie, the visits are more about spending time with family, friends and her grandmother, Janet, who has accompanied them on some of the trips. “Honestly, it’s more about family memories than it is about going to each state,” she said. “But every state has something that you remember about it, and that is cool.”

She says Utah is probably one of her favorite states. “Arches National Park—close to Moab—is absolutely beautiful. It was so cool to see the big arch. We went there with a couple of friends, and it was such a great experience,” Melanie said.

Both of the girls enjoyed their trip to the Mitten State—but each had a slightly different reason. Melanie thought the University of Michigan campus was beautiful.

Meredith, on the other hand, liked Ann Arbor because of J.J. McCarthy, the football team’s quarterback. “He’s very attractive and he’s a really good person. He has a whole charity that helps kids. I like that,” Meredith said.

She also appeared to be in awe that while touring the campus she was walking the same sidewalks and streets McCarthy has walked.

They continued their trip into Indiana where they visited the University of Notre Dame—both agreed it was a beautiful campus. “There wasn’t too much in Indiana, but you gotta get the state so it was more of a drive-through than a stay-and-do-an-activity state,” Melanie said. (I guess they didn't stop for a pork tenderloin sandwich or some sugar cream pie--two notable favorites in the Hoosier state.)

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Meredith totally enjoyed seeing New Mexico. “It was very different from every other state,” she said. “We went to the White Sands National Park, and we got to sled down the sandhills with these little discs. It was so much fun.” While there, they also had a chance to pose with the World’s Largest Pistachio.

Melanie likened Bend, Oregon, known for its variety of recreational opportunities, to a college town without the college. “There were a lot of great restaurants with a lot of really good gluten-free options, which is what we need,” she said.

They also stopped to look around Blockbuster’s last standing retail outlet in the U.S., something that didn’t mean much to Meredith or Melanie, but brought back some great memories for their parents.

One of Meredith’s favorite states was Texas.

“We were there when they were having a snow and ice storm (2021). It was difficult to be there during that time, but we still got to see a lot of cool things, like this little town called Terlingua,” she said.

Terlingua, located in West Texas, used to be a mining town and when the mining company filed for bankruptcy, it basically turned into a ghost town. But thanks to a meaty staple in the U.S., Terlingua is a ghost town no more. It’s the site of the first famous championship chili cookoff held in 1967. Today, it draws more than 10,000 “chili heads.”

A big fan of the Wizard of Oz, Melanie says she was happy they were going to get to see the Wizard of Oz Museum in Wamego, Kansas. It’s a tribute to all things Wizard of Oz, from the original book and 1939 movie to the Michael Jackson remake. costumes,”

Did she get to see Dorothy’s red slippers? No, but she did at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

A visit to Arizona wouldn’t have been complete without seeing the Grand Canyon. “We were trying to outrun a blizzard and get to the canyon before it hit,” Meredith said. “We also had some amazing root beer floats in Kingman.”

Seeing Mount Rushmore is an awe-inspiring event for many people, including the Reins. But what really stood out for this family was the vanilla ice cream.

“There’s an ice cream place (Memorial Team Ice Cream Shop) near Mount Rushmore that makes ice cream using Thomas Jefferson’s recipe. It was scrumptious—absolutely the best vanilla ice cream I’ve ever had. I’d like to go back to South Dakota just for the ice cream,” Melanie said.

Credited with introducing ice cream to the U.S., Jefferson’s recipe was found amongst his personal belongings at Monticello, his primary residence in Virginia.

The trip out west included a visit to Yellowstone National Park, a must-see spot when in Wyoming. “We went to Cassie’s Steakhouse in Cody. It’s a former bordello that’s now a restaurant,” Melanie said. “It was fun. They did line dancing and there were a lot of cowboys.”

The most states they’ve seen in one visit was their Northeast trip. After landing in Boston, they did some sightseeing in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.

Some visits were planned as part of their mission to see all the states, and some were for other reasons. “I’ve been to a lot of volleyball tournaments in Alabama so that’s kind of how we got that one,” Melanie said.

“I feel like everywhere we go, we want to go back.” (Note to the Reins: And when you do, you need to take Aunt Jodi.)

The average American has visited 17 states. Have you seen more? Scroll down to the comment section and let me know how many you've seen. Also curious to know if you've been to North Dakota. :)