Hobby Thread - October 25, 2025 [Roaming Rex]

Welcome hobbyists! Pull up a chair and sit a spell with the Horde in this little corner of the interweb. This is the mighty, mighty, mighty officially sanctioned Ace of Spades Hobby Thread. A spin of the Ace of Spades Wheel of Hobbies (TM) landed on travel themes.

Are you thinking "I don't even know what that means and I don't get around much these days but I'm eager to learn more. I can't wait to get into the content!" I knew it. Enjoy.

What are you hobbying?

As per usual Hobby Thread etiquette, keep this thread limited to hobbying. All (legal) hobbying is welcome. However, politics, current events and religious debates can live in threads elsewhere. Pants are optional. Puns are welcome and encouraged.

Play nice. Don't be a troll and do not feed the trolls.

Travel is fun, but some people organize travel around themes and make goals to visit all of the same type of destination.

Some people want to visit all the US National Parks or every US state.

Some people strive to visit every country/territory in the world or every continent.

Others want to see a game in every Major League Baseball stadium. (Wonder if they add the the trifecta of Cooperstown, Louisville Slugger factory, and the Field of Dreams?)

How about visiting 50 state capital cities and the capitol buildings?

All 13 operating Presidential libraries?

Seven wonders of the modern world?

We're not just looking for places you like to visit. We're looking for travelers that visit all of a certain type of destination where making it to all locations is a goal by itself.

What themes travel have you taken? What themed travel have you always wanted to do?

13 Things I Wish I Knew Before Trying to Visit All the National Parks

Over the last 11 years, I have explored 54 individual National Parks (some multiple times), and had a certain little global pandemic not happened I'd have been to all 63 National Parks. It's just a matter of time before I get all the parks. Here 13 Things I Wish I Knew Before Trying to Visit All the National Parks.

There are no rules for this adventure (other than the laws of the United States and the rules and regulations of the National Park Service). You get to define what a National Park visit is to you. Personally, I don't count it as a park visit unless I hike or kayak four miles (or do a major activity if the park doesn't have hiking). From the discussions, we have had in the National Park Obsessed Facebook group, some people are like me a good long hike counts. Others just want to stand the park but pretty much everyone agrees that if you want your visit to count, it counts.

If I had to guess, I suspect my total cost is in the range of $40,000 to $60,000. Which as I'm writing this, I'm thinking HOLY CRAP. Did I really spend that? When I break it down and consider there are 63 National Parks in 30 states and 2 territories. That's about $600 to $1,000 per park visit. That makes sense given I have been based in the Eastern US for most of my park adventures and either had to fly or drive 800 plus miles for the majority of park visits.

More at the link.

Anyone a member of the Travelers Century Club?

Membership in the Travelers' Century Club (TCC) is limited to those travelers who have visited one hundred or more territories of the world. It was first organized in Los Angeles in 1954 by a group of the world's most widely traveled people.

Travel milestones reflect the number of destinations you have visited based on the list of TCC Countries & Territories included in the checklist below. The status levels are:

Silver - 150 countries

Gold - 200 countries

Platinum - 250 countries

Diamond - 300 countries

The Travelers' Century Club list of countries and territories now stands at 330.

Want to visit all 30 Major League Baseball parks?

Logistics and timing is the big consideration. Grouping is key. If you're ambitious and have the time, get on the road and hit them all in one season. Most fans make it more of a gradual lifetime goal.

This website is a great trip planner to align schedules of multiple teams.

Visiting all US state capitals in 30 days is a little crazy.

But maybe a little less crazy than visiting all 54 Buc-ee's locations in two weeks.

Some Disney enthusiasts visit all twelve Disney parks around the world. Disney periodically sponsors luxury trips but you can do it yourself.

This blog post goes into extensive detail for a 21 day trip. Disney may not be everyone's thing, but the planning and execution is impressive.

When your Halloween costume is rather plane.

Anyone hobbying anything interesting for fall or Halloween decorations?

Did you miss the Hobby Thread last week? We did a space shuttle carrier theme. The comments may be closed, but you can re-live the content.

Notable comments from last week:

Words of wisdom:

"Because despite all our troubles, when things are grim out in that wide round world of ours, that's when it's really important to have a good hobby." Posted by: tankascribe at June 22, 2024 07:41 PM (HWxAD).

My hobby is looking out for large scale dinosaurs that need a new home. If you have trouble finding something in the content or comments that resonates with you, contribute something from your personal hobbying. We will feature a different theme next time. What are you hobbying? We love showing off Horde hobbying. Send thoughts, suggestions and photos of your hobbying to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. Do mighty things.

posted by Open Blogger at 05:30 PM

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