Cross Country for Starbucks Mugs

So I recently went on a coast to coast road trip from the Atlantic to the Pacific (through the north) with my brother (the soon to be internet billionaire). You can check out our route here on Tripline thanks to Foursquare we were able to track our check points throughout the whole trip (kinda cool being as we reached some of these destinations at the wee hours of the morning after hours of driving on long, dark roads and recalling them would have been nearly impossible).

So we started on Saturday night at 9pm (odd time to start I know but life gets in the way - you gotto do what you gotto do) and got there on Wed. afternoon. Oh and did I mention my brother was moving to San Francisco? And this was the reason for the trip. I was merely there for the company. OH but I did have an ulterior motive! Read on...

So we were traveling in a packed up Mercury Mountaineer. (Something I don't even think a quarter of my belongings would EVER fit into - but my brother is more of a "get-up and go"  kinda guy and doesn't hold deep ties to "stuff") We are def. polar opposites there! But off we were!

Let me just start off by saying that there are many states in between New York and California - and well it just has to be said - we could probably do without some of them.  Western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and most definitely Wyoming (to name a few). Sorry if these places are close or dear to anyone out there - but all I saw was a whole lotta nothing and I spanned the length of all these states. I have to say Wyoming was the worst. I think they only have two populated areas in the whole state!!

However, we detoured to one of the USA's most renowned spectacles Mt. Rushmore - located in the lovely state of North Dakota. And just figured when else would be have the opportunity to visit this place - so why not! It was beautiful!! Check it out!

OK now for the main reason for this post and my goal on this trip. At the beginning of the year I started a new collection - of Starbuck City mugs. So each city or state that I go to I check out each Starbucks and make sure that I get a mug with that city name on it. Like this one here.

So collecting these mugs has at this point (I am afraid to admit it) become an obsession of mine. I figured I was going to hit the mother load on this trip with all the states we were going through. But oh so not the case. I started off the trip being selective. I mean there is only so much shelf space for these mugs and did I really want an Ohio mug?? I was looking for cool and unique states - like Iowa and North Dakota! But to my great dismay we entered Des Moines at 9pm on a Sunday (Starbucks was closed!) and North Dakota - apparently does not have enough Starbucks locations to warrant the production of such mugs. And then I continued to face disappointment in Utah, Wyoming and Reno. Apparently these mugs do not exist for these places either. So here I am across 9 states and no mugs (and literally kicking myself for snubbing Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana) at that point there was no turning back.

I found my first mug right outside Reno and it was the California mug! I was happy to get it and have some shred of success on this trip. And then of course when we entered San Francisco I snatched up the first one I saw. So these were my only additions on this long trip =(

Here is my entire collection to date. Displayed on these nifty shelves I installed for just the purpose of displaying my collection!

SO clearly I have a long way to go. Granted there is no more space on these shelves but not to worry I will come up with somewhere to put them. A friend of mine got me one in Berlin - so that will be joining this group soon. And if you are ever going to visit me and live in a place that I don't have a mug for - well I think you know what to bring with you. =)

Does anyone else collect these mugs? Or seen a cool one? Or what do you collect? And how do you display them?