Pike Road family gets pictures in all 67 Alabama counties, plus a bonus!

PIKE ROAD, Ala. (WSFA)— It started off with a simple picture taken while on a day trip to visit family. Five years later, one Pike Road family has quite a collection, and a memory they won’t forget.

“We were in Elmore County visiting my grandmother,” said Matthew Roberts. “We stopped by the courthouse, I’m not sure why. I got a picture of them sitting outside and I said, ‘Hey, why don’t we go to all 67 counties?’”

“He decided to take his idea and run with it,” said Jessica Roberts, Matthew’s wife. “So, we got to see the whole state.”

After the trip to Elmore County, the Roberts family started knocking out visits one county at a time.

“It’s so beautiful,” said Jessica. “We have the mountains and The Shoals in north Alabama and the beaches down south. We really have it all here.”

The kids had their favorites.

“I like Winston County because there was an Addison there,” said 7th grader Addison Roberts. “I was younger and thought that was cool.”

“I really like Marshall County,” said 5th grader Marshall Roberts.

Sure, it helps to have counties and cities they share names with, but mom says they saw all kinds of cool stuff.

“We did some of the 13 Alabama ghost places, we saw a giant oak tree in Geneva County, and we saw the unclaimed baggage in Scottsboro.,” said Jessica. “If there’s a tourist attraction in Alabama, we’ve done it and seen it.”

“I hope they learned a little more about seeing places and getting out of where your roots are and just seeing the great state of Alabama,” said Matthew.

With all 67 counties knocked out, they still needed one more picture.

“Our end goal was to meet the governor,” said Matthew.

So, we made it happen. Gov. Ivey was nice enough to spend some time with the Roberts family and check out their Alabama scrapbook.

“It was really cool we got to meet her,” said Addison.

So, five years, 67 counties, and a bonus picture with the governor is quite a journey.

“They may think their parents are dorks now,” said Jessica. “But, maybe one day they will look back when they have kids and take them to all 67 counties.”

Up next, the family says it may work on trying to visit all the state capitals.

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