How Many States...

[EagleFan]

...have you visted?

A ecent side conversation in one of the threads got me wondering. How many states have those of us on the board from the US been to? I am far from getting to all 50, though it is on my bucket list to get to all of them.

How many states have you been to?

1 - Only home, why go anywhere else?
2-9 - Just getting started
10-19 - Traveler in the making
20-29 - About halfway there
30-39 - Seasoned Traveler
40-49 - Almost there
50 - Every last one!!!

(poll on the way)

[EagleFan]

For me it would be 19...

New Jersey
Pennsylvania
Delaware
Maryland
Virginia
Ohio
Kentucky
Georgia
Mississippi
Louisiana
Missouri
Tennessee
New York
Connecticut
Illinois
Nevada
Arizona
California
Washington

[Apathetic Lurker]

Everything but hawaii

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by Apathetic Lurker

Everything but hawaii

Cool, any plans on trying to get there in the relatively near future?

[sabotai]

Do we count states we merely drove through? I've driven through Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia on my way to Florida before, but outside of rest stops and a stop at "South of the Border" in SC, I didn't really do anything in those states that would qualify as "visited".

[EagleFan]

Oh, I may have been briefly in Arkansas thanks to the person driving taking a wrong turn but I don't think that can really count.

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by sabotai

Do we count states we merely drove through? I've driven through Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia on my way to Florida before, but outside of rest stops and a stop at "South of the Border" in SC, I didn't really do anything in those states that would qualify as "visited".

Depends on what you count that as.

I've been in, through and to Delaware several times but not as a true destination but I counted it. Washington was a one night stop on my way to Macau (weird flight schedule). Got to see a little of Seattle so I counted it too. Want to go back to see more at some point though.

[rjolley]

Are we talking driven through/stopped over on a flight or actually spent the night?

I'm at 25 or so currently, mostly in the eastern part of the country. Quite a few in the west and northeast I haven't been to yet.

*Edit: Looks like that was already discussed.

[JeeberD]

23, I believe. I haven't spent any time in the northeast, other than a trip to Boston a couple of years ago. Damn, stupid, tiny states...

[Wolfpack]

All states except Alaska, Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and Arkansas.

[sabotai]

EDIT: 10 so far. Only counted South Carolina since I actually stopped there for something. NC and Georgia are out since I drove nonstop through them. Got a recent +1 bump to due to a road trip I took a month or so ago. Was 9 states, but I I went to the Arlington National Cemetery when I went to DC on a class trip in grade school, and didn't think about that when counting the states I've been to, so Virginia goes on the list.

Connecticut (Hartford)
Massachusetts (Boston, Springfield)
New York (New York City, Albany, Glens Falls, Lake George and Pottersville (the furthest north I've been))
Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Allentown, Pottstown, Norristown, The Poconos)
New Jersey (It'd be a shorter list if I listed where I haven't been)
Delaware (Dover)
Maryland (Ocean City, Baltimore, Washington DC)
Virginia (Arlington - specifically the Arlington National Cemetery)
South Carolina (Harner - South of the Border)
Florida (Orlando, Stuart - The furthest south I have been. Had great-grandparents who lived there)

Looks like Orlando would be the furthest west I've been and Boston would be the furthest east I've been.

[M GO BLUE!!!]

22, if just passin' thru counts.

[Radii]

Not counting states I've only driven through, I've visited (listed in chronological order since that's how I came up with the list):

North Carolina
Oklahoma
Tennessee
Arizona
Virginia
South Carolina
Georgia
West Virginia
Alabama
Utah
Illinois
Indiana
Michigan
Iowa
Arkansas
Texas
California
Massachusettes
Florida
Kentucky
Washington
New Jersey

22!

[stevew]

Tennessee
Virginia
West Virginia
Pennsylvania
New York
Maryland
North Cacalacky
South Carolina
Georgia
Florida
Maybe Alabama(can't be certain, but we were very close to the border if not. Stone Mountain area).

[stevew]

Doll
Ontario as well.

Basically I can't see visiting many more states in the near future. Might want to do some of the Revolutionary war stuff in Massachusetts and want to hit up a thanksgiving game in Detroit.

[Izulde]

Counting places actually stopped in and not just driven through and counting the ones where I can actually remember having stayed there...

Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Florida
Hawaii
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maryland
Minnesota
Missouri
Nebraska
Nevada
New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
Pennsylvania
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Wisconsin
Wyoming

26 if my math is correct. There may be some other states that I've been to but I don't remember (My family did a lot of road trips for vacations when I was a kid)

[Izulde]

dola, if we're counting driven through, then I'm bumped up into at least the 30-39 range if not higher.

[Apathetic Lurker]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

Cool, any plans on trying to get there in the relatively near future?

not in the near future...Just wasted my vacation budget on two trips to europe this summer..

[JPhillips]

I did a national tour as one of my first theatre jobs, and that covered a lot of territory.

Maine
New Hampshire
Vermont
Rhode Island
Connecticut
Massachusetts
New York
New Jersey
Pennsylvania
Maryland
Virginia
North Carolina
South Carolina
Georgia
Florida
Alabama
Mississippi
Tennessee
Kentucky
Ohio
Michigan
Indiana
Illinois
Missouri
Arkansas
Louisiana
Texas
New Mexico
Arizona
California
Nevada
Colorado
Kansas
Oklahoma
Iowa
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Utah

[MIJB#19]

where's the zero option?

(yeah, I noticed the "from the US" part of the question. )

[Suburban Rhythm]

If I count states that were not truly destinations, but stopped in (multiple times over the course of the years), I get 14.

PA, OH, WV, MD, DE, NJ, NY, VA, TN, KY, FL, TX, NV, CA.

16 if I get to count the 51st and 52nd states of DC and Canada

I've been "in" NC multiple times...but never left the airport, so not counting. MO twice, but the same thing, so I'm not including.

[ColtCrazy]

Thinking out loud.

Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, California.

So, 29. My goal is to do a cross country drive next summer. Will probably go the northern route so I can add some new states.

[lighthousekeeper]

37, if I include places visited for work travel, but exclude states only driven through, as flight stop-overs, or just forgotten.

Yet to visit: AK, HI, MT, KT, MS, AR, IA, WI, MN, ND, SD, NE, NC

[MacroGuru]

I have been to 49 of the states, Maine is the only one I haven't been to and I plan on fixing that this month.

From there my goal is to hit PR and Guam.

I have been to most of the Canadian Provinces too. I have missed the 4 small ones on the far east coast.

[SteveMax58]

Let's see...

NY,PA,DE,VT,NH,MA,NJ,MD,VA,WV
FL,GA,NC,SC,KY,TN,AL,LA,CT,MO
CA,CO,NV,NM,AZ,KS,MN,OH,IL,IN
TX


So, I guess thats 31. I did a LOT of traveling for work a few years back, so the majority is because of that. But I was not a 1 day/short duration traveler usually, mostly weeks or even months, so I did get to see areas for a little extended time periods (though certainly not the entire state in most cases).

[spleen1015]

25. I just went through this will my daughter at dinner the other night.

[molson]

I drove back and forth between Oregon and MA about 4 times from 2003-2006 and took a different route each time - it was leisurely and I did a lot of tourist stuff so I'll definitely count what I covered in those trips, which increased my number from 10 to up in the 40s somewhere. And then I spent a summer working in Alaska.

So I still have to hit Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. If airport layovers don't count, I'd have to also hit Georgia and Texas.

I've also been to every Canadian province, but not the three northwest territories. I covered all the northeast provinces while living in New England (I can't believe how many people living there haven't been up to PEI/Quebec/New Brunswick/Nova Scotia - you can get in your car and go to other country people!), and then hit everything else driving across canada once.

[Dutch]

Haha, post reading here is definately suffering from the law of diminishing returns.

[PilotMan]

Pretty sure I have an unfair advantage, but it's 45 of the lower 48 and neither Alaska or Hawaii. The only states I haven't been to in the lower 48 are Vermont, Oregon, and Arizona.

[Young Drachma]

Just missing Alaska and Hawaii. My personal rule for this is always "on the ground" that flying through the airspace doesn't count (so, I've never been to Egypt) but driving through does even it's brief. I want to do the last two at some point in the next few years, just a timing thing.

[digamma]

43. Missing the Dakotas, Kansas, Montana, Wyoming, Oregon and Alaska.

[tarcone]

Iowa, Missouri, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Colorado, Washington, California, Nevada, Utah, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Oklahoma, Texas, Indiana, Virginia.

Looks like 26. My wife wants to go to Boston. I have never done the NE as you can see.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Hmm ... counting drive thrus ...
AL, GA,MS, TN,KY, LA, FL, SC, NC, VA (barely), TX, NV, CO, CA, MA
Looks like 15 if I didn't miss any.

edit to add: The thing that surprised me about my own list was there Virginia seemed to be the only drive-thru left on the list, just tip-toed into across the line in the Tri-Cities region on a Saturday afternoon trip to the area many years ago. Everywhere else I can come up with somewhere I actually went.

[sterlingice]

I count states that I have driven through or stopped at (Oregon's a bit flaky for me- I drove to the Oregon visitors center from Boise and went to a Dairy Queen just to say I've been there). However, if I've flown through it and never left the airport, that doesn't count as I view an airport something like an embassy- where it's not foreign soil.

I'm at 37, missing AK, HI, WA, NV, UT, SD, SC, VT, NH, MA, CT, RI, ME. I had a trip planned to do VT, NH, MA, CT, RI, and ME last year but it didn't work out. Also had trips to UT and SC, too

SI

[Buccaneer]

My #1 hobby for the past 30 years have been to travel the backroads and to collect counties. I long have had visited 48 of the 50 states (excepting South Carolina and North Dakota) and about 1850 of the 3140 counties. I recently re-digitized all of the roads I have been on and overlayed that onto the counties layer to get an accurate count, which will also aid me in planning future road trips to get more counties.

Coincidentally, I am currently on another road trip to California and on the way out, I traveled through Central Nevada (including staying in Tonopah) to finish off the counties I needed in Nevada. I then went over Tioga Pass in the Sierras (spectacular drive) to grab the two counties around Yosemite. On the way back, I will detour up to the extreme northeast part of the state and grab Modoc County, which will finish off California. Additionally, I need the four counties in northeast Utah (Wasatch, Duchesne, Uintah and hard-to-get-to Dagget) and will get all those, as well as Moffat County in northwest Colorado (where Dinosaur NP is). That will complete most of the counties in the West for me (except for the northern counties in Washington, Idaho and Montana - US 2 will likely be another road trip). Incidentally, the Northeast US (North Carolina up the coast to Maine) as well as the Ohio Valley is pretty much done but I still got big holes in the Deep South and the Upper Midwest.

I do this because my two main interests in life are geography and history. There is no better way learn about people, sense of place, history, culture, politics, land developments and change, landforms, regionalism, etc. than to get out and experience the variety and diversity of places of this country.

[DanGarion]

California
Nevada
Arizona
Utah
Idaho
Wyoming
Oregon
Virginia
Washington D.C.
Texas
North Carolina
South Carolina

In that order.

[MrBug708]

California
Hawaii
Washington
Arizona
New Mexico
Colorado
Utah
Nevada
Oregon
New Jersey
Pennsylvania
New York

Layovers in Texas and Kentucky

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

My #1 hobby for the past 30 years have been to travel the backroads and to collect counties. I long have had visited 48 of the 50 states (excepting South Carolina and North Dakota) and about 1850 of the 3140 counties. I recently re-digitized all of the roads I have been on and overlayed that onto the counties layer to get an accurate count, which will also aid me in planning future road trips to get more counties.

Coincidentally, I am currently on another road trip to California and on the way out, I traveled through Central Nevada (including staying in Tonopah) to finish off the counties I needed in Nevada. I then went over Tioga Pass in the Sierras (spectacular drive) to grab the two counties around Yosemite. On the way back, I will detour up to the extreme northeast part of the state and grab Modoc County, which will finish off California. Additionally, I need the four counties in northeast Utah (Wasatch, Duchesne, Uintah and hard-to-get-to Dagget) and will get all those, as well as Moffat County in northwest Colorado (where Dinosaur NP is). That will complete most of the counties in the West for me (except for the northern counties in Washington, Idaho and Montana - US 2 will likely be another road trip). Incidentally, the Northeast US (North Carolina up the coast to Maine) as well as the Ohio Valley is pretty much done but I still got big holes in the Deep South and the Upper Midwest.

I do this because my two main interests in life are geography and history. There is no better way learn about people, sense of place, history, culture, politics, land developments and change, landforms, regionalism, etc. than to get out and experience the variety and diversity of places of this country.

I've thought about counties but I just don't think I'll ever get close.

And as new states join the union, does that frustrate you, Bucc? I mean, hitting the initial 13 colonies by horse had to be difficult. But there's 37 new ones since then...

SI

[Schmidty]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

That will complete most of the counties in the West for me (except for the northern counties in Washington, Idaho and Montana - US 2 will likely be another road trip).

If you ever visit Whatcom county (the farthest NW you can go in the lower 48), let me know!!! I'll make the steaks, and you can bring the Diet Coke!!

[Schmidty]

Dola.

I've been in 19 states (not counting fly-overs), and my favorite places so far are:

1. Michigan (Duh)
2. Montana (I would love to live there)
3. Idaho (The nothern part is beautiful)
4. Washington (It's growing on me after 7 years)
5. Kentucky (Just a nice, comfortable place)

Least Favorite:

1. Illiniois (Chicago is ok, but the rest sucked)
2. Missouri (Was there for a month vounteering during the '93 flood)
3. Wyoming (Large boulders seemed to be the only things there)

[BYU 14]

Hawaii
California
Utah
Colorado
Nevada
Wyoming
Idaho
Arizona
South Carolina
Georgia
Illinois
New York

[SackAttack]

The only way Kansas ever shows up on that list is if I'm allowed to count states I've driven through without stopping. Because I sure as hell wouldn't visit-visit it deliberately.

[Karlifornia]

Hawaii
California (duh)
Oregon
Nevada
Arizona
New Mexico
Texas
Oklahoma
Indiana
Illinois
Ohio
Louisiana
Arkansas
Mississippi
Florida
Virginia
Maryland
Massachusetts
New Hampshire
New York
Connecticut

I went to Iowa by mistake but never made it out of the airport in Des Moines (I think it was Des Moines)

[Groundhog]

0.

I am hoping to make it to the US in a few years though, probably the usual "touristy" places - NY, LA, etc.

Heck, Australia has just 6 states and 2 territories and I've only been to half of those.

[Raiders Army]

Hawaii
Pennsylvania
New York
New Jersey
Massachusetts
Vermont
Rhode Island
Ohio
Michigan
Indiana
Tennessee
Alabama
Florida
Texas
Oklahoma
New Mexico
Kansas
Missouri
California
Washington
Virginia
West Virginia
North Carolina
South Carolina
Arizona
Colorado
Kentucky
Georgia
Connecticut

[Edward64]

29 states I have visited (not counting the airport stops but including drive throughs) are:

AR
AL
OR
WA
CA
NV
AR
NM
UT
CO
MN
MI
KS
TX
MS
LA
GA
FL
SC
NC
TN
IL
OH
VA
PA
NY
NJ
MD
MA

[tucking fypo]

Mississippi
Alabama
Georgia
Florida
Tennessee
Louisiana
South Carolina
North Carolina
Virginia
Maryland
West Virginia
Kentucky
Missouri
Texas
Arkansas
Oklahoma
New Mexico
Arizona
Colorado
California
Nevada
Utah
Pennsylvania

23 states. Forgot Pennsylvania and the honeymoon. So pretty much the top half of the country I need to visit.

[Mustang]

Including drive throughs, I've never been to Alaska, Hawaii, Montana, Oregon, Washington, New Mexico and the Dakotas.

As for spending time...

I've lived in Wisconsin, Texas, Mississippi, Virginia, California and Louisiana (for 2 weeks.. long story).

Visited relatives/friends in Maine, Maryland, Florida(ex's), Kansas (ex's)

Vacationed in West Virginia (skiing), Nevada (Vegas/Reno), Indiana (Gen-con), North Carolina (camping)

Done business trips to New Jersey, Georgia and New York

Done day long excursions to Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Arizona.

The rest I'd qualify as drive throughs, stop-overs and hotel stays. Of the ones I haven't visited Alaska is tops on my list and North Dakota is the bottom. Of the places I've visited California is the top on my list and Kansas is on the bottom.

Favorite place to drive through is Wyoming. It isn't often you drive through a state and feel like you are the only one in the state.

[tyketime]

We just got back from an Alaskan cruise, so that makes... 32!

Alabama
Alaska
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Illinois
Indiana
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Nevada
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
Ohio
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia

[hoopsguy]

Working through stuff that I've visited, rather than just driving through:

1.) Washington - Seattle for Final Four in 1989
2.) California - most recently in January for wife's 40th birthday event
3.) Colorado - went to Telluride for vacation in mid-80s
4.) Utah - work trips in 90s
5.) Nevada - Vegas + Tahoe trips
6.) Illinois - home state
7.) Iowa - most recently for funeral in July
8.) Wisconsin - extended family lives there, did Brewers game a couple of seasons ago
9.) Indiana - different work stuff
10.) Ohio - had a Cedar Point vacation for 1st year anniversary
11.) Missouri - went to Cardinals game with father before they closed the old park
12.) Florida - lived there for a couple of years
13.) Georgia - wedding for family about ten years ago, also a walk-out in college
14.) Maryland - brother lives in Baltimore
15.) Pennsylvania - work + trip to Philly a few years ago
16.) New York - did trip to NYC in '99, was in Buffalo more recently
17.) Massachusetts - did work near Boston in '99
18.) Minnesota - extended family up there
19.) Louisiana - took trip to New Orleans with wife about 5 years ago
20.) New Jersey - Atlantic City extended weekend with friends a few years ago
21.) South Carolina - was there in late 80's to visit family
22.) Texas - work trip in mid-90s
23.) Hawaii - honeymoon

I've been in a car/airport for a bunch of other states, but I'm not sure why driving through Tennessee - or even staying in a hotel overnight en route to somewhere else - is all that meaningful.