I think having a meaningful/memorable experience in a particular state—even if you don't stay the night, have a meaningful conversation with a local or find/buy something—should count. For example, I would count attending a sporting event, visiting a National Park or other local site/attraction, or attending a religious service.
It's probably me as a rule-follower just reading too literally. But now I understand you were trying to address cases that could go either way, rather than a comprehensive list of what counts or not.
Oooh, I've had many thoughts and discussions on this topic, and I've even detoured to cross state borders (sliding into Nebraska while driving in eastern Wyoming, for one). I might bend some of these guidelines, though -- like for regional chains. You could sit at the counter at a Waffle House and chat with a server, and that's an experience you won't get at an Applebee's in Massachusetts. You *could* spend the night in a corporate chain -- and then walk to a nearby local restaurant or bar (OK, so maybe that's checking off the state via a different rule).
I would also add doing something cultural, like visiting a state park or local museum. In 2019, when Casey and I drove Route 66, we spent a couple hours in Kansas even though it only has 13 miles of the Mother Road. We could've walked it in an afternoon! Instead, much of that time was spent at the Baxter Springs Museum, where we had the place to ourselves on a November weekday and learned a lot about local history (and also spent time chatting with the retiree who was volunteering at the entrance that day).
I'll be checking off state No. 47 in two weeks when I go to Minnesota for a week. Just Alaska and the Dakotas to go after that!
I think there's a difference between being in a state, and experiencing the state. I tend to think that most of your rules would fall under my definition of experiencing a state.
For me, to count as being in a state I always felt I had to touch my bare skin to terra firma. In my travels across the country, I've always felt if I was just in a car it didn't count. Pulling over at a gas station for a refuel? Doesn't count. Gotta come in physical contact with the land. So while passing through Arkansas one time, I stopped at a rest stop and walked over and picked a little tuft of grass. Boom... skin to nature... now I can check off the box. Arkansas counts.
I once landed in Minneapolis and switched planes on my way to Alaska. Airport terminal doesn't count. Tarmac doesn't count. I could have stepped out the front door and grabbed some dirt from the landscaping, but that wouldn't count in my book. Gotta be legit terra firma. Have I been to the Minneapolis-St. Paul international Airport? Yup. Have I ever been to Minnesota. Nope. Doesn't count.
Ironically, I once had a similar conversation with one of my buddies. In his book, he counted airspace. According to his rules, a states borders run into the sky, and he tried to convince me that he was in Iowa when he flew from Chicago to Denver. Did you touch down in Iowa? I asked. Nope. Have you ever stopped or driven through Iowa? Nope. Sorry dude, doesn't count.
I guess everyone has their own rules. Gotta respect them. (Except the airspace guy, of course.)
Sit down chain restaurants are often where we have the best conversations with locals, so I wouldn’t shy away from them. Our rule has always been that you have to have boots on the ground in order to count. And yes, I mean actual soil. Take a walk in a park or walk the dog (our usual way to get good contact) are two we use. The Blue Ridge Parkway is nice, but we have to stop and admire the view in order to count it.
Our family has traveled a lot, and while we never established rules, we let the decision fall to the kids. We had a layover in Baltimore once and my son declared he had now been in Maryland. He was about 8 then and very excited about checking off one more state unexpectedly. I wasn’t going to tell him it didn’t count. When I was a kid I noticed that if we drove west just a little bit, we’d cross the bold yellow line on the map, putting us in Idaho. I convinced my parents to drive that stretch so I could check off one more state. When we crossed the yellow line they realized that it was not the state border, rather, it was the highlighted highway on the map provided by AAA. Forty years later and I still haven’t been to Idaho.
Four Corners National Monument is an issue. It is the ONLY time I have "been" to New Mexico. It's the accurate location (previous reports of it not being at the actual border is, I believe, uncorrect). But, does that count as visiting NM?
A couple years ago, my mom, sister, and I drove from Maine to Florida to move my sister down there after she got a job. We drove through every state on the eastern seaboard, but only stopped in Connecticut (for gas), Maryland (spent the night in a Baltimore hotel), Virginia (for gas), North Carolina (for gas), South Carolina (rest stop) and Georgia (spent the night in a Savannah motel, the scummiest place I've ever stayed and the last time my sister ever decides where I sleep). I wouldn't really consider myself having "been" to any of those states (except Connecticut, which I *had* been to previously).
My mother and I flew back, but due to a screw up by Delta, we ended up spending the night at the Atlanta airport, then catching a flight to LaGuardia at 5 AM and then back to Portland from LGA. Oddly, because I spent the night at Hartfield-Jackson, I feel like I have "been" to Georgia, but I hadn't considered myself having "been" to New York City until I came down for your Uni Watch retirement party.
Peeing in a state is an interesting criterion. Had a friend who thought that if you drink water, a beer or whatever in a given state, you needed to pee it out before moving to the next state, i.e. what starts in Wisconsin, stays in Wisconsin. This makes timing of border crossings very important.
Back in 1992, I road-tripped with a couple buddies to Minneapolis for the Men's Final Four. We piled into a hotel room from a chain and I'm sure ate only from chains because we were cash-poor college students. Still, I count that as having visited Minnesota. It's still one of the most memorable road trips of my life.
I'd quibble slightly about airports, but only in limited circumstances. If you've been to a civil aviation airport anywhere, especially if you've eaten at the little airport's nearby diner, a meal famous among private pilots as the "$100 burger" after you add the price of the plane's fuel to the five bucks you pay for the sandwich, you've been to that place. And airports that have been built up as major hubs are no different than any tourist attraction. If you fly in to Orlando to spend a long weekend just going to the Disney and Universal parks and then fly out of Orlando, have you been to Florida? Yes, I'd argue, you have. Same for the Mall of America and Minnesota or seeing a ballgame somewhere even though you don't see anything else in that city. Some airports are closer to Disneyland than a regular old airport. I've spent so much time at the Atlanta airport, including multiple overnights, and I've dined at multiple award-winning airport restaurants run by locally famous chefs that I count Georgia on my life list of states visited. The state of Georgia and the city of Atlanta have gone to great expense to make the Atlanta airport a destination that's basically a transportation-themed amusement park, so in my book spending sufficient hours and overnights there, plus eating sit-down meals at non-national-chain restaurants counts as visiting Georgia for me in a way that a layover in, say, Seattle doesn't count for me.
Using these rules I've been to 37. Missing a big chunk centered around the great plains (missing the Dakotas, Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas). Then also randomly missing both Carolinas.
I generally agree with these rules, although as other commenters have said I have pretty wide latitude for including driving through a state. Driving all the way across, say, Nebraska, is actually a pretty good way to see the state (even if you only stop briefly). This goes to how much you value the geography/natural aspects of a state rather than the societal aspects. I probably place a higher value on the former than most.
I think driving through counts. I mean, if you've ever driven through southern New Mexico on I-10, you'll know there's not much to stop for. I did find a leather working shop that had an old west holster for my revolver there, so it definitely counts.
I have been to 48 states. I'm missing Alaska and Vermont. Using your criteria would bump it down to 47 as I've only driven through South Carolina and did not stop. It was also the middle of the night so I didn't see much. I think I'm still going to count it though.
Just had this conversation with my 11 year old son. Last week we stayed in Montana and one day we drove through Yellowstone to the Grand Tetons to Jackson Hole. On the way back to the hotel we looped through Idaho. My son argued Idaho didn't count as a state visited but we did stop in Victor, Idaho at a general store where we bought trinkets and huckleberry milkshakes. I think that qualifies even under Paul's rules.
But now Paul has me questioning whether I should count Utah for my kids. Last year we went to 4 Corners (I'm assuming that's not enough for Paul to count four states) and afterwards we went into Utah for a couple hours to visit the Hovenweep National Monument. The visitor center was closed so all we did was get our stamp and do a 20 minute hike to take pictures of the ancient structures.
I think having a meaningful/memorable experience in a particular state—even if you don't stay the night, have a meaningful conversation with a local or find/buy something—should count. For example, I would count attending a sporting event, visiting a National Park or other local site/attraction, or attending a religious service.
Oh, for sure. I kind of thought those types of things were so obvious that there was no need to mention them. But I guess I should have!
It's probably me as a rule-follower just reading too literally. But now I understand you were trying to address cases that could go either way, rather than a comprehensive list of what counts or not.
Oooh, I've had many thoughts and discussions on this topic, and I've even detoured to cross state borders (sliding into Nebraska while driving in eastern Wyoming, for one). I might bend some of these guidelines, though -- like for regional chains. You could sit at the counter at a Waffle House and chat with a server, and that's an experience you won't get at an Applebee's in Massachusetts. You *could* spend the night in a corporate chain -- and then walk to a nearby local restaurant or bar (OK, so maybe that's checking off the state via a different rule).
I would also add doing something cultural, like visiting a state park or local museum. In 2019, when Casey and I drove Route 66, we spent a couple hours in Kansas even though it only has 13 miles of the Mother Road. We could've walked it in an afternoon! Instead, much of that time was spent at the Baxter Springs Museum, where we had the place to ourselves on a November weekday and learned a lot about local history (and also spent time chatting with the retiree who was volunteering at the entrance that day).
I'll be checking off state No. 47 in two weeks when I go to Minnesota for a week. Just Alaska and the Dakotas to go after that!
I think there's a difference between being in a state, and experiencing the state. I tend to think that most of your rules would fall under my definition of experiencing a state.
For me, to count as being in a state I always felt I had to touch my bare skin to terra firma. In my travels across the country, I've always felt if I was just in a car it didn't count. Pulling over at a gas station for a refuel? Doesn't count. Gotta come in physical contact with the land. So while passing through Arkansas one time, I stopped at a rest stop and walked over and picked a little tuft of grass. Boom... skin to nature... now I can check off the box. Arkansas counts.
I once landed in Minneapolis and switched planes on my way to Alaska. Airport terminal doesn't count. Tarmac doesn't count. I could have stepped out the front door and grabbed some dirt from the landscaping, but that wouldn't count in my book. Gotta be legit terra firma. Have I been to the Minneapolis-St. Paul international Airport? Yup. Have I ever been to Minnesota. Nope. Doesn't count.
Ironically, I once had a similar conversation with one of my buddies. In his book, he counted airspace. According to his rules, a states borders run into the sky, and he tried to convince me that he was in Iowa when he flew from Chicago to Denver. Did you touch down in Iowa? I asked. Nope. Have you ever stopped or driven through Iowa? Nope. Sorry dude, doesn't count.
I guess everyone has their own rules. Gotta respect them. (Except the airspace guy, of course.)
Sit down chain restaurants are often where we have the best conversations with locals, so I wouldn’t shy away from them. Our rule has always been that you have to have boots on the ground in order to count. And yes, I mean actual soil. Take a walk in a park or walk the dog (our usual way to get good contact) are two we use. The Blue Ridge Parkway is nice, but we have to stop and admire the view in order to count it.
Our family has traveled a lot, and while we never established rules, we let the decision fall to the kids. We had a layover in Baltimore once and my son declared he had now been in Maryland. He was about 8 then and very excited about checking off one more state unexpectedly. I wasn’t going to tell him it didn’t count. When I was a kid I noticed that if we drove west just a little bit, we’d cross the bold yellow line on the map, putting us in Idaho. I convinced my parents to drive that stretch so I could check off one more state. When we crossed the yellow line they realized that it was not the state border, rather, it was the highlighted highway on the map provided by AAA. Forty years later and I still haven’t been to Idaho.
Four Corners National Monument is an issue. It is the ONLY time I have "been" to New Mexico. It's the accurate location (previous reports of it not being at the actual border is, I believe, uncorrect). But, does that count as visiting NM?
A couple years ago, my mom, sister, and I drove from Maine to Florida to move my sister down there after she got a job. We drove through every state on the eastern seaboard, but only stopped in Connecticut (for gas), Maryland (spent the night in a Baltimore hotel), Virginia (for gas), North Carolina (for gas), South Carolina (rest stop) and Georgia (spent the night in a Savannah motel, the scummiest place I've ever stayed and the last time my sister ever decides where I sleep). I wouldn't really consider myself having "been" to any of those states (except Connecticut, which I *had* been to previously).
My mother and I flew back, but due to a screw up by Delta, we ended up spending the night at the Atlanta airport, then catching a flight to LaGuardia at 5 AM and then back to Portland from LGA. Oddly, because I spent the night at Hartfield-Jackson, I feel like I have "been" to Georgia, but I hadn't considered myself having "been" to New York City until I came down for your Uni Watch retirement party.
Peeing in a state is an interesting criterion. Had a friend who thought that if you drink water, a beer or whatever in a given state, you needed to pee it out before moving to the next state, i.e. what starts in Wisconsin, stays in Wisconsin. This makes timing of border crossings very important.
Back in 1992, I road-tripped with a couple buddies to Minneapolis for the Men's Final Four. We piled into a hotel room from a chain and I'm sure ate only from chains because we were cash-poor college students. Still, I count that as having visited Minnesota. It's still one of the most memorable road trips of my life.
I'd quibble slightly about airports, but only in limited circumstances. If you've been to a civil aviation airport anywhere, especially if you've eaten at the little airport's nearby diner, a meal famous among private pilots as the "$100 burger" after you add the price of the plane's fuel to the five bucks you pay for the sandwich, you've been to that place. And airports that have been built up as major hubs are no different than any tourist attraction. If you fly in to Orlando to spend a long weekend just going to the Disney and Universal parks and then fly out of Orlando, have you been to Florida? Yes, I'd argue, you have. Same for the Mall of America and Minnesota or seeing a ballgame somewhere even though you don't see anything else in that city. Some airports are closer to Disneyland than a regular old airport. I've spent so much time at the Atlanta airport, including multiple overnights, and I've dined at multiple award-winning airport restaurants run by locally famous chefs that I count Georgia on my life list of states visited. The state of Georgia and the city of Atlanta have gone to great expense to make the Atlanta airport a destination that's basically a transportation-themed amusement park, so in my book spending sufficient hours and overnights there, plus eating sit-down meals at non-national-chain restaurants counts as visiting Georgia for me in a way that a layover in, say, Seattle doesn't count for me.
Using these rules I've been to 37. Missing a big chunk centered around the great plains (missing the Dakotas, Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas). Then also randomly missing both Carolinas.
I generally agree with these rules, although as other commenters have said I have pretty wide latitude for including driving through a state. Driving all the way across, say, Nebraska, is actually a pretty good way to see the state (even if you only stop briefly). This goes to how much you value the geography/natural aspects of a state rather than the societal aspects. I probably place a higher value on the former than most.
I think driving through counts. I mean, if you've ever driven through southern New Mexico on I-10, you'll know there's not much to stop for. I did find a leather working shop that had an old west holster for my revolver there, so it definitely counts.
Always good stuff, Paul. I am also reminded of the Extra Milers Club that seeks to visit all 3,400ish COUNTIES in the US. Good to have goals!
I have been to 48 states. I'm missing Alaska and Vermont. Using your criteria would bump it down to 47 as I've only driven through South Carolina and did not stop. It was also the middle of the night so I didn't see much. I think I'm still going to count it though.
Just had this conversation with my 11 year old son. Last week we stayed in Montana and one day we drove through Yellowstone to the Grand Tetons to Jackson Hole. On the way back to the hotel we looped through Idaho. My son argued Idaho didn't count as a state visited but we did stop in Victor, Idaho at a general store where we bought trinkets and huckleberry milkshakes. I think that qualifies even under Paul's rules.
But now Paul has me questioning whether I should count Utah for my kids. Last year we went to 4 Corners (I'm assuming that's not enough for Paul to count four states) and afterwards we went into Utah for a couple hours to visit the Hovenweep National Monument. The visitor center was closed so all we did was get our stamp and do a 20 minute hike to take pictures of the ancient structures.
Going to a National Park Service attraction definitely counts in my book!