I’m off to Alaska shortly, to see my sister get married. I’ve never been before, and I believe this trip puts me up to 31 states visited. Here’s my map:
Road trips from Massachusetts to Georgia and one from San Diego to Seattle got me the coasts, and a surprising amount of my midwest experience is from various conferences. Alabama, West Virginia and Alaska are the states I will have visited solely to watch someone get married, though I got to/will get to take a good look around each before leaving. With any luck I’ll add Nebraska to my list in September.
Amusingly, my 5 year old son has never been outside of New England, and Alaska will be his first experience with the rest of the US.
I looked it up, and apparently the average American adult has been to 12 states, with Florida, California, Georgia, New York and Nevada being the most visited. The map of visitation is here:
In many ways my map reflects the average, though my time in New England snagged me all the rarer states there.
Overall I’ve loved every new state I’ve been to, and I expect to enjoy Juneau quite a bit. The plane ride with a 5 year old may be tough, but the end result should be awesome. Wish us luck!
graph paper diaries 
Your son’s experience does not seem odd to those of us who are older. Until I had turned 13, I had been in NH, MA, CT, and on a day trip to the NY World’s Fair. I gradually added states that I had driven through, and now am uncertain what to do with states I have changed planes in. I have 36-38. I have stayed overnight in 15.
I’m trying to figure out how those people are getting to Maine without going through NH. Portland airport isn’t that busy. I suspect there are some who don’t realise they drove through NH on their way from Massachusetts to Maine.
LikeLike
Nice catch with Maine. I do think some of that may be due to people not counting states they merely drive through. I don’t count states where I never left the airport or states I drove through without stopping. I am still somewhat uncomfortable listing Delaware because literally all I’ve ever done there is drive and use rest stops, but after a dozen or more trips through it feels silly not to list it.I think I’ve stayed overnight in all except 3 I listed…Delaware, South Carolina and Missouri.
For the kiddo, I was more thinking that going from New England to Alaska was like going 0 to 60. He’s never been to New York, but he’ll have been to Alaska. A rarity for this area.
Of course New England kids do have a leg up here. By the time he was 6 weeks old he’d been to 3 states…visiting family in NH and we took a quick trip down to Newport, RI to walk on the beach one day just for fun. Both can be reached in under 90 minutes. For a kid born in a bigger state like Texas you’d have to drive for hours to go elsewhere.
LikeLike
For a kid born in a bigger state like Texas you’d have to drive for hours to go elsewhere.
Unsurprisingly, there’s been a song written about that. Butch Hancock’s Two Roads tells us “You can drive all day and never leave Texas.” Butch, who has been around since the Flatlanders, is living proof that being a good singer/songwriter is no guarantee that you will become rich.
Bill Neely’sNever Left the Lone Star State fits many a Texas town into the song. China, Palestine, Paris….
Just for the scenery: Miles and Miles of Texas.
LikeLike
Your song recommendations led me to google “best songs about each state”, because of course people have created such lists:
https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2007/sep/14/usa.roadtrips
I had never heard their suggestion for Massachusetts, but it’s pretty good and the video is pretty perfect:
LikeLike
I will beg to differ on at least one state. Georgia on my Mind is the Official State Song of the State of Georgia. In my opinion, that is not only the Official State Song of the State of Georgia, but also the best song about ANY state.
LikeLike
The video for Massachusetts is perfect. It reflects the view I formed of Massachusetts when I was in 4th grade: “there’s a mass of people in Mass.” At least more than my rural hometown. The frenetic pace of traffic in the video captures very well my view of driving from Route 128 on in: “DON’T.” Thank God for the T. Anything to avoid the roads.
LikeLike
I expect to enjoy Juneau quite a bit.
Juneau where we’ve been? Alaska ‘nother one. 🙂 While this is Johnny Horton’s song, the video cannot be beat, and Dwight, of course, does a good job. Dwight Yoakam ~ “North To Alaska.”
Two of my high school peers ended up in Alaska. One went there with the Army, and stayed.At one time, his daughter had a blog about home schooling in the Alaskan wilderness.
I have been to 46 states. By age 5- thirteen states- and close to that number by age 1-courtesy of flyover parents who moved to New England. Between high school graduation and starting college, I hitched to California. Saw cousins there.
LikeLike
Well now I’m curious which 4 you’re missing!
LikeLike
North Dakota, Kentucky, Alaska, Hawaii. I was once close to Kentucky, when my hitching took me to Cincinnati. Coincidentally, my brother-in-law lived in Cincinnati from 7th grade through college- though he didn’t meet my sister until decades after he left Cincinnati. (A city which my father pronounced “Cincinnatah.”)
LikeLike
I beg to differ about just about every state on that list. A large percentage of them are by people who have never lived there sneering at the stereotype. Oh, I mean “Evoking Its Essence.”
Or “Hey, a cool band once mentioned this state.”
LikeLike