50 Nifty United States … well, 38.

Originally published at robohara.com. Please leave any comments there.

Back when I was in elementary school we learned a song called “Fifty Nifty United States” (Lyrics). If nothing else, learning it is a great parlor trick; I’ve bet people I could recite all fifty states alphabetically in less than 30 seconds before and won.

As a kid singing that song I used to imagine visiting all 50 states someday. Last night someone on Facebook posted one of those quizzes asking “how many of the 50 states (plus DC) have you visited?” My final answer: 38. X’s denote states I have visited; O’s denote states I have lived in.

Alabama: X
Alaska
Arizona: X
Arkansas: X
California: X
Colorado: X
Connecticut: X
Delaware: X
Florida: X
Georgia: X
Hawaii
Idaho: X
Illinois: X
Indiana: X
Iowa
Kansas: X
Kentucky
Louisiana: X
Maine
Maryland: X
Massachusetts: X
Michigan
Minnesota: X
Mississippi: X
Missouri: X
Montana: X
Nebraska
Nevada: X
New Hampshire: X
New Jersey: X
New Mexico: X
New York
North Carolina: X
North Dakota
Ohio: X
Oklahoma: O
Oregon: X
Pennsylvania: X
Rhode Island: X
South Carolina: X
South Dakota
Tennessee: X
Texas: X
Utah
Vermont
Virginia: X
West Virginia: X
Wisconsin
Wyoming: X
Washington: O
Washington DC: X

To be sure, I’ve spent more time in some than others. Several of those I’ve merely driven through. I don’t even think I stopped in Delaware or Maryland as I cruised through them. I spent about ten minutes in California once; dad and I drove there from Vegas “just to say we had been there”. The most surprising omission on the list is probably New York.

If I have any upcoming road trips in the future I may have to alter my routes to pick up a few more. I doubt I’ll hit the far north east anytime soon and Alaska and Hawaii will be tough to collect, but places like Nebraska and the Dakotas are suddenly taunting me.