For more cheap thrills, the site above also lets you put in your countries.
RESOLVED! I’ve never been to Utah!
Yes. My only experience with New Jersey has been the Newark airport, when I flew to and back from Europe when I was in the US. I don’t count New Jersey.
I don’t count having been to Taiwan either, even though we slept there overnight. We were flying from Bangkok to Los Angeles on China Airlines, but the Taipei to Los Angeles leg was canceled, so they put us up overnight in the airport hotel and then put us on the next flight to LA the next day. None of the passengers were allowed to leave the hotel, as we were not officially in the country. (But I did spot one passenger sneaking out to see the city.)
I once drove through Delaware, I have no problem saying I saw that whole State.
Anybody who has stayed in Omaha, Nebraska after arriving by air has probably been in Iowa as an unintended bonus!
Why? Because Carter Lake Iowa lies west of both the Missouri River and the Nebraska airport (Eppley Airfield). It is a geographical oddity created when the Missouri changed course after a flood and subsequent litigation kept it as part of Iowa.
“Carter Lake creates a geographic oddity for travelers going to Eppley Airfield which it surrounds on the south and west. Consequently travelers going to Eppley Airfield from anywhere except North Omaha will be going through Carter Lake, Iowa. It has caused great confusion when travelers not used to the area go through and see a “Welcome to Iowa” sign on their way to the Airport.”
I think I’m going to tighten the rules on my own list, and count only states where I’ve spent the night. This means I’ll have to go back to Utah, and a handful of states in the Midwest. Plus there are a few states in New England I’ll need to knock off.
Following the “feet on the ground rule,” I’ve visited these states. If I allow drive-thrus, the list expands to this. Wyoming’s kinda questionable, since we only cut thru the southeast corner while going from Nebraska to Colorado. I want to go back there to see Yellowstone one day.
There might be a couple of other states that I visited while I was a really young (MA and NH, specifically) but since I don’t remember them I can’t really count them.
I don’t really go with the “feet on the ground” rule. If you’ve driven or traveled by train or bus the entire length or breadth of a state, I think that counts as being there.
Razorette and I have established some fairly complicated rules for ourselves in this area. In our rulebook, there are actually three designations: To, through, and in.
In order to qualify for having been to a state, one must have gone to that state for a specific purpose or destination. To have been *through * a state,
one has to have driven at least 40% of the length or breadth of a state (depending on which direction the highway goes). To have been in a state, one must only have been physically present in a vehicle that drove, however briefly, inside a state. If we are merely in a state, but stop to see a sight or tourist attraction, then it qualifies as a “through.” If we’re driving through a state and stop for a specific sight or tourist attraction, that bumps a “through” up to a “to.” For instance, when driving back from Dallas recently, we drove through Oklahoma, but stopped in Oklahoma City to tour the OKC Memorial, and again outside Norman to sample a vineyard’s wares and buy some wine. So while previously we’d just been *through * Oklahoma, we’ve now been *to * Oklahoma.
Also, we don’t count gas, food or motel stops as anything more than highway miles. So, while we’ve been *through * Kansas a number of times, and stopped to fuel up, eat and even spend the night in a motel, we’ve never been *to * Kansas because we didn’t leave the highway for anything other than travel necessities. Next time we go through, however, we will stop at a vineyard near Salina and probably buy several bottles of wine; since we’re planning a non-necessity stop, it will count has having been *to * Kansas.
Yeah, I know, mundane and pointless as hell, but it’s how we travel, and it’s fun.
I know this has been addressed in at least one other thread where I responded, but I don’t think much would be gained by my searching for the other thread(s). Besides, there have been some good arguments for ways to see the issue.
My current version is based on the idea that there are imaginary “fences” around the states and that once you cross over or through or under those fences you are “in” the state whose fence you’ve passed beyond. I do, however, require that you are in contact with the ground (or water) of that state. I don’t require that your bare skin come in contact with dirt (or water) in that state, so tires, shoes, railroad tracks and boat bottoms making contact with the ground or water provide the type of contact I require. Planes flying overhead pose a separate issue and I prefer to use “over” as opposed to “in” as if the “fences” only extend upwards for a few feet and then you’re in “space” above the state.
I see how that is arbitrary. But it’s how I sense the “in” aspect of being connected with a state’s terrain.
Getting out of a plane in a state means you are in that state. Having the plane touch down qualifies, too. But just flying over doesn’t count.
I can’t think of any state that I claim I have been “in” where I wasn’t on the ground there. And I’m pretty sure I was out of the car and on the ground in every one. So it’s not a big issue for me. And every state I’ve flown over I have eventually been back in in a car and have been “on the ground” somewhere in that state.
I’m not sure I could accept any “rules” for what “in” means if they differ from these I’ve stated. It’s a personal thing. More like a belief.
I think it says a lot about the SDMB community there there are elaborate definitions and internal debate about this. (That is, people have given this a lot of thought)
Some might call it (for lack of a better term) geeky. I think its cool.
Brian
I only count where I “visited.” By that count, I’ve never visited Saskatchewan (even though my family drove through it on a few occasions and may even have slept there), Newfoundland or the Netherlands (though I changed planes in both places).
Here’s 100% agreement with the sentiment. Rarely a day goes by when I don’t see a topic or a take on a topic that I didn’t realize others thought as deeply and as seriously about as I do or did. And to think of all the questions I had never thought to ask. It staggers the imagination. My main purpose in revisiting this place every day is to find out what I couldn’t possibly have imagined beforehand.
While there may be no such thing as an “original thought” there certainly are a lot of twists on old ones. And just think: there are even religions and philosophies and systems of government based on some of this shit! 
I can’t go for the “slept there” rule. By that definition I’ve never been to Wyoming, even though I drove through it three times, stopped for food and took photos of antelope, plus spent several days in Yellowstone (but slept in Montana).
I’m going to propose the “snow angel” (“snow dirt” for those warmer Southern states) rule. You’ve been in a state once you’ve rolled around and made an impression on the ground. I just rolled around outside just to make sure I’ve been in Florida. You should see the looks my neighbors are giving me.
I count it if I’m in a car (even if only while moving) or in airplane (if it is on the ground). I’m making this more difficult for myself though, as I’m trying to visit every US county!
Well goddammit! Now I’m going to have to start again from scratch!
My version of the “pee or sleep” rule is as a modifier, mostly used for unplanned airport layovers. It means I get to claim I have been to Georgia, but not New York. One must leave the vehicle, BTW, so I have never been to Oklahoma, even though I was physically within the boundaries of the state while sound asleep.
I’ve never counted myself as having “been to” a state unless I’ve actually done some tourist-like thing there…and I don’t mean eating or filling up with gas. If asked how many states I’d been in, I’d list those I’d merely driven through as a separate category (though now that’s a moot point for me, as I can proudly say I’ve been to all 50, plus all 10 provinces of Canada).
As one poster said it was I-15 sorry for that. And as another poster said yes I will from now on get over to the side of the road and TOUCH the ground with my hand. Not my shoe. I actually did that when I went to NJ as I was in NYC and took the train and got out and took my picture of me at the Newark station.
Still frustrating is West Virgina, whatever Interstate (is it I-70?) it is like 1 mile from West Virginia yet I never remember to get off and run over to West Virginia so it counts.
LOL