# What is the definition of visiting a state? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 12, 2022, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definition-of-visiting-a-state/957653 "2022-01-12T18:16:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Shadowfyre](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfyre/32/9972_2.png) [@Shadowfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shadowfyre)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definition-of-visiting-a-state/957653/42 "2022-01-13T13:30:05Z")
Hey Senegoid, that’s my thread. Haven’t been on the Dope in YEARS! You’ve done good things with the place, I see. In that thread, we pretty much agreed that “visiting” was - at the VERY least - eating at a non-national-chain restaurant that is not in an airport. And I’ve been living my life by that definition for the past 13 years. Sure, I went to the 4 corners (Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado) but I had to eat in a non-national-chain restaurant to count it as visited. In New Mexico we ate at a local fast food chain filled with locals, so that counted. It seemed to come down to interacting with and being around locals. Sure, local people may work in the restaurant or shop at the airport, but you’re surrounded by non-locals. However, I’d almost argue that flying into Orlando, getting on a Disney bus and taking it to a Disney resort, then spending all of your time in the Disney parks, then taking the Disney bus back to the airport does NOT count as visiting Florida. Heck, even most of the employees are only living in Florida to work at Disney. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definition-of-visiting-a-state/957653/43 "2022-01-13T13:45:02Z")
I’ve done two southern Caribbean cruises. Does getting off the ship and walking around the port count? Every Caribbean island port town is virtually interchangeable, selling Knick-knacks that were made in China. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definition-of-visiting-a-state/957653/44 "2022-01-13T14:43:17Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I posit that if your gas was Iowa 80 truck stop I’ve been there lots of times. It’s…okay, it’s a truck stop. But apparently the “World’s Largest” one. I too apply the airport/drivethrough exception. I’ve changed planes at O’Hare and driven the eastern half of I-80 more times than I can remember but have never “been” to Chicago (although I’ve been to Champaign-Urbana, so I’ve “been” to Illinois). > [@HazyFantazy](#): > > Are there fake dinosaurs at any of these places? You want [Florida](https://dinosaurworld.com/) for that. It’s pretty good and I’ve been twice, but I’m not sure it’s worth a _long_ trip to visit. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definition-of-visiting-a-state/957653/45 "2022-01-13T14:47:54Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > It’s…okay, it’s a truck stop. To each his own, naturally, but it _is_ a big store. 🙂 also, it has a pretty good truck museum on the grounds. > [@HazyFantazy](#): > > Are there fake dinosaurs at any of these places? Don’t forget Cabazon, Ca, with the dinos (as seen in Pee Wee’s Big Adventure). Even if they’ve been taken over by fundamentalist Christians that believe Jesus rode dinosaurs, they still look good. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definition-of-visiting-a-state/957653/46 "2022-01-13T14:48:58Z")
Hard to define. I once drove through Harper’s Ferry but returned to Virginia and didn’t stop. Did I visit or not? I say “no.” I took a train to Chicago. It passed through Ohio and Indiana during the night. It even stopped there (Amtrak). So, technically, I actually slept in both states. I don’t count them. There were also an airport stop in San Francisco. Back then, we even were able to get off the plane. I also had an airport stop in Las Vegas. But in both cases, I later was able to visit both places (and states). ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definition-of-visiting-a-state/957653/47 "2022-01-13T14:57:52Z")
Changing planes doesn’t count. Feet on natural ground off of airport property does. Driving through counts IF you get out of car and touch natural ground. Sleeping in a state always counts. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definition-of-visiting-a-state/957653/48 "2022-01-13T15:13:59Z")
The coastal part is quite nice. I volunteered for a month down in Izola back in 1996, and also visited the coastal towns of Piran and Portorož. Not a bad way to spend part of the summer. I will admit, though, that the Croatian coast is even more interesting. I mean, there’s a hell of a lot more of it, with endless isles, and then the beautiful walled city of Dubrovnik at the southern end. Anyway, I’d be inclined to count @EinsteinsHund 's 100km through Slovenia as having been in Slovenia. That said, when we were Uzbekistan, the highway we were on briefly veered into Turkmenistan – maybe 20 km or so? But, for some reason, I don’t really count that as having visited or even been in Turkmenistan in any sense of the word, because it was just this weird brief border change on a continuous road in the middle of absolutely nowhere. There was nothing to see or step out into that was any different than the rest of our trip in Uzbekistan between (IIRC) Khiva and Bukhara. (Hmm – this is weird; I’m looking at the map between those two cities, and while it gets tantalizingly close to the Turkmenistan border, I don’t really see any roads that would have had us briefly dipping in and out of Turkmenistan. Perhaps our driver was incorrect – I don’t think the border there has changed in the last 25 years, but I could be wrong. There is a short foray into Karakalpakstan, an autonomous republic within Uzebekistan, and that more fits my memory of where we could have been.) ---
**Author:** ![Wrenching\_Spanners](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecb155/32.png) [@Wrenching\_Spanners](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wrenching_Spanners)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definition-of-visiting-a-state/957653/49 "2022-01-13T15:17:14Z")
Does it count as a visit to a state if you don’t know you’re in the state? On a trip to New York City, we visited the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. It was years later that I learned that Ellis Island is part of New Jersey. > **[You Think You Know Which State Owns Ellis Island, but You're Probably Wrong](https://www.cntraveler.com/stories/2013-11-18/maphead-ellis-island)** > > If you think you know which state you’re visiting when you hop off the ferry at Ellis Island, you’re guaranteed to be half-wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definition-of-visiting-a-state/957653/50 "2022-01-13T15:36:06Z")
[**According to this, you really aren’t “in” a country until you leave the airport.**](https://theconversation.com/how-some-people-can-end-up-living-at-airports-for-months-even-years-at-a-time-154336) > Then there are those who unwittingly find themselves in an extended, indefinite stay. Perhaps the most famous involuntary long-term airport resident was [Mehran Karimi Nasseri](https://www.gq.com/story/merhan-nasseri-charles-de-gaulle-stuck), whose story reportedly inspired the movie “[The Terminal](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0362227/),” starring Tom Hanks. > > Nasseri, an Iranian refugee, was en route to England via Belgium and France in 1988 when he lost the papers that verified his refugee status. Without his papers, he could not board his plane for England. Nor was he permitted to leave the Paris airport and enter France. He soon became an international hot potato as his case bounced back and forth among officials in England, France and Belgium. At one point French authorities offered to allow him to reside in France, but Nasseri turned down the offer, reportedly because he wanted to get to his original destination, England. And so he stayed at Charles de Gaulle Airport for nearly 18 years. He left only in 2006, [when his declining health required hospitalization](https://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0621/p11s02-almo.html). ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definition-of-visiting-a-state/957653/51 "2022-01-13T17:39:22Z")
[quote=“Saint\_Cad, post:18, topic:957653, full:true”] If so, is there a minimum distance? As in the first post, does [driving this road](https://www.google.com/maps/@39.722173,-75.7740754,445m/data=!3m1!1e3) count as visiting PA? I intentionally swerved to the other side of the road, a few times while cycling on [Line Rd](https://www.google.com/maps/@45.0116122,-73.3165786,16z) while stating, “I’m in Canada. I’m in the US. I’m in Canada. I’m in the US.” Even stopped to take a pic with feet in either country. However, it was a side trip back from Canada to cross a border by bike so the question of whether I was in Canada is moot. > [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > I went to Four Corners and stood over the actual seal. Did I just visit all four states? I’m going with the NFL reception rule (both feet inbound) so I’d say no. Now if you had walked a circle around that marker… ---
**Author:** ![Esprise\_Me](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprise_me/32/2947_2.png) [@Esprise\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprise_Me)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definition-of-visiting-a-state/957653/52 "2022-01-13T18:46:13Z")
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > So playing the slots in the Las Vegas airport during a layover counts as having been to Vegas or not? I was going to say airports don’t count, but I’d make an exception for that. That’s a sufficiently Vegas-y thing that I’d say you experienced a taste of Vegas. I have taken trains cross-country, changing in Chicago. The first time, I didn’t leave the train station, but the second time I had several hours, so I explored the area. I did a little shopping, went to the top of the Sears Tower to get a view of the city, and hung out in a local park, people-watching. It was one of the first warm days of the year, and the joy in the air was palpable. So yes, I now say I’ve been to Chicago. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definition-of-visiting-a-state/957653/53 "2022-01-13T19:11:08Z")
I’ll disagree; I’m going to say that if you don’t leave an airport, you did not visit the city or state, even though McCarran - er. Harry Reid - is a unique airport. An airport is a liminal space, a limbo. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definition-of-visiting-a-state/957653/54 "2022-01-13T19:26:04Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > An airport is a liminal space, a limbo. Yep. I’ve long used the word “limbo” for transportation hubs of any sort. It’s a place that’s neither here nor there. It exists outside terrestrial geography. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2022, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definition-of-visiting-a-state/957653/55 "2022-01-13T19:58:49Z")
Some of my experiences … I’d call it Pugatory. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2022, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definition-of-visiting-a-state/957653/56 "2022-01-14T06:38:06Z")
If you’re just passing through on the Interstate but get stuck for some number of hours in a traffic jam or snowstorm, does that count as visiting? Does it count if rescue workers have to bring you food, water, and Sterno? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2022, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definition-of-visiting-a-state/957653/57 "2022-01-14T10:17:56Z")
Agreed on the “liminal space” thing. Similarly, I’ve been to Keflavik a couple of times to change planes but can’t really say that I’ve been to Iceland. Quite a dull airport, sadly. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2022, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definition-of-visiting-a-state/957653/58 "2022-01-14T14:03:47Z")
> [@Esprise\_Me](#): > > I was going to say airports don’t count, but I’d make an exception for that. That’s a sufficiently Vegas-y thing that I’d say you experienced a taste of Vegas. No exceptions! That leads to anarchy. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2022, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definition-of-visiting-a-state/957653/59 "2022-01-14T14:37:47Z")
> [@Shadowfyre](#): > > “visiting” was - at the VERY least - eating at a non-national-chain restaurant that is not in an airport. And I’ve been living my life by that definition for the past 13 years. That works pretty well as a rule of thumb which covers all the states that I _don’t_ consider myself to have visited, and only fails to capture two of the states that I _do_ think I have visited. I drove to Milwaukee to see a Promise Ring concert, which at that point in time was only playing one reunion show in Milwaukee and also got their start there so could be considered “local” to Wisconsin, and also while I was there saw the art museum, so I consider myself to have “visited” Wisconsin, yet I only ate at a Capital Grille, and the Ramada for breakfast. I also went to St Louis specifically to see the [City Museum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_Museum), and was planning on eating at a local restaurant attached to my hotel, but the elevator system took the better part of an hour to get me to my room so I didn’t want to risk going down and up again (and they were using the service lifts to deliver people to their rooms so I wasn’t sure about room service either). So I just picked up some snacks at a convenience store in the morning. However, my memory is sketchy enough that I don’t specifically remember the restaurants I’ve eaten at in GA, SC, and TN to remember if they were chains or not, although if you count bars, then Tennessee would still qualify. One state for which it works unexpectedly well is Wyoming. I definitely visited there because Yellowstone, but didn’t eat at a restaurant until that night in Rawlins, at a local Chinese buffet that only cost $4 (in the late 2000s: I left a $2 tip). Had I not stopped at Yellowstone I would not have considered myself to have “visited” the state, especially since I didn’t seek out the restaurant, but it still lets it qualify nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2022, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definition-of-visiting-a-state/957653/60 "2022-01-14T14:45:10Z")
In my own personal travel canon, I do not consider myself as having “visitied” a state unless I’ve actually done something there other than eat, sleep, drive through and/or buy gas or supplies. Holding myself to that standard, I have in fact visited all 50 states + DC and all 10 provinces of Canada - and I wouldn’t consider myself having visited “Newfoundland and Labrador” without having done something on both Newfoundland and in Labrador. But my children are very happy to count drive-throughs as states they’ve “been to.” > [@Ludovic](#): > > I also went to St Louis specifically to see the [City Museum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_Museum) Excellent taste - I and my family never pass through St. Louis without stopping there. What a fantastic museum, and reasonably priced, to boot. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2022, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definition-of-visiting-a-state/957653/61 "2022-01-14T15:22:49Z")
What is the definition of visiting a state? You’ve got to pick up a double handful of soil and inhale deeply of its essence. You must interact with the natives. This includes bodily contact.\* For full credit, have a meal at a roadhouse featuring state or at least region-specific cuisine. Only then have you truly visited the state. \*warning, hugging the clerk at the Git-Go without permission is likely to incur criminal charges. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definition-of-visiting-a-state/957653.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-definition-of-visiting-a-state/957653.md?page=4)