# When tallying how many U.S. states you have been to, what is your criteria? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 29, 2016, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tallying-how-many-u-s-states-you-have-been-to-what-is-your-criteria/758669 "2016-06-29T02:50:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2016, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tallying-how-many-u-s-states-you-have-been-to-what-is-your-criteria/758669/61 "2016-07-01T10:33:24Z")
I said set foot outside the airport, but what I really mean is have been to that state for some meaningful purpose. Stopping for lunch while driving through doesn’t count. Taking a taxi from Midway to O’Hare doesn’t either. Staying overnight at the airport Hotel after missing a connecting flight, nope. Going for a job interview, convention or meeting all count, even if they are same day in and out. Here is my list. If I loosened the criteria to include any of the specifically listed above it would only take one state off my never visited list, but would have allowed me to count several other states earlier. E.g. I was stranded in St. Louis long before I moved to Kansas City, which is when I started counting Missouri as visited (or more precisely when I went for the job interview that resulted in the move). Alabama - Sporting event Alaska - Never Arizona - Business Meeting Arkansas - Business Meeting California - Vacation Colorado - Business Meeting Connecticut - Business Meeting Delaware - Business Meeting Florida - Vacation Georgia - Lived Hawaii - Vacation Idaho - Business Meeting Illinois - Business Meeting Indiana - Business Meeting Iowa - Business Meeting Kansas - Lived Kentucky - Business Meeting Louisiana - Business Meeting Maine - Vacation Maryland - Lived Massachusetts - Lived Michigan - Business Meeting Minnesota - Business Meeting Mississippi - Business Meeting Missouri - Lived Montana - Never Nebraska - Business Meeting Nevada - Business Meeting New Hampshire - Vacation New Jersey - Business Meeting New Mexico - Never New York - Lived North Carolina - Business Meeting North Dakota - Never Ohio - Business Meeting Oklahoma - Business Meeting Oregon - Never Pennsylvania - Business Meeting Rhode Island - Business Meeting South Carolina - Business Meeting South Dakota - Never Tennessee - Vacation Texas - Business Meeting Utah - Business Meeting Vermont - Vacation Virginia - Lived Washington - Business Meeting West Virginia - Vacation Wisconsin - Business Meeting Wyoming - Never ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2016, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tallying-how-many-u-s-states-you-have-been-to-what-is-your-criteria/758669/62 "2016-07-01T10:38:19Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > I don’t count a state unless I’ve been in every county/parish in that state. I’ve been in 48. Most of them, I’ve been in every county at least twice. > > I don’t think I’ve ever slept overnight in New Hampshire. Maybe not in Connecticut, either,except in my car at a truck stop, I’m hoping you come back to elaborate on this! It just beggars belief. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2016, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tallying-how-many-u-s-states-you-have-been-to-what-is-your-criteria/758669/63 "2016-07-01T10:53:49Z")
If I say I’ve been to a state, I’ve used the bathroom there, and I’ve bought something there (or, for when I was a kid, my mom bought something on my behalf). As it happens for me, though, this definition coincides with most of the other definitions for almost all states. Except maybe for North Dakota: The only time I’ve ever been in ND was on the bus ride out to Montana, and I wasn’t visiting, nor had any interest in, any point in the state. For a good while, my only contacts with Utah were Four Corners and the SLC airport, but then one time I accepted getting bumped off a flight, stayed overnight, and toured Temple Square, which surely counts by any standard. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2016, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tallying-how-many-u-s-states-you-have-been-to-what-is-your-criteria/758669/64 "2016-07-01T11:22:01Z")
I voted by substituting country for state, as I’ve never been to the US. But e.g. I consider myself to have been to Dubai even though I never left the airport. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2016, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tallying-how-many-u-s-states-you-have-been-to-what-is-your-criteria/758669/65 "2016-07-01T12:55:47Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > By that standard, I’ve never even been to my own home state! Nor have I been to mine! there are 159 counties in Georgia, second only to Texas with 254. Most statewide politicians have never been to all the GA counties. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2016, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tallying-how-many-u-s-states-you-have-been-to-what-is-your-criteria/758669/66 "2016-07-01T13:17:30Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > I set out to do it personally. After completing every state, I took a new wife … Are you a polygamist, or do you get a divorce at the completion of each state? ---
**Author:** ![PoppaSan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/poppasan/32/189_2.png) [@PoppaSan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoppaSan)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tallying-how-many-u-s-states-you-have-been-to-what-is-your-criteria/758669/67 "2016-07-02T03:17:28Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I’ve been to 49 states. I’m only missing North Dakota. No, your not missing anything there. I count every state I’ve rode or driven through. All my flight changes and flyovers have been in or over states I have driven through. I’m missing the mid-Atlantic area and New England. Everything in and west of the Appalachians I have hit as well as going to upstate NY from the mid-West. ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tallying-how-many-u-s-states-you-have-been-to-what-is-your-criteria/758669/68 "2016-07-02T04:18:45Z")
> [@PoppaSan](#): > > No, your not missing anything there. > > I count every state I’ve rode or driven through. All my flight changes and flyovers have been in or over states I have driven through. I’m missing the mid-Atlantic area and New England. Everything in and west of the Appalachians I have hit as well as going to upstate NY from the mid-West. Totally disagree about North Dakota. Some beautiful scenery up there. The Theodore Roosevelt National Park is well worth a visit or 3. I’ve been to 48 states so far, missing Nevada & Alaska. I need to spend some time to count a state, driving through a large section counts, cutting a corner for 50 miles doesn’t. Time in an airport doesn’t count, so I don’t count Isreal as a nation I’ve been to. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tallying-how-many-u-s-states-you-have-been-to-what-is-your-criteria/758669/69 "2016-07-02T15:53:28Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > I know I’m in the vast minority, but even plane-changing airport visits count in my book. As long as you set foot within the state boundaries, you have ‘been there’. > > (I do draw the line at a fly-over, though) > > Is anyone with me on this? > > Anyone? > > (didn’t think so) > > mmm Me, too. I changed planes in Wisconsin on a flight from Chicago to Quincy, IL. As for countries, I’ve therefore been to Jordan because we had to change planes in Amman (by walking across the tarmac) when they had to remove a suspicious passenger on a flight from Jerusalem to Beirut. Of course at that time (before the '67 war) the “West Bank” was under Jordanian control anyway. So have I been to Israel or just Palestine? (Jericho Dead Sea, Bethlehem). ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tallying-how-many-u-s-states-you-have-been-to-what-is-your-criteria/758669/70 "2016-07-02T16:29:08Z")
As for countries, I have asterisks on my country-list, for those in which I have had dubious presence. An asterisk could be simply for a non-sovereign “country”, like Gibraltar or Reunion. Or there are a few in which I was technically in the country’s territory, but not in any real sense of the word. For example, on a boat in the Euphrates technically in Iraqi territorial waters, which was boarded by Iraqi authorities inspecting papers, but I never stepped on dry land. Or the road in Iran that passes through a few uninhabited miles of Azerbaijan. So I can count short list countries, or long list, which includes the aserisks. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tallying-how-many-u-s-states-you-have-been-to-what-is-your-criteria/758669/71 "2016-07-02T16:45:38Z")
A few months ago, I was flying from Bangkok to Darwin and back, with flight changes both ways in Singapore… I had already been to Singapore, but I had enough time to go out in the street to get a passport stamp. The stamp was so faded, you couldn’t even tell it was from Singapore, so I did it again on the way back to Bangkok, and got a clearer stamp the second time. So, if those were my only visits to Singapore, would they be legitimate “counts”? Next month, I’m going to have similar stops in Qatar and Bahrain, but they are long enough to actually take a sightseeing tour beyond he airport. I count Japan, because I had an overnight stopover in a hotel, and even took the bus into Narita town for some, shopping and dining, and a nice walk in the forest behind the hotel in the morning. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tallying-how-many-u-s-states-you-have-been-to-what-is-your-criteria/758669/72 "2016-07-02T16:55:18Z")
A quick check shows I’ve been “boots on the ground” in 48 states and 5 Canadian provinces. ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tallying-how-many-u-s-states-you-have-been-to-what-is-your-criteria/758669/73 "2016-07-02T17:18:53Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The only time I’ve ever been in ND was on the bus ride out to Montana, and I wasn’t visiting, nor had any interest in, any point in the state. > > For a good while, my only contacts with Utah were Four Corners and the SLC airport, The Four Corners could be another technicality besides airports. Last year I visited with wife’s family who’d never been to NM otherwise so I don’t think they’ve really been there. But though we only drove less than an hour minutes in CO after that before jogging back into UT for a couple of days, had been in AZ a few days. I’d say they’ve been to CO (I drove all the way across CO myself years earlier), NM more questionable. Perhaps as easterner, a big thing about western states is how they look from the road, how the landscape varies and evolves over the hours. To me it’s perhaps the main thing about experiencing them. The southwest corner, CO plateau area, was interesting to me. I’ve always looked at US maps and wondered ‘what does that area actually look like’? If I go there and find out I don’t see why I’d say I haven’t been there. Just IMO. ---
**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:** [July 2, 2016, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tallying-how-many-u-s-states-you-have-been-to-what-is-your-criteria/758669/74 "2016-07-02T21:01:25Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Vermont would also be doable, and any state no matter how large if you’re doing a corner. I did about 3½ miles in the NW corner of VT on bicycle. I count it. CA-223 into Rouses Point, over the bridge, Bay Rd to Line Rd to Canadian customs point & back up CA-225. They are the only bike ride(s) I’ve needed a passport for, too. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tallying-how-many-u-s-states-you-have-been-to-what-is-your-criteria/758669/75 "2016-07-02T21:56:03Z")
I’ve been on the ground not in an airport in every sate except Mississippi and Alabama. I’ve been to New Mexico only because I visited Four Corners so I have set foot there and I was in NM specifically because I was visiting something in NM so I’ll count it. Of the states I’ve been in, the only ones I’ve not slept in are Oklahoma, North Dakota, New Mexico, and Idaho (I believe I slept in Iowa as a youngster on a family trip). I’ve been in all the Canadian provinces except Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia. I’ve not been in the territories. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tallying-how-many-u-s-states-you-have-been-to-what-is-your-criteria/758669/76 "2016-07-02T22:41:42Z")
I wouldn’t count it if I just flew over a state, but if I passed through while traveling I would count it. My folks were at the airport in Hawaii once. Their flight from Australia to California met strong headwinds and refeuling was required. Never left the airport, but if that had been me I would have counted it. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2016, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tallying-how-many-u-s-states-you-have-been-to-what-is-your-criteria/758669/77 "2016-07-04T03:02:20Z")
By the “Airport doesn’t count” definition, I have not been to Minnesota. But I have spent more time in the Minneapolis/St Paul airport than I have been to California and Arizona. I have only been to Arizona because I walked over Hoover Dam from Nevada and I have only been in California because I walked over the State Line at Lake Tahoe. I was in each state for less than 10 minutes and I didn’t eat or urinate there. I have eaten and pissed in the Minneapolis airport. The states I have not visited Iowa North Dakota South Dakota Nebraska Kansas New Mexico Oregon Utah Idaho Montana Wyoming Alaska Hawaii and Minnesota (by the “Airport doesn’t count” rule) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-tallying-how-many-u-s-states-you-have-been-to-what-is-your-criteria/758669.md?page=3)