counting states
How many US states have you visited? Have you been to all 50? If not, is that your goal?
For a while, I had 37 states and my husband had 43. He has long wanted to visit all 50, whereas I didn’t feel strongly about it either way. Until recently I decided to push to 50 too. After thinking through the logistics, I planned a short solo getaway to increase my state tally from 37 to 41.
Different people have different criteria for what counts as visiting a state. Mine has always been to physically be in the state and put my feet on the ground there. Other people might say that spending the night is a requirement. For this trip, I decided that I had to spend at least one night in each state, eat local foods, and explore in a meaningful way.
Ancouple of weeks ago, I did it:
Early on a Friday morning (before dawn), I flew from Virginia to Tulsa, Oklahoma and landed before lunchtime. I spent the afternoon exploring with a local friend. We visited the Greenwood Rising: Black Wall Street History Center, the Woody Guthrie Center, and more, plus ate a delicious lunch at Fixins Soul Kitchen.
The next day, I got up early to take more photos downtown, then spent more time with my friend. After that, I drove about 5 hours to Little Rock, Arkansas.
On Sunday, I spent all day exploring Little Rock: the oldest neighborhoods, the riverfront area, the Clinton Center, Central High School, and more.
On Monday, I left early and drive about 4 hours to Oxford, Mississippi, then spent part of the afternoon walking around downtown and at the University of Mississippi before a big storm sent me off to my hotel for the rest of the day.
On Tuesday, I drove 3 hours to Birmingham, Alabama, where I spent my time in the Civil Rights District until another storm chased me inside to my hotel.
And on Wednesday, I returned my rental car and flew home.
[Side note: I flew through Atlanta again and it was much less eventful both times.]
It was a fast trip and I would have liked to have more time in each state, but I can always go back later, right?
So now I’m up to 41 states:
We both need that white area in the map and are currently planning a visit to the central time zone later this year. After that, Alaska will be our 50th state. I’ll tell you more when we have details sorted out.
Tell me, how many states have you visited and what counts as a visit to you?
It looked like a wonderful trip! I’m lacking Oklahoma, Arkansas and Alaska.