States, states, and more states

Found this geography meme on Katrina’s blog, and decided to run with it. The link to the site where you can do your own is below the bottom map.

This first map shows all the states I’ve lived in. some of them for only a few months, some of them for years, but I’ve actually lived in each of the following (in red):

The next one shows all the states I’ve physically been in. The idea is to show the ones you’ve visited, but I couldn’t decide how much time should constitute “visited”, so I included everything, even if all I did was drive through. For instance, Texas is in there because I drove through the panhandle once. I did stop for a late supper in a diner that left me feeling I didn’t need to come back ever, but that’s the extent of my Texas exposure. On the other hand, I’ve spent a fair amount of time in Montana even though I’ve never lived there, so this one spans the gamut:

Bummer. New England is getting cut off, probably because of the template I’m using. It should all be in there–I got up to Maine a couple of summers ago (beautiful–I want to go back some day), and passed through Vermont and New Hampshire. I’ve spent a fair amount of time in Massachusetts (mostly Boston), and passed through Connecticutt and Rhode Island.

You might notice a certain pattern to the states I haven’t been in; they’re all in the South. My visits to southern states were all for professional reasons; I applied for a job in Nashville once and got as far as being invited for the interview, and attended conventions in New Orleans and Atlanta, thereby adding Louisiana and Georgia to the list. Maybe when I retire, I’ll spend a winter touring the south (I’m not all that fond of heat, especially muggy heat.)

This last map shows the states I hope to hit this summer. I’ll just be passing through some to get to others, but again I expect to see at least a corner of each, good lord wilin’ and the creek don’t rise:

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