States I’ve Visited

Having visited four new states recently, it’s time to update my Visited States Map courtesy of the Gas, Food, No Lodging blog.

Here’s the key:

Red means I’ve just passed through, maybe seen a thing or two.

Amber means I’ve at least slept there and seen a few things. I have a first-hand idea of what the state is like.

Blue means I’ve spent a good amount of time in that state.

Green means I’ve spent a lot of time in that state, weeks at a time on multiple visits – or lived there.

States I’ve Visited in Chronological Order

1973

New Jersey (home from 1973-1975)

Circa 1974

New York

Pennsylvania

1975

Connecticut (home from 1975-1991)

1976

Florida

1977

Massachusetts (home from 1998-present)

1980

California

1981

Georgia

1985

Delaware

Maryland

District of Columbia

Virginia (home from 1991-1998)

Rhode Island

1991

Illinois

1993

West Virginia

1994

Vermont

North Carolina

South Carolina

1995

Tennessee

1996

Arkansas

Mississippi

Louisiana

Alabama

1997

Oregon

Washington

New Hampshire

Maine

1999

Ohio

Michigan

Indiana

2003

Nebraska

2006

Wisconsin

2020

Utah

Idaho

Wyoming

Montana

National Parks I’ve Visited

Visiting Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks means that the grand total of National Parks I have visited is now the unimpressive number of five!  This is one downside of living in the Northeast where we have no National Parks within day trip distance.

National Parks Visited (5 of 62):

Acadia

Grand Teton

Great Smoky Mountains

Shenandoah

Yellowstone

Now I’d be happy to visit any of the remaining 57 National Parks, but at the pace I’m at of five parks in 47 years, I’m going to have to prioritize. So I made a list of the top ten National Parks I’d like to see.

National Parks Wishlist:

Arches

Crater Lake

Everglades

Glacier

Grand Canyon

Isle Royale

Joshua Tree

Mesa Verde

Voyageurs

Yosemite

I’ve had better luck visiting other National Park Service units other than the National Parks.  By my accounting I’ve been to 54 out of 419 National Park Service units. Luckily, there are plenty more of these in New England and New York that I could fairly easily add in the near future.

National Monuments (4 of 84):

African Burial Ground

Castle Clinton

Muir Woods

Statue of Liberty

National Historical Parks (11 of 57):

Boston

C&O Canal

Colonial

Harpers Ferry

Independence

Lowell

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Minute Man

New Bedford Whaling

San Francisco Maritime

Valley Forge

National Historic Sites (11 of 76):

Boston African American

Ford’s Theatre

Fort Point

Fort Vancouver

Frederick Law Olmsted

Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt

Jamestown

Lower East Side Tenement

Pennsylvania Avenue

Saint Paul’s Church

Salem Maritime

National Battlefield Parks (1 of 4):

Richmond

National Memorials (9 of 30):

Arlington House

Federal Hall

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

General Grant

Lincoln Memorial

Thomas Jefferson

Vietnam Veterans

Washington Monument

Wright Brothers

National Recreation Areas (3 of 18):

Boston Harbor Islands

Gateway

Golden Gate

National Seashores (4 of 10):

Assateague Island

Cape Cod

Cape Hatteras

Point Reyes

National Parkways (2 of 4):

Blue Ridge

John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

National Historic and Scenic Trails (1 of 3):

Appalachian Trail

Other NPS protected areas and administrative groups (3 of 11):

National Capital Parks

National Mall

Wolf Trap