Havasimy

I got the following via Joe's blog. The rule is: "Recount a one-line anecdote for each state you have visited [and then demand that others do the same]."

Now, there's been discussion on what counts as a visit to a state. I listed even the ones I drove through with nothing memorable happening. (Those would be CT, KS, IN, NC, & SC.) I just like the way the map looks with them. It'll be obvious in the anecdotes whether they belong there.

The toughest anecdotes to write were the ones where I've lived or visited office, like PA, NJ, and OH.



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AL: Saw sign announcing entering the state and immediately couldn't stop singing "Sweet Home Alabama".
AZ: Tried calling my mom from the edge of the Grand Canyon only to find out that Nextel is the only cellular carrier that gets a signal there. Bydaway, The Grand Canyon lives up to the hype.
CA: My cousin's first husband took me and my brother to my first non-Pirate MLB game (Tigers at Angels) and first R-rated movie in a theatre (Beverly Hills Cop II).
CO: Left my brother's friend's place in Denver in the morning and arrived in Reno to see the roads outside of Denver we had driven on had over a foot of snow on them.
CT: Was on a bus from NYC to Boston and didn't realize it had gone through Connecticut until over a month later.
DC: Down there for job interview, driving around looking for the highway, I almost drove past the white house and the Washington Monument without realizing it.
FL: Have flown in and out of atleast five different Florida airports (Tampa, Miami, Ft. Myers, Tally, and Orlando) and have driven/ridden there three times.
GA: As radio broadcasters for visiting basketball team, received stats from Emory University athletic department which included their team's record when they scored more points than their opponent.
HI: Watched a Steelers playoff game at around 7am.
IL: Low on cash and unable to find an atm, I used my first credit card for the first time at Planet Hollywood in Chicago.
IN: First leg of first cross-country trip. Spent time trying to sneak country songs onto the radio without my brother forcing me to change the channel.
KS: Second leg, same as the first.
LA: When I was in New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina was in South Florida. There was no sign that this would be any different than any other hurricane.
MD: Even though I was working at a company's Uniontown, PA office, my supervisor worked in the Columbia, MD office. So I had to make regular trips down there, sometimes finding he was called out of town at the last minute.
MA: Met the Boston Celtics at Brandeis University on my first visit. 0-2 on job interviews on later visits.
MS: Entered Mississippi wondering how much traffic we'd hit due to people leaving for the hurricane. A voluntary evacuation was announced the next day.
MO: My cousin and husband, who lived in St. Louis took me to my first casino and gave me four quarters to start with. I won on my second quarter, never fell behind and came out over $400 ahead. Luck would continue in Reno.
NV: Two days after St. Louis casino visit, I was playing $2 at a time on slots. Switched to only $1 and immediately hit for over a $1,000. Got my picture taken with the machine and a tiny bottle of champagne.
NJ: Is it possible to drive on the NJ turnpike without singing Springsteen's "State Trooper"? That's not really a anecdote, so I'll add this. Took visiting Bill, Terri, and Gage to a Moroccan restaurant where a co-worker moonlights as a belly dancer. She came out and Gage didn't take his eyes off of her.
NM: Went through a customs station without leaving the country.
NY: My first trip to Long Island resulted in the weird situation of the Chief Financial Officer of my company buying me a lapdance.
NC: If Bill is right about the location, this is where it was discovered that Code Red doesn't stain and the floor of my car isn't exactly liquid-proof.
OH: Met girlfriend's family, all Cleveland Browns fans, days before Browns-Steelers playoff game.
OR: Driving from San Fran to Seattle, my brother and I decided not to try and make it in one stretch and spent the night at a hotel in Portland.
PA: In a month-and-a-half stretch, made 13 one-way trips between the Pittsburgh area and Philly.
SC: I don't even remember the story Bill told about SC.
TN: The car collection and the Black & Gold TV room made the Graceland tour worth every penny. Of course, I didn't pay for the tour.
TX: Debated over stopping to see a 11-foot tall statue of a roadrunner.
UT: Drove for over an hour with the cruise control on 80 mph and the road never turned and the mountains in the distance barely got bigger.
VA: Whitewater rafted near the VA-WV-MD border.
WA: It never rained while I was in Seattle.
WV: I've been to WV to ski, play rugby, on a church youth group trip to a lake, visit a strip club, pass-through on the way to Florida, pass-through on the way to Ohio, gamble on slots, gamble on dogs, pick up my parents when their car broke down on the way home from gambling, and simply to turn around, but I've never spent the night there.
WI: Lambeau Field is great. The atmosphere outside before the game is even better. And, word of advice, if you're travelling to a big event and all other cars suddenly exit the highway, follow them. They're likely going to the same place.