New York [1/50]

I figured I would start marking states off my list with the easiest one, the one we're living in right now. It's easiest because all the photos I have from here are digital. (A lot of my older stuff is on film and I'm scanning prints.) And, of course, I have the most photos from places we have lived.

Generally the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of New York is New York City; the subway,

 Central Park,

 the skyline,

 Radio City Music Hall, Times Square, Grand Central Station.

 

But sometimes people for get that New York is a huge state (for the East Coast), not just a huge city. There is history,

Lock 57 of the Genesee Valley Canal

The Castle on the Hill in Dansville, a turn-of-the-century era health spa.

 agriculture,

New York is 2nd in the country for apples, Washington being first of course.

lakes and rivers, forests and wetlands,

fall foliage that attracts tourists

and, my favorite, waterfalls.

The bottom, non-NYC, photos are much more representative of the experiences we've had in New York, but I think they all fit. 

Wow, that was WAY more photos than I was intending for New York. But I'm not undoing it now. Most of the states will have fewer photos than this.

All 50 States

One item on my bucket list (which I have not yet posted because I want it to be 100 or 101 things and I'm stuck at 79) is to visit all 50 states with Les. We're getting there, slowly but surely.

As I was attempting to fill up my list I decided to add taking at least one representative photo in each state. So I thought I would get a start on documenting that now because it requires going back through all my (many, many) photos, film and digital, and selecting ones that represent each state.   So this is the start of checking that item off my list.

I will post the states that we have visited with their representative photos. As this is a new idea, I don't have photos for all the states we have visited.

States we have not yet visited together (I've been to several of these alone, Les has been to a few alone):

• Alabama 
• Alaska
• Arkansas
• California
• Delaware
• Florida
• Georgia
• Hawaii
• Louisiana
• Maine
• Mississippi
• Nebraska
• New Hampshire
• North Carolina
• North Dakota
• Oklahoma
• Rhode Island
• South Carolina
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Wisconsin

States we have been through without stopping that I don't really consider us to have visited:

• Arizona - We only ever went through the corner from Utah to Vegas that is mostly one long canyon.
• Connecticut - We drove through here on our way back from a concert in Massachusetts and noted the craziness of their drivers but didn't stop for more than gas.
• Michigan - We drove through a small part of Michigan on our cross-country trek while moving to New York, it was dark, we didn't get out of the cars or even off the freeway.  

States we have been to but that I do not have photos of for one reason or another

Rest area in Indiana, right as the rain stopped.

Trevor, Les and me in 2006, the first time I met him.
Note the presence of prison vibe and lack of Kentucky vibe.

• Illinois - We went through here on our vacation in January of 2006. We only had a film camera with us and didn't take that many photos. I did, however, pick up a small ziplock baggie full of dirt in each state we passed through for my friend Malena. I believe we did that from a rest stop in Illinois and there was an acorn in the dirt. We also drove through when we moved but, again, only stopped for gas. (Plus we were getting to the insane level of tired by that point in the trip.)
• Indiana - Again, we've been through on our trips. I do have a photo of a rest area on the Indiana Toll Road and, while very representative of our trip, I don't think it is representative of Indiana.  
• Iowa - We drove down through Iowa and slept there on our move, but didn't take any photos. Based on that experience, if I was going to take a photo it would be of 5 or 6 cars on a a two-lane highway all within 6 inches of each other. I have never seen so much tailgating in my life!
• Kansas - We drove through Kansas on our 2006 vacation and actually stopped in a few towns along the way but didn't take any photos. I don't think we had bought film yet. 
• Kentucky - Two of the main reasons for our 2006 vacation were in Kentucky. The first was to check out a college that we were thinking of attending. We did that, but were more concerned with navigation and exploring the school than photos. The second was visiting Les's brother, and they don't let you take a camera into federal prisons. We did get a photo, but it is not representative of Kentucky, it's more representative of prison than anything.  
• Maryland - We drove through Maryland on our way to and from the Reason Rally last month. We even stopped and had dinner there but all the photos we took were in D.C.
• Massachusetts - We went to a concert in Mass. for my birthday last year and had quite a good time. But all the photos we took were with phones and of the concert. When I think Mass. I don't think daytime, outdoor concert on a lake with an unpronounceable name, I think Boston. I do intend to remedy this one next. I am about to stop accruing vacation time if I don't use some and I am going to use it to see Boston, which is another item on my bucket list.
• Minnesota - We went through Minnesota on our move and had dinner there, but took no photos as I had already taken my 365 shot and put the camera away for the day.
• New Jersey - We stayed at a hotel in New Jersey when we went to NYC to ring in the new year. However all the photos we took were in New York.
• Ohio - We drove through when we moved but barely got off the highway. By the time we had come that far, staying awake was our only priority. 
• Virginia - The third reason for our cross-country vacation in 2006 was for Les to see the Atlantic Ocean. So we came all the way to Virginia. We saw the ocean (but really late at night so the few film photos I took didn't turn out, I was still very new to photography) and toured the Confederate White House but didn't take any photos. I photography may have been prohibited on the tour, but I don't remember for certain.
• West Virginia - On our 2006 vacation we took some back roads and saw a lot of West Virginia. But not really because it was pitch black and we could barely see the road in front of us and it was terrifying. We also saw our first covered bridge but didn't take photos. The town we stayed it smelled like sewer, not really relevant here, but true nonetheless. 

So my goal of visiting all 50 states together is much closer to fulfillment than my goal of taking photos in/of each of them. But I'm getting there.

EDIT: Apparently, even though Les and I have been to Colorado at least 4 times, I can't find a single photo from any of those trips, not even a bad one. So I'll add that to the bottom list.

Also, there was film in the camera when we were in West Virginia. I found this photo of the covered bridge we saw. But I'm leaving it on the list because I don't think of covered bridges when I think of West Virginia, I think Appalachia. So this photo is not really representative of the state.