South Dakota [4/50]

South Dakota is an odd state on this list. Two things come to mind when I think South Dakota, Mt. Rushmore and badlands. I have four photos of South Dakota, none of them are of Mt. Rushmore or badlands, but I think that they are fairly representative of the state I saw.

The first one is my favorite photo that I have ever taken. I was unbelievably tired, I had just found out that Les had lost my debit card, we were behind schedule and we saw this beautiful sunrise. Les drove on ahead and I pulled off into a field and got the camera out. Again I was insanely tired, and every photo I took had the sky washed out and the field perfect or the field black and the sky looking amazing, so instead of turning on my brain and changing some settings on the camera, I left it in program mode, knelt down and shot the sky through the grass, it showed the prettiness of the sunrise and gave some context to where I was seeing it from. I saw a lot of grass in South Dakota. This was taken just outside of Spearfish.



The other three are all from a rest area on I-90. The lone tree especially reminds me of a lot of the scenery I saw in the rest of the state.

Tepee monument/art piece at the rest area.

There were a ton of these signs, they weren't kidding around about the snakes!

Vermont [3/50]

What better to follow Oregon than the Oregon of the East Coast? Les and I have only been to Vermont once, but we did our best to get the entire Vermont experience in on that trip. We stayed at a cabin on Lake Champlain owned by my friend Mary, it had quite a view (and a ton of rain).

 And what says Vermont more than old covered bridges? We passed several since we decided to take the scenic way home.

This was the longest one we saw. It was also the only one no longer in use. The sign said the river had flooded and floated the bridge downstream from its original location. It also had the best windows. Les is waving from the middle one to give some perspective on the size of this thing.

Zoomed way in on Les waving from the middle window.

 We also visited the most famous food related thing in Vermont, the Ben & Jerry's factory.

 We also visited the Cabot Creamery which is the equivalent to Tillamook on the East Coast.

All that milk for awesome ice cream and cheese has to come from somewhere.

 Les has this thing about visiting capitol buildings when we visit a new state, so we did.

While at the capitol we mocked the statues (notice the guy in the background who looks like he is going to jump out and rob you) and Les rode a revolutionary war cannon.

 And thinking about it I may have overestimated Ben and Jerry's as the most famous food from Vermont, there is also maple syrup. And, luckily for us, there is a museum for it!

A really, REALLY, full museum that had real historic equipment, murals, taxidermied animals mixed with plush, interactive exhibits, a movie, syrup tasting and a massive gift shop. It was equal parts cool and creepy.

The entry to the museum portion starts with a startling animatronic farmer on a 7 or 8 foot ladder who moves and tells a whole story about sugaring as soon as you set off the motion sensor underneath him.   

The tasting table with different grades of syrup.

Oregon [2/50]

The view from a scenic overlook in eastern Oregon on I-84 after a storm. Not much to it.

Les and I have been through eastern Oregon several times on our trips between Utah and Washington, but let's be honest, eastern Oregon kinda sucks. I have two pictures that I think represent the eastern part of the state fairly well. Add some creepy old buildings from Pendelton or Baker City and that is really all there is to see.

But when most people think Oregon, especially those whose minds go to Cabot before Tillamook when it comes to cheese, they think Portland. And with good reason, Portland is a unique experience.

Les and I have only been there together once, for the wedding reception of his high school friend, Claire. Before attending the reception, Les and I accompanied Claire and her partner Alex around Portland on a few pre-wedding errands, including lunch at a vegan pizza parlor and a stop at a gluten-free bakery. Then we attended the reception at a wine bar in downtown Portland, on the waterfront of the Willamette River. Not much says Portland more than a vegan reception for a lesbian wedding in a wine bar. It was awesome, we were tired, but it was worth the drive.

On the way home from that trip we drove up through Astoria and happened to come across a giant party for the 25th anniversary of the movie, The Goonies. We saw a few sights and then took the long way home back to Ardenvoir.

Of all the signs I've ever photographed (and I had a thing going for a while), this is my absolute favorite. And it's perfectly Oregon.

The Astoria-Megler Bridge over the Columbia, connecting Oregon and Washington. Not really a representative photo of the state but definitely of that trip. But it is on the Oregon side, and I really love this photo.

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.