I’ve seen this site, which enables you to make maps of places you’ve been in your travels, a couple of times before, but I’ve never really played with it. Ilya’s map this morning has inspired me, though, so here’s my own map of all the states in the U.S. I have visited:

create your own personalized map of the USA

Not very impressive, is it? Certainly not for a guy who fancies himself a big traveler, anyway. According to the helpful statistics provided by MyWorld66.com, I have visited 11 of the 50 states, or only about 21% of the country. (I’ve actually set foot in several more states, but I figured passing through an airport doesn’t count as actually visiting.) Ilya has done much better. However, in my defense, I would note that I have seen large tracts of many of the states I have visited, rather than just one or two cities or sights. I’ll elaborate a bit below the fold (and explain the title), if you’re at all interested…

For the record, I would like to be able to say one day that I’ve visited all 50 states, but some are of more interest to me than others for various reasons, and when it comes to “dream destinations,” almost all of my fantasies seem to gravitate toward Europe or, to a lesser extent, Asia. But hey, I’m a relatively young guy; there’s still time, right?
Of those state I have visited, here are a few details:

• Arizona — I saw the Grand Canyon as a kid, on a camping trip with my parents. Then, in my early twenties, my buddy Jeremy and I decided for some misguided reason that road-tripping to Mesa would be a perfect way to spend our spring break (no, I don’t know what we were thinking either!). A few years later, when Jer had been living in Phoenix for a while, The Girlfriend and I road-tripped there to see him and his wife, and to take in a Jimmy Buffett concert. And while we were there, the four of us drove down to Tucson, so I’ve seen a pretty good cross-section of this state, I think.
• California — I did a big Sea World/Disneyland trip with my parents when I was a kid, then when I was 12 or 13 and Dad was driving truck for a living, I rode along with him on a run to the northern LA area. A few years after that, in 1991, Dad and I visited San Francisco together, briefly (we were only there for two nights and a day). More recently, I’ve made several trips to LA. Most of them were just weekenders, but there have been two longer ones as well, and I feel like I know that area fairly well.
• Colorado — I’ve been to the Denver area only. The Girlfriend and I spent a weekend there a few years ago,attending the Colorado Renaissance Festival (more fun and less geeky than you’re probably thinking), and briefly checking out the city. Denver struck me as very similar to Salt Lake, only with more sensible liquor laws.
• Florida — The usual tourist attractions in the Orlando area, as well as St. Augustine, Cypress Gardens, and Cape Canaveral.
• Idaho — Utahns tend to think of Idaho as a satellite extension of our own state — it was settled in large part by Mormons, and the two states have much in common culturally and geographically. Which is neither here nor there, I just thought I’d point out a little trivia. The Girlfriend and I drove through the southern part of the state on our way to Yellowstone a couple years ago.
• Montana — The Girlfriend and I stayed in West Yellowstone, MT, during the aforementioned trip to Yellowstone National Park.
• Nevada — Of all the states I’ve visited, I’ve probably got the most comprehensive knowledge of Nevada, Utah’s backyard and the relief valve through which Utahns blow off all their sinful steam. I’ve been to Vegas several times, both with The Girlfriend and without, as well as taking the occasional weekend jaunt to Wendover, a border gambling outpost directly west of Salt Lake. I spent a week in Reno with my dad way back in ’91 (that weekend in San Francisco I mentioned above was a side trip from the Reno expedition), and I’ve driven across the entire northern width of the state, from the California border back to Utah, twice.
• New York — I spent about ten days in Manhattan back in ’96 or so. Haven’t seen any of the rest of the state, though.
• Pennsylvania — The state I’ve most recently visited, if you’ll recall. I spent a weekend with CrankyRobert exploring Pittsburgh and Gettysburg. In driving from one to the other along the Lincoln Highway, we covered a pretty good chunk of the southern side of the state.
• Utah — Home, if you haven’t been paying attention. I’ve driven the entire length of this state, following the I-15 corridor which, coincidentally, is where most of Utah’s population is clustered. I’m very familiar with the densely populated (for this area, anyhow) Wasatch Front, obviously, and pretty familiar with the rest of the northern end of the state. I’ve been to Moab in the southeast and, years ago as a kid, to the dinosaur monument in Vernal. But there are still big swathes of Utah that I haven’t yet explored…
• Wyoming — Been to Yellowstone National Park with The Girlfriend, and to Rock Springs years ago to visit family. Also, to Evanston, a border town which serves much the same purpose for Utahns as Wendover, Nevada, does, i.e., a place where we can buy all the stuff that’s illegal or heavily regulated at home.

So do I have a favorite among those states I’ve visited? Not really… they all have their attractions and their downsides. Colorado and Idaho felt the most like home to me, on account of their geography, probably. I like the free spiritedness of Nevada, but the dry, brown landscape depresses me (I’m not a big fan of outright deserts; Utah is arid, but not like Nevada). I’m kind of a freak in that I actually like LA, but then I don’t have to live there day in and day out. I thought Pennsylvania was beautiful. Of all these states, I probably dislike Arizona the most — that whole desert thing again; I was there in May and daily temperatures were already averaging 110 degrees, way too hot for my tastes — but the saguaro cacti were in bloom, and that was beautiful, and the sunsets were amazing.

Of the states I’ve not yet visited, I’m very interested in the Pacific Northwest and New England, and I’d love to see the sights of Washington, D.C. (not to mention visit a friend there that I haven’t seen in person in years, as she reminds me everytime we speak… one day, Cheryl, really!) As I said before, I’d like to eventually visit all 50 states, but I have to admit that the southern and midwestern states are pretty low on my list of travel priorities. Nothing personal, for anyone reading this from those areas, I just haven’t heard anything about them that demands I bump them to the top of the wishlist.
Just for kicks, here’s a map of the European countries I’ve visited, all three of them:

create your personalized map of europe

Yeah, I know… that’s not so great either. The countries that are inked out, in case you don’t know your Europe very well, are England, Germany, and Luxembourg (where I basically just nipped across the border for an hour, but I like to count it anyhow.) Someday, though, someday…

[Update: Oh, I nearly forgot! The title derives from the Jimmy Buffett song “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes.” The relevant lyrics are:

Reading departure signs in some big airport/
reminds of the places I’ve been/
Visions of good times that brought so much pleasure/
make me want to go back again.

Yeah, I’m really feeling the yen to hop on a plane now…]