What's in Your Backyard?

By now you've probably seen the social media map where you can click on the state's you've visited.

It was put out by a company named MapLoco and has been all over Facebook.  If you want to do your own, Click Here.

Here's mine:

Yep, 45 of 50.  Some tell me I can't include Michigan because I only had a layover in the Detroit airport (but I did go outside of security and to non airport land in post 9/11 travel lines & Michaganders have told me it counts, so I am going to count it).

Seeing everyone else's maps though brings up a really interesting observation -

We, as Americans, don't travel enough.  What's more, we don't travel our own country.

Every state I've been to, I have nothing but praise for.  There's something uniquely different about each and every state that you can only see in those states.

Even more uniquely, even in the square states out west, the differences between states are stark even along those man made lines.

The painted desert of Arizona, the mountains of Utah, the Cliff dwellings of New Mexico, Colorado's plains contrasted with their mountains, the black soil of western Oklahoma, Kansas' rolling hills...

Each state is absolutely amazing.  And the food!

You don't know what you're missing if you haven't had Franklin BBQ, or a Green Chile Burger in New Mexico, or seen the Big Texan live and in person (webcasts dont count), or G & M Crabcakes in Baltimore, Grimaldi's Pizza in New York, the Varsity in Athens GA, Gus' Chicken in Memphis, a peanut butter burger from the Blue Door in Minneapolis... You haven't lived!  So many others I could name too.

Or what about things you wouldn't have expected?  Des Moines has the most beautiful State Capitol Building in the country.  The Cowboy Museum in Oklahoma City.  Or the original Bass Pro Shop... Not the one you've visited nearby, the ORIGINAL one in Springfield Missouri. The NCAA Headquarters in Indianapolis. Old Market in Omaha.  Everything in Hot Springs Arkansas...

So if your map ends up looking like the Peruvian flag, it might be time to put down your coastal judgement, stop calling them "fly over states" and check out what you may be missing.

You can really better understand Americans as a culture, as a people, and how we inter relate... if you just get out there and explore.

Oh and by the way, pretty much every one of these places has an amusement park near by so you can keep the kids entertained.

Go See America!