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None of the above. We only count a state visit once we spend the night at minimum. That might mean we are driving through the state and need to sack out for the night but it doesn't mean we had a layover and got stuck at the airport or an airport hotel.
None of the above. We only count a state visit once we spend the night at minimum. That might mean we are driving through the state and need to sack out for the night but it doesn't mean we had a layover and got stuck at the airport or an airport hotel.
To play the devil's advocate, I've driven across North Dakota six times (twice going to and from Winnipeg from Minneapolis, and once going to and from Spokane from Syracuse). I've stopped for food in Fargo, Grand Forks, Minot, and Williston. I got stuck in a tornado. I got hit on by a woman without teeth. I saw an incredible sunrise. I got stuck behind a truck transporting pheasants. I visited the geographic center of North America in Rugby. I have lots of memories of the state and I've seen a great deal of it, but it's never been my destination and I've never spent the night there.
Meanwhile, my only experience with Virginia was visiting my aunt once in Fairfax County, just across the river from DC. There, Virginia was my destination and I did spend the night, but I didn't go further than five miles into the state and it seemed like a generic suburb that could have been anywhere.
I count both North Dakota and Virginia as places I've visited, but I feel like know North Dakota much better.
I am sorry, but this doesn't count as visiting Saskatoon. You have to actually see some sights and walk the streets. Spending a night in a hotel is no different than spending a night in your house. I have been to Grand Canyon and stayed there for 10 minutes, but I don't count Arizona as a state I have visited.
I did see the sights, just quickly from a moving vehicle. Heck, I stayed in downtown Saskatoon.
Driving through and actually getting out of the car (but I do think driving through an entire state loosely counts as visiting it - you crossed it from one side to the other). Landing and actually leaving the airport (no layovers/connecting flights).
neither. You have to visit some large city or a park and spend some time outside.
So if you go visit your cousin Ruth in a small town or farm in Kansas, without going to Wichita or Topeka or any national park, it doesn't count as "visiting Kansas?"
There's more to a state than what's designated as a city or park, you know. The overall scenery is all part of that.
There is a big difference between visiting v. passing through. To me, I don't count places I've been through as places I've "visited", to visit means to spend time in/do stuff in/experience local culture in.
^^ This.
Because of all the technicalities discussed here, I break it out into two lists: states I have "visited" and states that I have "passed through." In order to count as a "visit," I must:
Spent at least TWO consecutive nights in the state (need not be in the same place); OR
Visit a specific person within that state, for either business or pleasure; OR
Visit a specific landmark or tourist attraction.
(Note, the reason I say it has to be at least a two-night minimum, if the other two criteria are not met, is to subtract out cases where I was just driving though someplace to get to someplace else, and happened to be there when it was time to stop for the night.)
If I physically enter a state, including as a passenger in a vehicle that is connected to the ground or water of that state (including being on a plane that lands at an airport), but don't meet the above criteria, I say that I have "passed through" the state. Looking at a state from outside of it, whether from a plane overhead or from the ground of a neighboring state, does not count.
I have stepped foot in all 50 states -- 38 visited, and 12 passed through.
I don't count driving through a state as visiting, you have just driven through, usually on an insulted interstate. I'm on a goal to visit every US county and county equivalent and I had this same problem, can I count counties I drove through on an interstate, or just drove through? I decided that it was cheating. Instead I have to stop and take a photo of something in every county. I don't have to get out of my car long, but enough to take a photo (or occasionally take a photo from my car, but never from my car on an interstate). I have to spend time in every bigger city, and see every major tourist attraction. I also try to see less known attractions as I find them.
It boils down to the fact that I want to spend time, see attractions, experience every region of a state by visiting enough of its counties and big cities that I get the impression and can justify having visited to a local.
I don't count driving through a state as visiting, you have just driven through, usually on an insulted interstate. I'm on a goal to visit every US county and county equivalent and I had this same problem, can I count counties I drove through on an interstate, or just drove through? I decided that it was cheating. Instead I have to stop and take a photo of something in every county. I don't have to get out of my car long, but enough to take a photo (or occasionally take a photo from my car, but never from my car on an interstate). I have to spend time in every bigger city, and see every major tourist attraction. I also try to see less known attractions as I find them.
It boils down to the fact that I want to spend time, see attractions, experience every region of a state by visiting enough of its counties and big cities that I get the impression and can justify having visited to a local.
unless you're in bare feet, standing on the side of the road is no different than driving on the road
I was recently counting up all the states I've visited, and was asking myself this same question. I counted states in which, at one point, I was physically present, but I could think of a few examples where, although I was present, I can't say I really "experienced" the state.
I've only "visited" CO and GA via airport layover without leaving the building. I'm not sure that counts, since I didn't actually get out and see any of the state.
NC counts marginally more, as I also had a layover there, but on another instance we drove about 10 miles across the border (at night) and stopped at a convenience store just so we could say we had been there.
I've been to VA by staying there in a hotel in the suburbs of Washington, DC for the purpose of seeing sights in DC. We did visit Arlington Cemetery, which I would say "counts" as visiting VA more than just staying in a room there and going to DC to see sights during the day.
I haven't been on many road trips that span multiple states, but I would say driving through a state and making note of your surroundings - regardless of whether or not you stop or do anything - counts more than the airport layover/brief trip across the border visits. In that case, you have an opportunity to experience/form memories of what the state is like, even if it is just though the window of a car.
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