One of the challenges of deciding to “visit” all 50 states is defining how much is “enough” to qualify as a visit. As an example, I’ve been in both New Jersey and Texas before, but only saw the inside of the Newark and Dallas airports. That hardly qualifies as a “visit.”
In order to keep this project from taking another 20 years, Kathy & I decided that in order to count a state as visited, we needed to have a representative grouping of photos from that state. It doesn’t mean that we have to (a) hit all of the Chamber of Commerce sites or (b) create a photo essay worthy of National Geographic. It just means that we need to be there long enough to come back with some representative photographs.
I’ll be the first to admit that spending a few hours in a state like Delaware is hardly enough to satisfy either of those above requirements. And while 3 days in New Jersey was plenty, thank you very much, there are states that, out of necessity, we will only get to spend a few hours. We’ll try to keep those to a minimum of course, but that is what we’ve decided.
The other part of the equation is that there will be states where we don’t get to the Big Name places. In Indiana, for example, I’d love to get to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. But we’re going to find something else, partly because that’s our style, and partly because we need to keep it simple from the standpoint of time and money. As much as I want to go to Glacier National Park, I’ll probably make do with something like Little Bighorn. For now!
So anyway, here is a collection of photos from Delaware. If you are from the Delaware Chamber of Commerce – sorry! Otherwise, enjoy!
Wow! Love that eye catching red swimsuit in the first image. Almost missed the rest of your images.
Glad you guys are enjoying this and setting your qualifications for a considered visit. I would have not thought of that. So many more people in these images than your series from visiting the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge.
I specifically chose that photo for its visual impact – glad you caught it!
One of the – for lack of a better term – necessary evils of shooting beach towns in the summertime is the crowds. We had initially considered doing this trip in November but decided that it would be more visually appealing to have lots of people in beach gear instead of few people in winter coats!
We did have to deal with a lot of traffic here but got to town early enough to get a parking spot, shoot some photos, snarf down some french fries and move on. But it was enough for me, thank you very much!
Ah ha Monte – there is a red stretcher, a guy with a red hat, and the swimsuit – but I see the swimsuit is the one that caught your eye. 🙂
Quite the ambitious project Tom – I really wouldn’t know what characterizes a single state. Heck, just here in Michigan alone there is so much variety from one region to the other. I don’t think a short visit could capture it.
Dang, you’re right, Mark!
🙂 Well, she is place on a rule of 3rds power point area.
See there? 🙂
You’re right, Mark. It would be impossible to come anywhere close to completely or even partially covering a state. Heck, I’ve lived in NC for 25 years and have thousands of photos, but don’t have anything close to a comprehensive collection. So by “representative” I’m pretty much planning to take a few photos to demonstrate I was actually there and made an effort.
Our visit to Michigan in a few weeks will essentially consist of taking the ferry to Ludington, driving down the lake shore to Holland then across toward Ann Arbor. Do I want to see the U.P., Mackinac Island , the Grand Hotel and more? You bet! And I hope to plan a few weeks (or longer) there at some point. But for now we’ve decided that skimming the surface on our first pass will have to do.
Check out Silver Lake Dunes State Park if you get a chance. It will be along the Lake MI shore along where you are headed.
Will do, thanks! Doubt we’ll find any red bathing suits there in October but we may find something interesting. How close are you to there, by the way?
I’m about an hour away from Ann Arbor. Not so close to Silver Lake (3.5 hours). Would love to meet you folks, though I am tied up with critical dog care for the foreseeable future. Hard to get away for any significant time.