Originally Posted by
moondog
I'm willing to count airport only visits as "been there"...
You really should not.
Never leaving an airport property is hardly visiting a state. I'd also say that passing through a state on a drive to somewhere else does not count, even if one does stop for food or a quick overnight stay near the interstate. There needs to be some actual reason to be in the state and some minimum amount of time/activity to count it as a visit.
So, my never visited list under the above rules is restricted to:
AK
ND
SD
MN (have connected through airport)
RI (drove through on freeway, probably didn't stop)
Questionable ones:
NM (have caught flight at ABQ when driving one way from Colorado; also spent night in GUP and stopped for dinner in LRU area during long distance road trips)
MT (passing through West Yellowstone on way to Yellowstone NP which is mostly in Wyoming)
AR (had business purpose for meeting on field at KLIT so technically a visit but I never left the airport property)
Originally Posted by
Maxwell Smart
My personal criteria is must have either slept overnight, ate a meal, or used restroom facilities in a state. Plus must have stood on actual ground in the state.
I really think that stopping to take a leak or spending the night at a generic roadside motor inn is hardly sufficient to count as a visit to a state.