Maybe 10 out of Iowa's 99 counties.

Good question! There are 36 counties in Oregon. I've been to more than half. Some are too far away and offer nothing to visit, so I haven't been there. Just today I travelled through 3 counties on my way to a site visit! Some days I can touch on 5.

Faron, you made me look it up. I had no idea there were 102 counties in Illinois. I would guesstimate I have been to half of them. I need to head South more!

ND has 53 counties, and I've never been in the NW-quadrant of my State...YIKES!
I've also missed a couple in the S-Central portion, bordering SD.

Yeah...this question kind of intrigued me! So many of us travel to faraway places, but haven't seen much of their own State!
I don't get around much, but I've been to Hawaii twice ('87 & 2009); Bahama's once (won a cruise!); Washington DC in HS; San-Diego/LA in HS; Yellowstone in '06(?), etc.

Sadly, I haven't been in ~ 2/3's of our States!!

Faron

There are no counties in Alaska...we have buroughs, 16 of them which in whole are larger than Texas, California and Montana combined...I've been to all of them.

Counties in Washington...there are 39..I am pretty sure I've not been in three of them, but I can say with certainty that I've been in the rest...I guess I have to go visit the far lower corner of the state.

I did a lot of work on Indian lands when I was working which took me to most places in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. Prior to that job I'd probably have to say 3 in Alaska and maybe half of Washington.

I was in Sonoma and Napa this weekend...I can say with great certainly that I really love the farming they're doing in those counties :)

I think there is 67 county's in Alabama and I think I have maybe been to 25 of them, maybe.

Last weekend I went to Monroeville, Al. (don't know the name of the county) where to Kill a Mockingbird was made. Went through the old courthouse which was restored to perfection. It is also the town Harper Lee (the author) and Truman Capoto was born.

It's surprizing how many things you can find to do in your own state if you care for road trips.

I would like to visit Helen Keller's home as well which is also in my state.

Faron, aren't you from Michigan?

I guess you should know what state you are from Faron. For some reason I thought it was Michigan, my mistake.

LOL! I kinda WISH I was from MI!

Stunning scenery, lakefront, woods...wow! Beautiful stuff!
My Brother has snowmobiled there a couple times with his friends. I would've LOVED that!

Yep...I'm a born (in Fargo!) and raised North-Dakotan.
DW born and raised here too.
I think this is the "Uffda" state?!

Faron

There are no counties in Alaska...we have buroughs

This was actually a clue on Jeopardy today - this state doesn't have counties, they have Burroughs.

i saw that on jeopardy last night too!

faron-- we once flew into minneapolis and drove to montana for a yellowstone trip... we stayed overnight in bismark and drove past 'nd's badlands'-a national park i think- and it was named after teddy roosevelt---looked fascinating, but we didn't have time to stop. have you been there and is it as cool as it looked from the interstate?? way further south than fargo.

have done alot of driving in my life---driven through lots of counties in all the states we've lived in---hard to say how many tho without giving it some serious thought!

I'm in Alabama with newdawn. Does driving through count? If so, then I've brobably missed 7 or 8. You know, those little rural ones around the edges.

I never knew AK had "burroughs", either. I thought Louisiana was the only oddball with its parishes.

Another 102 county Illinoian here. If you're counting a 'drive through' then I've probably been in 40 to 50. Used to drive from Chicago suburbs to Columbia, MO for college and I've done drives to New Orleans, FL and other points that take me through the state - but with only gas stops. As for actual living in or visiting with some purpose, less than a dozen.

OMG Jakabedy your not only from Alabama, your a Pisces. I was born on the fifth of March.

Hope you don't mind, but, I just had to read your profile, very interesting.

.....Jane

Faron, you are way up north, brrrrrrrrrr.

Looking at a map of PA, I can safely say I have not visited most of the 67 counties in PA. I'm guessing I've spent time in about 7 and have driven through a few more.

I have visited 20 states and the District of Columbia, 14 European countries, Australia, and Japan.

90+ counties in Tennessee. I have been in a good many of them but not so many in the west part of the state. We LOVE road trips.

tina

26 countues in Md and have been to all of them. some for fun- all of them for work. you can count DC too if you want.
I have been to 30 states and Mexico, Canada,eh,Puerto Rico and St. Thomas.
We had a road trip in 1999 from here- 9008 miles and no reservations set up ahead. 2 kids 12 and 17 each with own row of seats in the new Durango.First stop of interest was the Badlands, from the Indian reservation side our GPS took us on unmarked dirt roads, and yes they are incredibly beautiful. Mount Rushmore, Devils Tower,Yellowstone, many other beautiful parks in Wyo., Big Sky- went horseback riding in far western Yellowstone, Glacier Nat park,up to Banff, and over to Calgary then to Vancouver( lost for 3 hours in middle of night trying to find route to cross over into States. our GPS didnt have Canada maps loaded)
Then down the coast of Washington, Oregon, California. Redwood, we stopped at most of the lighthouses.San Francisco,then DS HAD to see LA, visited my Uncle in Newport Beach, then saw my GM in nursing home near San Diego, then across to Phoenix., where I grew up. Ate at Jordans the best Mexican restaurant ever- hadnt been there since I was a kid they were actually closing when we got there but I guess since I was so happy to see it hadnt changed in 30 years they waited on us and we didnt know they were closing until we left and saw all of the staff outside throwing a nerf football around.
Up Black Canyon highway to Montezumas Castle, Sedona, played at Slide Rock in Oak Creek Canyon. up to the Grand Canyon stayed for sunset and then over to Cameron. and then 4 Corners( absolutely nothing there but the kids wanted to go. and then to Colorado and then booked home to be there in time for football practice. took almost a month, we called ahead for reservations in the afternoon when we decided where we would go next. Got up in hte morning and decided where to go.
Met the greatest people who asked us to keep in touch- they had never heard of a family trip like ours. and always got a room- sometimes the last one in town like in Shelby Montana( where we met some folks and decided to go up into Canada just say yes and no if you talk too much they pull you over and search) and in Cameron Az.We stayed in a log cabin on the Gallatin River in Montana- we coulda fished out the window. Went horesback riding.
All 4 of us were ready to go back out and would have if we could. Don't ask how much it cost, but it was a once in a lifetime trip that we all will remember forever. What an absolutely beautiful country we live in.
We almost went up to Alaska- we were this close- but found out that weight lifting was required 3 days before football practice was to start so we decided not to.
Oh and we met a lot of bicyclists on the trip- even one woman riding along. I think the ones in the Rockies were the unhappiest- I don't think it was as much fun as they had hoped.

Great question!

In my "home" state - the one I grew up in - EIGHT! And I have been to all of them. (Connecticut). However in my current living state of KY there are 120 and I have been in about 15. However, I am near the Ohio and Indiana state lines and have ventured into a few of theirs. Does that count? Seems I don't get around locally as much as I used to!

Chris

(they are boroughs by the way...I thunk Burroughs was a writer). I think other states have them...I was thinking that three did...new York and someone else? I could look it up but I need a shower instead lol

This is a GREAT thread! I never realized that some states had so many counties. Some of our most populated are the smallest geographically, and our largest are mostly just rangeland with the smallest population.

There is a lot of contention when it comes to statewide elections, geographically more than half the state has fewer voters than just one small county. In the latest Gubernatorial election, it was very close and the guy who did not win was ahead in the votes, but they hadn't counted all the votes in the small, densely populated county where Portland is located. After they got that county totalled, the race was decided. MANY people were angry about that, but it just goes to show that most of Oregon is very, very rural and open, and west of the Cascade mountain range is where the majority live.

"I did a lot of work on Indian lands when I was working..."

Igloochic, what sort of work did you do? Sounds interesting.

We're *finally* getting out to eastern Oregon late this summer. The local science museum sponsors trips, this one to a station they have at John Day, so we'll be looking at fossils, learning how to use lapidary machines/tools (we're like virtually every other Oregonian family with jars full of agates and petrified wood we keep saying we'll polish 'someday' - is that a fair assessment, pesky? : )) and stargazing at night with astronomers to explain what we're seeing, to satisfy DD's astrophysics interest. REALLY looking forward to that, and will probably try to hit several further-south counties on our way home. We've been meaning to get out there for years and finally, it's happening. DD starts high school two days later :)

alaska only has boroughs-no counties(which i learned on jeopardy!)...other states have boroughs too as well as counties, but the borough is within a county (ie: pa, ny ...maybe others?...)
la has parishes instead of counties---la is one of several states i've lived in!

I can say I've been to every county in Washington..not planned, but just lived here for 63 years and have friends and occasions to visit or at least travel through them all. I think since visiting Malheur bird watching in Oregon last year, I can say that I've also now been to every county in Oregon. The rest of the country, not so much.

Oh man, olychick -- that's another thing on our Oregon list -- the Malheur refuge! I read last year that it's drastically down in diversity and volume, though, which stinks since we had to cancel at the last minute about 4 years ago a nice long trip there staying in a ranger station. How was it last year? (hope this isn't too much of a diversion from the topic -- it's still on intra-home-state travel, right?)

Flyleft, it was the most amazing experience! I don't know how it compares now with the past, but I added dozens of birds to my life list. Unfortunately, I lost my Malheur list with a computer crash earlier this year. But I think I could recreate it if I ever decided I want to. My friends camped and I stayed at the lone hotel. It is a breathtakingly beautiful refuge; the birds are the bonus! Hope you get to go soon.

California has 58 counties. I'd guess I've been in one third of them. Have been up and down the coast many times and east to the desert not as many times. I find it interesting, though, with it's own beauty.

Fly, can I come with you when you go to John Day? DH and I are rock fiends, and haven't yet gotten to the fossil beds. We do collect agates, and I try to get a rock from every river I visit.

I also want to go to the Malheur Wildlife Refuge. There are some nice ones locally...have you been to the one in Tualatin?

I realized that I've been to almost all the western Oregon counties, and most of them just east of the Cascades...just haven't yet been to Clatsop or Columbia (north coast). DH has an uncle in Ontario, so we might get to visit some of the far eastern counties this summer.

I'm jealous of you "Oregonians" now! I'd enjoy an excursion like that!

That's also cool about the "Boroughs" designation! I thought we ALL had "Counties"?!
I'm learnin' stuff here!

I've ONLY been to Cali 3 times...and 2 of them were only in LAX!! The most recent in June '09 comin' back from Hawaii.

Faron

I was working in banking managing the community reinvestment act compliance for one bank in alaska and teaching it to others nationally stinky. (I always giggle when I type your name lol it seems funny to call someone stinky heh heh). Anyhow, the bank I worked for was very highly rated on all fronts (safety, profitably etc) but the couldn't get their CRA rating above satisfactory so when they hired me they said do anything to get an outstanding and you will be well rewarded :). I like rewards so I looked fir the areas most in need of lending and access to money and found them in very rural native villages.

The village I did my first housing program had not seen a new home built in 30 years and those were badly built by HUD so they were falling apart. People couldn't afford homes as cost (no profit at all) for a 1000 sq ft home runs around half a million each due to transport costs of materials. So I got uber creative and figured out a way to build homes in these villages which could be sold with Indian house grants assisting to villagers for mortgages with less than a five hundred dollar monthly payment. Their mortgages were conventional (20 or 30 years) with no crazy predatory terms involved. We did several of the programs and started the process in several other villages while I was in the position as well as other things to provide cash to the villages...like taking cash machines our in dogsleds. And the deals were profitable so it was a win win for everyone :). Because these were "first in the nation" type programs the bank got it's outstanding rating and I was well rewarded....but not as much in cash as I was rewarded by the experiences I had while making it all happen! Watching a five year old girls first dance for the village is a reward you can't measure in dollars, nor is the feeling you get when you take a family out of an over crowded home and give them the keys to their new home. I slept on the floor in school gyms, trailers full of dirty construction workers, a chairs floor lol and loved every second of the experience. It was the most rewarding job I'd ever had in my life! What you learn about the first people's culture...it's amazing!

Gad I should shut up lol. I miss that job....can you tell? In the world of banking and poverty there is so much great work just begging to be done well...the opportunities to do the right thing profitably are all over the place so it's easy to be a star in the world...which is fun! But the feeling you get doing it is priceless!

igloo, that's *wonderful* to read. Thank you for sharing it. I hope that's not the last job of its kind that you have, given your in-depth knowledge of banking and creative mind. And as you learned, the intangible rewards sure are as rewarding as the financial kind...

and Pesky, Yes! Sign up through OMSI, seriously. It's the Labor Day trip. Wouldn't that be fun -- a gweb/roughing-it get-together : ) Combining lapidary with fossils, dramatic landscapes and stargazing is like someone made up our *ideal* family trip. The only drawback is the latrines. I'm not a big latrine fan for days on end...but I'll put up with it if someone can show me how to cut the agate the size of a brick that my husband found on the coast. We're going to ask if we can bring it...

And yes, we've been to the Tualatin refuge -- it's beautifully done. We went to see a large owl nest there with a track-family-friend who's a volunteer for the Audubon Society.

olychick, *sigh*. The birding would be the one remaining component of the ideal trip...

faron, I will say that until we moved out here, I'd not been driven to explore parts of whatever state we lived in. Oregon (the West Coast in general) has definitely brought it out in me. Now I realize how much I missed by not exploring the east coast more. Just like how I realize I seriously missed a great opportunity by not discovering my love for studio pottery until the PNW -- I mean, we lived in North Carolina and I didn't collect pottery there? Someone should have slapped me awake!

This was fun!

Of the 254 counties in Texas (the state with the most counties), I counted 100 I've been to, but it could be more. I used to go on road trips with my grandmother when I was a kid and DH is from El Paso, and I've been to every major and not so major city in Texas - by car. Lots o' counties in between, LOL!