U.S. States We Visited

Here comes the list of the states we have visited in the United States:

1. Ohio, Buckeye State: lived in central Ohio for so many years, visited almost every corner of Ohio: Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Toledo, Bowling Green, Athens, Dayton. Strongly recommended tourism hotspots: Dayton's Air Force Museum, Columbus's Dawes Arboretum and Columbus Zoo, Hocking Hills Old Man's Cave.
2. New York, Empire State: visited Niagara Falls, Statue of Liberty, Times Square, Columbia University, World Trade Centers before September 11, 2001
3. New Jersey, Garden State: fishing, crabbing, turtling except gardening
4. North Carolina, Old North State: summer vacation at a vacation house of Outer Banks in 2003
5. California, Golden State: 12-day field trip from LA to Napa Valley, from San Francisco to Hearst Castle to Silican Valley then to San Diego
6. Arizona, Grand Canyon State: visited Tucson and its Carolina Mountains
7. Nevada, Silver State: visited casinos in Reno (1997) and Las Vegas (2004)
8. Oregon, Beaver State: visited Eugene and Sea Lion Cave along Pacific Ocean in 2009
9. Montana, Treasure State, Big Sky State: visited Glacier NP, Flathead Lake, tried to go treasure hunting but no time
10. Wyoming, Equality State, Cowboy State: the most recent state we visited because of Yellowstone NP
11. Colorado, Centennial State: National GAP Conference at Colorado State in 2003, visited Rocky Mountain NP
12. Michigan, Great lake State, Wolverine State: visited Michigan State University several times, like their horticultural garden; visited Detroit
13. Indiana, Hoosier State: visited Purdue University and University of Indiana at Bloomington; played U.S. Chess at Indianapolis in 2009
14. Illinois, Prairie State: job interview at University of Illinois at Urbana
15. Wisconsin, Badger State: visited University of Wisconsin at Madison
16. Virginia, Old Dominion: visited friends in Richmond, Virginia in 2010
17. West Virginia, Mountain State: first skiing trip at WinterPlace, WV in 2007 and rafting on the New River in the past June 2011.
18. Pennsylvania, Keystone State, Quaker State: visited Penn State in the Happy Valley in 1996
19. Kentucky, Bluegrass State: visited friends in University of Kentucky
20. Tennessee, Volunteer State, Big Bend State: visited Rock City and Great Smoky Mountains NP in 2007
21. Massachusetts, Bay State, Old Colony State: met old time friends and visited Harvard University and MIT in 1999
22. Alabama, Yellowhammer State, Heart of Dixie, Camellia State: visited Mobile, Alabama in 2003
23. Maryland, Old Line State, Free State: visited Baltimore and its Aquarium long time ago
24. Florida, Sunshine State: visited Disneyland twice, boarded Norwegian Jewel to Cruise the Caribbeans
25. Missouri, Show Me State: visited Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis long time ago

By Year 2011 I visited exactly half of the 50 U.S. States. What a journey!

Uncle Sam - American's National Symbol

When I first heard of Uncle Sam as the United States' nickname, I thought Sam has the letters A and M for America, and the U.S. government always tries to police the world, so Uncle Sam is short for the bossing United States of America. Until today...

In 1961, the U.S. congress declared: "Resolved by the Senate that the Congress salutes Uncle Sam Wilson of Troy, New York, as the progenitor of American's National Symbol of 'Uncle Sam'". So who is Uncle Sam Wilson?

Back in 1812, the Unites States declared war on Britain. The government gave contracts for all sorts of provisioners - uniform makers, ship makers, biscuit bakers, and meat packers, to make sure all the soldiers and sailors well supplied and fed.

Up in Troy, New York, Sam Wilson's slaughterhouse won a contract for packing cured beef into barrels to ship off to the army. Each barrel intended for the government was stamped "U.S." for the United States. But since Wilson was known locally as Uncle Sam, people began joking "U.S." stood for Uncle Sam Wilson. And as the barrels rolled their way down from New York, the term rolled along with them.

"That's Uncle Sam's," people pointed out whenever they saw the country's initials. Eventually the entire nation adopted Uncle Sam as the nickname for the federal government.