u/Adeling79

I've 'collected' 40 US states (45 by August, hopefully), but I thought it was interesting how these two different views give such a different idea of how much of the USA I've seen. For example, I've been to the Grand Canyon West, and stopped at a service station between Vegas and Salt Lake City, so I've been to Arizona, but I bet most people would argue that Phoenix or another Arizonian city is a must-see... And I've only been to Sacramento for a week, but nowhere else in one of the largest, most populous states!

I was born in the Royal Sussex County Hospital and grew up in Hove (actually), so thought it would be fun, now that I live in the USA, to see where all the Brightons are. There are a lot in the US and Canada, but a couple of surprising ones - especially the Indian one.

I may have missed some, so let me know if I did.

In July I'm joining my in-laws on a road trip from Salt Lake City to South Dakota via Wyoming, Montana, and North Dakota. Flying home for a week or two, and then joining them in Mississippi and Louisiana. This is going to fill in five more states getting me up to 45.

We're going to Yellowstone, to Mount Rushmore, and to New Orleans. Any specific things we shouldn't miss? I ask because, when I went to New York City, we forgot to go to the UN buildings.

I have spent years adding pins to Apple Maps and before that Google Maps, but I always knew I was trying to shoehorn what I wanted onto a system designed for another purpose. So I wrote TravelMap Studio so that I could record my adventures in an intuitive way, and then export them to a picture to share, or to an SVG for other formatting, etc.

I've also made an iPhone version which is free and which has limited functionality, just to make it easier to add places you visit while on the go, if you want to track everything, or in case you might forget.

All the data is stored in a bespoke file based on JSON that remains local to your Mac, so this is better than dependence on Foursquare type services.

I only just discovered Gluten Free Express in southern Manchester. I'm celiac, and I didn't know there was a place making chicken tenders and French fries in my city for $9.99!

And yes, I needed to eat most of them before I took the picture :-)

Incidentally, I am not associated with this location, but I just needed to rant in their favor a little!