About Sean

In two weeks I will head home from a colossal trip through most of the lower 48 states over roughly the last 10 months. There have been some great locations and some not so great locations. But at least I can say that I’ve visited these states to develop my own perception.

I’m sure each of these states has positives and negatives but some of them failed to display the positives clearly. In my opinion, if it’s that hard to find a positive, it’s just not worth the trip.

Top Five

• Montana: I’m hard pressed to find a more beautiful state.
• Utah: While this state is vastly different from Montana in terms of landscape, this is a gorgeous place. And the best part is that you can visit five national parks in one trip.
• New York: I’m not talking about NYC in this reference. NYC is a completely different animal that deserves its own post. But Upstate New York is beautiful and much slower than the big cities.
• New Hampshire: Leaves and bridges, duh!
• Coastal New Jersey: I’m not talking about the Jersey Shore disaster from MTV. Head south of Atlantic City around the Cape May area and you’ll see some gorgeous beaches and meet some fun people.

Bottom Five

• Kansas and the Dakotas and almost all of the Midwest: Kansas at least has KC and South Dakota has the Badlands. Other than that, skip!.
• New Mexico: My friend Leah will argue with this one but she loves New Mexico because of the hiking trails. I absolutely agree with her regarding the trails. Other than that, it offers nothing. Santa Fe is a homeless hell hole. Taos is uninviting to everyone. Albuquerque is a dump. The rest of the state is wasteland.
• West Virginia: Deliverance! No more needs repeating.
• Minnesota: Terrible food, bland people, insane traffic (Minneapolis/St Paul), and nothing else.
• Nebraska: Why does this state exist? The only livable city, Omaha, is nothing but a small town trying to grow up, and failing miserably. The rest of the state offers nothing but farms, MAGA ignorance, and wasteland.

Honorable Mentions

• Michigan: The UP is stellar as are parts of upstate Michigan.
• Wisconsin: beautiful green landscapes and nice people make this a great destination.
• St Michael’s, Maryland: This is a lovely small town on the bay that offers great food and superb residents happy to start a conversation with any stranger.

What will 2026 bring?

I will finish off the lower 48 in 2026 by heading to Oregon for some time. Well, as long as the temperatures hold. After Oregon, I will have visited every state in the lower 48 so it’s time to head back to some familiar locations in search of cool weather. Washington and Vancouver are at the top of that list. I will definitely head back to Montana to see my friends. I plan on hitting up Tahoe and Yosemite on the way and visit the Bonneville Salt Flats if I can get there before the heat takes over.