Friday, January 6, 2012
The Glorious Adventure: Part The First
Before I get into all of the awesome-pretty-pictures part of my Epic New Year's Adventure, I wanted to share with you the game The Man and I played while in the car--it's called The See How Many License Plates Are From Other States And Write It Down Game.
Here's the deal: Orlando, Florida, is one of the most visited cities like, ever. EVERYONE goes to Disney World or Universal or MGM for vacations, and especially in the cold winter months, those from the northern and midwestern parts of the country travel to warmer climates and beaches to get away from the heart-stopping chills of their hometowns. Last year, we saw so many super-far-away license plates that I decided this year I wanted to document the ones we saw. Because people seriously do come from all over to go to Florida. Last year, we even saw one Alaska plate. That's serious commitment to warmer weather, my friends.
I had several goals for this year's License Plate Extravaganza: I wanted to see more provinces from Canada than just Ontario (Canadians travel to Orlando A LOT), and I wanted to see more than 30 of the contiguous United States represented. And I'll be damned if we didn't hit both of these goals, plus a BONUS! I'll split it up into three categories for you: US, Canada, and Other. (Yes, there is an Other.)
The following lists are plates we saw on the way to Orlando, while driving in Orlando, and on the way back (incidentally, only the very last US plate was a new find on the way back. All others were seen pre-Orlando and in the city itself).
In the order in which we saw the plates (and not counting the car we were in)...
U.S.!
1. Michigan
2. Florida
3. Virgina
4. Georgia
5. Delaware
6. Oklahoma
7. Massachusetts
8. Tennessee
9. Maine
10. Illinois
11. Missouri
12. Indiana
13. Wisconsin
14. Minnesota
15. Kansas
16. Kentucky
17. North Carolina
18. Iowa
19. Nebraska
20. Ohio
21. Colorado
22. Oregon (Dedication Award!)
23. Pennsylvania
24. Texas
25. New Jersey
26. South Carolina
27. Louisiana
28. Arkansas
29. South Dakota
30. New York
31. Maryland
32. Mississippi
33. New Hampshire
34. California
35. Rhode Island
Canada!
1. Ontario
2. Manitoba (That's one I hadn't seen before.)
The next category is Other, and it needs a little explanation. This car was in the next lane to right of us, and we were going faster than they were, so I had to look really quickly to catch the name of the plate as we drove by them. I only got one glimpse as we passed, and I was sure I had read it wrong or something, because I saw two very scripty-looking words that I couldn't really tell if they were in English or not, but the top long word started with an "N" and the bottom shorter word started with an "L" and I looked at The Man and said, "I feel like that might have said Netherlands! But it didn't look like Dutch... And why in the hell would someone from the Netherlands get over here to drive to Florida in their own car??? Ferrying your car across an ocean has to be expensive!"
You can see why I was confused.
Upon some further inspection, and by "inspection" I mean Googling, I have come up with the answer to this quandary! It was NOT, in fact, a Netherlands tag that I saw, but a Newfoundland and Labrador tag--which is Canadian! Newfoundland and Labrador are an island-and-mainland combo province in the upper most eastern corner of North America--they are basically next Greenland which is basically next to the North Pole which is basically the end of the earth. No wonder they wanted to get away and head to Florida for the winter. Those people drove several thousand miles to get to Disney or wherever it was they ended up. So here we are, with the winners of the Super Dedicated Florida Vacationers Award:
Other, Also Known As Canada!
1. Newfoundland and Labrador
I am truly amazed. We hit all of our goals! Thirty-five American states and three Canadian provinces. Orlando is the place to be, my friends.
Stay tuned for the next installment of Emma Harr and the Glorious Adventure!
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7 comments:
wowwwww.
Kansas and Missouri! My home state and the state I go to school in, respectively. And that's really interesting that you saw a plate for Newfoundland and Labrador...I've never seen a plate like that.
First of all, I love the License Plate Game. We used to play it allllll the time during our 12-hour road trips to my grandparents house in Michigan. Like ALL. THE. TIME. I do believe one time we got all 50 states. It was epic.
Second of all, I tagged you in a fun tagging post thing. So you should go check it out and pass it on.
Can't wait to hear about all your crazy adventures in Harry Potter World!
I'll get the tag response up soon, lady! Thanks for liking me enough to tag me. :-D
And did you seriously get all 50 states? Even Hawaii???
I hadn't either! It was the weirdest thing... I literally thought it said Netherlands at first because I didn't even remember that N&L was a part of Canada (don't judge, I don't spend my free time musing on the Great White North all that often...) so it was just such a funny find. And it has GOT to be cheaper to fly to Orlando from there.... right? Unless they were on some epic road trip around the whole continent, which would be amazing. It was this adorable old couple in a minivan. Love it. :-)
Thanks for commenting and following!
:-) Yep. Winning.
Once upon a time, I dated a girl who played the license plate game but on a more long-term basis. She kept a little list with her wherever she went, and every time she saw a license plate from a state she hadn't seen before she'd write it down (including Canadian plates). It was quirky yet endearing. Since we last spoke I'm pretty sure she hadn't found Hawaii and Alaska, but I bet she will one day lol. Living in Pennsylvania has perks and disadvantages. I've taken my car to Toronto twice now, and I like to think that I made some person's day if they were playing the same game (pretty sure I had the only PA plate in a sea of blue-and-white Ontario plates).
~Shane
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