a lot of bloggers have been linking to this auto-generating HTML list, which bolds the states you've been to, underlines the states you've lived in, and italicizes the one you're in right now.

but i think something that leaves a bigger impact is the states visited map generator, which, while it doesn't show where you've lived or how long you've visited a place, therefore giving equal importance to states you've just been to briefly, is kind of a striking visual.

here's my states visited map:

it seems i've cut two huge swaths through the country, and also, that for a life-long liberal east coaster, i've been to my fair share of the red states. actually, growing up, i probably spent the most time in the two most disparate states you could think of: massachusetts and wyoming. i had a set of grandparents in each place, so my summer vacations consisted of eating clam chowder and beaching it up in beautiful rockport, ma., and going horseback riding and rodeo-watching in laramie/cheyenne wyoming. seriously, it's like dick cheney and john kerry had a love child. shudder.