This, my friends, is the 50th state license plate I've seen here in Austin, and means that I have encountered vehicles from every state in our beautiful nation. Austin truly is a place for all people of our country (and the world) to visit, move to, and enjoy tacos in. I am excited that I reached my goal, and only after 3 months! Some plates were much easier to spot than others, and some (Maine and North Dakota) I wondered if I'd ever see. And I really do see plates all over town - for example, today in the HEB parking lot I saw: Virginia, New York, Tennessee, Oregon, and two New Mexicos. Just buying groceries half a mile from my house, y'all. Like many people, the only reason I was familiar with the New Hampshire plate before I saw it was from Walter driving that Volvo in the last season of Breaking Bad. Last week, Justin and I saw a Michigan license plate parked outside the coffee shop next to our house. Exiting the adjacent corner store, I saw the plate and said "Miiichigaaaann?" But to our surprise, a man popped his head from behind the trunk and said "yeah?" Turns out, he's from near Detroit and is working as a clerk this summer as part of law school. So license plates can make friendships, too!
Here's my list of all 50 state plates and any notes about ones I remember.
- Alabama
- Alaska - I have seen way more of these than I thought I would.
- Arizona - every U-Haul pickup truck I've ever seen has Arizona plates. I don't know why.
- Arkansas
- California - I literally see at least ten every day. Here is an article about Californians moving to Texas.
- Colorado - I saw an interesting flower-design Colorado plate at Parlor Pizza last night.
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida - one of my friends recently moved here from Florida so I've definitely seen this one a few times :)
- Georgia
- Hawaii - saw a white Subaru with Hawaii plates on my way to work
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana - surprisingly I've only seen about 3 of these
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky - I've only seen a handful of Kentucky plates, but there is one that parks in front of my office frequently
- Louisiana - see 'em everyday, the guy who helped us find our apartment has Louisiana plates
- Maine - first seen 3 weekends ago at the Farmer's Market on Guadaloupe
- Maryland
- Massachusetts - see at least one per week, holy hell that's a long drive!
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri - daily
- Montana
- Nebraska - most of the cars with Nebraska plates are kind of old and crappy, sorry Mike!
- Nevada
- New Hampshire - Walter White plates y'all
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota 8.6.14 forever
- Ohio - of course I see my own car daily :P but I don't see too many Ohios... except on Monday when I saw four in one day! I was getting gas next to a guy who had a sticker for a car dealership in Boardman.
- Oklahoma
- Oregon - I frequently see Oregon plates on cars with bike racks and hippie bumper stickers. Way to think outside the box, Oregon!
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island - really cool plate design that looks like a wave, seen at the post office on 45th street
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah - another cool plate design
- Vermont - there was one of these parked in my apartment lot for a couple of weeks
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin - I once saw a train of three cars with Wisconsin plates rolling down the highway all in a row, packed to the brim with blankets and lamps. They seemed like college kids headed to UT maybe?
- Wyoming - cowboy plate
- Washington D.C. - saw this one too
