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Contest! Where Did Scout Go On Vacation?


I have a confession to make: about a year ago, I was ready to leave New York. For some reason, all the negatives of city living had really gotten to me: the high rent, the go-go-go mentality, the lack of space, the traffic, the noise…

Luckily, my fiancee talked me off the ledge, and instead suggested we make a goal to visit as many places that were the opposite of New York City over the next year as possible. And so we did. Our travels included day trips upstate, weekend trips to New England, a nearly month-long roadtrip around the western US, and more – all with an emphasis on getting back to nature. We saw some unbelievable sights, and I’ve been trying to figure out an excuse for sharing some of my pictures with you. So it’s time for a contest!

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All you have to do is guess what STATE each of the following 18 pictures was taken in! You can submit your guesses in the comments below. Don’t worry if you don’t know all of them – anyone who makes a valiant effort will be put into the running for the top secret but very cool prize.

Ready? Good luck!

1) Region: New England | Hint: Nothing like a plate of pancakes covered in maple syrup fresh from the farm where you were just taking pictures. 

001

2) Region: Pacific-Northwest | Hint: These trees are older than the United States.

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3) Region: Southeast | Hint: Funny, I was expecting to see a mouse or two.

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4) Region: Western US | Hint: In NYC, the idea of a tunnel view is the ugly tiling in the Holland Tunnel.

004

5) Region: Mountain Time Zone | Hint: A monumental place to hang out (just watch out for the kissing couple!).

005

6) Region: North of the USA | Hint: And they say there are only five Great Lakes…

006

7) Region: Tri-state area | Busy beavers

007

8) Region: Southwest | Hint: At a National Park named after these guys…

008

9) Region: Northeast | Hint: Close to home.

009

10) Region: Western US| Hint: Can’t get much higher in the continental USA

010

11) Region: The ocean. Guess which one!

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12) Region: South-west | Hint: What a grand view!

013

13) Region: Northeast | Hint: Wonder if he took the Jitney?

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14) Region: Cold | Hint: Can’t believe I was able to climb this high. Forgot to look for Russia…

014

15) Region: Midwest| Hint: I assume the other 9,999 lakes are also frozen.

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16) Region: Chilly | Hint: Seeing moose fighting right outside your car window is apparently typical in this state.

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17) Region: Midwest | Hint: Amazing these grizzlies let us get so close. Perhaps they’re smarter than the average bear?

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18) Region: Midwest | Hint: Life finds a way.

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As you can see, we had a pretty incredible set of adventures across the United States. In fact, looking back on these pictures, I’m amazed we survived some of these encounters.

Good luck with the contest! There is indeed a prize, which will be announced with the winner next Monday. And if you happen to think there are two ways to answer the main question, bonus points will be awarded to those who take the more difficult route.

-SCOUT


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62 Comments

  1. Looks like someone stayed close to home. I’d say every one of these were taken in New York state. Specifically NYC. Specifically on Central Park West between 77th and 81st.

  2. haha they were all in a museum, maybe the American Museum of Natural History in the city? ;P

  3. Definitely seems like they were all taken in the great state of New York! 🙂

  4. You didn’t get me there..because I did the exact same thing with AMNH pics to my friends back in’11 when I visited.. 😀

  5. Clearly the Museum of Dead animals on CPW as I like to call it. I just hope you didn’t pay to get in. Even many New Yorkers don’t know you don’t have to pay the suggested entry fee to get in.

  6. I know I’m not the first to reply with this, but looks to be New York! Nice try, but I’m guessing (like others) AMNH!

    …still a worthy staycation.

  7. I’d say these were all taken on Central Park West in New York, around, say, 79th Street?

  8. New York! The American Museum of Natural History. I was really thrown off til about picture #12

  9. Honestly I was attempting to guess until picture #4 and then I realized I’d been tricked 🙂

    Had fun on CPW?

    1. should have added “Hall of North American Mammals in the Museum of Natural History in NEW YORK”

  10. I remember this trip. This was the trip you got the speeding ticket in Texas and had to forgo San Antonio. I would have liked to have been your tour guide. If you ever want to trade places, let me know. Now that my sister isn’t there any more the trips up there will be a tinch more expensive. Think of it this way. The go go go mentality up there is better than the no no no mentality down here.

  11. New York! WOW… you went to all the same “places” that I visited last summer… in the American Museum of Natural History!!

  12. I believe all of these photos were taken in New York State at the American Museum of Natural History. But I’ll take a crack at the more difficult route as well. I think the dioramas depict 1) Vermont, 2) California (Muir Woods), 3) Florida (Everglades), 4) California (Yosemite), 5) Colorado, 6) Northwest Territories (Great Slave Lake), 7) New York, 8) Arizona (Saguaro), 9) New York, 10) California (Mount Williamson?), 11) Pacific, 12) Arizona, 13) New York (Long Island), 14) Alaska (Denali), 15) Minnesota, 16) Montana, 17) North Dakota, 18) Illinois (I really have no idea about this one, though).

  13. Hmmm, I think number 1 was taken in New York. And number 2 looks like it as well. And hey, number three looks local too. Actually, they all seem to have been taken right here in NYC.

  14. I thought I was going to be the first to say the American Museum of Natural History, but it looks like I’m very late to the game. Anyways, that is my answer, even though everyone beat me to it!

  15. Yep- all photos were taken in NYC, but the states are: 1-VT 2-WA 3-FL 4-CA 5-UT 6-AK 7-PA 8-AZ 9-NY 10-WA 11-FL 12-AZ 13-NY 14-AK 15-MN 16-ME 17-WI 18-WI

  16. (I can only hope that I’m the first one with the correct answer!) ;>)

    New York State because they are all located in my old neighborhood, the Upper West Side of Manhattan, at the American Museum of Natural History.

  17. I am late to the party but I concur with my fellow New Yorkers on this one. I practically lived here as a kid. I swear sometimes my Dad and I were the only living creatures in the place. I hope you petted Teddy’s horse on the way in.

  18. AHHH! The long awaited April Fools post I’ve been waiting for!!! All photos taken in the physical State of New York – and in the mental state of Tom Foolery!

  19. Glad you made it back to the “reality” of NYC:) (and thanks for the contest.)
    1)Vermont
    2)Northern Cali
    3)Florida
    4)Colorado
    5)Utah
    6)Southwest Canada
    7)Upstate NY
    8) Arizona
    9)Upstate NY
    10)Colorado
    11)Atlantic Coast (South)
    12)Arizona
    13)Maine
    14)Alaska
    15)Minnesota
    16)Maine
    17)Yosemite
    18)Missouri

  20. I am one of many who recognized the dioramas in the American Museum of Natural History in New York State.

  21. I took the hard way! My guesses for where you went on vacation:
    1.Vermont
    2.California
    3.Florida
    4.Oregon
    5.Arizona
    6.Alaska
    7.Connecticut
    8.Arizona
    9.Vermont
    10.Washington
    11.Hawaii
    12.Arizona
    13.New Jersey
    14.Alaska
    15.Minnesota
    16.North Dakota
    17.Wyoming
    18.Utah

  22. 1.Vermont
    2.California
    3. Louisiana
    4.Washington State
    5.Arizona
    6. Wisconsin
    7. Michigan
    8.Utah
    9.New Hampshire
    10.Colarado
    11.Florida
    12.Arizona
    13.California
    14.Maine
    15.Minnesota
    16.North Dakota
    17.Missouri
    18. Oklahoma
    18.Utah

  23. 1. New York
    2. New York
    3. New York
    4. New York
    6. New York
    7. New York
    8. New York
    9. New York
    10.New York
    11.New York
    12.New York
    13.New York
    14.New York
    15.New York
    16.New York
    17.New York
    18.New York

    It’s been nearly 4 years, but I could never forget the New York Museum’s amazing displays.

  24. Museum of natural history in New York, though you almost got me with the first, as Maine is close to home and here in Québec we make the best maple syrup ever made by man.

  25. All of these are in New York state at The Natural History Museum in NYC! (I’ve spent many an air-conditioned Saturday there.)

  26. haha, NY. I was seriously guessing for a bit… By #12, I was “you’ve got to be kidding me” haha. Nice one.

  27. Assuming you really did visit all of these places found at the AMNH:
    1. Sugargush farm, VT
    2. Washington’s red cedars
    3. Florida
    4. Eisenhower Tunnel, Denver CO
    5. Kissing Couple rock formation, Colorado National Monument
    6. Lake Superior
    7. Beaver Falls, PA
    8. Organ Pipe Cactus National Park, Arizona
    9. Finger Lakes, NY
    10. Mt. Whitney, CA
    11. Pacific
    12. Grand Canyon, NV
    13. Jersey Shore
    14. Alaska
    15. Minnesota
    16. Alaska
    17. Yosemite
    18. Jurassic Park

  28. Cute! Clearly, New York at the AMNH but also:
    1. Vermont
    2. Washington
    3. Lousianna
    4. Colorado
    5. Nevada
    6. Michigan
    7. Pennsylvania
    8. Arizona
    9. New York
    10. California
    11. Pacific Ocean
    12. Nevada
    13. Maine
    14. Alaska
    15. North Dakota
    16. Alaska
    17. Minnesota
    18. Utah

  29. Hi! All the photos were taken in #9., New York! (But California has all of the regions on Earth except for three. Guess which ones we do not have!)

  30. I think all were taken in New York state, but here are the states I think each photo is supposed to represent as well:

    1. Maine, 2. Oregon, 3.Louisiana, 4.Washington, 5.Colorado, 6. Upper Peninsula of Michigan, 7. Pennsylvania, 8. Arizona, 9. Upstate NY, 10. California, 11.Atlantic?, 12. Arizona?, 13. NY?, 14. Alaska? 15. Minnesota?, 16. Alaska?, 17. Montana?, 18. Illinois?

  31. Apart from the obvious, that they were all shot in the upper midwest (side, that is) — at the Museum of Natural History…
    1. Vermont
    2. California
    3. Florida
    4. Colorado
    5. Arizona
    6. Minnesota
    7. New Jersey
    8. Arizona
    9. New York
    10. California
    11. Caribbean (off the Florida Keys)
    12. Arizona
    13. New York
    14. Alaska
    15. Minnesota
    16. Alaska
    17. California
    18. Tough one! Dinosaur National Park is in Utah, but the quote is from “Jurassic Park.” Jurassic Park was set in and around Costa Rica, but mostly filmed in Hawaii. However, Hawaii is not in the Midwest… So, though I don’t really think of Utah as Midwestern, gotta go with UT.

  32. It’s been too many years since I’ve been to the Museum of Natural History but I bet a couple those dioramas were in place when I went there (too many years ago) on elementary school field trips in my Bronx childhood. Too bad the pictures weren’t taken on the High Line! They have some pretty interesting signs visible from that walk, and maybe one day bears and moose will walk down Tenth Avenue again.

  33. i gotta say, you had me going for the first three photos!

    new york has it all, indeed!

  34. Yayyyyy!!!!! You really fooled me!!!! I’m glad I didn’t totally miss April Fool’s this year!!!

    PS: I AM gullible….

  35. That is a lot of places but the thing is, they look more like portraits to me so I’m guessing that this was all taken at a museum. Wonderful blog though. It kept people guessing. 🙂

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