Launch Crowd

How many people were at the final space shuttle launch yesterday?  I don't know, upwards of a million I hear.  I got there almost five hours before the launch took place, so I had to find a way to occupy my time.  Rather than counting all the people, I started counting cars.  Well, sorta.  I decided to put my camera to good use and started collecting license plates.  I thought I might be able to get all fifty states, but I didn't quite make it.  Alaska and Hawaii were two of the expected no-shows, but I also failed to find a few others that were a whole lot closer.  No DC or Puerto Rico, either, but I did get two Canadian provinces.  Let's take a look...

1. Alabama-Some states were easy pickin's, like Alabama.  It borders on Florida, and it has a huge space industry, so they were everywhere.  I tried to find the most interesting one I could, and this firefighter plate was it.

2. Arizona-This was one of the last ones I found late in the day.  Arizona was a long drive, but probably not the longest.

3. Arkansas-That's not too far away. There's a diamond on there for the only diamond mine in the US, and it's a national park You can go there and try to mine your own diamonds.

4. California-Now that's a long drive, but still not the longest.

5. Colorado-The heat at the launch must have been murder on these poor folks.  They even have snow-capped peaks on their plates.

6. Connecticut-Wherever possible, I tried to get vanity plates, or at least something out of the ordinary.  I'm not sure if this was a human driven car or not.  I, for one, welcome out new robot overlords.

7. Delaware-Does Delaware have anything other than plain plates?  I don't think I've ever seen anything other than this color scheme.

8. Florida-I had my pick of Florida plates, so I went with a Gator plate.  Go Gators!

9. Georgia-No idea what he meant by Faction.  I tried to find a Gator plate from Georgia (they do make them), but I couldn't.

10. Idaho-All they have to push with their plates is potatoes?  Come on...

11. Illinois-Boring...

12. Indiana-Still pretty boring.  These 'In God We Trust' plates really proliferated after 9/11.  I guess people didn't trust in God much before that...

13. Kansas-This appears to be the only plate I shot twice, once in the morning and once in the afternoon.  I thought there's be more duplicates, but I seem to have done a pretty good job of remembering what I had shot and what I hadn't.

14. Kentucky-Another good vanity plate.  If memory serves, this was on a Honda Insight.

15. Louisiana-Is it just me, or do Louisiana plates look an awful lot like California plates?

16.  Maine-Lobster.  Figures.  We have lobsters here in Florida, too, but they don't have the big claws like that.  I guess they fight less down here.

17. Maryland-Entropy, eh?  Chaos.

18. Massachusetts-Another state with boring plates.

19. Michigan-When I was little, the only colored plates you saw were Michigan, and they were blue.  Nowadays, every state seems to have every color.  Hard to tell at a glance what you're looking at.

20. Minnesota-Maybe if we use out imagination, this could be a vanity plate.  Perhaps there were 176 girls in this car.  Maybe.

21. Mississippi-Is DN an RN, or is DN married to RN?  I guess we'll never know...

22. Missouri-Show me something more exciting that this one.  At least there's a little bird on there, but why is it hidden and small?

23. Nevada-The west coast turned out to be well represented.  I thought those would be hard to find, but I think I got all but the northern plains and rockies.

24. New Jersey-Ha!  Jersey represents with a nice vanity plate.

25. New Mexico-As far as I remember, this was the only plate from New Mexico I saw, and I was pretty excited when I found it.  I guess I'm pretty easily excited.

26. New York-Another good vanity plate from New Jersey's neighbor.

27. North Carolina-A surfing plate from the East Coast?  That's just wrong.  You may as well have a NASCAR plate from Pennsylvania.

28. Ohio-Ohio is a pretty common plate in Florida.  During the winter at certain spots, I think they outnumber Florida plates.  I'm serious...

29. Oklahoma-This is a big improvement over the old 'Oklahoma is OK' plates.

30. Oregon-This makes two of the three west coast states.  Did I find a Washington?  You'll just have to wait and see...

31. Pennsylvania-Yes, folks, it's a NASCAR plate from Pennsylvania.  Sigh...

32. Rhode Island-I cheated just a little on this one.  All the other plates were on parked cars, but I saw this one while driving out of town afterwards.  I knew I needed it, so I shot it as he drove by.  Then I drove by him, then he drove by me, etc, etc, as I sat in traffic for two and a half hours.

33. South Carolina-Yes, I know you can't read it, but it says South Carolina on the bottom of the plate.  Trust me.

34. Tennessee-Probably my favorite of the fancy plates, but likely not a favorite of police officers who are trying to read it.

35. Utah-This plate has been on this car for a while if it really came out in 96.  Here in Florida, they send you a new plate every few years whether you need it or not.  I guess the license plate people need something to do.  Do convicts still make plates?  I doubt it.

36. Virginia-This was the only plate whose owner I spoke to.  He was sitting there outside the car, so I asked for permission before I shot it.  He told me it was his wife's plate.  It was a bright yellow New Beetle, in case you're curious.

37. Washington-And here's the last of the west coast states.  Didn't think I was going to get them all, did you?

38. West Virgina-I put this in the same category as the 'In God We Trust' plates, very popular after 9/11, but not so much before.

39. Wisconsin-Last but not least, this is Wisconsin.  I thought I was going to get to 40, but I guess not.  Now, what states am I missing?  Alaska and Hawaii, obviously, North & South Dakota, Vermont, Montana, New Hampshire, I'm drawing a blank here on the last four...  While I'm thinking about that, how about those two Canadian provinces I mentioned.

Not just plain old Manitoba, but Friendly Manitoba.

And Ontario, another common sight here in Florida.  Now what other states am I forgetting about?  Wyoming?  Iowa (I'm cheating now and looking at a list...), Texas.  Wait a minute?  How did I not shoot a Texas plate?  They were everywhere!  Texas has a huge space industry, so they came out in droves.  Surely I shot one of those...  Nope, I guess not...  Somehow I suspected while I was shooting that I would overlook something simple, and there you have it.  Does this count as messing with Texas?  I hope not.  That leaves one more state...  Nebraska.  There, that's all fifty, of which I shot 39 and saw one more but didn't shoot it.  Not a bad haul, and a good indicator of just how many people came out for the big show.