Write-Ins
 November
11, 2009: “Hello Pinedale,
I thought I would send you a note to let you know that I have never been
to Pinedale myself but my son Jason and his family recently moved there
and enjoy the town very much and I'm on the web site everyday... My three
grandkids say they love being there. I will be visiting them during the
Christmas holidays and hope to be moving there myself sometime in Feb
2010, as I plan to retire after 30 years as a school district employee.” – Randy
F. Bakersfield, California
September
3, 2009: “Hello from Hopkinton, Massachusetts! Start
of the Boston Marathon and home to relatives of the Huntleys of Pinedale
and Daniel. Hello to Rita, Jim and JJ from John, Jane & Andy. We
visited Pinedale a few years ago and are hoping to make a return visit
sometime. For now, we'll just settle for Pinedale Online. If anyone
from Pinedale is ever running the Boston Marathon, get in touch with
us."- John R., Hopkinton, Massachusetts
August
19, 2009: “My name is John H., I reside in Northeast
Georgia. I first visited Pinedale 5 years ago, during my annual travels
to the West in quest of trout. Since my first visit 5 years ago I have
longed to reside in Pinedale. This year my uncle passed away after
a long battle with cancer, during his last few years I really believe
that our trips to various western destinations kept him going. It was
all he would talk about during his cancer treatments, he traveled weekly
from Blairsville GA to MD Anderson Cancer research center in Texas.
Lamar would tell the nurses all about our trips to Pinedale and would
always say if he was a younger man he would move there. Pinedale is
a very special place in the most scenic part of the west, the people
are as good as the fishing! This was the first time in years that I
have not made my trip west, I am planning a trip next July. PS If the
school system is in need of a Principal from Georgia let me know!” -
John H., Georgia
August
18, 2009: “I thought I'd drop
you a line so you can at least have a "virtual" license plate
from DE, would it count if I emailed you a picture of mine on my car??
I found your site while doing an internet search looking for pictures
of the 50 states license plates. I find it amusing that DE is one of
the "hard" states for you to get. I am in my 50's and my family
started playing the license plate game as a contest when I was a kid
in the 60's. We did it for many years and were very competitive. Some
years we got all 50, sometimes we missed a few. This was while growing
up in PA. In the 80's I revived the game with my kids while they were
growing up in Wilmington, DE. We have a distinct advantage in that we
live a mile off I-95 and drive it almost daily. I can pick off about
20 states in a 15 min. trip most days. I hadn't played for at least 10
yrs, and just decided to see how many states I could get in the last
month of my summer vacation. I started Aug. 8 and have about 35 states.
I saw an unusual plate while driving today, but couldn't get a good look
at it, due to the license plate holder and traffic. I was trying to find
something similar online to be sure what it was, but no luck. The "hard" states
for us usually are N. & S. Dakota, Alaska, Hawaii, Utah, Wyoming.
Have fun and good luck!” – Debby H., Delaware
July 14, 2009: "Look for our Missouri plate
August 10, 2009. We are vacation and heading to the Pinedale/Jackson
area for
a
couple of weeks of pure heaven."
Jackie & Dennis, Missouri
June
4, 2009: “You deserve a green
pin from northwestern Pennsylvania. Warren, to be specific.” - Brian
F. Warren, Pennsylvania
May
20, 2009: “I'm from New Orleans, LA living in Atlanta,
GA for the past 25 years...coming to Pinedale in August with my partner
for Trout! See you soon..." Bill and David, Atlanta, Georgia and
Raleigh, North Carolina.
April
29, 2009: “I found you on the web after watching the
news program. We are in Burnsville, NC. 28714. Maybe someday we'll
do a road trip out west!” - Doreena, Burnsville, North Carolina
April
10, 2009: “I've
never had the pleasure of visiting Pinedale in person but... I found
your website and visit there at least twice a week.I correspond occasionally
with some really sweet people there. Love it. My connection in Pinedale
will e-mail me when she thinks there is something that I need to see
right away. I'm from a small town in northeast TN. called Elizabethton.” – Beverly
S., Elizabethton, Tennessee
April
4, 2009: “I'm
coming to Pinedale in May and I'm from Michigan!!!”
Melissa, Troy,
Michigan
January
1, 2009: “I lived in Rock
Springs for a while and came to Pinedale a few times... loved it. I keep
Pinedale and Bondurant on my webcam list now. My wife and I returned
to The Woodlands, TX (50 miles N of Houston) and decided to play your
license plate game here. The first 4 months we found all but one state,
W Virginia. Do they have cars? We started Feb 1, 08 and now is Jan 09
and still haven’t found WV. The game is fun. I miss the country
in WY... Thanks” Michael M., The Woodlands, Texas
 November
10, 2009: “I don't know if this counts or not, or if
you have to hear from the people that were here. We had visitors from
Minnesota, staying at the Hampton, for the last week of October. They
drove a white Ford truck with Minnesota plates. No photo, but we promise
they were here. Hunting." Gary Neeley, Bucky's
Outdoors, Pinedale*
August
25, 2009: “Hi, I noticed that you still haven’t seen anyone
from New Hampshire yet. I was back in Pinedale again this year the last
week of June. This year I brought my two daughters with me and enjoyed
fishing, traveling the area roads and our horseback trip out of Boulder
Lake Lodge into the Wind Mts.” - Dennis G., Dunbarton, New Hampshire
August
22, 2009: “I found your site when I was researching
for our trip out west so I made sure we drove through Pinedale when
we went this summer. (sorry we didn't take a picture!) We are from
CT so you can put our state on your survey. We very much enjoyed our
stay in your beautiful state.” Ellen B. Pomfret, Connecticut
July
25, 2009: "We were there! We
came in from Omaha, NE for the rendezvous. What beautiful country! We
plan to come again next year. I'll be watching for our red pin :)" -
Leah, Nebraska
June 2, 2009: “My husband and I were
in Pinedale and were treated exceptionally well at your clinic. We live
in Mesa, AZ and we were driving through from Yellowstone to Vernal, UT.
My husband is terminally ill and we had to go to your clinic on Friday
night May 8th for some hydration etc. I would like to congratulate the
city of Pinedale on it's lovely clinic and your Nurse Practitioner and
your Nurse. Both were wonderful to my husband and myself. Way to go Pinedale!” -
Stacy and Ted M., Mesa, Arizona
February
14, 2009: “We
were in Pinedale on January 30 - February 1, visiting our son and his
family.” – Dave & Susan D. Dickinson, North Dakota
January
1, 2009: “I lived in Rock Springs
for a while and came to Pinedale a few times... loved it. I keep Pinedale
and Bondurant on my webcam list now. My wife and I returned to The Woodlands,
TX (50 miles N of Houston) and decided to play your license plate game
here. The first 4 months we found all but one state, W Virginia. Do they
have cars? We started Feb 1, 08 and now is Jan 09 and still havent found
WV. The game is fun. I miss the country in WY... Thanks” - Michael
M., The Woodlands, Texas
_________________________________
Editor's
Note: We began our "50 State License Plate Survey" in
2002, with this being the 7th year of the survey. It started as
a fun way to show how many people come visit, or pass through,
our
little
town each summer. Doing it has become a tradition for many families,
including ours. This particular survey was also being done as therapy
for Dawn's Mom, Louise, as part of her outings and recovery from
a stroke she had just before 9/11. She was the official tally taker
of
the plates as we saw them in our drives around town. It helped
her relearn letters and numbers. She passed away in March, 2007,
and
now part of our reason for doing this survey is in memory of all
the good
times we had doing this with her.
We
continue the tradition each year as a fun way to connect to all the
wonderful people who visit Pinedale each year. Originally, we restricted
ourselves to just looking in Faler's General Store parking lot (the
building with the big fish on top). Pretty much everyone goes to Faler's
while they are here, and it usually doesn't take too long to get all
50 states, but we kept getting skunked by Hawaii, Delaware, New Hampshire
and Rhode Island. Faler's sold and is now
called Ridley's Family Markets. A sign of changes in Pinedale over
the years. Thanks to the folks at Falers and Outfitter Liquors for
your calls and e-mails to let us know when you saw one of our missing
plates in your parking lot!!
Over
the years, we had to expand our search beyond the grocery store parking
lot. Some
of the harder states kept showing up at the laundrymat by the Post
Office, or parked in front of the Cowboy Bar or Bottoms Up Brew Pub,
but we missed seeing them at Faler's. Because we really hate to lose
knowing those plates were in town, we expanded our search area to include
anywhere in town and other areas, like nearby trailheads, up by the
big lake, and the bars and laundrymat!
In
the past, we've started our survey on
Memorial Day weekend at the end of May. Later, we bumped it up to
start on February 1st. This year we started on January 1st to
give ourselves more chance to find Hawaii, Delaware and Rhode Island.
For
any viewers who want to make sure we count you and your vehicle, you
can stage a photo as "proof" you were here. Take a picture of your
vehicle and plate with one of our recognizable buildings in the background
(put in something with a date on it that shows it was from this year,
like the latest local newspaper.)
This
is not at all a scientific study, but is just for fun, so watch our
map and see how quickly we find all the states this summer!
Thank
you to everyone who has joined in our survey and sent us your notes
and stories!
Dawn
Ballou, Editor, Pinedale Online!
For
pictures of the license plates for all 50 states, try these sites: c2.com, PlateShack.com
|
in
town, please write and tell us you were here so we can add you to our
survey! We'll put in a red push-pin on your state and add you to the state
list below. Scroll down this page to read the comments that have already
come in. 
