Fifty states. One thing I love about each of you. I'm Japanese. I've written about America every day since October, and you keep asking which state is my favorite. I can't choose. So here's every one of you. Find yours. Alabama: The whole country's lost luggage ends up in one store in Scottsboro, and you turned it into a tourist attraction. Alaska: You have more coastline than every other state combined, and you work every mile of it. Arizona: It's 115 degrees, and you still say "but it's a dry heat" with a straight face. Arkansas: Your entire state knows how to call a hog. In unison. California: Some of your redwoods were already old when Japan built its oldest wooden temples. Colorado: You tell people your elevation before your name. Connecticut: Legend says Yale students tossing empty pie tins from a Bridgeport bakery gave the world the Frisbee. Delaware: The First State. You signed before anyone else, and you have never let anyone forget it. Florida: Your grandparents run the pickleball courts like a military operation. Georgia: Peaches are on your license plate, but you talk about Vidalia onions like they're your children. Hawaii: You have a word, ohana, that means nobody gets left out of the family. Idaho: The most beautiful place nobody talks about, and you would like to keep it that way. Illinois: You will defend "no ketchup on a hot dog" harder than most countries defend their borders. Indiana: Every March, an entire state forgets it has jobs. Basketball. Iowa: Your state fair has a cow made of butter, and people line up to see her like she's royalty. Kansas: Scientists proved you're flatter than a pancake. You took it as a compliment. Kentucky: Horses, bourbon, and basketball, taken more seriously than most religions. Louisiana: When the water rises, your people show up in their own fishing boats. The country calls them the Cajun Navy. Maine: For much of the year, you're the first place in America to see the sunrise. Maryland: You put Old Bay on things that never asked for Old Bay. Massachusetts: You opened America's first public school in 1635, and you've been correcting everyone's grammar ever since. Michigan: You hold up your hand to show strangers where you live. Minnesota: "Land of 10,000 Lakes" is on your license plates. You actually have more than 11,000. Too humble to fix it. Mississippi: The blues were born in your Delta, and the whole world has been singing your heartbreak back to you ever since. Missouri: Your nickname is the Show Me State. Not "tell me." Show me. Montana: You have more cattle than people, and you like it that way. Nebraska: On game day, Memorial Stadium becomes the third-largest city in your state. Nevada: Everyone thinks of Las Vegas. You quietly have more mountain ranges than any other state in the lower 48. New Hampshire: In 1934, your mountain recorded a 231-mph wind gust, and the weather observers just kept working. New Jersey: Ask where you're from, and you answer with an exit number. New Mexico: Your official state question is "Red or green?" and you expect a real answer. New York: Half of you are not from "the city," and you would like everyone to know that. North Carolina: "First in Flight" is on your license plate, and Ohio has never forgiven you. North Dakota: You once got 8,962 people to make snow angels at the same time. Ohio: You'll tell me eight presidents came from you, then argue with Virginia about it. Oklahoma: When a tornado takes a town, the first trucks that show up are usually from the next town over. Oregon: Every American kid of a certain age died of dysentery on the way to you. Pennsylvania: You gave the country the Liberty Bell and the soft pretzel, and you're equally proud of both. Rhode Island: You're the smallest state, and you consider twenty minutes a road trip. South Carolina: Your porch ceilings are painted blue to keep away the wasps, and anything else that shouldn't come in. South Dakota: You carved four faces into a mountain. Then you started on a fifth in 1948, and you're still carving. Tennessee: Every song about heartbreak eventually passes through Nashville. Texas: Ask how far away something is, and the answer is always in hours. Utah: You have five national parks, and you will make sure I can name all five. Vermont: You banned billboards in 1968 so nothing would stand between you and a mountain. Virginia: You were here before the country was, and you'll politely remind Ohio. Washington: It rains nine months a year, and you treat July like a personal gift. West Virginia: The only state that sits entirely in the Appalachians, and your people are as strong as the mountains. Wisconsin: You call it a bubbler, not a water fountain, and you will not be corrected. Wyoming: The fewest people of any state, and the first place in America to give women the vote, in 1869. Fifty states. Fifty completely different ways of being American. From the inside, I'm told it can feel like you're always fighting. From Japan, you look like fifty brothers and sisters who argue about chili, football, and what to call a soda, and then drop everything the second one of you needs help. That's not a broken country. That's a family.

Fifty years of wild waters and unforgettable views. Happy 50th anniversary to Obed Wild & Scenic River! Established in 1976, the park preserves one of the last free-flowing, wild river systems in the eastern United States.

Fifty-eight people were killed and more than 200 were injured after an attack by the Iran-aligned Houthis on a government security forces training ​camp in Yemen's Shabwa province, Governor Awad al-Wazir said, as fighting in the impoverished ‌country intensifies