Upstate and Vermont

So it is pouring rain here tonight, but slowing. Right now out my window I hear the sharp "shesh" of cars driving on a highway after a heavy rain. Many cars still at 10:30 p.m.; the cars heading, I imagine, to Memorial Day weekends to create memories upstate.

How many states in this country have an "upstate"?

Chicago is in upstate Illinois, but it's Chicago, so the fact of it being Chicago obliterates any upstate-ness. Mason City is not upstate Iowa because it's too small of a town. Burlington, VT, is part of the "Northeast Kingdom." Now that's ego.

Speaking of Vermont, I have a note tonight from my mom regarding my 95-year-old grandmother:
"We received a note from Grandma today. I had to laugh. She told us about how her friend came down the other day and got her laundry together and they went over to the laundromat. They only did one load before Grandma got restless, but she said that it was the first time that she had been to a laundromat and the first time she had ever seen an automatic washer.... no less a dryer. Quite fascinating. I thought that was so cute."

So she has seen a computer (my laptop) before seeing a washing machine.

Anyway, as regards the subject of "Upstate," I am fascinated by the idea of towns on borders: state borders, river borders, the timeline borders in Indiana.