Who here has been to Upstate NY?

[empirestate]

Of course, "upstate" has to be definitively defined, and we never even really settled on that.

Probably best for the OP to set the definition for the purpose of this thread, which he has done; so...

I say anything north of Poughkeepsie qualifies (for this thread). Anything south of there has enough of a downstate character to be irrelevant to what I'm looking for.

Meaning north, according to latitude? That would make Liberty upstate, but Monticello downstate, and Ellenville on the boundary and trending toward the upstate side. (That's not an altogether unreasonable dividing line, in fact.)

All of New York State is divided into three parts:  (as previously defined) Western New York is everything west of the I-81; Downstate New York is basically Sullivan/Orange/Putnam counties and everywhere south of them; and therefore everywhere else in the state is Upstate.

I have read of these divisions, but have never experienced them in actual usage. Raised in Rochester since 1978, I have never known anyone to distinguish "Western NY" as separate from "Upstate NY". Western NY is just that: western NY, and part of the vast areal majority of the state that is "Upstate". Other areas of Upstate NY include northern NY (the "North Country"), central NY, the Southern Tier, the Capital District, and the Finger Lakes. The only areas that are uncontestedly not part of Upstate are the counties of Long, Staten and Manhattan islands.

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=18122.25

10 pages on what Upstate NY is

THIS.  And the official consensus is that there is no official consensus.  There are no official lines.  Some TV stations and commercials in the Rochester area will use WNY, others will use Upstate. 

Right. There is no "official" definition of Upstate, because there is no office that governs or administers Upstate. My own definition is that Upstate comprises any area outside the reach of NYC commuter rail, while always excluding NYC and Long Island; more specifically (when called for), it is the counties outside of the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District.

[webny99]

Perhaps I should have left "upstate" out of my phrasing altogether and just asked who had been to the area of New York north (and/or west) of the city's reach.

Thanks to those who have overcome the "upstate" barrier and given some genuine feedback  All good to hear.

[Roadgeekteen]

Perhaps I should have left "upstate" out of my phrasing altogether and just asked who had been to the area of New York north (and/or west) of the city's reach.

Thanks to those who have overcome the "upstate" barrier and given some genuine feedback  All good to hear.

What does "cities reach" mean?

[webny99]

Perhaps I should have left "upstate" out of my phrasing altogether and just asked who had been to the area of New York north (and/or west) of the city's reach.

Thanks to those who have overcome the "upstate" barrier and given some genuine feedback  All good to hear.

What does "cities reach" mean?

The "reach" of the city is the extent of its suburbs. The city, obviously, being New York in this case. Areas beyond the city's "reach" are outside the metro area, and in little danger of ever being associated with the city.

[webny99]

I've been there once.

[abefroman329]

Yes, I've been to Rochester and Buffalo, and it was like being in the Midwest, mostly because the accents are the same.

Residents of Westchester sure as shit don't think of themselves as being upstate NYers.