Jaunted

5. Maine: Christmas Comes Once A Year
In Maine, there is no Christmas in July...or in February or March, or any other time of the year than the standard December. You see, they've got a law on the books that makes you subject to a fine if your Christmas decorations are up past January 14. Maine has Valentine's Day to think about, so past a certain point they want the tinsel torched, no matter how detailed or synced-to-music your light display is.

4. Arkansas: It's "ARK-an-saw," not "Ar-kan-SASS"
Mispronounce the name of "The Natural State" and you're throwing sand in the face of an old Congress compromise from 1881. You see, back when the country was deciding what to name the state, they worked off some Indian terms for the area and narrowed it down to these two pronunciations. The two Arkansas senators at the time were divided on the issue, and so the Senate rules to spell it one way and pronounce it the other. Saying it wrong just makes them roll over in their graves.

3. New York: Boobies everywhere
While this is more of a reason to visit New York than to avoid it, prudish tourists and religious folk might want to add the state to their list of travel boycotts for allowing women to be topless in public. Even on the subways. It's an equal rights thing, but don't try to make any money off it; in that case, you will be arrested. For those who want to revel in the toplessness, the time to do so is during Coney Island's Mermaid Parade in late June.

2. California: San Francisco Is Copyrighted
Uh oh! We wrote the words "San Francisco" without San Francisco's own permission! Alright, so the city's copyright on their own name isn't that strict, but if you want to make some SF souvenirs yourself and then sell them, you have to pay the city its dues as owner of the copyrighted name "San Francisco." As a result, the city rakes in hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

1. Florida: Forget about Spring Break
While in Florida, the missionary position is the only officially legal way to get your swerve on, it's actually the laws in Daytona Beach that might give tourists the most grief. As a hugely popular mecca for drunken, frolicking Spring Breakers, Daytona Beach sounds like it just wants to jail all of them with these laws: no molesting trash cans, no swimming while drunk or on drugs, and no drinking and doing drugs at the same time. But Florida, these are actions practically written down in the mystical rule book of Spring Break. We guess it's back to Cancun...

Know of other crazy state laws that might deter tourism? Let us know! We love a good stupid scandal.

Related Stories:
· Frommer Announces Arizona Travel Boycott; Do You Agree? [Jaunted]
· Weird Travel Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Steve and Sara]