Here's a list where "We're Number One! We're Number One!" Some of the other locations on the way to number one are interesting, however. A little over a year ago, my wife and I took a vacation down through Washington, Oregon and into northern California to see the redwoods. I had heard that northern California was pretty rural and I always thought, "California-rural can't be real rural!" But we were surprised to find that northern California was nearly as empty of people as parts of Alaska!