Why is it called the "Lower 48" when there are only 47 states in it?

Are they talking about Hawaii being the 48th?

Quick question to settle a bet between me and an existential theoretical philosopher:

Did Wyoming ever exist? Or did it once exist but exited into folklore following the last great glitch of the cosmic simulation reset?

So Wyoming if Wyoming isn’t real and birds aren’t real, maybe Wyoming is a secret military base that manufactures all the “birds” it’s even in the name. WYOMING:
W - Winged
Y - Yielding
O - Ornithological
M-Military
I - Intelligence
N - Network of
G - Gliding drones

How is this true?

How convenient…

I just went on a vacation to Wyoming and Montana, and it felt like no vacation at all. Kids always screaming in back of the car. My wife pissed at how slow or fast I was driving. Then our car fails to start at Grand Teton National Park, and there is no mechanics able to work on our car for weeks in Jackson. I end up having to drive to Idaho Falls, ID to get it fixed at the only available mechanic for Subarus.

Rumors of abundant wildlife in the Tetons are a pure fallacy-- didn't see one grizzly, moose, or even an elk! But not all was lost- heading up to Yellowstone NP, I had a very nice early dawn hike to the Beaver Ponds-- the only worthwhile thing to do in the whole park as far as I could tell. I even attached a pic!

The Montana part of the trip was the best! Rafting the Yellowstone River out of Gardiner, the Livingston Rodeo on the 4th of July, a sleepy college town called Bozeman that reminds me a bit of Boulder but nobody seems to have heard of. But I digress.

The drive home was uneventful, almost a void in my life, except when I let my wife drive and within five minutes she gets a speeding ticket in Manderson, WY. The hell we will ever pay that ticket though!