Americans, tell me about your state

InsanityRequiem

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Neverhoodian said:
California, specifically the Sacramento Valley region. It's largely agricultural around these parts, with rice and almonds being the major cash crops. I happen to live in one of the few modestly sized cities, but travel just half a mile west from my position and you'll run into a bunch of orchards.

Unlike our southern brethren, we northern Californians made the sensible decision not to build our cities next to deserts. Unfortunately we're more sparsely populated, which means southern California routinely siphons our ground water away in order to keep their giant swimming pools and immaculate golf courses. It's a pet peeve of mine when people automatically think of surfing and palm trees when I mention my state. The landscape is actually quite diverse where I live, ranging from wetlands to snow-covered mountains.

We're also not the progressive hotbed that everyone thinks we are. With the exception of Sacramento and the Bay Area, most districts up north are distinctly conservative (I'm more center-left, which makes me an anomaly). Again though, we don't have the numbers like in other, more left leaning parts of the state, so the Democrats pretty much have free reign concerning state matters. This had led to a movement advocating the formation of a new state called Jefferson, though it's little more than a pipe dream at this point.
At least we here in SoCal understand we?re savannah and desert locations, unlike you NoCal folk who drained vast marshes and swampland and forests to make those farmlands! Plus, your ground water isn?t used for SoCal, it?s used in in your farms and industrial practices.

But anyway, yes California. We may be ?blue? for federal elections, we?re pretty much purple locally. Red and blue all over, though tends to be Blue Coast and Red Inland. Also what is liberal in Los Angeles is different from San Fransisco liberal, from San Diego liberal, or Sacramento liberal.

If you want to travel from Los Angeles/San Diego northbound, or San Fransicso/Sacramento southbound, it will take you between 6-10 hours of driving one direction depending on what roads you take and what traffic you deal with. Also gas prices are priced crazy. Main street or highway gas station? Crazy expensive (From $3.50 to more than $4 in such areas). More out of the way streets or middle of small time shopping areas? Quite cheap (Seem them from $2.20 to $3.10 in such areas).

There are a lot of small town locations all across the state that are great places to be if you know what you?re looking for and where it is located in the state, but you will need to find a motel at least to be able to enjoy said locations.

Nationally, we?re the reason many states are even able to stay afloat, because a large number of our federal tax dollars are siphoned away from us to keep them from collapsing completely. Upwards to 35-40% of our tax money is taken away. We?re also the major food producer of the country, most of what we grow goes to the markets across the nation (And lots of it goes across the world too).

Every city, town, and county is completely different. Don?t expect someone from one part of Los Angeles to act in the same manner as another part, same is in a person from San Diego to act the same as someone from Barstow, San Francisco, San Jose, etc. We?re one giant state, but our population could effectively be compared to at least 5 different states due to the vast cultural differences in this huge ass state.
 

RaikuFA

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The Rogue Wolf said:
RaikuFA said:
McMarbles said:
I'm from New Jersey.

...so, yeah.

*cough*

All the jokes are true.
Jersey guy here, too. He's not lying.
Fellow former Jerseyan here also. Totes true. Like I often tell people: There's a reason all the tolls are on the roads leaving New Jersey.
Hopefully this changes if our governor finally gets charged with bridgegate.
 
Oct 2, 2012
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The Rogue Wolf said:
RaikuFA said:
McMarbles said:
I'm from New Jersey.

...so, yeah.

*cough*

All the jokes are true.
Jersey guy here, too. He's not lying.
Fellow former Jerseyan here also. Totes true. Like I often tell people: There's a reason all the tolls are on the roads leaving New Jersey.
New Jersey born and raised here as well. The jokes are true but I much prefer Jersey to the other states I've visited.

Living in San Antonio, Texas now. It's alright. Way too hot, nobody here knows how to fucking drive, and the whole Texas pride thing really grinds my gears.
Hell, they even have city pride here! I don't just have to hear about how super sexy and great Texas is, I have to fucking hear how super sexy and great whatever bumfuck city or town people come from is!
I don't understand it and it's annoying as fuck.

But rent is cheap so that's nice.
 

SlumlordThanatos

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BaronVH said:
Arkansas. Our alcohol is not as good as the OP's in Scotland. Scotch whisky is much better than moonshine. I am a fairly liberal person politically, and until recently I would say my state has pockets of racism, but I now believe they are everywhere. If you figure there are knuckleheads all over the globe and not just here, then Arkansas is fairly nice. Many people do not know how beautiful it is. Wonderful rivers, nice trails, and a lot of places that aren't known to everyone. The Buffalo River is amazing, and there are nice places outdoors all over. In the summer it is way too hot. From July to September the heat is unbearable as the humidity is extremely high as well. Another plus is that it is close to many other places that are nice to visit: Memphis, New Orleans, Dallas, and just ten hours by car to some nice beaches. 16 hours to snow skiing. It used to be democratic politically and has switched to republican, but we still enacted medical marijuana, so go figure. We have no major professional sports teams, but most would consider the Razorbacks our de-facto pro team. Another big unknown: our barbecue is fantastic, and we have pretty good cheese dip too. Fried catfish is another culinary delight. I would say that overall it is a nice place to live, and we have plenty areas to improve.
From Arkansas, can confirm.

The Northwest part is especially unusual. It's an odd meeting point of down-south conservative and extreme liberal, in between Eureka Springs and the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. The town I grew up in was only a few miles from Eureka Springs, so it was a bit odd to grow up in a stereotypical conservative southern town, then drive ten miles to the west and wind up in a magical land of weed, arts and crafts, car shows, and "Diversity Weekends".

It's also worth noting that three of the country's largest companies (Walmart in Bentonville, Tyson Foods in Springdale, and JB Hunt Transportation in Lowell) make their headquarters in my part of the state.

The weather sucks here even more than it does in other parts of the state, too. Mostly because of its unpredictability; it's not unusual for the weather to be 68 degrees and gorgeous at the beginning of the week, only for a blizzard to roll through at the end of the week. Then, the snow is gone two days later and we're back to spring weather. Or, we can get ice storms that last for two weeks...or we can have our summers last well into November.

The state still has poverty issues, especially in the south of the state. But overall, I like it here.
 

Musette

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Apr 19, 2010
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Florida, and it's a weird place. (There's a reason why Florida Man exists.)

South Florida has a history of attracting snowbirds, so there's a mix of New England (especially New York) as well as Cuban influence depending on how south. The farther north you go, the more "South" the state seems because you start teetering the edge of the Bible Belt. It's also where old people go to die, and my hometown was basically Florida's Florida in that respect. My hometown is also notoriously rude/snobbish, to the point that "you don't act like you're from here" is a compliment. Still, living so close to the beach was nice, and there's plenty of decent people there regardless of its reputation.

Florida does get fairly hot though. The high humidity tends to make things feel warmer than they actually are, especially compared to desert heat. If you're closer to the ocean, then the breeze helps keep things consistent though. As you get further from the coast, the heat can really get unbearable though. Growing up in this heat makes prospects of leaving Florida intimidating though, because I have near zero experience with snow, and I think the low sunlight hours in the northern winters would fuck with me pretty bad.
 

gsilver

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Apr 21, 2010
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KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime said:
Xprimentyl said:
They (Texans) are objectively the worst drivers in the history of ever.
California has far worse drivers
Lets back that one up with some data:
http://www.laweekly.com/news/california-drivers-continue-to-rank-among-the-nations-worst-7664327
California is #2

Guess who's #1? Utah.
Guess where I live right now? Utah

I'm not originally from here, but I was brought up here for a job. There are certain things that I love about the area, such as the mountains and hills, and I'm never too far from open space (and my house is adjacent to the mountains and a good hiking trail!). The job market is pretty good, too.
The downsides are the aforementioned drivers, that the politics are really skewed towards ultra-conservative, with some really weird hang-ups. There's a saying that "Coffee is illegal" here (and I have to drive an hour if I want better coffee than Starbucks... And even Starbucks is over 15 minutes away), and A LOT of people look down upon ever watching a movie that's rated R. Winters are also long and suffer from inversions, which wreck havoc on the air quality. The summers can get pretty hot, too. Local food is also quite bland, featuring few specialties.


I'm originally from New Mexico, the land of open space, spicy food (green chile, especially), wonderful sunshine, and beautiful open skies. I grew up in the mountains, which were full of pines and aspens. Desert scenery is also readily accessible, which can be gorgeous. Weather is generally much nicer in New Mexico, with the winters generally being brief and temperatures mild (yet the nearby mountain still had enough snow for a ski resort). The summers are better then where I am now, too. Overall highs were (slightly) lower, and summer heat is further tempered by monsoon rain. The people are also some of the friendliest that you'll ever meet. Cost of living is also pretty reasonable.

Downsides? Well, I hope you like wind. There's a lot of it. The job market is also rather rough, which is why I'm in Utah.
With any luck, my next career move will take me back, but things are at least alright where I'm at.
 

balladbird

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Huh, surprisingly large number of Missourians here on the escapist.

Also from Missouri. Southern, rural part of the state, near the Arkansas border. Can't say much about the people, since I live in a house in a forest surrounded by farmland... probably a dozen wild/domesticated animals for every person in my immediate vicinity. The average small town will have four or five churches, all protestant Christian, of course, people are polite and friendly, but tend toward passive aggression if they don't like something about you. Not really bad, not really good, just people being people.

I will say that cost of living is awesome down here, though. When I worked my last job, I wound up renting a 3 bedroom house. I live alone, have absolutely no need for all that space, but it was the closest to my job I could find, and all it cost me to rent it, all utilities included, was about 600 dollars a month. My current living arrangement is a little more than half that.
 

Fiz_The_Toaster

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Arizonian here.

Um... It's hot as hell during the summer, full of dust with dust storms in the summer, and it's a bit boring here, especially in the summer.

Basically the summer here sucks.

We have great Mexican food, so I think that makes up a lot for how weird this place is.
 

Kyrian007

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Well, no Kansans have chimed in yet. So I will. And yes some people have brought up Kansas City... which is in Missouri and not Kansas. Well most of it. Like, a 16th of Kansas City is in Kansas... and some KC suburbs are in Kansas. Just... its kind of complex.

Anyway Kansas. Its about 70% farmland and 25% pasture land that's slightly too rocky for farming. Its flat... really flat. Most of it anyway. It gets a little hillier in what's called the flint hills, otherwise very little and gradual elevation changes. I live in KS largest city (Wichita) and the county I live in is still around 50% farmland. Its not all wheat. Maybe 30 years ago that was true, but modern farmers rotate crops through many different kinds now.

The people. Mostly really nice and polite. There are without a doubt pockets of gun freaks (like live on compounds freaks not just 2nd amendment enthusiasts) and race "purity" types. But most of those seem to go out of the way to NOT be noticed. Even if the average Kansan you run across happens to be more racist than most, generally they'll do a pretty good job of hiding it behind politeness. Things are a little more actually diverse and cultured in the towns. Like Wichita for example, we (generations ago) had an influx of immigrants from Lebanon and the food and design and religion have made an impression. There are a lot of opinionated and right wingers that are a little more vocal at the moment (easier to be closed minded, racist, and sexist in a group I guess) but that in itself is a stereotype. As long as they aren't going on and on about religion or guns or how some "insert group of people" are bad because "insert reason stereotype" they are basically OK. Of course they get along with me, a white man... mileage may vary.

But for the most part, its nice. Wichita that is. My commute is only 18 minutes and I go across town. A downtown area called "oldtown" is at the end of a revitalization project and is a really cool place to hang out, when I was a kid it was a rundown crime alley warehouse hole. We have a museum district, minor league soccer, baseball, and hockey. Traffic is murder if you are 5 minutes late, parking is a ***** if it takes more than 2 minutes to find a spot... see not really that bad. And we don't have KC's barbecue... that's true. We only have 2 bbq places that are in the same ballpark really. But we do have some local gems. I live next to a cheap, awesome Italian joint. Like Fazoli's prices but Chianti bottle candles and musician you have to pay to go away quality. A mile away from that is a restaurant that is authentic El Salvadorian.
 

Remus

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Nov 24, 2012
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Missouri - if you look up "red state" in a dictionary, it would say "See: Missouri". Beautiful countryside contrasted by ugly, ugly people, both inside and out. The center of the Midwest's methamphetamine trade, as well as any number of other illegal substances, most gas stations carry a variety of paraphernalia in the hopes that the state might one day legalize recreational drug use. However, contrary to that, our voters consistently vote heavily conservative republican, thus dashing any hope for a vote even reaching the state floor. Casually racist in the country and overtly so in the major cities, we hide our prejudice behind a folksy exterior. We are kind and wave at everyone on the outside but once you talk to us, you realize how backward we really are. If you are liberal-minded as I am, either run away screaming or find a deep cave in the hills, of which there are many, and hide and never come out. There is a lot of open land if you know where to look, so surviving strictly on a diet of hunting and foraging is entirely possible, what with our overpopulation of deer since we've killed all but a few of their natural predators.

But seriously, when I first played Bioshock Infinite, all I could think was "I really gotta get tickets to the local amusement park".
 

BeeGeenie

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Southern Idaho. High mountain desert climate. Lots of sage brush.

Famous for Russet Potatoes. They're delicious.

Politically, it's one of the most tragically republican states outside of the south. Naturally, education and wages are terrible, but at least we get to have lots of guns. and potatoes. Did I mention the potatoes?
 

BabySinclair

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Minus the shift in Kentucky politics over the recent cycles, it's a good state. Wineries and distilleries in every direction, balanced weather pattern, close enough to Ohio for day trips. We have a state tax but having driven in a fifth of the US, by far one of the best maintained road systems.

Now there are regions in the coal region that really need some serious economic help but that's due to the decline of the coal industry that half the state is in denial about. But there's bourbon everywhere, I swear it's in the drinking water.