It really had to be done. if it hasn’t been done in awhile.
I’ll start and I’ll stick with my own State: Michigan:
Battle Creek, MI produces the most cereal than any other city. ( Home of Tony the Tiger.)
Michigan is the world’s leading producer of cherries.
Mackinac Island, MI has the only public road in the country where cars are not allowed ( except service and emergency vehicles.). Transportation is by bike, horse and buggy ( tours by the latter.)
You are never more than 90 minutes (Or 90 miles . I get confused) away from a Great Lake no matter where you are in Michigan.
Our shorelines total: 3,288 miles.
Some Famous Michiganders/Michiganians:
In Music:
**Madonna
Stevie Wonder
Diana Ross
Aretha Franklin
Bob Segar
Ted Nugent
Kid Rock
Mashall Mathers **
Actors
Lily Tomlin
Tom Selleck
Jeff Daniels
Gilda Radner
Important Peoples:
Henry Ford
Walter Chrysler
Ransom Olds
Thomas Edison For a short time during his childhood.
One of our most famous residents. Teamster President Jimmy Hoffa has become even more famous since his disappearance 30 years ago.
I live in the majority of Montana that looks nothing like Montana. No big dramatic mountains, no forests, no bears. Two-thirds of the state is practically West Dakota.
It gets down to -70 F with windchill. Record books might not care about the wind, but people who intend to survive here must.
It also gets up to 100 F and higher. This seems to surprise people even more. High latitude has nothing on high altitude and full sun when it comes to heat.
Oregon’s beard was once able to beat Chuck Norris’ beard in a fight, but during the rematch Chuck cheated with a roundhouse kick to the Dalles.*
There is a place called Boring Oregon. It is named that for a reason.
Tillamook Oregon (the place where the cheese comes from) smells of sewage. The entire town REEKS. Like gag-reflex reeks.
In a similar vein, NYC buses have stickers saying it is a felony to assault a bus driver - no indication what class of crime assaulting other passengers might be.
Just in case know this, but you probably already do, the distinction on that sign is that the crime would be under Federal jurisdiction, rather than local.
Samuel Clemens did writing before he moved to Virginia City, Nev.; however, he started using the pen name “Mark Twain” while writing for a Virginia City newspaper, the Territorial Enterprise.
Carson City is the capital of Nevada, not Las Vegas or Reno. These are not the only three cities in Nevada. Carson City is considered one of the smallest State Capitals in the nation (one of. Not the).
Nevada is home to SEVERAL ghost towns. Real ghost towns, not just tourist attractions (although they have become such).
Wyatt Earp was once the sheriff of Tonopah, a big mining town about two-three hours away from my town.
“Nevada” vaguely in Spanish means “snow-capped,” or “snow-clad,” which is ironic because most of the state is a desert (it gets its name from the Sierra Nevada mountain range, which my town and Reno are snuggled up against).
Nevada has three nicknames: The Sagebrush State (sagebrush being our state flower), the Silver State (the Comstock Lode is a huge reason for any of this area having been settled), and the Battle-Born State, because we were brought into the Union during the Civil War (the Union needed one more Free state, so they let us in on the condition that we become a Free state).
Nevada is, due to some interesting issues with the above fact, over 85% federally owned.
We have Area 51. It’s still restricted, but it’s not so much of a secret anymore. It’s right outside of Rachel, Nev.
Nevada, despite being named “The Silver State,” is the largest gold-producing state in the Union, and the second-most gold-producing area in the world (behind South Africa).
“Pahrump.” That’s the name of a town here. Feel free to chuckle, I know I always do.
Just because one lives in Nevada doesn’t mean they’re near Vegas. We’re the seventh largest state in the union.
In Virginia City, there is a museum dedicated to the history of Gambling.
Reno and Sparks are two separate cities. Minden and Gardnerville are two separate cities. Only people that actually live there know where one ends and one begins.
Carson City is an incorporated city. It does not have a county. Before it became an incorporated city, it belonged to Ormsby County, was the only city in that county, and of course, was the county seat.
Burning Man takes place here. Nifty, huh? Naked hippies and a 100-foot brushfire that people pay upwards of $2,000 to see.
We have half of Lake Tahoe. No, seriously, California owns the other half. Our half is cooler, of course.
We celebrate the day we became a state, which is oddly enough Halloween. We call it Nevada Day, we have a parade, and we get the day off of work and school. We gave up Columbus Day for this. We no longer celebrate Nevada Day on the 31st of October; instead, it’s always rearranged so that it gives state workers a three-day holiday. I do not get Nevada Day off at my work. Bastards.
Despite the fact that the word Nevada is Spanish, all locals pronounce it “Nev-A-da,” with a shortish A. If you pronounce it “Nev-aaaaahhh-dah,” we know you’re a tourist or a recent transplant and we will scam you.
Any other questions? I’m a biiiig Nevada history buff.
The short story writer William Sydney Porter (better known by his pen name, O. Henry), worked as a teller at the First National Bank of Austin (Texas). He resigned after he was accused of embezzlement in 1894. He was brought up on charges but fled before he could stand trial. Two years later, he returned to Austin upon receiving word that his wife was dying. Porter surrendered to authorities, was tried and found guilty, and served three years of a five year sentence.
The only place in the world where the Venus Flytrap grows in nature is North and South Carolina.
South Carolina had the largest number of Revolutionary War battles of any state. This is because we define “battles” very loosely around these parts.
It is also one state where you can get all three kids of barbeque as a matter of course. One has to be very careful about going out for barbeque with opinionated people; you better know what each place offers.
Don’t live there any more, but it’s sort of my home state. Small though it is (it used to have more cows than people), it produced two Presidents: Chester Arthur and Calvin Coolidge. When the latter was President,he was asked why VT had more cows than people, and he replied, “We prefer 'em.”
Vermont was not one of the 13 original colonies, but was an independent Republic for 14 years before finally joining hte Union.
It is the only New England state that does not have any ocean shoreline (oh yeah, NH does).
It is beautiful, but has a very short summer. Last year it came on a Tuesday.
California, not Wisconsin, is the USA’s largest producer of dairy.
If California were its own nation (and I for one think it should be ;)), it would rank somewhere between 6th and 10th among the world’s economies by GDP, putting it just below Italy and China and just above Spain and Canada.
The state of New York would be right behind Canada, with Texas trailing immediately. Florida would be 18th between Brazil and Russia, and there are five northeastern/Midwestern states immediately between Russia and Switzerland. Four between Sweden (27) and Taiwan (32). All 50 states and the District of Columbia would be in the top 123 economies as independent nations, Vermont the least impressive with about a $22 trillion dollar GDP, falling a couple hundred million short of Lithuania.
And Milano be damned, the world’s fashion, slang, entertainment and culture comes mostly from Los Angeles County if you ask me.
Minnesota isn’t really the land of 10,000 lakes; there are many more. (Granted, most of them are pretty small.)
The top 21 hottest cities in the United States are all in Arizona and Nevada, most of them suburbs of Phoenix, Tucson or Las Vegas, concluding at No. 21 with Tucson itself (100.5 deg. F average in July). The next four are California towns with relatively low populations.
Of the top 25 coldest American cities, 17 are in Minnesota, two in North Dakota, and one is in South Dakota; the coldest city from outside those states is Madison, Wisconsin at 19. La Crosse and Green Bay are that state’s other cities on the list, while Iowa fields one city (Waterloo) and New Hampshire another (Manchester).
California fields 23 of the 25 cities with the highest median home prices, but accounts for only six of the 25 cities with the highest median household income.
Chiefly San Diego, eighth most populated city in the US (with quite a few more Californians than San Francisco) and fifth best place to live according to someone else’s link IIRC.
Nevada has come close to fielding marijuana legalization bills with legitimate chances of passing, which would make it the only place in America where marijuana possession would be expressly legal without medical necessity. AFAIK the latest attempt would have made the drug’s sale legal in stores that already have a license to sell tobacco but do not sell alcohol and are not near schools, churches, etc., although advertisement would be illegal and state borders would be fiercely guarded to avoid “spillage” into other states. The money otherwise spent on prosecuting and jailing marijuana users would have been estimated by an official committee and then redirected towards science-based drug education and free drug addiction treatment for Nevada residents.
North Carolina: Pork and vinegar sauce. The mustard/sweet sauce comes in here somewhere. That may be South Carolina. I’m surprised someone hasn’t been by yet.
Memphis: Pork shoulder, ribs. Dry rub (pepper) and smoke.
Kansas City: pork and beef. Tomato, sweet, pepper sauce.
Texas: beef, tomatoes and chilie.
Of course, vinegar, mustard, and ketchup are the three kinds of barbeque. The three kids of barbeque are the Billy Goats Gruff.
The mustard sauce is South Carolina, as far as I know, but it is not universal in the state. Lots of ketchup or vinegar here. I love the Little Pig out on Alpine Road because they have all three and you can avoid holy wars.
Ribs are just ribs, they aren’t barbeque. Barbeque, here, is pulled pork with a hotly contested sauce on it.
