# The most boring U.S. state **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 22, 2019, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-u-s-state/845262 "2019-12-22T22:57:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Mallard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mallard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mallard)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2019, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-u-s-state/845262/141 "2019-12-26T21:52:24Z")
> [@Die\_Capacitrix](#): > > My parents wanted to see all 50 states. So we drove from one side of the country to the other. Multiple times. Trans-Canada highway, I-94, I-90, I-80, I-76, I-70, plus up and down, I-5, I-95 and some others. Still haven’t made it to Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, and I’ve only visited the airports of Georgia and Tennesse. > > Realized sometime after I moved to NJ that I was living only about 10 miles away from a campground that I stayed at when I was 12. > > Been there, done that (sliding backward on an icy hill). > > **I had a colleague from Saskatchewan**. She had to leave Luzern because she felt that the mountains were closing in on her. I have the opposite problem with flat spaces. The horizon is too far away. Saskatchewan is SO flat! How flat is it? It’s so flat that if your dog runs away you won’t lose total sight of it for 3 days. (da boom tisss) ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2019, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-u-s-state/845262/142 "2019-12-26T21:58:15Z")
Like **pkbites** , I’ve been to all 50 and I also think North Dakota is the most boring, whole state considered. Yes, a lot of Kansas, Nebraska, Western Texas and I-80 in Pennsylvania are interminably long and boring, but the more interesting parts of those states make up for it. North Dakota? When my wife and I planned our trip that included ND, we had to settle, tourist attraction-wise, for one of those rural pioneer museums that so many small midwestern towns have, and we arranged a tour of pilot training facilities at the college in Grand Forks. We did drive through Theodore Roosevelt National Park, but having seen the South Dakota Badlands the year prior, we weren’t overly impressed. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2019, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-u-s-state/845262/143 "2019-12-27T00:59:45Z")
> [@Charlie\_Wayne](#): > > the most boring state is Idaho. Sorry Idaho. Idaho? Boring? In what world is that? [This is boring?](http://my.tbaytel.net/culpeper/LochsaRiver.html)[This is boring?](http://my.tbaytel.net/culpeper/MiddleForkPayetteRiver.html) [Same goes for Wyoming.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAF08-ko3aw) ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2019, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-u-s-state/845262/144 "2019-12-27T02:44:47Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > I’ve been there several times, in all seasons. Driven through, and rode my motorcycle across. So what the heck, you’re welcome, Glad to have you with us, Even though we may not ever mention it again ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2019, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-u-s-state/845262/145 "2019-12-27T07:07:01Z")
Texas is only debris washed down from New Mexico. The Dakotas are what’s left after a glacier invasion. The Mississippi Basin drainage is a fractal turkey track. Some states would seem boring except they’re vicious. “May you live in exciting times” is supposedly an old Chinese curse. I’ll take boring, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2019, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-u-s-state/845262/146 "2019-12-27T10:14:52Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > Seconded. Unless you are float-tube flyfishing or SERIOUSLY into potatoes you would be better served being anywhere else but Idaho. Or hiking, camping, white water rafting/kayaking/jet boating, hunting, shooting, camping, skiing, exploring ancient lava fields, going to small venue concerts, going to large venue concerts, going to concerts held in botanical gardens, the food scene isn’t there quite yet, but it’s getting there, I’m partial to the Ethiopian/eritrean restaurant ran by an Ethiopian family, had a cajun place for a while that was opened by a hurricane refugee from LA, until he moved back to Louisiana (truly was a terrible loss, his food was excellent). Nah, Indiana, only has one thing going for it, a frigging car race, for formula cars, so not even so called “stock car” racing. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2019, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-u-s-state/845262/147 "2019-12-27T10:30:05Z")
To late for edit, but sorta ninja’d by muffin And mallard, :rolleyes: And wikipedia is objectively wrong. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2019, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-u-s-state/845262/148 "2019-12-27T10:38:55Z")
So, [about Kansas being flat…](https://www.google.com/maps/uv?hl=en&pb=!1s0x87b09e292f348b3d%3A0x86bb94b44adc3fa1!3m1!7e115!4shttps%3A%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipPgEVaWjiYsvVbTDmsDCFXiaSsVkhXwtG126fW3%3Dw240-h160-k-no!5scowley%20state%20fishing%20lake%20-%20Google%20Search!15sCAQ&imagekey=!1e10!2sAF1QipMgeMImSNvF6PMoCDjsgtkGH-DAfNj385w89gEq&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiojuCI0dXmAhXKVt8KHRZEBvQQoiowC3oECA0QBg) Head east out of Arkansas City on U.S. 166, and the topography gets rather interesting, 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2019, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-u-s-state/845262/149 "2019-12-27T16:09:22Z")
My vote is for Kansas. Drove across the state once. Stopped for gas at some small town and got back on I-70. Drove for 45 minutes and thought I had started heading west instead of east. Everything looked the same. > [@TriPolar](#): > > Mt friends down there took me to see the highest point in Florida. Way up there we could see for yards. Stumbled across the highest point in Illinois once. Could see much, some low growing bushes blocked the view. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2019, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-u-s-state/845262/150 "2019-12-27T21:06:19Z")
> [@racer72](#): > > My vote is for Kansas. Drove across the state once. Stopped for gas at some small town and got back on I-70. Drove for 45 minutes and thought I had started heading west instead of east. Everything looked the same. I’ve had very limited experience with Kansas… but I was on a bus heading West across Kansas, so I was pretty sure I hadn’t accidently turned around. And I had the damnedest impression I was heading the wrong way. I’m used to the southern hemisphere. The shadow was on the wrong side of the bus. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2019, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-u-s-state/845262/151 "2019-12-27T22:10:23Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > I’ve driven through Kansas and Nebraska, Kansas is the more boring state. It is close though between the pair. Here is how they compare: we crossed much of Kansas on 2-lane highways, coming from [del]Kans [/del] Colorado, where the dividing line is quite subtle. Then, 'round about Manhattan, we turned north, toward Lincoln. The state line between Kansas and Nebraska is somewhat less subtle. Kansas is, I guess, a pretty state, if you like that sort of thing. Nicely groomed. Nebraska looks like people live there. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2019, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-u-s-state/845262/152 "2019-12-27T22:16:12Z")
Here are some of my criteria: 1. A state with mountains isn’t boring. (Note to South Carolina: that’s _mountains_, not _foothills_.) 2. A state with ocean beaches can be boring, but if so, at least it’s boring in a pleasant way. It’s boring in a way that has redeeming social value, if you will. All other things being equal (though they rarely are), a state with beaches is less boring than a state without them. 3. Major cities can be boring, but again, all other things being equal, a state with major cities is less boring than a state without them. 4. States that are the home of significant regional cuisine aren’t boring. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2019, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-u-s-state/845262/153 "2019-12-27T23:30:06Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Major cities can be boring, but again, all other things being equal, a state with major cities is less boring than a state without them. If you can get into the city center to partake of the breadth of the urban experience. cities can have a lot to offer. But, for a traveler, that may not be practical, perhaps even not worth the effort, and larger cities can be intimidating to a greenhorn. So, you stick to the outer reaches, or the suburbs: there you discover stultifying homogeneity. Some variety does exist on the edges of cities, but you really have to look hard between the targets and applebees and regals and all the corporate pablum that softly quivers across the country. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2019, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-u-s-state/845262/154 "2019-12-27T23:38:51Z")
MX-1 through Sinaloa state is pretty boring except for the gunfire. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2019, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-u-s-state/845262/155 "2019-12-28T14:44:58Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > This is incorrect. Alaska has a small population density because it only has about 700,000 people occupying over 660,000 square miles of territory. About 300,000 of those people live in Anchorage. Much of the state is uninhabitable because of terrain and inaccessibility, not because of cold. The climate there ranges from Arctic in the far north to temperate rainforest in the panhandle (much like the Pacific Northwest). Hey Chefguy! You are always welcome to correct my mistakes. You do it in such a way that I almost always learn something useful. You never put me down for being mistaken. I sincerely wish more people would take your approach when correcting others. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2019, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-u-s-state/845262/156 "2019-12-28T19:53:35Z")
Hear hear, **Charlie Wayne**! ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2019, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-u-s-state/845262/157 "2019-12-28T20:09:09Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > ETA — and Custer State Park, and the Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, and Wind Cave. 3 out of 4 of which are in a 25 mile circle just outside Rapid City in the Black Hills. May as well throw Deadwood/Lead in there since it’s pretty close by, if only for the popularity of the TV show set there. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2019, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-u-s-state/845262/158 "2019-12-28T21:18:53Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > North Dakota is flat. Much of ND is pretty flat, yes, but up north, near Canada, the Turtle Mountains tower more than a hundred feet over the surrounding plain. More seriously, though, when you get west of Minot, the Missouri and Little Missouri carve some genuine texture into the land. And, of course, there are many towering flames from fracking rigs. > [@Muffin](#): > > Idaho? Boring? In what world is that? If you cross southern Idaho on I-84, it can be tedious as hell between Fruitland and Burley (the stretch south of the I-86 interchange is easier to take , since it means you are almost out of Idaho). If you leave from Idaho Falls and head toward either Arco or Salmon, there are many miles of the dimmest landscape you will ever traverse (though, near Salmon, we saw magpies, iridescent in the afternoon sun, about ever 200’ up the road). And, quite frankly, US 12, though the hills and trees and river might be pleasing, is turn after turn of exactly the same thing for over 100 miles from Kamiah to Lolo Pass. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2019, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-u-s-state/845262/159 "2019-12-28T22:16:45Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > If you can get into the city center to partake of the breadth of the urban experience. cities can have a lot to offer. But, for a traveler, that may not be practical, perhaps even not worth the effort, and larger cities can be intimidating to a greenhorn. So, you stick to the outer reaches, or the suburbs: there you discover stultifying homogeneity. Some variety does exist on the edges of cities, but you really have to look hard between the targets and applebees and regals and all the corporate pablum that softly quivers across the country. Well yeah, suburbia is boring pretty much everywhere. Same with interstate highways. Comparing states by their suburbs and interstate highways would be like comparing national parks by their parking lots and bathrooms. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2019, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-u-s-state/845262/160 "2019-12-28T22:16:48Z")
I really think a lot of these opinions are based on really limited or old experiences. Sure, driving through Pennsylvania on I70 is boring as hell, but Pittsburgh and Philly have a lot to offer. A few people mentioned Indiana… and specifically the liquor laws… those have been gone for a few years now. You can now buy anything you want in most grocery stores anytime you want. We were just listed in a Forbes survey in the top states to visit. We have the top attendance sporting event (Indy 500), professional teams, we hosted one of the top rated Super Bowls, the top rated Children’s museum in the country (adults love it too), award winning parks and trails, and are frequently mentioned in the up and coming food scene. My suburb has been listed multiple times in various “best places” surveys. We also have the newest National Park. Again, if you have just driven through or haven’t been there recently you may not have a very good objective. I lived in Kansas when I was 3 but don’t think I could be a very good judge of what it is like now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-u-s-state/845262.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-boring-u-s-state/845262.md?page=9)