Things That Are Unique To Your State

[Leiko]

@Strainger

<snip>Arizona…hmmm:
<snip>The only state with a Grand Canyon. Oh, sure, you may have a canyon in your state, but ours is grand.<snip>

Well, then, I’ll have to counter that with Washington: Other states may have coulees, but we have Grand Coulee. The dam there is the biggest concrete structure in the US and taller than the Great Pyramid of Giza. I wonder if it’s the only dam to have a laser light show regularly projected onto it?

[BobLibDem]

Michigan has an official state soil.

Michigan designated the Kalkaska soil series as the official state soil in 1990. Kalkaska soil occurs in both the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan. it is used primarily for sugar maple and yellow birch hardwood timber, and sometimes for Christmas trees and specialty crops such as potatoes and strawberries (as well as for wildlife habitat). Kalkaska soil was formed in sandy deposits left by the glaciers that once covered Michigan.

Not to mention an official mammal, flower, bird, reptile, fish, gem, fossil, stone, wildflower and tree.

[Mean_Mr.Mustard]

@cmyk

We also have what I’ve always known as “Michigan Lefts” (or “flipping a bitch”). There’s a median between both directions of traffic. In order to make a left had turn from and intersection, you first have to make a right turn, then enter the U-Turn lane and continue on your way. Anyone else have these?

Michigan left turns…hmmmmm…now where have I heard that before?

Maybe up in post #131??

Regarding roadways, there is also what we call a ‘Michigan turn’. Basically, at a busy intersection, you have to turn right if you want to turn left.

[Mean_Mr.Mustard]

We’ve got Jughandles all over Michigan.

Not to mention a Jughandle Road.

[Surly_Chick]

@Strainger

The westernmost battle of the Civil War occurred between Phoenix and Tucson.

Hmmm, ignorance fought. I didn’t know any Civil War battles were fought that far west. Thanks for sharing.

[filling_pages]

Florida has the only state capital east of the Mississippi not taken by union forces in the Civil War.

Florida is, I believe, the only state where you can easily eat breakfast next to one body of salt water, lunch at a river, and dinner at a completely different body of salt water without flying.

[Bearflag70]

@filling_pages

Florida is, I believe, the only state where you can easily eat breakfast next to one body of salt water, lunch at a river, and dinner at a completely different body of salt water without flying.

California:

Breakfast at the Pacific Ocean in San Diego
Lunch at the San Diego River (anywhere in Mission Valley)
Dinner at the Salton Sea

[CalMeacham]

Florida is, I believe, the only state where you can easily eat breakfast next to one body of salt water, lunch at a river, and dinner at a completely different body of salt water without flying.

Arguably Nevada or Utah, too – Walker or Pyramid Lake in Nevada, carson River in Nevada, then Walker or Pyramid, or the Great Salt Lake in Utah.

[Yllaria]

@Clothahump

Texas is the only state which was an independent nation before joining the USA.

@Saint_Cad

As already pointed out - Hawaii
Arguably - California

California was a republic for 26 days.

[Bearflag70]

@Yllaria

California was a republic for 26 days.

Yes, aka the Bear Flag Republic!

(Although some say the original bear flag looks more like a pig flag.)

[Crafter_Man]

@Sigmagirl

Is Ohio the only state with an official fossil?

I’m pretty sure Ohio is the only state with an official rock song.

[CalMeacham]

I’m pretty sure Ohio is the only state with an official rock song.

Huey Lewis and the News’ The Hall of Rock and Roll is in Cleveland?

[gardentraveler]

@CalMeacham

Huey Lewis and the News’ The Hall of Rock and Roll is in Cleveland?

Nope, Hang on Sloopy. Wikipedialists official rock songs for Oklahoma and Washington, so we’re apparently not alone.

[Morbo]

Missouri is the only state with two Federal Reserve Banks.
I’m not sure if other states allow this, but Missouri has no law against public intoxication, and it also has a law that expressly allows parents to serve booze to their kids.
For a humorous stroll through Missouri’s ridiculous laissez-faire attitude towards booze, I offer this from Wikipedia.

With a large German immigrant population and the development of a brewing industry, Missouri always has had among the most permissive alcohol laws in the United States. It never enacted statewide prohibition. Missouri voters rejected prohibition in three separate referenda in 1910, 1912, and 1918. Alcohol regulation did not begin in Missouri until 1934. Today, alcohol laws are controlled by the state government, and local jurisdictions are prohibited from going beyond those state laws. Missouri has no statewide open container law or prohibition on drinking in public, no alcohol-related blue laws, no local option, no precise locations for selling liquor by the package (thus allowing even drug stores and gas stations to sell any kind of liquor), and no differentiation of laws based on alcohol percentage. Missouri has no laws prohibiting “consumption” of alcohol by minors (as opposed to possession), and state law protects persons from arrest or criminal penalty for public intoxication. Missouri law expressly prohibits any jurisdiction from going dry. Missouri law also expressly allows parents and guardians to serve alcohol to their children. The Power & Light District in Kansas City is one of the few places in the United States where a state law explicitly allows persons over the age of 21 to possess and consume open containers of alcohol in the street (as long as the beverage is in a plastic cup).

Smoking isn’t much better. No statewide ban, the 2nd lowest cigarette tax in the US, and St. Louis was listed by Forbes as “the best city for smokers.” In your face, Kansas City!

[Bearflag70]

@gardentraveler

Nope, Hang on Sloopy. Wikipedialists official rock songs for Oklahoma and Washington, so we’re apparently not alone.

woosh

[movingfinger]

AFAIK California is the only state to have a roof named after it. A California roof is a new or additional roof on a dwelling that extends over the existing roof.

It is also a verb: “Well, we’ll just California over the existing roof.”

Do builders or architects elsewhere use this term?

[cmyk]

@Mean_Mr.Mustard

Michigan left turns…hmmmmm…now where have I heard that before?

Maybe up in post #131??

Dammit! Somehow I missed this. :smack:

[MannyL]

Hawaii (not my state) is the only island state with an Interstate Highway System that does not let you drive to another state.

[CalMeacham]

woosh

Thank you, Bearflag. I’m so glad someone caught it.

[Rasa]

Rhode Island is the only state that is used as a unit of measure. (I’m looking at you, “there are ranches in Texas larger than the state of Rhode Island!”)

Rhode Island is also likely the only state where low-numbered license plates are a status symbol and commodity, and they’re handed down in families.

It’s also the only place in the world where you can find Cumberlandite, the state rock. (Actually, you can only find it in my hometown of Cumberland.)