People here in Rhode Island are weird. We talk funny, combining Boston, Yankee, and Brooklyn accents with mispronunciations of French, Portuguese, and Native American names. We have fictional locations, some people aren’t aware of what state they live in, we have foods found no where else or not worth eating when found elsewhere. Most people know it’s not really an island geographically but it is a cultural island in many ways.
In La Crosse, Wisconsin, a small city about five hour drive from Chicago, “Chicago” has become a code word (among a certain type of local) for “people that scare me because their skin is darker than mine.” We see it used in the current debate about which of our elementary school(s) to close/consolidate. “Well, that’s the district where people are moving in from Chicago…” – that sort of thing. You know they wouldn’t object to, say, a Jim Belushi type.
Heh, yeah that’s pretty funny.
Ours is a real cop SUV. Just can’t afford to pay anyone is my guess. It does probably slow down traffic.
I’m on the other side of the state, up against Lake Michigan. I remember the first time I was at a friends house in Onalaska/La Crosse. I was amazed at all the bluffs and rolling hills. We have some of that on my side of the state, but it’s right up against the Lake and most people are really only even aware of them if they walk down to the beach.
It’s the minerals in the water that make my toilet look the way it does! It’s NOT dirty!
Ok. Let’s be real. It’s dirty, too.
Me too. The lakeshore is the feature most know about, with its sandy beaches and great freshwater surfing. Yet on the western side of my county we also have the lovely Kettle Moraines, with its kettle lakes and moraines (duh!) and rolling hills, eskers, drumlins, and great hiking trails. Lots of folks don’t know about the landscape that was created where two different glacial flows met.
Most people know the winters suck here (though they’re rapidly getting warmer due to climate change). Few people realize that summers are just as bad, with scorching heat, humidity and mosquitos. Spring and fall are beautiful and last about six weeks each. Also, we don’t actually eat deep dish pizza unless we’re hosting tourists who want it.
I live in Corpus Christi, which supposedly has one of the highest violent crime rates in the US. None the less, I have personally been the victim of only one violent crime in my life, a hit and run with minor damage to my vehicle (assuming that counts as a violent crime*). Among the people I know, no one has ever told me any stories about being victimized by a violent crime. I have never been in fear that I was about to be mugged or anything of that sort.
*. The other driver was an elderly woman who should no longer have been allowed to drive, not someone who was trying to rob me, a drunk driver, or anything like that.
When I’ve traveled outside the US and I mentioned that I live in California, people (ok, pretty much always young men) have asked me about the women there. I had to tell them that they’re pretty much the same as women everywhere else.
I’m still about 550 miles ‘as the crow flies’ from the southernmost part of Canada. The Detroit/Lake Eerie area is pretty far east of me.
I feel bad about this thread - most outsiders IMHO have a pretty good read on Colorado these days. Sure, there’s plenty of exaggeration, but different areas of the state (which is quite diverse) DO match a lot of the misconceptions.
People wanting the (pre-MJ) Rocky Mountain High? Plenty of places, although most of them are pricey.
People wanting all the MJ you can get? Looooots of dispensaries, although down from when everyone and their brother was opening one and you’d see them across the street from another!
Geology of awesomeness? Sure.
Skiing of awesomeness? Slightly compromised by climate change, but still a thing.
Crazed liberal enclaves? People’s Republic of Boulder (I’m exaggerating, but it’s close enough).
Crazed conservative enclaves? Plenty outside of the mountains and front range corridor, and arguably where I live in Colorado Springs.
So, more often than not, the outsider’s view is largely correct if somewhat exaggerated. I think because (to me) Colorado is less identified by a single city/location than some of the areas mentioned (Chicago, NJ by it’s urban corridor, California beach culture, etc).
The Northern Virginia Piedmont enjoys what I consider the best climate in the whole nation, if you like four seasons, no extremes of temperature, and moderate humidity. Winter comes here, all right, but it starts later and ends sooner than in the North. That’s a plus.
I came to understand this after a few weeks in San Francisco last May. I was physically uncomfortable (albeit mentally extra comfortable). Couldn’t get acclimated to that damp chill. As soon as I got back to the Northern Virginia Piedmont and felt the ideally warm sunshine on me again, I realized how lucky I am to live here, climate-wise.
I put it in this thread because I’ve never heard anyone else exult about the excellent climate here, but it’s undeniable.
Very true, but my reply was meant to highlight just how much further south central Illinois is vs how far south a part of Canada is. Thus central Illinois is only about 165 miles further south than southernmost Canada.
“We got a tower that’s terminal on a lake that’s eerie.”
—Alex Bevan, “Let’s Have Another Laugh on Cleveland Blues”
Cleveland really is the “Best Location in the Nation”. A lot of people think that was just a nifty advertising slogan from the 1950s, but it’s the truth! 
Where I grew up all the dairy farmers used milking cans with flat sides, because if they fell over and started rolling they’d never see them again
Yes, I currently live on Flathead Lake in the town of Bigfork, which is located at the northeastern corner of the lake. Polson is on the southern end of the lake, and Ronan is 15 miles south of Polson.
It is a nice part of the country, but since COVID it’s grown quite a lot and between that growth, and the relentless tourists heading up to Glacier National Park, I’ve decided to relocate south of Missoula to the small town of Stevensville, which has an amazing history dating back to 1841… but I digress.
Not sure what incorrect assumptions people make about Ottawa, which is where I grew up. I assume that except for spies, nobody outside the country really cares about it. As for Toronto…maybe non-Canadians think that French is much more pervasive across Canada than it really is. I virtually never hear French spoken in this city: I’m more likely to hear Tagalog, Hindi or Mandarin. When I actually do hear someone speak French, it’s a genuine surprise. Here’s a weird one: when I was at McGill, my Japanese professor told the class that Montreal had a larger Japanese population than Vancouver, which seemed very counterintuitive, but I guess she’d know.
They do. I’m originally from Toronto, and I well remember an American business associate coming to our Toronto office for the first time, and wondering where all the French was (e.g. on signs), and why nobody was speaking it.
Then there was the time I was in Banff National Park in Alberta, chatting with a couple of Americans in a bar in the town, and one remarked on how well I spoke English. “No trace of a French accent!”
I used to live in Hollywood. the song holds true there. People are also amazed at how BIG California is. I was on detail in Oakland, and some people from Oklahoma , thought they might drive down to Disneyland after work. 