Tell us about the states

[bombshoo]

Oh its definatly been under construction, but in a way thats a good thing I mean...Its being built up, not falling a part like some of the others I've been too (cough Kansas City). Where are you around Columbus? Im in the city proper, north end, about 10 minutes from Polaris and Westerville starts literally across the street.

Get a picture of the Steubenville Stadium if you can. Steubenville is an old industrial town, yet somehow their stadium has a giant horse that breathes fire.

 

[downtown]

Yeah, i've been to the big red stadium. Stuebenville is a dump, but they have a great football team.

I'm from Licking County...East Side. I was born in Westerville, but have been moving east all my life.

 

[Serutan]

Kentucky - Beautiful scenery. Has both hilly areas, and flat areas ideal for
farming. Nature-wise, best known for Mammoth Cave, the (I think still is)
most extensive cave system in the world. Also famous for horses, and bourbon whiskey. Definitely a large redneck element in rural areas. Best pork BBQ period. Education is not really a priority in most areas.

In addition to the previous comments on Arizona, I would add 2 words: Grand Canyon.

 

[downtown]

This is Massilon High School, near Canton. Its bigger than many college stadiums. This team isnt even that good anymore!

 

[Birdjaguar]

New Mexico

Mostly big and empty. We have almost 2MM people most of whom live in the Albuquerque area. Culturally we are split between Anglo (white), Hisoanic and Native American. In spite of bein gone of the poorest states we are home to two National Laboratories, Los Alamos and Sandia that build bombs among other things.

NM is the home of the Trinity site where the first atomic explosion took place in July of 1945.

NM is a high desert state with four seasons. Much of the state is still owned by the US government. For outdoorsy types there is hunting, fishing, rafting, hiking, skiing, and snowboarding. The scenery is spectacular with broad vistas and 85 mile views.

Albuquerque is a mile above sea level (like Denver) and has almost no humidity in the summer. I've been here almost 17 years and really like it.

 

[Irish Caesar]

Sandia builds bombs?

 

[Birdjaguar]

Sandia builds bombs?

Sandia and Los Alamos have been building nukes and nuke parts for 50 years. Sandia does other work also and the balance has been shifting away from weapons slowly over the years. But, yes they build bombs.

 

[Irish Caesar]

Okay, I don't hear a lot about them, and when I do, it's the "other stuff." When I hear people refer to the weapons labs, it's generally LANL and Lawrence Livermore.

 

[Nylan]

Well, then thank god I live in South Florida.

I prefer the Space Coast, thank you very much

...except of course for being one of the #1 Snowbird stops

Central FL representin'

...I'd write about California, Utah, and Alabama right now...but I'm lazy and it's late here. So I'll leave that up to the rest of you

 

[Birdjaguar]

Okay, I don't hear a lot about them, and when I do, it's the "other stuff." When I hear people refer to the weapons labs, it's generally LANL and Lawrence Livermore.

Sandia has a broader mandate and they don't publicize the weapons aspect of their work. Recently (in the past few years), they were in the local news about lasar weapons.

 

[TheBladeRoden]

Wisconsin

It has the most the most hunting, fishing, farming, and beer drinking you can have and still be considered a blue state.

 

[Left]

Coastal Alaska is very nice and exciting. Interior Alaska is frozen and lame. If you're into nature, theres no better place on Earth. Outside of Anchorage, (250,000 people) Fairbanks (82,840) and Juneau (30,000) the state is very rural.

Some parts of the state still have a strong Russian vibe. This is St. George, an island in the Bering Sea.

EDIT: Politics are libertarian, for the most part.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

I am from Maryland, and have lived here the entirely of my nineteen years of existence.

Maryland is a great mix between North and South. It was a border state during the Civil War; we had slaves, but stayed in the Union, because Lincoln had the Maryland General Assembly placed under house arrest so they couldn't vote to secede, and put federal troops in out capital: Annapolis.

Maryland has a great cultural history and many historical places. There are the Civil War battlefields at Sharpsburg, where the famous Battle of Antiedam Creek was fought, the bloodiest day in American History (even more than 6 June, 1944), and the Prisoner of War camp at Point Lookout. The British landed here in the War of 1812, and fought several battles here, including the famous Seige of Fort McHenry, outside of Baltimore, where our national anthem was written.

Maryland has a great mix of terrain and climate, from the pine forests and Blue Ridge Mountains of the west to the rolling foothills of the Piedmont Plateau, to the costal plains of the Eastern Shore and Southern Maryland (where I live). The geography and economy of the state are centered around the Chesapeake Bay, which provides many good eats, including our famous Blue Crabs. If you come to Maryland, the one thing you abolutely MUST have is a true blue Maryland Crabcake; there simply is no parallel.

As I said, we are very culturally mixed; the areas around Baltimore and Washington D.C. are very Democratic and Nothern in culture, while the southern, eastern, and western parts are very rural and Southern. We are also the richest state in the nation IIRC; it comes mostly from the fact that everything important "in Washington" is actually in Maryland.

It's a beautiful state, when I get a chance, I'll take some pictures for you guys of at least the immediate area.

 

[ummmm........]

2. Alabama, . . . Mosquitos will eat you alive, and carry diseases. Lots of spiders and snakes too.

It's really not that bad. I remember mosquitoes being a big problem when I was younger, but not so much anymore. That may be because I'm outside less. There are lots of spiders, but very few spiders that are poisonous to humans. I've known one person that I can remember who was bitten by a black widow. And he lived, of course. I can count the number of snakes I've seen in my life (in the wild) on two hands . . .


Oh, what Phlegmak said about Louisiana reminded me: Alabamans have a HUGE inferiority complex. Absolutely huge. This cannot be overstated.

 

[emzie]

Okay, the Columbus Zoo is trash, and everybody here knows it. The Cleveland Zoo is much nicer, but lets be honest...there is no point in going to an Ohio Zoo. Cedar Point is amazing though, and everybody should go.

Cincinnati has one of the best Zoos in the country. Too bad it's in Cincinnati.

I think the worst part of the state is SouthEast ohio, by Kentucky and WV. I swear, its like the end of the world. Every sterotype you've heard about applicaican people is true. Even the incest. Seriously.

I'd agree, but I'd extend that to bascially anything south of Columbus.

 

[cthom]

If she lives in a log cabin near Starved Rock I'll say no.

Where does she live in Illinois?

Fairview Heights. i'm told their post code is actually missouri? they seem to be close to st. louis. since she's been able to send emails, i must assume it's quite civilised

 

[REDY]

I have learnt in this thread more about single states than in school

 

[Red Door]

Civil War battlefields, eh? Don't get me started on Virginia's historic battlefields. There's at least 2 dozen of them.

 

[Desmond Hawkins]

I want to hear more about this Michigan-Ohio War.

EDIT: I wikied it. There was one person wounded in the whole thing.

 

[downtown]

The war over Toledo! (from about.com)

According to the Michigan Historical Museum System, Toledo, Michigan first appeared on a map in 1835. The village of Toledo and a 450-square-mile strip of land along the Michigan/Ohio border became known as the "Toledo Strip", claimed by the state of Ohio and the Michigan Territory. The original east-west state line between Ohio and Michigan was known as the Ordinance Line and was later altered by the Fulton Line and Talcott Line that ran a straight course due east of the southernmost tip of Lake Michigan to the southwestern shore of Lake Erie. (In western Lucas County there is Old State Line Rd. serving as a reminder of the Toledo War.) The state of Ohio had surveyed its' own northern border upon admission to statehood that generally followed the current Ohio/Michigan border.

The various surveys resulted in a 50-year dispute over the Toledo Strip, which was only five miles wide at the Indiana border and eight miles wide at Lake Erie. Although it has been reported that no shots were fired, Ohio and Michigan militia units were sent to the Toledo Strip between 1835 and 1837. But luck was on Ohio's side. At the time, the Compromise of 1820 allowed the admission of one slave state for one free state. Michigan and Missouri were to be admitted as states, but only when Michigan surrendered the Toledo Strip to Ohio. The reason? Probably because a Presidential election was coming up. State of Ohio residents could vote, while Michigan Territory residents could not.

While the Michigan Territory originally vowed to fight the surrender, it realized the hopelessness of the contest, and on December 14, 1836, officially conceded the Toledo Strip to Ohio. In return, the new state of Michigan was given the remainder of the unorganized Upper Peninsula by Congress. Toledo became Toledo, Ohio, and victorious Ohio governor Robert Lucas was honored with the name Lucas County, the eastern portion of the Toledo Strip.

We've hated each other ever since!