Tell us about the states

Okay I'm not done talking about my state. I could go on and on. You asked for it.

Nevada: Spanish for covered in snow. Also called the silver state or battle-born state (formed during the civil war). The silver comstock lode was what really fuelled initial population surge in Virginia City (near Carson City and Reno). We are also called the sagebrush state. We have tons of it.

As I said before the northern part is the great basin. High desert. The mojave desert covers the southern part.

home to native americans for thousands of years. Anasazi to the northern and southern paiutes. There may be others, but those are the most famous. The Spanish took control of the land in their "conquests". They also formed the old spanish trail. Then went to control of Mexico after their independence.

We went to the United States after the Mexican-american war. Originally we were part of the Utah territory. But I think the silver discover in 1859 pushed them back, and caused a new territory to form.

We were rushed to statehood very fast (despite having almost no population) mainly to ensure re-election of Abraham Lincoln (and republican control of congress). We annexed some Arizona territory after the discovery of gold in the south. That is how Clark county became part of the state.

1931 gambling was made legal again, and construction of the Hoover Dam started. This helped create what is now Las Vegas. Henderson (adjacent to Las Vegas) turned into an industrial center and supplied war materials during ww2- and later on rocket fuel for space shuttles and such.

During the cold war above ground and later underground nuclear testing was conducted 60 miles north of Las Vegas. Only when Las Vegas was upwind. Downwinders caught quite a bit of fallout. And there are reports of increased luekemia in small towns in eastern Nevada and western Utah. :nuke:

I'm cheating now and using wiki. I just found out that Arizona has now replaced us as the fastest growing state in the nation! We were #1 for like 60 years. Oh well. We have too many californians here anyways. They have recently banned smoking in public bars and restaurants. Damn hippie californians. :crazyeye:

One thing to note is a rivalry between northern and southern nevada. We have most of the population, and are mostly democratic. The north is mostly republican, and smaller, but house the state capitol, and still have a lot of political power.

We are also home to Nellis Air Force base. Which is adjacent to a sizable bombing range (adjacent to the nuclear testing range). Lost of new jets were tested here like the stealth fighter. Area 51. I have no idea what goes on up there. And Top Gun flight school in Fallon naval air station (near Reno). See the movie Top Gun for more info.

Other than that it gets really f'n hot in the summer. it'll hit 100 degrees F before May 30, and it'll keep getting over 100 degress until the beginning of October. Today it hit 90 F :eek:. We broke a record. Last year it was cold at this time. Go figure. We do have some sizable mountains, but not as big as a state like Colorado.

Demographics are mostly white (german the majority). But latinos are quickly catching up. We have a sizable mormon population as well. Which brings me to the next state.

Utah. I feel it gets a bad rap. Okay it is republican, and uncomfortably republican. But the people are nice, and the state is one of the most beuatiful in the nation. Lots of national parks and parks to see. Despite earlier comments, polygamy is illegal, and it is prosecuted. The problem is the girls don't want to testify. Just recently a girl backed down from testifying, so the case was dropped. :(. Though there have been cases of DA's not actively pursuing them. Polygamy is not so bad, except the problem is women are controlled and there have been cases of underage girls and incest. In colorado city (which is actually in arizona) some undesirable men are kicked out their wives taken and given to other people. Some women are married even at the age of 13. Mormonism (LDS) is a screwed up religion. My fathers family was mormon (but my father was not).
 
Irish Caesar covered New Hampshire pretty well. The only thing I'd add is that as the state with the first presidential primary (Iowa is a "caucus" though the distinction isn't really substantial), every four years all the presidential candidates come up here and schmooze. They hang out at diners and go to parties at people's houses, it's oddly retail and personal rather than just getting blasted by TV ads. So NHers have tended to take for granted that future presidents will beg for their primary votes personally, door-to-door, and are very upset that other states are pushing their primaries earlier so they'll matter more. Write that down somewhere, it's going to be much more significant in about 8 months.

Two other states I'm familiar with are Hawaii and Vermont.

Vermont despite being hand-in-glove next to New Hampshire (and thus sharing the weather and terrain) is almost oddly opposite it. NH is generally a red state that leans Republican in the cities and Democrat in the suburbs (but both parties lean generally libertarian in any case), Vermont is an avowedly blue state that for many years had a socialist US Representative, Progressive/Green in the cities but extremely Republican/libertarian in the rural areas thus you have politically schizophrenic things like the only state (till recently Alaska started) where you can carry a concealed pistol with no permit required but being a national leader on civil union implementation.

Hawaii is just as pleasant as everyone thinks it is. Honolulu is a relatively large port city, but you're a 20 minute drive from rolling green hills. Every major island has its own flavor. The tourism industry is huge, and there tends to be three (unwritten) prices at shops that have high tourist traffic (going from low to high) - resident/islander, US/caucasian tourist, and Japanese/Asian tourist WWII left serious marks on the island of Oahu (which still has military bases all over it, notably Pearl Harbor and Hickam Airfield), and visiting the Arizona Memorial is a solemn and humbling experience. The other islands are just variations on tropical paradises - Kauai is just incredibly green and lush, with waterfalls everywhere, to Hawaii ("the Big Island") having active volcanoes and lava flows.
 
Hmm, you would think, having LDS family members, that the crazy polygamous folk that marry 13 year olds aren't really LDS . . .

They call themselves FLDS. fundamentalists. But the actual church distances themsevles from them. The main reason they outlawed it was so Utah could become a state.
 
Maryland. My mother is from there, and I have a lot of relatives there. I have spent a fair amount of time there, esp. when I was stationed in Virginia. The main area I know is the Waldorf area, and the properties my family has along and near the Patuxtant river. The area is being massively built up though. Now some rich peole are moving in trying to get away from the crime I guess. I used to be rural farmland. not anymore.

Where along the Patuxent? I live down by Solomon's Island, on the St. Mary's side.
 
Maryland. My mother is from there, and I have a lot of relatives there. I have spent a fair amount of time there, esp. when I was stationed in Virginia. The main area I know is the Waldorf area, and the properties my family has along and near the Patuxtant river. The area is being massively built up though. Now some rich peole are moving in trying to get away from the crime I guess. I used to be rural farmland. not anymore.

You're completely right, though almost all of Maryland is being massively developed and built up. Unfortunately. We threw out all our County Commissioners because they were allowing for our entire county to be developed. Im not sure our new commissioners are any better. The problem is we have people moving in flocks from Annapolis, Glen Burnie, Baltimore, Bowie area to Kent Island, and they are shocked that there are no malls over here really. Why one earth must they move over here and ruin our way of life? Has it ever occurred to them that if they wanted 6 malls within 10 minutes of their cookie-cutter house they should stay where they lived before? Yeah, so the Eastern Shore of Maryland is becoming overrun by arrogant, snobby suburbanites that detest rural areas and want to turn the whole friggin state into a blacktop or mall for their convenience.
 
I am slightly insulted whomp there wasn't a single beer in any of the pictures you showed for Wisconsin.
 
Arkansas is hilly.

Well, only part of it is. Being from Arkansas I will describe it for you. Arkansas is a place in which you get all four seasons in spades. 100+ degree temps with 100% humidity in the summer and freezing temps down into the teens with snow in the winter. The north and western part of the state is made up of the Ozark and Ouichita mountain ranges - although the 'mountains' are more like big hills than mountains. The South and Eastern part of the state is primarily flatlands with slow moving muddy rivers. There are a lot of rivers and lakes in Arkansas and some are very scenic. I myself was from the NE part of Arkansas in the farming area. Lots of rice, beans and cotton are grown there. We also grow a lot of chickens in Arkansas and the state is one of the largest in the nation in chicken production. The hot weather and slow moving water of the east and south make pests such as mosquitos a huge menace. I have literally seen clouds of them drive people away from lakes and such. The amount of water there and the states location in the mid-america flyway make it one of the prime duck hunting states in the USA and in fact, Stuttgart, AR claims to be the duck hunting capitol of the world and holds a national duck calling contest each year. Hunting and fishing are big in the state. The state is also home to the only know diamond mine in the USA at Murfreesboro, AR. In fact, a park there is open to the public and people often find diamonds laying right on the ground. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crater_of_Diamonds It was a good place to grow up and I had a rather Tom Sawyerish childhood being from a small town in Arkansas.
 
My home for the last 20 years however, has been Washington State. Washington state is an odd state. You would think that a state this far north, and on the Canadian border would be a winter wonderland. Well, not exactly.

The state itself is divided in East and West portions by the cascade mountain range. In the East the state has a lot of agriculture as the volcanic soil there will pretty much grow anything if you can get water to it. If you cant get water to it, then its dust...so you will see large areas of high mountain desert inundated with green patches of irrigated land. The area is also a prime area for vineyards and several exist in that part of the state. The East side has hot summers and very cold winters can can have a lot of snowfall in the winter. Eastern Washington is know for its onions, specifically the Walla Walla Onion. Due to the dry conditions in the summer, forest fires are a yearly concern.

The West side is mainly a temprerate evergreen rain forest with very moderate temperatures due to the pineapple express out of the pacific. It very rarely snows and when it does it typically doesnt last very long, especially in the low areas close to sea level. It rains a lot....and I mean a lot....as in just a few years ago we had over 40 days of rain...straight. Now...its never a hard rain and there is very rarely a thunderstorm or lightning. It is just mostly a constant drizzle. Windstorms do occur and a big one hits every few years in which it seems the entire puget sound areas power is out for days if not weeks.

There is a lot to do in Washington. There are a lot of lakes and streams and the fishing is still great. Deer and elk hunting is a big draw as well. Lots of premium skiing areas in the Cascades. Also its hard to drive for an hour in any direction and not find a national park. Plenty of camping and parks to hike in and see. Lots of natural wonders like waterfalls and Mount St. Helens to visit.

Its also an expensive place to live. Property prices are extremely high as are rental prices. Gas and electricity is more expensive than you would think with as many sources they have for it. On the west side at least, traffic can be extremely bad and its usually recognized we have the third worst traffic corridor in the nation on the I5 highway. During peak times in the mornings and afternoons you can often just sit parked on a four lane highway and a trip that normally takes 20 minutes turns into two hours.

Overall, not a bad place to live, but I am willing to bet there are much better places as well. Although I have spent 20 years here its never really felt like home like Arkansas did. But, its where my kids were born and raised so I guess we will be staying.
 
I am slightly insulted whomp there wasn't a single beer in any of the pictures you showed for Wisconsin.
I'm sorry. ;)

What's life in Wisconsin without an orange vest, fishing...
$5.00 for Miller High Life...
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$20.00 worth of Johnsonville brats...
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$39.99 keg a que...
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Pwning Minnesota...priceless.
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Other than that I think I did pretty good.

Btw we're annexing Lake Geneva as a Chicago suburb.
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and here's the Irish Chicago River.
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The river is dyed green for St. Patrick's Day.
 
I don't approve. Think about the fishes!

The river is in Chicago. I dare say green is the least fish have to worry about.
 
The secret ingredients used to dye the river green is safe (approved by the EPA) and is not harmful to the thousands of goldfish that make up a large percentage of the river's fish population. Other cities have tried to dye their rivers green without success.

The Chicago River is interesting because the Army Corps of Engineers reversed the flow away from Lake Michigan and many buildings put their backs to the river due to its pollution. Now that the river walk is being built and it's considerably cleaner than it's been in the last 125 years a lot of new buildings are again facing the water again.
 
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