View Full Version : What's Fun About Your State?
GeorgeParker
3-2-21, 9:53pm
What's fun about Texas is watching totally un-selfconscious cowboys doing a slow line dance to The Doobie Brothers "Drift Away" in a hamburger joint. :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9p88Rh3C_rQ
Nothing is fun about my state. People are better off visiting Oregon or California. It's cold and wet and grey here all the time, and the people are unfriendly. Our economy is mostly driven by treating injuries caused by speeding Amazon trucks. Best to avoid us!
Nothing is fun about my state. People are better off visiting Oregon or California. It's cold and wet and grey here all the time, and the people are unfriendly. Our economy is mostly driven by treating injuries caused by speeding Amazon trucks. Best to avoid us!
But the whole Portland area is engulfed in wildfire smoke and awash in armed and dangerous Antifa fighters. All the buildings are aflame. ;) And, if you're homophobic, Portland has the second-highest percentage of same-sex couples, behind only San Francisco. Feminists are everywhere, as are man-buns. Best to avoid that area, too.
I hear South Dakota is nice...
I’m glad I live in a State where nobody worries much about keeping the undesirables out, and you can hear Polka versions of “Sweet Child O Mine” or “Highway to Hell”. The fishing is pretty good too.
I hear South Dakota is nice...
I think we can both agree on that! A tourist paradise!
Salem is pretty unique at Halloween. There are many other fun things but you can find them in other places as well.
I’m glad I live in a State where nobody worries much about keeping the undesirables out, and you can hear Polka versions of “Sweet Child O Mine” or “Highway to Hell”. The fishing is pretty good too.
I could say the same about my state except for the Polka thing, here it's Bluegrass versions of the same songs.
I hear South Dakota is nice...All kidding aside, it actually is! I've spent a fair amount of time in different parts of the state over the past few years, the scenery is wonderful, the historical attractions are interesting and the people are friendly. If it weren't for those cold winters I'd consider it the perfect retirement destination.
Skamania County makes shooting Sasquatch a crime. It was a felony but has been watered down since.
I think my forebears settled there for a time. Or maybe it was North Dakota.
The population density would be a draw...:)
Salem is pretty unique at Halloween. There are many other fun things but you can find them in other places as well.
Actually, the whole Salem thing is pretty bizarre. It's kind of become the cool "Witch City" due to the long ago witch trials, which aren't really anything to be proud of, and there is a statue of Elizabeth Montgomery being witchy, and it's all rather weird:
https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/11762
In my state you get to see gubernatorial debates like this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOEVmwFCYtQ
ApatheticNoMore
3-3-21, 4:56pm
I always assumed growing up those witch trials were about Salem Oregon having heard of no other Salem (and probably only that because it's the capitol).
Nothing is fun about my state. People are better off visiting Oregon or California. It's cold and wet and grey here all the time, and the people are unfriendly. Our economy is mostly driven by treating injuries caused by speeding Amazon trucks. Best to avoid us!
+1 and...we have petulant volcanoes.
GeorgeParker
3-3-21, 5:53pm
In my state you get to see gubernatorial debates like this one:The best part of that video is at the very end:
3660
But I still want Howard Beale to run for Guvnor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRuS3dxKK9U
+1 and...we have petulant volcanoes.
Good point, between the volcanoes, the earthquakes, the tsunamis, the wildfires, and the giant squid that live just off Pike Place Market in the Sound in Seattle, it's amazing anyone can survive here.
Good point, between the volcanoes, the earthquakes, the tsunamis, the wildfires, and the giant squid that live just off Pike Place Market in the Sound in Seattle, it's amazing anyone can survive here.
You forgot the Giant Pacific Octopus and the Murder Hornets.
Everything about the outdoors: hiking, biking, nordic and downhill skiing, white water, lazy river floating, lakes for fishing, swimming, boating, sailing. Earthquakes in the 1000s this last 12 months-eh....minor inconvenience. Huge volcano sits under Yellowstone. That could wipe out 3 states and throw ash into 6 more.
Yup. We've got it all-except the ocean.
We have the world's largest private insect collection, which is open to the public for a small fee. It is fortunately a quaint out of the way place that retains a flavor of museums from an earlier time. 3661
Well...I have to say that life in Colorado is not fun in the quirky way that Austin was. Here is a little place in my old Austin neighborhood indicative of the playful spirit there:
https://thelittlelonghornsaloon.com/about-us
My state has the polka thing going on too, at least in the southern half. But you have to speak Spanish to understand the words.
happystuff
3-4-21, 10:35am
Who needs Sasquatch - my state has dinosaurs!
Edited to add: not sure what happened with pic, but here it is. LOL
Hopefully this works better.
3665
GeorgeParker
3-4-21, 10:42am
Edited to add: don't know why that extra attachment is there. Mods, can it be removed?Click "Edit Post" then click "Go Advanced" and scroll down to "Manage Attachments" (I'm posting this info for anyone who doesn't already know it)
happystuff
3-4-21, 10:45am
Click "Edit Post" then click "Go Advanced" and scroll down to "Manage Attachments"
Thank you.
iris lilies
3-4-21, 10:47am
Good point, between the volcanoes, the earthquakes, the tsunamis, the wildfires, and the giant squid that live just off Pike Place Market in the Sound in Seattle, it's amazing anyone can survive here.
I’m sorry, but you guys especially in bae’s area have these things called… Trees. You have way too many trees.I can’t live there, how does one grow iris? Yeah I don’t think that you do.
I’m sorry, but you guys especially in bae’s area have these things called… Trees. You have way too many trees.I can’t live there, how does one grow iris? Yeah I don’t think that you do.
Well, there are trees and there are trees. The trees of the PNW are privileged, entitled, coddled and smug. More like large houseplants in a giant greenhouse. They were born on third base and think they evolved a triple.
Now, your Midwestern north woods trees are real trees trees. Scratching out a living in soil scoured by glaciers and scourged by arctic blasts, they make do without whining or complaint or frequent rainfall.
3666
I’m sorry, but you guys especially in bae’s area have these things called… Trees. You have way too many trees.I can’t live there, how does one grow iris? Yeah I don’t think that you do.
oh yes we do!
Well, there are trees and there are trees. The trees of the PNW are privileged, entitled, coddled and smug. More like large houseplants in a giant greenhouse. They were born on third base and think they evolved a triple.
Now, your Midwestern north woods trees are real trees trees. Scratching out a living in soil scoured by glaciers and scourged by arctic blasts, they make do without whining or complaint or frequent rainfall.
Have you ever heard of the Missoula Flood? It's kinda what's formed our geography here.
Thought of one here....annual coffin races.
Nothing is fun about my state. People are better off visiting Oregon or California. It's cold and wet and grey here all the time, and the people are unfriendly. Our economy is mostly driven by treating injuries caused by speeding Amazon trucks. Best to avoid us!
Ha!
Thirty years ago I worked at an airline, so we could fly for cheap often, and we visited Seattle often. One of my favorite cities. But we had the most incredible string of good luck whenever we visited -- out of maybe a dozen trips of varying lengths, I can recall only a few days which were cold and wet and grey. We used to see T-shirts proclaiming the Seattle Rain Festival, which ran from August 1st to July 31st each year and figured this was just a joke the locals tried to perpetrate to keep the place from getting run down by tourists.
Fun in Minnesota...
I think it depends on whether you were born here. People who move here find certain things much funnier than born-and-bred Minnesotans do. Howard Mohr's book, "How To Talk Minnesotan" does an excellent job of covering many of the nuances of interpersonal relationships. I found the book funny to read -- and then much less funny and "oh, for useful!" once I actually arrived in the Twin Cities. Garrison Keillor's monologues about Lake Woebegone covered a lot of that ground, too; also far funnier until I moved here and found out how true they were.
Otherwise, the fun stuff could include:
- the Winter Carnival (you live here; you deal with the cold or you get the &$^% out)
- the State Fair (it's a great state fair and second only to Texas' and that's because theirs runs twice as long)
- the Mall of America (if your bucket list includes going to an amusement park inside a shopping mall)
- the World's Largest Ball of Twine (in Darwin)
- the SPAM Museum in Austin (lending definition to the term "pinkwashing" but entertaining)
- walking across the Mississippi River at Itasca State Park, and
- probably more super-life-size statues than any locale should have (including Paul Bunyan, the Jolly Green Giant, and lots of fish)
And, of course, there's ice fishing (https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/gofishing/learn-ice-fish.html). How could I forget ice fishing?
iris lilies
3-4-21, 6:01pm
Fun in Minnesota...
I think it depends on whether you were born here. People who move here find certain things much funnier than born-and-bred Minnesotans do. Howard Mohr's book, "How To Talk Like A Minnesotan" does an excellent job of covering many of the nuances of interpersonal relationships. I found the book funny to read -- and then much less funny and "oh, for useful!" once I actually arrived in the Twin Cities. Garrison Keillor's monologues about Lake Woebegone covered a lot of that ground, too; also far funnier until I moved here and found out how true they were.
Otherwise, the fun stuff could include:
- the Winter Carnival (you live here; you deal with the cold or you get the &$^% out)
- the State Fair (it's a great state fair and second only to Texas' and that's because theirs runs twice as long)
- the Mall of America (if your bucket list includes going to an amusement park inside a shopping mall)
- the World's Largest Ball of Twine (in Darwin)
- the SPAM Museum in Austin (lending definition to the term "pinkwashing" but entertaining)
- walking across the Mississippi River at Itasca State Park, and
- probably more super-life-size statues than any locale should have (including Paul Bunyan, the Jolly Green Giant, and lots of fish)
And, of course, there's ice fishing (https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/gofishing/learn-ice-fish.html). How could I forget ice fishing?
My sister-in-law, DHS sister, was born an hour and a half north of Highway 80. They don’t talk like Minnesotans.
She has lived in this Twin Cities for decades and now she talks like you all.
The spam museum is expensively done, it’s pretty nice.
I believe we have spoken about the Minnesota State fair. I’ve been to the Minnesota State fair. It does not beat the Iowa State fair which is the granddaddy of state fairs.
My brother grew up in CT but talks more like a Minnesotan than my Minnesotan SIL. Oh, yah!
GeorgeParker
3-4-21, 8:36pm
I’ve been to the Minnesota State fair. It does not beat the Iowa State fair which is the granddaddy of state fairs.But the Texas State Fair has Big Tex and it has it's own Hollywood movie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9jMCQGFftM
iris lilies
3-4-21, 9:22pm
But the Texas State Fair has Big Tex and it has it's own Hollywood movie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9jMCQGFftM
oh You DON’T want to use this fact to prove any kind of superiority of your state fair.
The Best Known and best loved version of State Fair the film is the 1945 version about the Iowa
state Fair. It was based on the 1933 State Fair film that was set in —-you guessed it—-the Iowa State Fair.
Your State Fair film was a box office flop. Besides, you have only 1 film about your fair.
Like Steve, I used to listen to Lake Wobegone before I moved here... and then there was no need.
My list of what's fun in Minnesota:
- long, long hours of daylight in the summer, on days that are generally quite enjoyable (not excessively hot and humid most of the time)
- literally thousands of lakes to kayak
- walking on frozen lakes in winter
- swans - on the lakes, flying overhead, walking around the neighborhood in the winter
- watching spring growth pop in a few days after 6 months of a monochromatic landscape
- seeing all your neighbors outside shoveling and blowing snow in the winter after not seeing them since the previous snowstorm. Makes me laugh every time. We all wave and get to shoveling.
- fireflies in the summer, glittering in the woods
- really going "over the river and through the woods" to my daughter's grandmother's house and everywhere else we go - the Mississippi that is
- Peanuts statues everywhere
- days when it's nearly 100 degrees warmer inside the house than outside, and not because we keep the house hot in winter. Really, where else can you get that?
GeorgeParker
3-4-21, 9:46pm
...the Iowa State Fair. Your State Fair film was a box office flop. Besides, you have only 1 film about your fair.But our film is the most recent one. And the Texas State Fair is 24 days, Iowa is only 11. So Texas wins!
iris lilies
3-4-21, 10:21pm
But our film is the most recent one. And the Texas State Fair is 24 days, Iowa is only 11. So Texas wins!
I’m not sure, judges? May we have a score please?
haha
iris lilies
3-4-21, 10:23pm
Like Steve, I used to listen to Lake Wobegone before I moved here... and then there was no need.
My list of what's fun in Minnesota:
- long, long hours of daylight in the summer, on days that are generally quite enjoyable (not excessively hot and humid most of the time)
- literally thousands of lakes to kayak
- walking on frozen lakes in winter
- swans - on the lakes, flying overhead, walking around the neighborhood in the winter
- watching spring growth pop in a few days after 6 months of a monochromatic landscape
- seeing all your neighbors outside shoveling and blowing snow in the winter after not seeing them since the previous snowstorm. Makes me laugh every time. We all wave and get to shoveling.
- fireflies in the summer, glittering in the woods
- really going "over the river and through the woods" to my daughter's grandmother's house and everywhere else we go - the Mississippi that is
- Peanuts statues everywhere
- days when it's nearly 100 degrees warmer inside the house than outside, and not because we keep the house hot in winter. Really, where else can you get that?
That last point is crazy. But overall your tribute to Minnesota is sweet. I like Minnesota. Being from Iowa, we always looked “up” to you. In addition to flatland you have Lakes. We have only flatland.
Massachusetts has flat lands in the cranberry bogs (no wild rice though), lakes, mountains, and the ocean. I see your two landscapes and raise you two.
I’m sorry, but you guys especially in bae’s area have these things called… Trees. You have way too many trees.I can’t live there, how does one grow iris? Yeah I don’t think that you do.
We grow all kinds here; we have bulb farms. I've even visited one. Here's one in lovely King County:
https://www.leonineiris.com/
iris lilies
3-5-21, 10:00am
We grow all kinds here; we have bulb farms. I've even visited one. Here's one in lovely King County:
https://www.leonineiris.com/
i am well aware of the lily ‘n iris farms in your state and also (especially) nearby Oregon.
But they are not growing them under trees. Bae’s island is not a Mecca for farming lilies ‘n iris. They must get enough sun there to grow things besides trees because there is wine being grown there and wine grapes require a lot of sun.
My sister-in-law, DHS sister, was born an hour and a half north of Highway 80. They don’t talk like Minnesotans.
She has lived in this Twin Cities for decades and now she talks like you all.
There are bigger crimes! :) We don't all sound like the people in the movie "Fargo", however.
The spam museum is expensively done, it’s pretty nice.
It is a nice museum and it is entertaining. But to listen to the Hormel folks, :spam: singlehandedly saved civilization after World War II. They also gloss heavily over a history of labor disturbances at the company (I get it; it's their museum, but that presents an opportunity to paint a different picture and they don't/can't).
I believe we have spoken about the Minnesota State fair. I’ve been to the Minnesota State fair. It does not beat the Iowa State fair which is the granddaddy of state fairs.
We have. In fairness, I have never been to the Iowa State Fair (maybe now that DW is retired and weekday trips are possible...). Strictly from a numerical perspective, however, Minnesota has Iowa beat in terms of the number of visitors and revenue; second only to Texas. I'll also note that in the years I lived in Iowa, no one ever said that the Iowa State Fair was a must-see the way people talk about the Minnesota State Fair, and the admissions relative to population seem to prove that.
Then again, Bentleys are nicer than Audis even if they don't sell more of them, so opinion certainly can hold there.
i am well aware of the lily ‘n iris farms in your state and also (especially) nearby Oregon.
But they are not growing them under trees. Bae’s island is not a Mecca for farming lilies ‘n iris. They must get enough sun there to grow things besides trees because there is wine being grown there and wine grapes require a lot of sun.
Oregon also grows truffles (under trees) and psilocybin mushrooms.
rosarugosa
3-5-21, 12:48pm
Fun in Minnesota...
I think it depends on whether you were born here. People who move here find certain things much funnier than born-and-bred Minnesotans do. Howard Mohr's book, "How To Talk Minnesotan" does an excellent job of covering many of the nuances of interpersonal relationships. I found the book funny to read -- and then much less funny and "oh, for useful!" once I actually arrived in the Twin Cities. Garrison Keillor's monologues about Lake Woebegone covered a lot of that ground, too; also far funnier until I moved here and found out how true they were.
Otherwise, the fun stuff could include:
- the Winter Carnival (you live here; you deal with the cold or you get the &$^% out)
- the State Fair (it's a great state fair and second only to Texas' and that's because theirs runs twice as long)
- the Mall of America (if your bucket list includes going to an amusement park inside a shopping mall)
- the World's Largest Ball of Twine (in Darwin)
- the SPAM Museum in Austin (lending definition to the term "pinkwashing" but entertaining)
- walking across the Mississippi River at Itasca State Park, and
- probably more super-life-size statues than any locale should have (including Paul Bunyan, the Jolly Green Giant, and lots of fish)
And, of course, there's ice fishing (https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/gofishing/learn-ice-fish.html). How could I forget ice fishing?
If I ever get to Minnesota, the ball of twine would be on my "must see" list, thanks to Weird Al!
GeorgeParker
3-5-21, 12:57pm
Fun in Minnesota...
- the Mall of America (if your bucket list includes going to an amusement park inside a shopping mall)Years ago a co-worker visited the Mall Of America while on vacation and was horrified that they had Male, Female, and Mixed Gender restrooms. I had to splain to her that the Mixed Gender restrooms were for parents who needed to accompany their opposite gender child.
ApatheticNoMore
3-5-21, 1:28pm
Oh I went to Mall of America, ironically of course (not to shop or anything but just you know at this point it's symbolic for everything wrong with something, so I had to see for myself, being I was in the area :laff:).
Teacher Terry
3-5-21, 1:36pm
In 1992 it was newly built and I lived 90 minutes away. My best friend came to visit and we opened and closed the mall. Spent about 1k each for work clothes starting a new career and it was fun. We saw a movie in the afternoon to rest. Luckily I had booked a hotel. We had paid for the room with 2 beds and when we got there they were shocked because we got lost and it was midnight. They must have given away our room because they tried to tell me that I didn’t have a reservation. Luckily I had printed it out. When they opened the door of the room for us she said “Oh honey thanks for booking the honeymoon suite.” It was so funny.
What is going to happen to Mall of America? Never mind COVID--even before the pandemic, malls are closing everywhere and owners are trying to figure out how to repurpose them. I can only imagine those challenges are exponentially bigger for the largest mall in America.
I've been there by the way and it was unbelievably overwhelming! I think I tackled about a fraction of it, and bought something in one of the pet stores and that was it. But it was fun walking through the amusement park.
iris lilies
3-5-21, 1:52pm
What is going to happen to Mall of America? Never mind COVID--even before the pandemic, malls are closing everywhere and owners are trying to figure out how to repurpose them. I can only image those challenges are exponentially bigger for the largest mall in America.
I've been there by the way and it was unbelievably overwhelming! I think I tackled about a fraction of it, and bought something in one of the pet stores and that was it. But it was fun walking through the amusement park.
Yes I’ve been to the mall of America twice since I lived only a few hours away from the Twin Cities at one point.It was pretty awful.
The North American Lily society had its national conference at a hotel by Mall of America. It was a hideous location. The hotel,was nice enough but there were only highways and concrete by it, and then in the mall. There’s no place to walk. It was Not a good conference site by my definition, but then most all of these convention sites are hotels that sit on highways.
The plant conferences shuttle people around in buses so we do get out into green areas to see gardens.
The Mall is ... "interesting", as Minnesotans say.
I'm surprised to see so many of you have been there at least once. I'm used to thinking of it as a tourist attraction for very specific tourists (the local airline used to offer travel packages from Asia for people to fly in for a long weekend, stay on premises, and shop at the mall [maybe they still do; I stopped looking]).
The mall has managed to exist for 20 years without sucking the life out of retail in the south metro -- a fear when it was first proposed. It helps that there is a variety of stores that don't exist elsewhere in Minnesota. I visit rarely. Sometimes we've brought visitors there because they want to see it. I've attended a few fundraisers there. The mall has the Apple Store that's closest to me and that, probably more than any other reason, is why I ever go. I just sense this forced "we're gonna have fun here if it kills us" vibe whenever I'm there; one I don't experience at any other mall or shopping center.
I don't think the Mall will be hit as hard as most places by the changes in retail. For one, it's kind of a one-stop shop. Short of buying a car or really high-end merchandise, there's probably nothing you can't buy there. It takes shopping-as-entertainment to high heights, and there still are plenty of people who want to see (and be seen while they're seeing). Add in the amusement park, the aquarium, the Lego and Crayola stores, events in the Rotunda, and the food places, and there are things to do that are not shopping. There's an IKEA across the parking lot and a wildlife sanctuary maybe a mile or two away. There has been steady turnover of shops in the mall; I think Nordstrom and Macy's may be the only original anchor tenants; there are not vast swaths of empty storefronts. People obviously still want in if people are there shopping.
It's easy to get to -- a shuttle ride from the airport and a local transit hub. There have been attempts to add a branch of various college-level institutions and a medical clinic. iirc there are hotels now directly attached to the mall and I thought I read about condo or apartment housing they are proposing east of the mall property.
So I don't see it sitting there, decaying, in ten years. Much as I'm not a fan, many people are and I think it has the critical mass and, frankly, the management foresight, to keep it relevant until the bonds are paid off (maybe later).
Fun in Minnesota...
I think it depends on whether you were born here. People who move here find certain things much funnier than born-and-bred Minnesotans do. Howard Mohr's book, "How To Talk Minnesotan" does an excellent job of covering many of the nuances of interpersonal relationships. I found the book funny to read -- and then much less funny and "oh, for useful!" once I actually arrived in the Twin Cities. Garrison Keillor's monologues about Lake Woebegone covered a lot of that ground, too; also far funnier until I moved here and found out how true they were.
Otherwise, the fun stuff could include:
- the Winter Carnival (you live here; you deal with the cold or you get the &$^% out)
- the State Fair (it's a great state fair and second only to Texas' and that's because theirs runs twice as long)
- the Mall of America (if your bucket list includes going to an amusement park inside a shopping mall)
- the World's Largest Ball of Twine (in Darwin)
- the SPAM Museum in Austin (lending definition to the term "pinkwashing" but entertaining)
- walking across the Mississippi River at Itasca State Park, and
- probably more super-life-size statues than any locale should have (including Paul Bunyan, the Jolly Green Giant, and lots of fish)
And, of course, there's ice fishing (https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/gofishing/learn-ice-fish.html). How could I forget ice fishing?
Ahem - Kansas claims the World's Largest Ball of Twine. Fight me. http://www.kansastravel.org/balloftwine.htm
Ahem - Kansas claims the World's Largest Ball of Twine. Fight me. http://www.kansastravel.org/balloftwine.htm
But Weird Al did not write a song about it!
Teacher Terry
3-8-21, 8:30pm
Becky, I was going to mention that Kansas claims it. I have lived in Kansas twice.
Ahem - Kansas claims the World's Largest Ball of Twine. Fight me.
Apparently there is a qualification to the Darwin ball (http://darwintwineball.com/twineball.html)'s description: "the home of a the largest Twine Ball in the World made by one man, Francis A. Johnson."
Apparently Johnson created the ball in 1950 and it weighs 17,400 pounds and it's been a display piece since the 50s. The Kansas ball has been added to by many people over the decades and probably weighs at least 20,000 pounds now (the figure on their Web site dates back to 2013). So the Kansas ball is the biggest ball of twine in the world but the Darwin ball remains the biggest ball of twine that was an individual effort.
Everybody happy? :)
GeorgeParker
3-9-21, 12:21am
But Kansas has thousands of stone fenceposts supporting barbed-wire fences. Where else are you going to find that?
http://bluestemstoneworks.com/History.htm
(http://bluestemstoneworks.com/History.htm)
“Land of the Post Rock” is a distinction given to about 3 million acres in North Central Kansas- an area where a single bed of rock (the 8-12” Fencepost bed of the Greenhorn limestone layer) was used so extensively for fence posts during early Kansas settlement days that the posts have become an identifying feature of the landscape.
Ok, Steve - I'll agree with the qualification! DH and I took a 2 day tour of western Kansas a few years ago and saw some unusual stuff - lots of folklore, a civil war fort (Ft. Harker), including the WLBOT in Cawker City. If you ever get a chance, see The Garden of Eden in Lucas, KS. The gentleman who built all this stuff didn't trust banks, religion, lawyers and especially the government. He used cement to make all kinds of sculptures. His body is in a sealed coffin on the premises and you can look in the little window and say hello to him if you so desire. http://www.gardenofedenlucas.org (http://www.gardenofedenlucas.org/)
Yes, GeorgeParker - lots of limestone in central and western Kansas. Many buildings made of it, too.
But Weird Al did not write a song about it!
Shame on him!
DH and I took a 2 day tour of western Kansas a few years ago and saw some unusual stuff
There are so many interesting things to see in this country! A couple of years ago DW and I were in the Kansas City area for a funeral and had some time to kill. We planned to go visit the Kansas State campus (been years since my brother and I attended) but decided to stop instead at the Brown vs. Board of Education Historical Site near Topeka. Certainly we knew about the issue, but the museum did an excellent job of putting faces on the history texts. Time well spent.
GeorgeParker
3-9-21, 11:00pm
the Brown vs. Board of Education Historical Site near Topeka. Certainly we knew about the issue, but the museum did an excellent job of putting faces on the history texts. Time well spent.Considering the violent history of "Bleeding Kansas" and the part John Brown (of Harper's Ferry fame) played in that conflict, it's interesting and ironic that Brown vs Board of Education was in Kansas.
Bleeding Kansas: https://www.britannica.com/event/Bleeding-Kansas-United-States-history
But Kansas has thousands of stone fenceposts supporting barbed-wire fences. Where else are you going to find
And Dexter Kansas was also the first place in earth where helium was found in large quantities. (Although initially they were quite disappointed about the discovery)
https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/heliumnaturalgas.html
happystuff
3-11-21, 11:08am
Becky, I was going to mention that Kansas claims it. I have lived in Kansas twice.
I lived in Kansas a long time ago. Best memory was seeing a rainbow and seeing both ends actually "touch" the ground. :)
There are so many interesting things to see in this country! A couple of years ago DW and I were in the Kansas City area for a funeral and had some time to kill. We planned to go visit the Kansas State campus (been years since my brother and I attended) but decided to stop instead at the Brown vs. Board of Education Historical Site near Topeka. Certainly we knew about the issue, but the museum did an excellent job of putting faces on the history texts. Time well spent.
I'm embarrassed to say I live in Topeka, home of the Brown v. Board site and I've never gone in. I'm not sure if it's open up yet, or not.
I'm embarrassed to say I live in Topeka, home of the Brown v. Board site and I've never gone in.
I used to live in the New York metro area. I've never been in the Statue of Liberty and I've only seen the ground floor of the Empire State Building. The locals never see the sights....
IL? Politics are a spectator sport here, especially with Chicago and Crook (Cook) County. Always fun seeing who is going to be taken down next.
I've lived on the West Coast my entire life and have never been to DisneyLand.
gimmethesimplelife
3-12-21, 5:37pm
Something that I love about Arizona.....you can be in low rainfall deserts say around Tucson and in less than 45 minutes be in fir and apruce and pine forests dealing with snow.
Being close to Mexico adds such culture and security (economic in the sense of sanely priced health care) to Arizona. There is still a lot of undeveloped land and places to flee too if big city life does not suit. Rob
I've lived on the West Coast my entire life and have never been to DisneyLand.
I’ve only lived on the west coast 12 years and unfortunately I HAVE been to Disneyland.
The LL Bean Bootmobile drove past us yesterday around Naples. I had never heard of it, but I guess it's like the Wienermobile. Here is an online photo:
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/aa/84/dd/aa84dd299017b222751954a78796e404.jpg
There also is a Planters Nutmobile:
3685
Nice, Steve! Did you see the weird ad where Mr. Peanut is back from the dead?
I also saw Mr. Peanut as a kid, on the stilts--a highpoint of one vacation. He was spotted in Maryland, as I recall.
Did you see the weird ad where Mr. Peanut is back from the dead?
I did. As I recall, I asked myself, if this was the answer, what was the question? The whole campaign killing him off was just off the mark, to me.
We're number one!
"The Evergreen State takes the top spot again in the U.S. News Best States ranking on the strength of its tech sector and other industries." (March 2021)
This part of the article made me laugh:
"Shortcomings have proved persistent, too, as the state's high living and labor costs leave it in the middle of the pack when it comes to opportunity for its residents, according to the Best States rankings."
Apparently "high labor costs" aren't slowing us down much if Washington is again ranked number one out of fifty states. (People can make a decent living here? The horrors!) There was also a bit about our "flat taxes," which I assume was a typo--they meant to say "fat taxes."
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2021-03-09/why-washington-is-the-best-state-in-america?fbclid=IwAR1RL-p9Ozv_rViVciCe80DQtMOdaSrqqseJ1Xt5LTbvWP1v4fw2P3yj wCg
GeorgeParker
3-13-21, 7:36pm
People can make a decent living hereDecent Living Definition: How much money people make after taxes compared to how much money it costs to live in that area.
According to that definition and the data on https://livingwage.mit.edu/ and https://money.com/average-income-every-state-real-value/ I'm not real impressed by Washington's "decent living" compared to other states. Some are better, some worse, but people in lower-level jobs are still having to work overtime or two jobs if they want to make any progress financially. (unless they're LBYM practitioners like us.)
There also is a Planters Nutmobile:
3685
I passed one of those last year! I was driving north in I-35 north of Wichita. When I was coming up from behind it, I thought it was some weird tanker trailer (round rear-end). Cracked me up.
boss mare
3-16-21, 10:55pm
IL? Politics are a spectator sport here, especially with Chicago and Crook (Cook) County. Always fun seeing who is going to be taken down next.
Dixon IL was quite a hot topic in the horse world ... And currently was home to the operator of the largest municipal fraud in the history of the US . Rita Crundwell embezzled over 53 million dollars for the city over a 20 year span to fund her horse habit. There was a documentary move made about it called All The Queen's Horses
boss mare
3-16-21, 11:00pm
But the Texas State Fair has Big Tex and it has it's own Hollywood movie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9jMCQGFftM
Our 1962 " It Happened At The World's Fair" starred Elvis and an uncredited Kurt Russell And we still have the Space Needle
iris lilies
3-17-21, 4:23pm
Dixon IL was quite a hot topic in the horse world ... And currently was home to the operator of the largest municipal fraud in the history of the US . Rita Crundwell embezzled over 53 million dollars for the city over a 20 year span to fund her horse habit. There was a documentary move made about it called All The Queen's Horses
I saw that documentary. Wow.
I recently learned that there is a small ghost town in my state called "Trump". It had a post office and store and was the center for neighboring ranches. Abandoned in the 1930's. A geologist located an unusual rock formation in the area and it is called the "Trump conglomerate".
boss mare
3-27-21, 10:18pm
I saw that documentary. Wow.
Although I never met Rita in person, the horse world is extremely small ( like 6 degrees of separation small) I know of a few horse trainers that had some of her horses ( she had over 400 Quarter Horses ( AQHA) and had a few Paints (APHA)
It was rumored in the horse world that she had family money in cell towers / Campbell Soup . There is absolutely no money like her had at her finger tips in the horse world. Every once in a while , someone strikes gold.... My trainer did once. bought a yearling for 12K and sold as a three year old for 150K . The towns people got fooled that all of her big wins added up to where her money came from. The horse people were alot more skeptical.
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