What are your perceptions of each state?

[GardenStateGirlie]

Originally Posted by amber

it was. I wasn't in Napa, a different "wine town" and it was all trees, hills and greenery. We sat staring at the stars, being amazed we could see them all. And it was "country dark" at night, ie, you couldn't see anything for miles. The person we visited was staying in a winery house his family owned, so we had the grape field outside our door...a river behind...a big hill, covered with trees...there isn't much to do though, except enjoy fresh air and beautiful views. Oh, and we drank a lot. and some swam in the pool (it was butt ass freezing, i didn't go in ) I didn't want to leave, ever. You should go.

Marissa's To Do List
-find a new job
-apply for school
-find wealthy boyfriend to whisk me away for weekend in California wine country

[amber]

Originally Posted by GardenStateGirlie

Marissa's To Do List
-find a new job
-apply for school
-find wealthy boyfriend to whisk me away for weekend in California wine country

ha! me too, sistah!

[GardenStateGirlie]

Originally Posted by amber

ha! me too, sistah!

Perhaps we should just whisk ourselves away and get piss drunk

[amber]

Originally Posted by GardenStateGirlie

Perhaps we should just whisk ourselves away and get piss drunk

oops! too late
Your boyfriend would have to be 10 times cooler, because for me, it's an hour and a half drive, for you - ACROSS THE CONTINENT But you're 10 years younger, so that evens it out...

[pianogirl04]

Originally Posted by wondergirl9847

When my dad and I went to Colorado back in October, we stopped at a couple of rest stops that had been redone. They had computers to find hotels, attractions, etc. and it was REALLY nice and clean too.

That sounds fantastic! They just built a new rest stop just outside of town here on the interstate but I haven't been to it (no reason to, I guess). The one on I-10 going into TX is absolutely HUGE compared to the little house-looking one going into LA. And don't even get be started on the bathrooms...

I went to Lafayette and I found out that the mall down there now has free wifi -- rock on!! I wonder if there are many rest stops that have gone wireless. It'd be awesome to take a road trip and then be able to stop and get on the web, check the weather, pull up directions to something, etc...

[GardenStateGirlie]

Originally Posted by amber

oops! too late
Your boyfriend would have to be 10 times cooler, because for me, it's an hour and a half drive, for you - ACROSS THE CONTINENT But you're 10 years younger, so that evens it out...

DAMMIT. A day late and a dollar short And yes, my phantom make pretend boyfriend would have to be pretty amazing to do that.

[amber]

Originally Posted by GardenStateGirlie

DAMMIT. A day late and a dollar short And yes, my phantom make pretend boyfriend would have to be pretty amazing to do that.

oh, Phantommakepretend...I think i know him Yeah. I was visiting an ex, but my girlfriend drove me.

[AliP]

Originally Posted by zinester

I've never been - but what I always think of when I think of Utah are...Mormons.

I just recently moved to Utah from Minnesota to go to school. You are right about your perception. Mormans dominate the culture. I have suffered from some culture shock. Nothing is open on Sundays. Businesses generally close a lot earlier. All of my roommates are Morman except for me and they think I am from a different planet. From my experience so far one of the first things people ask you is if you are LDS (a.k.a. Morman). A lot of people won't associate with you if you aren't.

Is this the same Katie that I met in Denver at the FM concert?? If so, I remember you telling me you were going to school Utah. (I said to myself..'uh oh' but I didn't want to tell you cause I didn't want to scare you! LOL) If it's not you then I will just comment anyway!!

Yes! I would never wish for anyone to move to Utah who is not Mormon. It is pure torture. Everything revolves around the religion. And yes, they will not associate with you if you are not mormon. When I was little, my friends parent's would not let them play with me because I wasn't Mormon. Yes, it is that bad!! And please, please, promise me you will NOT marry a Mormon. They will convert you and you will be stuck and pregnant every year! (I kid you not!)

[sara1998]

Originally Posted by AliP

Anyway, that is so funny that you should ask about IL and IN...I was going to say that those are two states that I NEVER hear anything about. I have no idea what people are like there except I think of Chicago for IL and Notre Dame for IN. I also never hear anything about the people in OH, IA, MO, KS.

Well, I've been in Indiana all of my life, and let me educate you. Yes, we are 2 billion years tidal wave free (that's hilarious)! The perception is that "Hoosiers" are some of the most hospitable people in the nation (Hoosier Hospitality) but if you've ever encountered me driving on the road, you'll think differently! We are big on racing and basketball. I was raised 2 minutes from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and have only been to 2 Indy 500's, and the Brickyard 500 once. There are pretty densely populated areas, but once you are out of Indianapolis, these areas are separated with large corn, wheat or soy fields. We don't have an accent, but I've heard other people say we have "lazy" speech.

When I went to Arizona earlier this year, it was the first time I've been further west then Illinois in all of my life. I felt so out of place there. My friend took my daughter and I to a restaurant the first night we were there. I was in a nice T-shirt and blue jeans, and my daughter was dressed the same, (nothing different from how we'd go at home) and we get there and people are dressed in nice shirts and blazers, kahkis, good shoes. Damn, did I feel like a slob. It was some serious culture shock. The people there are so different then us.

[Jessica Leigh]

here are some perceptions about the states i have lived in... in alphabetical order...

Arizona-
lots of old people... young people drink a lot! i found that many young adults are transplants trying to make a new life away from (in most cases) cold states... a lot of kids from minnesota especially! in scottsdale there is a HUGE amount of ladies who either don't work (supported by rich husbands) or make it look like they are one of those spoiled ladies... with bleached hair... LOTS of TERRIBLE boob jobs... we're talking cantelopes that appear to float in mid air... and they go out to lunch together and if they have a baby they have a nanny who sits with them and when the kid cries the mother barely blinks and the nanny gets up with the child and takes him/her outside. fair amount of cowboys in big trucks (it is the old west afterall) and it's normal to see a gun sticking out of the back pocket of the guy standing in front of you in the starbucks line. Tucson is, well, i call it the armpit of arizona... it smells... it really does... the only thing i have found cool about Tucson is that on the drive from Phoenix to Tucson there is an ostrich farm on the side of the road... and you don't see ostriches very often... and in arizona people decorate cacti with lights for christmas (the deserts parts, at least)

California-
it's hard to really describe california... it's got everything... laid back people, uptight people, hippies who won't touch meat or hair dye, cowboys, surfers.... hell california has tv shows take place there so much i think we all know about california

Montana-
YES I AM ONE PERSON WHO HAS LIVED IN MONTANA!!!!!!!!! they've got some inbreeding problems... SERIOUSLY!!! i was there for less than a year and met so many people who confused the **** outta me cause i wasn't sure if they were for real or not... but yes, many of them were slightly off when it came to mental capacity and whatnot... i could go on with this but i might offend people... Yes bozeman has a lot of hippies... from what i experienced, bozeman was mostly students from out of state who went to school there cause it was up in the mountains and it was nature etc... so yes... hippies... the same kind of kids who decide to leave the big city and go to school in Boulder CO. the rest of montana is a bunch of right wing, gun totin', cultish religious, red neck, fly fishing, deer hunting, live off the land type of people. people rarely fly in or out of that state... it's a good $500 for a cheap ticket to like, LA or Seattle... how do people travel? GREYHOUND!!!!!!

North Carolina-
I REAAAAAALLY don't remember a whole lot about this time in my life. but i remember very kind, sweet old southern ladies.

TEXAS-
(always has to be big letters cause everything's bigger there) I love Texas... it's like the old west... like Arizona... but it's also like the show Dallas to me (i just watched the Dallas reunion on my friend's Tivo so i'm pumped on it right now) i remember it being very hot and humid there.... and San Antonio (where i lived) stunk sort of.... at least by the river it did... Austin is different from the rest of Texas... Livia can tell you about that- it's a cool city- in this month's southwest airlines magazine they have a little thing describing Austin... "most people's CD collections are all unknown local bands... you'd better have a favorite football team and that team had better be the longhorns" etc... there were more but i can't remember it all... and of course the football thing... how many movies have been made about the obsessiveness of high school football there? lots.

Washington-
gosh... thick white socks that go halfway up your calves with birkenstocks... hippyish people... silicon valley type people (who are being safer than silicon valley was) lots of seafood... people eat salmon for dinner at least once a week i swear. clam digging... fishing... lots of seafood that people go get themselves unlike places like san fran where people just go to a market by the bay and buy it off of an icepack. eastern washington (once you get over the cascade mountains) you find a lot of bored people... meth is big... and so is white eyeliner and blue mascara. YIKES!!! to go have ANY fun you either have to travel into spokane (EWW EWW EWWWWW) or over the pass to Seattle (which can be very dangerous in winter) Washingtonians are water people... ocean, lake, river... doesn't matter... most people learn how to drive motorboats and jetskiis before they go through puberty... oh yeah.. and the apples... APPLES! lots of agriculture in WA. fresh fruit stands all over the place on the sides of the roads. apricots are big, too. anyone ever heard of Applets and Cotlets? look 'em up. they are so nasty yet so good!

[GateandGarden]

Originally Posted by pianogirl04

For what it's worth I have never seen any kind of festivities even close to what they advertise, but I hear Mardi Gras in New Orleans is beyond insane; I'm too chicken to go though. My best friend went last year and she said she could not wait to get out of that city. New Orleans is just a creepy place to me... it's okay to visit but it just creeps me out for some reason. There's lots of awesome concerts at the House of Blues, which just happens to be in the French Quarter... and that is not somewhere I want to be at night, even if I am with somebody.

I haven't been in New Orleans during Mardi Gras, either. I've heard all kinds of stories, and usually make me more hesitant. I don't really see the whole point in Mardi Gras, anyway. I'm not that interested in getting totally wasted and acting stupid, while being surrounded by many, many other people who are doing the same thing, but that's me. New Orleans is kind of creepy, but I like it; as long as someone's with me I can take it. This is off-topic, but doesn't the Aquarium in New Orleans rock? I just love aquariums. Few people seem to get as passionate as I do about them. Few people who are over the age of eight.

Hillary

[strandinthewind]

I ADORE New Orleans. I grew up in essentially Lafayette and New Orleans and then attended law school at Loyola. They are both nice cities. But, I love NOLA the most. It is in my top three favorite places in the world. But - to each their own

[amber]

Originally Posted by Jessica Leigh

California-
it's hard to really describe california... it's got everything... laid back people, uptight people, hippies who won't touch meat or hair dye, cowboys, surfers.... hell california has tv shows take place there so much i think we all know about california

Word. We really do have everything. you forgot to mention ghetto ass mofos, tons of different cultures, and almost every kind of weather/landscape you could want Not to mention every kind of food...

[DrummerDeanna]

Originally Posted by GateandGarden

I just love aquariums. Few people seem to get as passionate as I do about them. Few people who are over the age of eight.

Hillary

No - I also LOVE aquariums...though my love for them did become more pronounced when my nephew was born and proved to be a HUGE animal lover - he is so obsessed with animals...and so I've been to an aquarium with him - made me just fall in love with them again - I was completely mesmerized...they're so peaceful and I just love so many water creatures

[SuzeQuze]

Originally Posted by DrummerDeanna

at a garage sale? That's alarming - I guess what would be even more alarming is if you friend did have those items...AND sold them at a garage sale

LOL! I was in Maine and got a ride from a local to the store. I was sitting on something and had to move it to sit on the seat. She said, "Oh sorry, that's my gun." So for Maine my perception is everyone has a rifle in their car!