Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
What’s the Biggest Misconception about Your State?
Though no one seemed to notice, I didn’t blog once last week. My cruel taskmasters at Ricochet Global Headquarters allowed me out of my padlocked cubicle for a brief vacation. (Troy Senik made me wear an ankle bracelet; the last staffer granted time off vanished for a few months before reappearing at The Federalist.) After taking my family to a cabin in the cool pines, I posted the following image for my adoring fans on Twitter:
People tried to guess where I was. Colorado? Montana? Some off-the-grid shanty so I could confuse the homing device? No, we were a few miles outside of Flagstaff, Arizona. Highs in the 70s, lows in the 40s, and enough cool streams and mountain trails to make us forget about our hellish summer in Phoenix.
People were incredulous, especially many on the east coast. “I thought Arizona was all desert!” “Where’s the sand and cactus?” “Are you sure you aren’t in Colorado?”
Arizona has a lot of desert, but also offers alpine cabins, ski resorts, and the largest stand of ponderosa pine on the continent. Adjacent to Flagstaff is a mountain that tops 12,500 feet in elevation, so there’s plenty of chilly weather to be found in this very southwestern state.
Every region has a stereotype and most are easily debunked with a visit. Every Texan doesn’t have an oil well in their backyard, plenty of Iowans have never lived on a farm, and Oregon isn’t all rugged coastline. So I open it up to the Ricochetti scattered hither and yon: What is the biggest misconception about your state (or city or country) and why is it a bunch of baloney?
P.S. Private message me if you have any tips on losing an ankle bracelet.
Published in General
Philadelphia on the right, Pittsburgh on the left, and Alabama in the middle. ;)
(I lived in Pittsburgh for 7 years, Pitt grad).
Love all your perspectives. What a great country. Best commenters are here. Lileks’ place a close second.
Trained in the Idaho desert and Orlando. Stationed in Tidewater area of Virginia, SF Bay area and San Diego.
Just finished watching a major league-er “crash” the minor league race at the Finger Lakes.
Will be in Merrill, WI next month– on the shores of Tug Lake, after crossing Kansas the diagonal way (Dodge to Beloit– both Beloits for that matter).
Speaking of New Mexico, Hobbs, Tucumcari and Clayton should be given to Texas (but we’ll keep Clovis and Portales because of Canon Air Force Base). Farmington and Gallup to Arizona– maybe Farmington to Utah. Chama, Taos and Raton to Colorado. Texas should give us El Paso (suburb of Las Cruces) along with the business part of Holloman AFB.
My daughter went Colgate, which is one of the prettiest college campuses in the country. I love upper state New York. :)
Haven’t read all the comments yet, so sorry if this is a repeat. Many people think Denver is in the mountains, but it’s not. It is on the plains, about 15 miles from the start of the Rocky Mountain foothills. People also seem to think it’s snowy and cold all winter here in the Denver area. That is also not true, but we try to keep that a secret. It snows, but then it melts quickly and we’re back to mild weather and dry roads within a few days. We might have a severe cold snap where it stays below freezing for a week maybe once or twice each winter. It’s just as likely to be in the 60’s for a week in January. Most of us here love it. We also have thunderstorms many afternoons in the summer which cool things off. The weather here is great, but don’t tell anybody!
Well, maybe I’ll take a stab at this writing prompt:
I think a misconception about PA is that people think I am the only one who doesn’t care one iota about professional sports. ;)
I’ve been here for only 9 years, but I’d like to call myself a North Carolinian; may I? And as far as I can tell, the biggest misconception about North Carolina is that it’s very segregated. At least the Triangle area of North Carolina is the most integrated place I’ve ever lived. And, no, that is certainly not a result of the Northerners who have moved here.
That everyone in New York lives in New York City.
YEAH OK: I once visited your state of Denial and found it lacking.
Nobody mention Maryland yet…..So neither will I
I thought she should be driving…
She’s a backseat driver.
Rather than my state, how about my city – Las Vegas. Lots of folks don’t realize that we’re more than just the “Strip” and Downtown. Yeah, we have lots of hotel rooms (about a third as many hotel rooms as the nation of Canada), but at one point we also had more churches per capita than any other large American city.
About 2 million or so people live here (we’re the largest city on earth founded in the 20th century), and we aren’t all card dealers and showgirls (if only). That being said, about 30 percent of the workforce does work in leisure and hospitality, and the rest of us wouldn’t be here if not for them.
If you do visit, take a trip off the “Strip” and check the city out.
Yeah. There’s a reason that I chose to write about my adopted state and not the state where I grew up.
And as for my actual birthplace, Washington DC, I think we all know more about it than anyone should have to know.
Just moved to NC about 5 months ago, so I still think I’m on double-secret probation.
Home state is Vermont. Here’s what you don’t know, or hear: The rest of the state of Vermont, outside of Burlington and Montpelier (the capital), Vermonters who work for a living hate Bernie Sanders. A lot. It’s not all hippies and hairstyles in Cal’s Green Mountains.
What a delight to have a chance to brag on my adopted home town of Flagstaff, Arizona!
I have lived in Flagstaff since 1992. When I moved here from the Phoenix area, I was told that I wouldn’t make as much money, but that I would live longer and be happier. All three are true.
In Flagstaff, our daily high temperature is about always within a few degrees of the Phoenix low temperature.
Flagstaff has all four seasons. While we average 100 inches of snow each year, the daytime temperature in the dead of winter will invariably exceed 35º, meaning that snow is off of the road by Noon, and the roads are dry by the end of the day. The high temperature in Flagstaff in recorded history is 97º; we have never hit 100º.
Flagstaff is the County Seat for Coconino County, which is as larger as New Jersey and Connecticut combined. Coconino County has a population of 140,000, half of whom live in the Flagstaff city limits, and another quarter who live on the Navajo Indian Reservation. The rest of Coconino County is amazingly empty and beautiful.
One last point. As an attorney, I wear only bolo ties when I go to Court, and have not worn a cloth tie in years. I have not buttoned the top button of my shirts in years, nor have I worn a white shirt for years. And I have never gotten any static for it.
Anyone that will hook and chase a trout down a stream is to be reckoned with.
The gulf of Mexico shore in Florida has some of the beaches in the U.S. The best beach sin the U.S. list has been going on for about 40 years. Once you win it you can’t compete again. I think there are at lest 6 or 7 beaches in Florida on the gulf coast that have one the best beach distinctions. Everyone goes to Daytona Beach, or Cocoa Beach, especially Cocoa Beach sucks, trust me I grew up around there. All the sand is pump in because of the beach erosion from the port.
My personal favorite beaches are the one off Jacksonville party because many of them are so far away from parking lots, so it it a hike to get to them.
The one biggest misconception Tourist seem to have is that it does not get cold in Florida. I don’t know how many silly tourist I have seen at parks in shorts freezing their buts off in mid 50 degree weather. Let put it this way the first time I was out west I was shocked I was conformable in the Grand Canon in sandals, jeans, a tee-shirt, and light jacket at freezing temperatures. That is how I dress when the weather is in the upper 50s in Florida. High humanity will make 50’s a lot cooler than a lot people are used to.
Trust me camping in the Ocala National Forest
national forest and it getting into the teens that is freaking cold. I might be a Florida boy but even fathers from the northeast were complaining how cold it is waking up to low 20’s weather in Central Florida.“The best beach sin the U.S. list ”
I’d like to see the best beach sin list!
South Carolina — the biggest misconception is that we’re all racists (this apparently applies to all southern states). Liberals seem to be unaware of the population changes brought about by the invention of air conditioning. And how much time has passed since the Jim Crow laws were in effect. Anyone who was old enough to participate in their enforcement back then would be well into their 90’s by now.
It is not dark all the time in Alaska… only half the time. For the other half, it’s light all the time. Hibernation is real.
-E
Tennesseans know WHAT shoes are, we just don’t see the point unless required.
Awww you guys are like our kid brother that went and grew up bigger than us. lol We are so proud!
People seem to think that Memphis is part of Tennessee. We gave it to Arkansas years ago……
People show up in Reno and ask where are the bordellos? After I show them, they realize there’s more to this place than just casinos.
Then I show’em Lake Tahoe where the Ricochet Tahoe Meetup, Sept. 11-14.
Be there.
That all in Wisconsin are Packer fans. It isn’t eaay being a Bears fan up here but you never get bored of the lastest Jake Cutler joke the “puke and mustard” come up with each day
Misconception: Everybody in Alabama roots for the University of same. (We’re talking football here, of course. It’s the state religion.)
Truth: A significant (and intelligent and good-looking) minority reviles the Crimson Tide. We’re just as crazy, of course, but we bleed orange and blue for Auburn University. War Eagle!
I’ve worked several different projects in Memphis over the years. I keep telling the folks I’m working with that Memphis is the biggest city in Mississippi.
Dustoff
“Nothing you hear about California is true. But in all deference to DAN MATHEWSON, everything here is like relative. So I mean you know, like whose to say really?”
#1 baby sent this from San Francisco last month.
Inland California is poor, except for the Sacramento Suburbs, but interesting, and outside of the Central Valley, quite scenic. I’d like to chop off the Bay Area and the Redwood Coast, but I’d want to keep the Inland North with So Cal.
Also, the immediate coast of So Cal is not that warm.