Most interesting state in the USA?

[Rothiemurchus]

Which state in the USA is the most interesting one to live in, in terms of having things to do and see?

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

New Jersey. From here you can see New York, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.

 

[brewnog]

Canada. Definitely.

It's amazing how you don't even have to leave the country to witness scenery like that.

 

[franznietzsche]

New Jersey. From here you can see New York, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.

There's nothing interesting in New Jersey except the fact that all the places around you look so much better.

Of all the places I've lived and worked, Northern New Mexico was one of my favorites. And of course, I do love being a beach bum in california.

 

[trajan22]

It really depends on what you want to do and see. But overall I would say California has most everything.

 

[Anttech]

Canada. Definitely.

It's amazing how you don't even have to leave the country to witness scenery like that.

Sarcastic bastard, but I love it hehe

 

[Pythagorean]

Alaska, naturally

 

[Moonbear]

New Jersey. From here you can see New York, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.

Yeah, but you still have to live in NJ! I'd vote for Eastern PA, because you can still do all that from there, but without having to touch NJ. (Actually, there are some pretty places to live in NJ, but with the rate the population seems to keep growing and spreading, I'm not sure how long that will last.)

 

[Manchot]

Missouri. Of course, I've only lived in Missouri and Illinois.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

What a relief to see that two people got my joke as I was afraid no one would.

 

[chroot]

I'd have to say California, as well. The state's so large it pretty much has every conceivable geographical feature (beaches, forests, deserts, mountain ranges, volcanoes, etc.). It also has pretty much every kind of lifestyle and commerce, too: agriculture, big city life, small towns, you name it.

I spent seven days last summer traveling 600 miles by bicycle, from San Francisco to Los Angeles, and I'm just amazed by the variety of California. And that six hundred miles didn't even cover half the state!

I'd say California is clearly more interesting than most other states, but it has the unfair advantages of tremendous area and tremendous extent in latitude. If there were another state that stretched all the way from Montana to Arizona, it'd be pretty damn interesting, too.

- Warren

 

[Integral]

There is no answer to the question. It is completely dependent upon the tastes of the individual. For someone who likes Opera, large museums and fancy department stores Jersey is a good place due to its proximity to cities, To this person Alaska is hell on earth. In my travels I have found each of the states has something different and unique to offer. (I haven't visited the state to the north but guess it must have SOME redeeming value, it is pretty big after all). I like the Pacific Northwest, mild climate, the mountains, the coast and a city all about the same distance from my home.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Gotta go with Integral on this one. I was raised in Ca and I spent most of my life wanting to leave. On the other hand, my relatives in Ca think we moved to Mars.

 

[Moonbear]

There is no answer to the question. It is completely dependent upon the tastes of the individual. For someone who likes Opera, large museums and fancy department stores Jersey is a good place due to its proximity to cities, To this person Alaska is hell on earth. In my travels I have found each of the states has something different and unique to offer. (I haven't visited the state to the north but guess it must have SOME redeeming value, it is pretty big after all). I like the Pacific Northwest, mild climate, the mountains, the coast and a city all about the same distance from my home.

Yeah, but that's the fun of a thread like this. We get to learn what each person sees as beautiful about states they've visited or lived in, and maybe we'll see something to appreciate that we never appreciated before.

 

[Chi Meson]

For me, it's Oregon, but don't tell anyone.

 

[turbo]

I have traveled quite a bit, and I'm always happy to come back to Maine. There are no big cities, but who needs 'em? We are at the northern end of the Appalachians and have wonderful hiking for all levels of fitness and skills. We have brooks, streams and rivers with the last truly wild brook trout populations in the northeast. If you like whitewater, we have rivers like the Dead, the Kennebec, and the Penobscot (and many smaller rivers) that will challenge you. We have a beautiful coast (though many of the tiny scenic coastal towns of my youth are being overrun with rich transplants who drive up the property values and the taxes, forcing natives to retreat inland). The northern half of the state is quite wild, and access to most of it is almost exclusively by logging roads, by foot, or by river travel (the St. John waterway and the Allagash are fantastic if you can invest a week or so to paddle them). Our clubs and bars are small and there is a wealth of world-class live entertainment to be had without blowing your budget. Since Maine is geographically at the NE corner of the US, lots of national tours of big groups start here in the colleges and municipal auditoriums. I attended the first concerts of the inaugural tours of the Mahavishu Orchestra, the New Riders of the Purple Sage, and the Blue Oyster Cult. In addition, established groups like Jethro Tull, Alice Cooper, the Dead, and many others have kicked off tours here with new material.

Perhaps the best feature is the character of the people. About 25 years ago, my wife and I went to New Hampshire to attend a wedding, and we stopped at a really pricey leather shop there on the way home. My wife picked out a nice pair of deerskin gloves and a purse and took them to the counter. I hauled out my checkbook and wrote some pretty big numbers (at the time) on that little piece of paper and handed it to the owner. I started to reach for my wallet for an ID, and she said "don't bother - you're from Maine". I was flabbergasted. Shop-owners in coastal Maine didn't have that level of trust in other Mainers, yet this lady in coastal NH had no qualms about taking our check with no ID. As a parallel, when I was in college, I had a young lady I was interested in back home, and I had a summer job waiting there in the veneer mill. My uncle from West Hartford told me to come spend the summer with them and I could work either at Colt or Pratt & Whitney. I asked how I could get a job at either of them on such short notice and he said "You're from Maine - they'll hire you on the spot." He said that if you are from Maine and especially of French-Canadian lineage, they assume that you are honest and a hard worker. I could have made 3x the money in CT that I made in ME that summer, but that lady was awfully sweet.

Conversely, I have friends who moved here from Brockton MA, because of their experiences with Mainiacs. They came up here summers with their Harley and we rode together. One day when my wife and I had to work, they took a jaunt through some pretty rural areas and ran into a thunderstorm. Bob parked his bike under a tree by the road and they were going to ride out the storm there, when an older couple sitting on their porch across the road hollered "You come up here and get out from under that tree!". They joined the couple on their porch and watched the storm move through, sipping iced tea and eating cookies. When I met up with them after work, Bob was still in shock. He said that back in Mass, if people in black leathers riding a Harley stopped across the road, the couple would have sat there doing nothing or gone inside without a word. Of course, we bikers run the biggest charity event in Maine every year, drawing tens of thousands of riders to donate toys, money, clothing, etc to the Salvation Army in concert with the Marines "Toys for Tots" program. We bikers are the tail shaking the dog in this state's TfT program, and people line the roads along our travel routes for hundreds of miles waving and holding up big signs thanking us.

Have I gushed about Maine enough yet? In order to prevent a mass exodus into the state, I should mention that our taxation rate is horrible - even worse than the black flies that seem to last all summer long and eat you alive. Also, there's all those damned tourists all summer long, making the southern/coastal zones uninhabitable from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

 

[Ki Man]

California, of course, because that's the way we roll

 

[denverdoc]

For what fate I owe but thank just the same, as I have spent roughly the same span of time in California, Nevada, Utah, and Colorado. I like the latter, but each has its virtues, I miss the ocean most of all, but love the visual perspective nearby mtns provide. While in Atlanta and Georgia I had no bearing--always gettinglost. If spatially challenged, reside in a place with BIG landmarks. Besides so beautiful, This w/e I went thru a canyon with big heights, tight switchbacks, lots of upheaval, and many minerals abound. Fantastic!

 

[BobG]

The three places I like most are West Virginia, Colorado, and Alaska.

The Alleghenies in Southeastern Ohio, Western Pennsylvania, and West Virginia region are fantastic. That area gets the nod over Colorado just because they have more spectacular autumns. That's an incredible area to spend a weekend in the fall.

Alaska is the most spectacular. The summers are incredible, especially the areas around Mt McKinley and around Seward. The glaciers near Jeaneau are supposed to be pretty incredible, too, but I never got a chance to get down to Jeaneau. The drawback is the long 23 hour nights in the winter. I took to taking long lunches and working late just so I could see the Sun a little bit. Who cares about working late when it's dark all the time. The mosquitoes are pretty bad in the summer, but tolerable as long as you never stand still for more than 2 seconds.

Colorado gets the nod over Alaska because the weather's a lot milder. There's only a 2 or 3 weeks a year when the temperatures get down to the single digits and there's always warm breaks during the winter as well. Still, there's enough variation that you actually do have all four seasons. The fall isn't as spectacular as the Northeastern US, but we at least have the aspens in the fall. There's some advantage to being closer to civilization. A lot of the 'remote' back trails aren't really all that remote. If you get in trouble, someone else will probably come along that same day - within a few days on the more remote trails. There's a couple trails that I'd definitely want someone to know where I was headed, just in case, but it's a lot more forgiving environment than Alaska.

Edit: One thing Colorado has is those endearing Spring snows. Spring snows are the best - seriously. Those Spring snows rarely turn into a Spring blizzard more than once per year.