I'm from _____________ and this is what is great about my _______________ .

[Uncle Jesse]

As you may know, I'm a native Mississippian and proud of it. Mississippi is a rural state with a lot of less desirable history associated with it. However, although it has one of the lowest per capita incomes, Mississippian contribute a higher percentage of their income year after year.

Some fun ads one of our citizens developed after encountering negative attitudes about the Magnolia State.
http://www.mississippibelieveit.com/ads/

[Big Bad Wulff]

I'm from Pennsylvania, no Upstate NY, no Maryland, no wait, Tennessee. Mainly born in Pittsburgh and grew up in Maryland and now have been in Tn for 19 years.
Pa: Steelers. Is there anything else? Lots of fun things to do there.
Upstate NY: Great outdoors area. Too cold. Summer too short. Can the Toll roads and the state employees already!!! Sheesh!
Md: "America in miniature". Ocean coastline to mountains. Outdoor haven.
Tn: Fishing, mountains, farm land. Some great people! Not the stereotyped place it's made out to be. Not by a long shot!

[Lotech]

I'm from Washington. The state. With the exception of Hawaii, Washington is the smallest state west of the Mississippi River, and the most populated per square mile. We have mountains, glaciers, alpine lakes, streams, rivers, plains & deserts. We have moose, elk, deer, alpine caribou, grizzly bears, black bears, eagles, pheasants, grouse, partridge, quail & doves. We have rattle snakes, coyotes, beavers, otters & pine martens. We also have Boeing, Microsoft, Kaiser Aluminum & Starbucks. We have some of the most fertile farm land in America that can raise wheat, barley, oats, peas, lentils, rape seed (Canola), and blue grass. We have world class ski resorts, back packing, mountaineering, camping, snow shoeing and cross country skiing. We have some of the best fishing in the world from salt water to lowland lakes and high mountain streams. We also have lots of the America's largest fresh water fish (white sturgeon). We have 4 seasons including cold and snowy winters, refreshing springs, hot summers & colorful autumns. And most of all, we have friendly people.

[FishnDave]

I'm from Central Iowa. Crossroads of the Midwest (I just made that up). There are no direct flights to anywhere from here (I just made that up too).

Flanked by the Muddy Missouri River on our West Coast, and the Mighty Mississippi River on our East Coast. Despite the expansive "coastlines", the only surfing most Iowans ever do is on the internet.
We don't have a lot of buck$, but we have plenty of whitetail bucks. No Wallstreet executives own vacation homes here (complete fabrication on my part, but quite likely absolutely true). If you've ever spent a vacation in Iowa, I guarantee you didn't admit it to your friends & coworkers.

Iowa has produced its share of famous people. You may have heard of Buffalo Bill Cody, Glenn Miller, John Wayne, Johnny Carson, Ashton Kutcher, Herbert Hoover, Bob Feller, Kurt Warner, and NC basketball player Harrison Barnes...to name a few.

America's best-kept secret.

[djo]

Where I have lived there are very nice and not so nice things about each:
Upstate NY – wonderful scenery with hills, farms, woods, and lakes but decaying rustbelt infrastructure. Most rivers were badly polluted back when I left in the 1970s but the EPA and loss of industries have caused huge improvements.

Connecticut – quaint. Tons of history that predates the founding of the country, small towns, village greens and town fairs. The cities were pretty badly bombed out in the 1980s.

Idaho – magnificent scenery, great rivers and some lakes, fantastic trout fishing. Terrible education system and lots of strange religious groups and self proclaimed neo-Nazis in the 1990s. As a group the people really love the outdoors and spend as much time as possible in the woods, rivers, and fields.

Iowa – nicest people in the world, great bicycling, low population densities, clean cities. There is more water than anywhere else I have lived. The land is owned nearly exclusively by big agriculture and the water ways largely serve as septic systems for agribusiness. Rivers are usually the color of chocolate milk with runoff from the farms and the lakes often smell funny and carry bacterial load that preclude swimming. For a rural state, people do not have much of an outdoor ethic – the summers are too hot and the winters too cold. Iowa in the 2000s is in transition to see if it is going to wash its rich soils down the rivers before it changes its short term agriculture vision.

Where to for the 2010s?
David (one of three at least from central Iowa that use this site)

[Fly Goddess]

I am FROM Idaho, but I have lived in Salt Lake City the majority of my life. And what is great about S.L. is a lake within an hour in any direction, rivers although the law has messed them up. Panorama Ville. We got, Mountains, deserts, forest and City...Plus BOTH states have Mormons....LOL (Which I am not...)

[CoachBob]

From Louisiana and the great thng is the food...and the redfishing...and the food...and the music...and the food... (My city, Lafayette, has more restaurants per capita than anywhere else in the nation. True story.)...and the incredibly friendly people...and the food...and the conservative values...and the food.

[appalachian angler]

From Connecticut originally. Put down roots in East Tennessee about 9 yrs ago near my wife's people. Have lived in CT, CA, IL, VA, SC, FLA, MI, GA, PA and now, TN. What I like best about TN is the ability to trout fish year-round and I have found some of the most sincerely friendly folks here compared to anywhere I have previously lived.

aa

[desertman]

I have some things in common with Fly Goddess, only backwards. I was born in Salt Lake City and raised in Idaho. Also not a mormon.
I live in the other Oregon (Eastern) where we have the least population per sq. mile, fresh air, Antelope, Deer, Elk, Mountain sheep, Beaver, Bear, Couger, and many other animals. More cows per sq. mile than people, and as my grandkids say "more stars (in the sky) than anywhere weve been".
No ocean or large rivers but plenty of small rivers and lakes to fish for trout, bass, blue gill, crappie, and carp.

[Grn Mt Man]

Originally from VT,where there used to be more cows than people and you could actually afford to live there. Next location was Washington, DC, where it was possible to walk any place in or around there at 2:00 am and you were safe. And, now the conditions there need no further explanation. Next, moved outside the DC Beltway to the outskirts of MD where a couple of nice farm ponds full of bass and crappies provided respite from still having to commute into DC for work. Then, on to northern VA; but, about 35 miles south of DC and things started to get better with many more fishing and hunting opportunities fairly close at hand. Finally, landing in southwest VA the last 36 years and back into anything you desired to do connected with the outdoors was readily available from your own backyard to within 50 miles or thereabouts. I still think one should be born "old" and the process is reversed!