Which is the worst state in the United States of America

Um, my family lived in places that weren't "tourist trap". What places are these? Not everything about America is about enticing tourists. Rural life is nice to some people, no? It's not about abusing "authentic" looking communities to cater to tourists. I mean, let's just bomb Kansas already.

I don't use the word "quaint" either. I am neither an outsider nor a tourist.

I'm thinking of places like West Baden and Brown County. Places that very heavily cater to tourists and which are surrounded by poverty and rampant bigotry. Any small-ish towns I'm aware of that isn't a tourist trap have been slowly falling apart in recent years and are mostly just depressing. Rural life is fine if that's for you, but I'd argue that hardcore, livin' in the country rural life is pretty much the same no matter where you are, so I'm not harshin' on those people's buzzes.

Ugh. 'isn't' = 'aren't'. See what a Hoosier education gets you?

My parents visited Parke County, Indiana recently for a covered bridge festival and had a really good time. They took pictures of a place called Turkey Run State Park, which looked pretty damn cool.

Of course they are "depressing". "Depressing" and economically strapped but still quite pleasant, i.e. quiet, not congested and less polluted. Nature is not about mountains and stuff, there are other amenities like BIRDS, trees and flowers, but then again if you like birds and plants you must be some miserable retiree. I like being able to go some place without a lot of tourists and traffic and just get some R & R.

I like Ohio, but once you get off the interstates it's pure American Gothic.

u madd dogg

Is there anything good about North Dakota?

It isn't South Dakota?

also THEY TRIED TO LEGISLATE THAT PI = 3 <--- mind blown

p sure thats an urban legend

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/805/did-a-state-legislature-once-pass-a-law-saying-pi-equals-3

Fargo (the movie)? The source of Klosterman's shtick?

a really long time ago--i'm sure every state in the USA has done dumb shit like that--i mean it went to the "Committee on Temperance." LOL

haha yeah; I heard a talk on it in undergrad, by a wacky Hoosier mathematician, who explained that though the bill was couched in "Biblical" terms, the reality was that by legislating a value of Pi, the state could (evidently) charge a tax on anyone using this "official" value; and in particular that would let them charge farmers building silos (since you need to compute their circumferences).

but then again if you like birds and plants you must be some miserable retiree.

Yes, because this is exactly what I was saying.

I won't argue the fact that there are nice places in Indiana for a day's outing. Just try living there sometime, is all I'm sayin'.

Which he has apparently. You guys should take a daytrip together and hug it out.

We should. I ain't mad atcha, steel!

South Dakota - anyone cool from there has run screaming to the Twin Cities, they kill Planned Parenthood OB-Gyns, they let reservations become cesspits of despair. Carry on listing!

No, I never have tried "living there" and I don't know anyone who has! But I don't want to monopolize this thread with an argument about one state which no one I know has so much set foot in, let alone lived. Because that is exactly what I said upthread, that no one I am closely related to has EVER lived there for decades.

Fortunately for you, some of my "quaint" relatives died, so I don't have "proof". So remain convinced I know nothing of it, never knew any honest to god small town people there EVER.

OMG fuck all of you for voting for Delaware! I don't even like it but at least I spent most of my life there so I have a good reason not to like it. All you I-95 drivers and long-distance haters can stick it right in your ear.

us steel, wtf are you on about? You said: Uh....my family lives there and has lived there for, like, decades., but also No, I never have tried "living there" and I don't know anyone who has!??? fwiw, I lived in central Indiana - rural, suburban, and city areas - for 30 years. It's one of the most polluted states due to not caring about industrial or agricultural run off. It's reliant on the most heavily polluting soft coal power plants in the country. The mayor of Indianapolis is thinking about building a "chinatown", so "those people will have somewhere to go" (according to my mom, who still lives there). The "grand dragon" of the KKK lived in Martinsville when I was growing up. For all the pastoral loveliness you find there, it is underpinned by a high level of not-nice. The best thing I ever did for my children was moving away and never looking back. It is rotten at the core.

Jenny delivering a http://nodeli.files.wordpress.com/2007/04/delawarepunchpq7.jpg

Jaq OTM (aside from some of the particulars about pollution, which I don't know enough about to comment on). I lived in various parts of Indiana for 20+ years, so I kinda feel like I know what I'm talking about, just a little. And yes: getting out was the best thing I could've possibly done for myself.

I am thinking about votin' North Dakota, but I don't really know anything about it

I would like to hear a Dakotan sell the appeal of their state

I've driven across ND a couple of times now and have found absolutely nothing to like about it.

wind farmin

at least the DE Parkway isn't phenomenally ugly, like that infamous 10-15 mile stretch of the NJ Turnpike from Elizabeth to the GWB that everyone and their brother is convinced is the "real" New Jersey.

I"M FROM NEW JERSEY

O RLY WHAT EXIT

F U

i wub u

XD

I voted for Florida because I believe it is the Devil's Chamber.

flying a kite on a delaware beach, wondering how anyone can vote for this fine state

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/IMG_2105.jpg

Alabama. the people are stupid, there's a lot of dirt and rednecks, the music sucks, and the girls look like dudes. place makes me go limp instantly even if in mid-snogging upon crossing state lines

Florida does suck but it has nice areas. also hard to argue with a place i've lived 29 yrs, even if not all good ones

I can't think of a single good thing about Kansas. Nothing in terms of natural beauty, any cool places to visit, anything of note to ever come from Kansas. It's got to be the worst. I dunno maybe North Dakota is worse but I don't remember ND ever trying to teach Creationism in schools in the 21st century...

Also, Oklahoma is very terrible and I shall never forgive the Okies for the dust bowl.

never forget

love this song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qo4LZOfsD0

Viceroy, you're wrong about Kansas; cf. what I wrote about it here and I think on the "list 3 good things" thread. It's by no means the best state, but just plain and average. In a nation that includes the Rust Belt and the mid South, average is good enough.

Yeah, I've been to Lawrence and it's totes charming. Also, Wichita was better than expected.

Kansas possesses more of the cozy, bucolic beauty of the American plains than any other of the plain states imo

Not enough of this thread has been devoted to discussing the wretched Pennsylvania.

i dunno how anyone could willingly live in Hanover, PA ... yet my little sister does. one of the most dire towns i've ever visited in my life, it's Johnstown w/t the history or charm.

and Johnstown is pretty shit, too.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Yeah, a coworker and I have been talking about the industrial wastes of his Western PA childhood recently, including a ghost town that has been on fire underground for decades.

including a ghost town that has been on fire underground for decades.

That would be Centrailia

i've been there, that's eastern pa. though. is there another one?

or does all the rest of pa that's not philadelphia count as western?

this is easy, Wisconsin