It happens. I would spend summers as a teen in Swansboro, NC and I loved to hear those sweet North Carolina girl's accent. It is the only Southern accent I like. Once back in Iowa, my family gave me a few months to get my speech back to normal. It's the heat I think that gets you.
Which state is most Midwestern?
- Thread starter qwerty
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It happens. I would spend summers as a teen in Swansboro, NC and I loved to hear those sweet North Carolina girl's accent. It is the only Southern accent I like. Once back in Iowa, my family gave me a few months to get my speech back to normal. It's the heat I think that gets you.
I vote Iowa. I live in Minnesota and it's absolutely gorgeous north of the Twin Cities.
I still love the old joke: Cut off the 10 miles of southern Iowa and give it to Missouri.... and it will raise the IQ of both states.
I still love the old joke: Cut off the 10 miles of southern Iowa and give it to Missouri.... and it will raise the IQ of both states.
I'm surprised there are so many Minnesotans on here that want to be labeled Midwest. Minnesota has so much natural beauty north of the twin cities and is nothing like you would describe as a Midwestern landscape, and they definitely have a vibe that is all their own. Demanding a label of conformity is not something I would have guessed out of them.
Minnesota has at least two Different parts to their state. The southern part which is mostly an Ag/farming based sector and the the northern part which is more a lake/natural resource (not to mention the iron mining area) portion.
I agree, and the northern part is what makes them unique and identifiable. We as Iowans can see the differences between north central, southwest, northeast Iowa etc. But non-Iowans driving through think it all looks the same and is pretty much what you would expect when you Google midwest. I don't think you are going to find too many pictures or stories of the Leech Lake area when you do the same google search.
If you are making a political reference with that statement then you aren't the definition of Iowa nice. Iowa nice is still alive and well. All depends on your definition I guess but a vast majority of Iowans have a kind heart. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else in this country. I witness it all the time at work where we have out of town visitors in town for business meetings that have never been to Iowa before and are just amazed with the experience they have on their visit. It's usually "everyone I've interacted with here is so nice, I don'tget that other places I travel to."
We've seen it so many times over the years when we've had things like floods and tornadoes hit. Complete strangers go out of their way to help people they have never met and they don't care who they are or what their views are they are just there to help a fellow Iowan in a time of need. Lot of hard working and kind hearted people in this state that have done some amazing things for complete strangers and continue to do so.
WI is certainly not MN but I'm always a little amused if people in Iowa ask me if I ever go to the Dells like WI ends there (and the Dells are largely a **** hole) when there's both Great Lake regions, regionally based North Woods, and the driftless area for starters.
Born in Iowa. Lived there 43 years. Been in Minnesota for 10 now. I'd agree Minnesota is less Midwestern than Iowa, Nebraska, Illinios, etc. Hockey (and other winter sports) really aren't a midwestern thing in my book. Are there any curling clubs in Iowa?
A few. And West Des Moines is hosting the USA Curling National Championships next year.
It's a mix of IA, NE, MN,WI,IL,MO, IN, KS and even a little bit of SD. That region would exclude some parts of most states but cover all of Iowa.
Also, what is with the Dairy Queen thing? I get it was founded in the Midwest but I guess I don't really think if it as unique to the Midwest. There are a ton of them across the US and the globe. I guess it's not something I think of as uniquely midwestern.
Iowans ******* love the Dells meanwhile I'm like give me Driftless all day. And some DC. Which, props to Illinois, they also go to DC.
I’m surprised so many people think Kansas is Midwest. They were too much a part of the Wild West.
Like many of the states it doesn't fall neatly along state borders. For the plains states where the 'west' begins kind of tracks with where the rainfall map did, where there's a sharp divide where rainfall falls off (it has been moving east though). This puts places like Sioux Falls, Omaha, and Kansas City in the midwest even if the western parts of their states wouldnt feel very midwest.
But with these states, that also ends up being where most of the population is.
I live in Minnesota and can tell you that you need to move the decimal point several places on your mosquito number.
Where I had the most defined feeling of leaving the midwest (prairie) and entering the plains is crossing the Missouri in South Dakota on I-90. You go down into the river valley in prairie and climb out of the valley in the plains.
From an Illinoisan, DC is my happy place for places I can drive to relatively quickly. Specifically the Green Bay side from Fish Creek to Ellison Bay. (Currently stalking the Peninsula Park camping site trying to snag a cancelled campsite for July 4th weekend...)
It's really not a bad drive, especially after doing 20 to Ames so many times. Good luck getting a spot! Sometimes people post them in the Wisconsin State Park FB group if you're in there.
We go later in summer to the Lake side. Trying to convince spouse we need a little cottage there or over by Viroqua but he says no.
