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What state is the coolest?

Which state is the coolest?


  • Total voters
    54
I am actually a bit biased about Arkansas, being I am originally from there and all, I would be willing to admit that its probably not the coolest state. It is one of the prettiest though.

That said, in all seriousness, I actually am surprised no one has mentioned Minnesota. Ok, yes, the winters there are long and cold, and yes, they do all sound like the movie Fargo up there, but it is probably the prettiest state I have ever been to, Minneapolis is a beautiful and very cosmopolitan city, the state has some of the best fishing and hunting on earth, the Boundary Waters is one of the largest federal wilderness areas outside of Alaska, there are millions of acres of public land there, the North Woods is very pretty, lakes everywhere, and the North Shore of Lake Superior is easily one of the most strikingly beautiful places on earth. I like going to Northern Minnesota for summer vacations even better than Colorado (and everyone I know that has been up there says the same thing):

Split Rock Lighthouse:
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Cascade River:
243833943_KY4fa-L.jpg


Lake Superior:

Palisade2718ns.jpg


Minneapolis:
400_minneapolis1.jpg


Boundary Waters:
boundary-waters-77098-sw.jpg
 
Montana

beautiful landscapes, wildlife, cool people (not necessarily in that order)
 
CALIFORNIA!





It isn't even close. California is a nation unto itself.

CA has the best economy.
- Ranked 6th out of all NATIONS in the world

CA has the most amazing and diverse landscape in the nation
- Death Valley
- Yosemite
- The Sierra Nevadas
- The Mojave and Colorado Deserts
- The BEACHES!
- The Wine Regions (Napa and Sonoma)
- The Old Growth Redwood Forests
- Volcanoes
- The Best Microbreweries
- Surfing
- Mountains
- Mountain Bikiing / Skiing / Snowboarding
- San Francisco
- Organic and Amazing Food that created California Cuisine (Spago / John Ash / French Laundry / Etc )
- Hollywood
- Sequoia National Park
- Mt Whitney
- Kings Canyon
- Mt Shasta
- Mammoth
- Lake Tahoe
- Bodie Ghost Town
- Joshua Tree
- Monterrey Bay
- Big Sur
- I could go on and on...
Indeed. Also the best weed. You know, if that were your thing.
 
Montana

beautiful landscapes, wildlife, cool people (not necessarily in that order)

Montana is pretty god damned gorgeous. If I could have found work there, I'd be living there.
 
Mountain_Goat.jpg


98.jpg


I really, really enjoyed Montana.
 
I was thinking about this today, and it's a tough call for me.

  • California has, far and away, the best year-round weather of any state in the country.
  • Utah has the best economy.
  • North Carolina has the friendliest people (in my experience)
  • New York has the coolest city, with Texas/California/NC close behind
  • DC has the most "urban" beauty, with New York and Illinois close behind
  • Alaska has the most natural beauty, with Colorado a distant second
  • Washington, Tennessee, and Louisiana have the best music scenes
  • Texas and California have the most diversity among cities in close proximity to each other
  • Alabama and South Carolina have the hottest chicks
  • Massachusetts has the smartest people and best universities
  • Ohio and Michigan have the lowest cost of living
  • Wisconsin and Texas have the best bargains in housing (IMO)
  • Louisiana has the most, err, creative system of government
  • Florida has the best vacation spots
  • Vermont and New Hampshire have the lowest crime rates
  • Hawaii doesn't have to put up with any **** from neighboring states
  • Colorado has the best selection of outdoor activities, with Washington and Oregon close behind


Overall...
I'd have to rank the coolest states as such: 1) California, 2) North Carolina, 3) Texas

It depends on what your priorities are on "coolest."

Priority one for me is the lowest taxes and the least amount of government.

Jason Sorens founded Free State Project Home [ Free State Project - Liberty in Our Lifetime ] to recruit people to select the state with the lowest taxes and the most freedom. In the end, they chose New Hampshire.

In 1992, Liberty magazine also rated NH as having the lowest overall taxes. However, it does have stiff local property taxes--too stiff for many people. It also has bitter winters and is fairly densly populated.

Other states ranked well by Liberty were Nevada, Wyoming, Alaska, and Alabama. Five states -- NH, NV, WY, AK, and FL have no state income taxes. Unfortunately, FL has a lot of other taxes and numerous regulations and fees that disqualify it as anything close to a free state; the other four states are excellent contenders.

At the other extreme, MA, one of the highest taxed states (It's nickname is "Taxachucetts") -- not once, but TWICE -- had an opportunity to repeal its income tax. But both times, the people revealed their stupidity by voting to keep it. Who wants to live with big government lovers like that?

I have been told that AZ was a strong libertarian state until about 2000. Then government started expanding there. However, it is still one of the better states.

The western states in general are fairly free. CA is the one notable exception. In fact, for many years, it has remained at or very close to the top in high taxes and big government abuses.


Other important factors are population density (the lower the better) and climate (in general, the warmer the better). AK, WY, NV, MT, ND, SD, ID, and UT rank tops in low population density. HI, FL, AZ, southern CA, southern NV, and southern TX rank tops in warm climate.

Unfortunately no state ranks high in all three -- freedom, low population density, and climate.
 
I love Washington. It's beautiful here. Not too crowded. Many isolated spots to escape to. You can't hardly drive a mile without seeing a new lake. Lots of forest. I've only ever lived in PA and CA but WA has both beat by far.

Was gonna say... Washington's not on the list, this thread FAILS!!!

Beautiful state. Evergreen ftw.

Mt. Rainier - Myrtle Falls
MORA_MtRainierMyrleFalls.jpg


Seattle - The Space Needle
washington-state-main.jpg


Eastern Washington - Palouse Falls
Palouse%20Trip%20April%202005%20032.jpg



See it's kick ass. We've got Evergreen :lol: forests, huge mountains, big cities, desert, crystal clear lakes, oceanside areas with nice sand and rock beaches, canyons, etc etc etc etc.

We've got it all, including ALL fricken weather.
 
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****, I selected "California", because I didn't see "Illinois" :doh

Anyways California lands a solid second in my opinion.
 
We also have Austin which is the coolest and weirdest city in these United States. Its the Live Music Capital of the World. 1069 lives in Austin need I say more. Ok, I will say more. Austin has one of the coolest music scenes on the planet. Stubs BBQ, Antone's is the place where Stevie Ray Vaughn was discovered, not to mention all the other great acts that have performed there and call Texas home.

: : : WWW.ANTONES.NET : Austin, TX : : :
Austin Texas, Why Is Austin Weird?
keep austin weird

Ive met a lot of people from Austin all over the world, they are the nicest people, but also extraordinarily weird.. What is the phenomenon with people from Austin.?
People from Austin has has a bigger impact on me than people from any other US city, and its not even a big city..

Also I believe just out of the blue that Austin has a lot of successful people for such a small city.

Mysterious town.
 
I've been to most of the continental US states. Best one I like is Idaho. No other state like it imo.
 
I still say Alaska is the coolest state in the union.
 
Montana is pretty, but it gets old if you've lived here all of your life. Plus, it's pretty devoid of any kind of interesting culture (at least what I would consider interesting). I can definitely see the appeal for others, though.
 
I dunno, probably Washington or Oregon or something.
Maybe I'm just stuck in the '90s, but I always heard Seattle and Portland were really cool.
I always think of those as being cool states.
 
I dunno, probably Washington or Oregon or something.
Maybe I'm just stuck in the '90s, but I always heard Seattle and Portland were really cool.
I always think of those as being cool states.

Seattle is pretty neat.

Not a whole lot to see in Porkland Oregon unless you're a fan of the other, other white meat. :lol:
 
I've been to most of the continental US states. Best one I like is Idaho. No other state like it imo.

Idaho is nice. A little too back-woods feeling for me though.

My buddy is from there and we took a trip to Wallace... The town reminded me of Silent Hill.
 
Ive met a lot of people from Austin all over the world, they are the nicest people, but also extraordinarily weird.. What is the phenomenon with people from Austin.?

The weirdness is mostly cultivated; the town motto is "Keep Austin Weird".
Beyond that, Austin was hippie mecca back in the 60s and 70s; a lot of people here are probably either burnt-out hippies or the offspring of burnt-out hippies, who were exposed to god-knows-what in utero.

Lately, though, I don't meet too many native Austinites. Simply by staying put, I've become a rarity: a mid-30s Austinite who was actually born here.
The metro-area population has more than doubled during my lifetime. There are a lot of people who have moved here from other places, and it's changed the tone quite a bit.
South Central Austin is still very "pure Austin"- and rather snobby about it; North Austin might be any large southern industrial tract. It's quite generic.
And a lot of people live in satellite or bedroom communities outside the city limits but commute in for work; there wasn't much of that going on 20 or 30 years ago.

I think Austin- like everyone and everything- is a legend in its own mind and glamorizes the bygone "glory days"- whether that be the 60s, the 70s, or even the 80s, when we had such a good punk scene here.
But nobody ever recognizes the "glory days" as such when they're actually living in them.
In the end, it's just like any other city; maybe a little pricey-er than most. You get a job, get an apartment, and maybe when you're around 30 you get married, buy a house, move out to the 'burbs and commute in.
A lot of the purported "weirdness" is just a ploy to sell overpriced teeshirts to tourists who come to see the bats.
Or maybe a ploy to get out-of-state students to come pay outrageously high tuition to attend UT.
This is, at the heart of it, in many ways still just an oversized university town.
 
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I think New Hampshire is the coolest. I love all those Indian trading posts and the lakes are wonderful. Franconia Notch is magical. Echo Lake, The Flume, The Basin

....The Old Man of the Mountain. :(

They really need to hire Disney to come rebuild the old guy.

Old_Man_Of_The_Mountain.jpg
 
The weirdness is mostly cultivated; the town motto is "Keep Austin Weird".
Beyond that, Austin was hippie mecca back in the 60s and 70s; a lot of people here are probably either burnt-out hippies or the offspring of burnt-out hippies, who were exposed to god-knows-what in utero.

Lately, though, I don't meet too many native Austinites. Simply by staying put, I've become a rarity: a mid-30s Austinite who was actually born here.
The metro-area population has more than doubled during my lifetime. There are a lot of people who have moved here from other places, and it's changed the tone quite a bit.
South Central Austin is still very "pure Austin"- and rather snobby about it; North Austin might be any large southern industrial tract. It's quite generic.
And a lot of people live in satellite or bedroom communities outside the city limits but commute in for work; there wasn't much of that going on 20 or 30 years ago.

I think Austin- like everyone and everything- is a legend in its own mind and glamorizes the bygone "glory days"- whether that be the 60s, the 70s, or even the 80s, when we had such a good punk scene here.
But nobody ever recognizes the "glory days" as such when they're actually living in them.
In the end, it's just like any other city; maybe a little pricey-er than most. You get a job, get an apartment, and maybe when you're around 30 you get married, buy a house, move out to the 'burbs and commute in.
A lot of the purported "weirdness" is just a ploy to sell overpriced teeshirts to tourists who come to see the bats.
Or maybe a ploy to get out-of-state students to come pay outrageously high tuition to attend UT.
This is, at the heart of it, in many ways still just an oversized university town.

Another theory about the natives is that they moved away from Austin to all across the world, more so than Americans in general.
The people I have met from Austin have in general been very smart people, but still weird.
 
Well, Texas of course. We have just about everything you could ever want here. Provided you don't mind driving for it, of course.
 
I've been to most of the continental US states. Best one I like is Idaho. No other state like it imo.

Only been to Florida and Georgia.

I definetely preferred Florida of the two. Actually Florida is probably one of the coolest states, definetely the hottest.
 
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