Are you a rebel or Yanky? Quiz!!!!

[michickenwrangler]

Quote:
'Ey dude, youse need ta check out da REAL nort' country, eh?

Seriously, don't judge us by DC!! (or Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago ...)

Come see our forests and lakes, eat our homegrown Superior and Red Pontiac Potatoes, South-haven Peaches, Bing cherries, navy and northern white beans, all kinds of apples and pears, Traverse City grape and cherry and ice wines, eat fire-roasted venison and elk from our forests, grouse and wild turkey, planked wall-eye and fried perch, and best of all, REAL Michigan maple syrup.

Oh, and Vernors too. It doubles as a home remedy.

 

[Q9]

Quote:
'Ey dude, youse need ta check out da REAL nort' country, eh?

Seriously, don't judge us by DC!! (or Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago ...)

Come see our forests and lakes, eat our homegrown Superior and Red Pontiac Potatoes, South-haven Peaches, Bing cherries, navy and northern white beans, all kinds of apples and pears, Traverse City grape and cherry and ice wines, eat fire-roasted venison and elk from our forests, grouse and wild turkey, planked wall-eye and fried perch, and best of all, REAL Michigan maple syrup.

Oh, and Vernors too. It doubles as a home remedy.

Oh, I've got nothin' against the backwoods North. I'd probably love it, except that it's so freaking cold. What I hate is what is referred to as the "New England Megalopolis," the super-urbanized zone that scares the daylights out of me. I've also been in New York City for a little less than a day, and everything smelled like car exhaust. It was noisy, and I felt like I was in a giant, steel-and-concrete beehive. I probably need to see it for a longer time span, but the thought of it scares me.

Backwoods North = Good. Backwoods South = Great, or, if you prefer, SHOTGUNS!!!

 

[michickenwrangler]

The cold just keeps out the pythons, alligators, feral chimps and people who don't like flannel.

The beaches on the Great Lakes are just as good as or better than most ocean/gulf beaches AND you can drink the water.

The Northeast is culturally and linguistically different than the Upper Midwest. "The North" for me is Michigan westward to the Dakotas. New England, NY and that area is Northeast, not North. We pronounce our Mary, marry and merry the same. And we drink pop. We BAKE with soda and Coke is a TYPE of pop.

AND A BOSTON COOLER IS A DETROIT DESSERT!!

 

[JCoogle]

83% Dixie. Do you still use Confederate money?
Growing up here there ain't any other way.

 

[Q9]

Quote:
Feral chimps?

I don't think I want to know what you're talking about.

Pop is what some people call their dad, and Coke is our term for soft drink.

My sister, though, calls it "soda," and she's AFRAID of sounding "country!"

Horrifying, I know.

By the way, I personally love the alligators.

Ever visited the Audubon Swamp Garden? I have no idea why they call it a garden, it's a swamp with paths. Anyway, I was there once, and an alligator was sitting a few feet away from the path. I leaned down (at a safe distance) and started taunting it. It hissed at me.

One thing you'll never have in the North: Charleston. It is almost literally dripping with Southern charm and hospitality. Nothing smells like car exhaust, because the sea salt and amazing foods overwhelm the sense of smell. The forts are so cool, the carriage tours are amazing, and you can still feel the spirit of defiance there.

Our tour guide once said that the War didn't end, it was just a cease-fire. I instantly liked him when he said that!

 

[michickenwrangler]

We have something like that called Mackinac Island. Fort, horse and buggies, no exhaust (no cars!), hills, beautiful views, history (missionaries since 1640s), and FUDGE!!!

Oh, and Blue Moon ice cream too.

Well, we don't have feral chimps or gators, but we do have wolves

 

[Q9]

Quote:
Does it ooze charm and hospitality to the degree of Charleston? And seriously, what's this about feral chimps?!

There's just a feel in Charleston that you can't get anywhere else, except possibly Savannah. It radiates Old South and early American values and culture. Did I mention there's a noticeable spirit of defiance there? As one person put it, "Lee surrendered, we didn't!"

Little island sounds really nice, though. Where is it?

Wolves? Cool, very impressive animals. Here in NC the best we've got are coyotes.

They're so annoying that I wouldn't think twice about putting a bullet into one, especially since they've been getting more aggressive recently.

 

[michickenwrangler]

All those stories coming out of Florida about chimp sightings near Ocala and in the Everglades. I suppose I should mention all those pythons too

I don't know if Mackinac Island "radiates" hospitality, but I've always found the people friendly (thanks to all the German blood here in the north, we're a little more stand-offish, and that's just what we're used to). Location wise, it's in the "straits" area, near the Mackinac Bridge, where the Upper and Lower Peninsulas meet. Majority of the buildings are Victorian Era. Actually, if you've ever seen the movie "Somewhere in Time," you've seen it. It was filmed there. It stars Christoper Reeve.

I think in the Northwoods we have more of the Jack London/Frontier mentality than a large part of the country. We get the opening day of deer season as a state holiday! Seriously, people exchange gifts for it and we have deer hunting "carols" like "T'urdy Point Buck," "Second Week of Deer Camp" and Ted Nugent's "Fred Bear". We don't have the plantation culture in our past as most settlements were smaller homesteads and logging towns. A good number of towns in Michigan actually had more people in the 1920s during the lumber boom than we have now.

If you ever see any of the virigin stands of white pine here in Michigan (or WI or MN), it's amazing, like going back in time to a prehistoric era, almost cathedral like with huge trunks reaching up to the sky and the smell of pine needles in the sunlight.

Coyotes are a big problem here too. It's open season on them here. Wolves are fairly small numbers here (they change status from endangered to threatened every few years or so). We've got feral pigs now here too thanks to Lost Arrow Resort's game preserve where Siberian boars escaped from. DNR said they wouldn't survive a Michigan winter ... uh, they're from Siberia.

Oh, and the Civil War. The North won.

A Michigan cavalry unit led by Custer was the deciding factor in the Battle of Gettysburg. A small town I used to teach in has Custer's horse from that battle buried in the cemetary along with other Civil War veterans.

We're also big into hockey up here. My father went to the Detroit Red Wings/Carolina Hurricanes game down in NC and he couldn't believe how empty the stands were and there was not a single octopus to be bought!

 

[Damummis]

Quote:
Yeah!! That's right!!

 

[Ed62]

48% Dixie. Barely in Yankeedom. Go figure.

We had some very close friends from Tupelo, Mississippi. Maybe some of it rubbed off.

Ed