For Texas I’m going to go with our frontage roads with u-turns. I don’t think this is really common in other states from what people have told me (correct me if I’m wrong).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_U-turn

43 comments

  1. * Jug Handle turns (rather than U-Turns).

    * Not being able to pump your own gas.

    * Paying to enter/use a public beach.

    * Black Bears roaming freely.

    * Shopping malls/Diners galore: i.e 7 shopping malls in a 25 sq. radius.

  2. Yellow license plate means you got busted as a drunk driver

    That’s all I can really think of that’s unique honestly haha

  7. We refer to water fountains as “bubblers,” something we share with Michigan, oddly enough. Also, a sandwich on a long roll is a “grinder.” Lastly, pizza with just sauce and no cheese is sold in strips, and they’re fantastic.

  8. State liquor stores doubling as highway rest stops. On I-93 there is a state liquor store that is so large it’s been labeled a must see tourist attraction which is quite something for a state that is known for its natural beauty and quaint towns.

  11. At restaurants you may be asked if “you want it smothered?” Which means “do you want green chile on top?”

    The answer is “yes.”

  12. People always comment on how flat Illinois or the Midwest is in general. I commute 35 miles to work with almost 0 change in gradient.

  13. Tomato pie. It’s like pizza but there is no cheese or toppings. Just sauce on top of bread and you eat it cold. I will never for the life of me understand why people eat this. Moved here (PA) 11 years ago and still don’t get it, like why not just eat pizza?

  14. So whenever I go to other states it takes me a while to get used to brown dirt. Do people visiting Oklahoma have the same problem?

  17. when I moved to Texas at age 16. I was a bit surprised they had their own state pledge they did right after the national one.

  18. Wet winters and dry summers. For much of the rest of the country, the pattern is reversed.

  19. Of all things Ohio does right, we have, arguably, the best rollercoaster park in the world

  21. California: honestly not sure, since our stuff tends to get exported so I guess actually knowing a few people with the valley girl/surfer bro accent unironically

    Arizona: The animals- javelina, roadrunners, jaguar and ocelot (not that anyone ever actually sees them, but we know they’re there), coati, weird birds, although we share some of them with New Mexico, the Big Bend area in Texas, and parts of California.

    Wyoming: Being used to not being able to leave town because the interstate is snowed in, constant 20+ mph wind, Taco John’s.

    South Dakota: the extremely vocal hatred towards Native Americans. My apologies South Dakotans, but your state didn’t treat me the best for the time I lived there. The black hills are an outdoors paradise though! Edit: oooh the east river west river divide is pretty unknown!

  22. Our political scale is very different here than in other parts of the red and blue

  23. The Hog Call.

    Wet/dry counties randomly interspersed with each other, with ones that you would expect to be wet being dry, and vice versa.

    A wide variety of terrain/scenery for a smallish state.

    A quiet(ish) college town of 65,000 that has approximately 1 roundabout for every 100 people. (Possible mild exaggeration there)

  25. Alligator skin wallets,, belts, etc. I went to Texas and they had stores selling them like they were the wackiest, zaniest thing they ever did see. Didn’t realize it was soooo insanely weird outside Louisiana. I’m sure there are southern states where it’s not weird, but Texas surprised me.

  27. Montana is known as a red state, cowboys and indians, rodeo, hunting, camping, hiking, and oddly enough the state has the largest consumption of White Claw Seltzers per capita.

  28. Once you get away from the interior, Michigan feels like a coastal state. Sea Gulls and all.

  29. We have those U-turn lanes in Las Cruces on Bataan Memorial road (yes, we have a road named after a death march).

  31. Several years ago, I was reading an article about weird regional foods at various MLB stadiums, and the entry for Turner Field was boiled peanuts. It blew my mind and continues to blow my mind because I just thought it was a universally known and beloved snack.

    If you’re ever traveling down a Georgia highway and spot [This beautiful sight](https://whatscookingamerica.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/BoiledPeanutStand5.jpg) on the side of the road, it’s going to be good.

  32. In West Tennessee, you need to watch out for speed traps.

    These bastard cops out here like to pull people over and set them up, usually with drugs.

    It’s like every week in the news this asshole K9 cop is featured with his drug bust he “discovered” after pulling a person over. It’s always a huge spread of all kinds of shit worth around at least $20,000. This stupid town is too small to even be moving drugs like that, it would be so obvious.

    Better yet, just avoid West Tennessee. This place sucks anyway. Just saying.

  35. > For Texas I’m going to go with our frontage roads with u-turns. I don’t think this is really common in other states from what people have told me (correct me if I’m wrong).

    Texas U-Turns are truly terrible. The sight lines are horrendous.

  36. Michigander here. In Detroit, we have frontage u-turns. Not seen in the rest of the state though.

    Keeping with driving, we have a Michigan Left: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_left](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_left)

    Aside from that, we call our soda POP.

    We refer to everything in the time it takes to get there, not the distance. (IE: Heading to Lansing? Oh yeah, that’s about 2 hours away)

  38. We don’t eat deep dish all the time , only when visitors come to town .

  39. Every city is a county-equivalent and part of its own jurisdiction. This basically means that cities arent part of a county.

  40. Texan compatriot, I see your Texan U-Turns (new to me!) and raise you our beloved New Jersey jughandle.

  41. The trees. When I moved to NH first and then Maine after growing up in the flat farmlands of Upstate NY, I could not stand how closed in everything felt with the trees everywhere. I would get headaches while driving because I was used to looking out in the distance and actually being able to let my eyes rest a ways out. Now theres always trees within a few feet of the road everywhere you look.

  42. Blue laws are virtually non-existent in Nevada.

    If a bar closes in the wee hours, it’s because they choose to, not because they have to

    Gas station convenience stores can sell wine, beer and hard liquor 24/7

    15 of 17 counties can have legal prostitution (not sure if all 15 have brothels, some are pretty remote

    Legal recreational weed and dispensaries are freely advertised on billboards

    It’s always a culture shock to me when I go to other states that have state run liquor stores, last calls, etc.

    I think it’s still illegal for new car dealers to be open on Sundays though.

  43. Definitely the weather. Every state says this and by no means are we the only state with crazy weather. In fact, there’s no one thing that Nebraska is the worst offender at, but I think there’s an argument to be made that it has one of the most extreme ranges in the US. If you are from Arizona, you have experienced hotter summers. If you’re from Florida, you’ve experienced more humid summers. If you’re from Minnesota, you’ve experienced colder winters. If you’re from Montana, you’ve definitely seen more snow than I ever have. If you’re from Oklahoma, you’ve probably seen more tornadoes.

    But odds are whatever state you’re from doesn’t see *all* of these things to nearly the furthest possible extremes every single year. It is not super weird to see a temperature swing of 80+ degrees here. -40 windchills are something you *will* experience in any given winter. 110+ degree heat indexes are something you *will* experience every summer, and even when there’s no rain, the pivots run all summer so you can bet the humidity will be nuts. You *will* experience a tornado warning at least every other year or so. You’ll experience a blizzard. Flooding? Yep. Droughts spanning multiple years? Yep. Fires? Quite possibly. The only time the wind doesn’t blow is when it’s hotter than hell – otherwise you can bet on a lot of 40+ mph gusts the rest of the year. My hometown had the world record largest diameter hailstone for years (I believe it still holds the circumference record). A couple years ago my house was hit by a tornado, a dust storm, and a blizzard in a 12 hour span.

    Again, probably everybody reading this will consider a couple of these things to be pretty normal. But to experience all of this shit year in, year out, I’m pretty confident there’s not a lot of other states that can relate.

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