Scientific Survey Determines Texas Has No Hip Towns

No, what you are looking at here is not one of Fort Worth's imaginary signature bridges crossing the Trinity River. Those Fort Worth bridges are being built in slow motion over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island. No real river is being crossed. Someday there may be a ditch under those bridges, though.

What you are looking at here is a bridge which was built over a real river, a real big wide river named Columbia. I am not sure, but I think this is the I-5 bridge connecting Vancouver with Portland, but it may be one of the other bridges. There are several.

All built over actual fast moving real river water, in less than four years.

A couple days ago Queen Diamond D of Tacoma commented on Facebook regarding her surprise that Tacoma had out hipped Seattle in some listing of America's hippest cities.

And then yesterday via the Seattle Times I was surprised to learn that Tacoma's fellow Washington town, Vancouver, was determined, via detailed scientific analysis, to be America's hippest city. The screen cap you see above came from the Seattle Times America’s hippest city is Vancouver, Washington? article.

Vancouver being America's hippest city had a lot of people thinking, huh?

Portland, on the Oregon side of the Columbia, has long been considered to be a trend setting hip type town. There is even a TV show sort of celebrating Portland's uniqueness, called Portlandia. Portland is on the list of 20 most hip towns, but it comes in at #12, Seattle is also on the list, in last place, at #20 most hip town.

I only remember Vancouver as a town one passes through on I-5, heading south to Oregon or California or elsewhere, or being the town one passes through when almost home from a long road trip.

I think the last time I was off I-5 in Vancouver was back in the 1990s. For reasons no longer accessible to my memory I had been talked into driving a relative back to Portland to rejoin her cult attending a strange pseudo school called Multnomah Bible College.

On the way home from that bizarre weekend in Portland (which included attending services at a Rock n' Roll church, which was actually pretty cool, as in the preacher played electric guitar with the singing rockers in the choir) we stopped in Vancouver to have ourselves all you can eat fish, chips, chowders and cole slaw at a Skippers restaurant.

Skippers was a real hip seafood joint before it went out of business.

Shockingly no Texas town shows up on the list of America's Top 20 Hippest Towns. Not even Fort Worth, which bills itself as "Junky Town", I mean "Funky Town". How can a town which is proud of being funky not be hip?

Anyway, the surprising list of America's Top 20 Hippest Towns...

1. Vancouver, Washington
2. Salt Lake City
3. Cincinnati
4. Boise, Idaho
5. Richmond, Virginia
6. Tacoma
7. Spokane
8. Atlanta
9. Grand Rapids, Michigan
10. Rochester, New York
11. Orlando, Florida
12. Portland
13. Knoxville, Tennessee
14. Tucson, Arizona
15. Santa Rosa, California
16. Huntsville, Alabama
17. Tampa, Florida
18. Reno, Nevada
19. Albuquerque, New Mexico
20. Seattle

Salt Lake City is #2? Well, Mormons are rather hip. San Francisco isn't on this list? The town which made hippies famous? Reno? Has Reno had a resurgence from the hard times which came upon the town with the collapse of it being a casino mecca? Boise? Spokane?

Apparently, at four, Vancouver, Tacoma, Spokane and Seattle, my old home state has more hip towns than any other state.

These type list are sort of silly, but also sort of amusing. And possibly somewhat accurate.

It has long been obvious to me my old home state of Washington is hugely more hip than the state I currently find myself in, Texas, where all sorts of things freedom loving states allow are not allowed, like gambling in casinos, smoking marijuana, marrying anyone you like, no pockets of prohibition, being well educated, the list goes on and on....