The Microsoft Start page in the Window's Edge browser is a treasure trove of information tidbits. Some a bit dubious, like ranking the best frozen pizzas, or fast food fries.
Or, like the
All 50 states ranked from worst to best, according to a 45-year-old blogger who has been to each one multiple times you see screen capped above.
I did a good guess at which states would be in the Top 10 best. I've been to all of them, except Hawaii.
The state I am currently in did not rank nearly as well as the state I was born in, Oregon, or the state I was living in before moving to Texas, Washington.
24. Texas
Abbamonte wasn't charmed by any of Texas' major cities and especially disliked the traffic in Houston.
But he said he loves Big Bend National Park near the border with Mexico.
The Abbamonte blogger did not have a lot to say about Texas. Did he visit Hill Country? Visit in wildflower season? Visit Galveston and the rest of the Gulf Coast? San Antonio and its Riverwalk? Did not like any of the Texas major cities? Dallas has a lot going for it. I liked Dallas upon first meeting the town. Now, if Fort Worth was the only major Texas city the blogger visited, I would get the not being charmed comment.
And then we get to my old home state, which the Abbamonte blogger seems to have liked a lot.
8. WashingtonAbbamonte said Seattle is the "most beautiful city, surely in America and maybe anywhere." In the summer, he added, Mount Rainier can be visible from the city, which is "a stunner."
Besides Seattle, Abbamonte loves how Washington state reminds him of Canada. "You feel like you're in Canada, but you're in America," he said.
How often it rains is the only downside of the state, in Abbamonte's view.
Seattle is a beautiful city, but the most beautiful anywhere? And yes, it does rain a lot in Western Washington, but even in Western Washington there are areas which are in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains, hence way less rain. And all you have to do, to be rain-free, is drive over one of the Cascade Mountain passes to Eastern Washington and you are in a sort of desert environment, with a lot of orchards and vineyards.
The blogger liked California best. Also in the top ten where states like Utah, Arizona, Alaska, Colorado, Montana, Nevada.
And Oregon. The blogger like Oregon more than Washington.
I've long liked Oregon, but Washington has way more going for it.
The states share the Columbia Gorge.
Oregon has only one active volcano. Washington has five.
Oregon has only one national park. Washington has three.
Oregon has Portland. Washington has Seattle.
Washington has a much longer coastline, and a much less accessible Pacific coastline than Oregon's scenic coast.
Eastern Washington grows a large percentage of America's apples, cherries, apricots, peaches, grapes and stuff I'm likely not remembering. Eastern Oregon is not an agricultural wonderland like Eastern Washington. Likely due to no big rivers providing irrigation.
Washington has one of the world's largest ferry fleets, taking people across Puget Sound, or to the San Juan Islands. Oregon has no islands in need of a ferry. There is even a ferry in Eastern Washington, to ferry you across Lake Roosevelt, you know, the reservoir formed by Grand Coulee Dam. Oregon has zero dams of the Grand Coulee sort.
The blogger made mention of Canada. Washington shares a border with Canada. It used to be so easy to cross the border and spend the day in Vancouver, or elsewhere. I understand that, post 9/11, that is no longer the case, with cross border traffic not what it used to be. That needs to be fixed.
All this Washington and Oregon talk is making me homesick...
