Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Not sure why it would need to be more diverse....most of the state is not grass land and semi arid plains. WA dosen't even belong in the top 5. You people misunderstand the whole meaning of this thread. It is basically asking which state holds the most cultures. WA does not have a sizeable Black population or Mexican population. It does boast a large Asian population, but that's it. Your thinking only of landscape, but its more than just that. TX has a mini Spain (San Antonio). A little bit of New Orleans (Galveston), Mexico (South Texas), West,TX is known for it's Czech descents and has cool little stores and a themed Czech hotel, you've got small historic towns which offer different types of atmospheres and activities,etc.
You just won't get these things in WA.
where does it say "cultures" in the OP?
"My vote would have to be for NY. You have NYC which feels like a different planet from places upstate. You have NYC, Adirondacks, rust belt cities, farms, LI suburbs that feel like there from the '50s, sandy LI beaches, the Hamptons, the Hudson Valley, and Staten Island which feels like no other place I've ever been to."
where does it mention mexicans, asians, blacks in that description?
I think after reading these posts I would have to change my vote for number 1 to CA. I think NY has the most "variety density" but I think CA is number 1.
Anybody have an opinion on what states offer the least variety?
I see there is a NY to TX rivalry here...i think you all should consider the size...to make it fair lets say the whole northeast vs tx cause everthing in the Northeast is just as convenient. include CA in this competition aswell, since it is very large itself....soo the Northeast vs TX vs CA...idk...im going to get a lot of **** for this huh??..it just seems a bit more fair.
Not sure why it would need to be more diverse....most of the state is not grass land and semi arid plains. WA dosen't even belong in the top 5. You people misunderstand the whole meaning of this thread. It is basically asking which state holds the most cultures. WA does not have a sizeable Black population or Mexican population. It does boast a large Asian population, but that's it. Your thinking only of landscape, but its more than just that. TX has a mini Spain (San Antonio). A little bit of New Orleans (Galveston), Mexico (South Texas), West,TX is known for it's Czech descents and has cool little stores and a themed Czech hotel, you've got small historic towns which offer different types of atmospheres and activities,etc.
You just won't get these things in WA.
Have you traveled the state of Washington? I don't believe you are speaking factually.
I think climate might be the only thing California has on NY. I will say that the weather in the Downstate part of the state is more mild than the weather Upstate. On the flip side, we do get all 4 seasons, which, I'm not sure California gets.
We do have a strong agricultural base too. Apples, Dairy, Onions, Pears, Potatoes, Cherries, Plums, Cabbage, Maple Syrup and Grapes are plentiful here in Upstate NY, among other things. As are cattle and livestock.
Geography is also another thing CA has over NY, you just cannot find the variety of terrain in NY that you can find in CA. NY has nothing comparable to the flat Central Valley, the deserts, the coastal Redwood Forests, the Sierra Nevada's to name a few places. Within an hour you can go from rolling treeless brown hills to lush, wet Redwood forests. There are places in CA that are very lush and forested and other places that are virtually barren, almost all of NY seems to be forested except for farms and cities. Even the coastline varies A LOT between Southern and Northern CA, basically you're talking the difference between what the Oregon coast looks like to what the coast of Baja CA looks like. But NY does seem a lot more diverse than I've thought and what most people give it credit for.
Location: Concrete jungle where dreams are made of.
8,900 posts, read 15,928,114 times
Reputation: 1819
In a way, NY has has just a tiny bit more of a variety than TX as far as its size. Of course TX would have lots of variety because it's a bigger state than NY. But for its size, NY has a lot.
Geography is also another thing CA has over NY, you just cannot find the variety of terrain in NY that you can find in CA. NY has nothing comparable to the flat Central Valley, the deserts, the coastal Redwood Forests, the Sierra Nevada's to name a few places. Within an hour you can go from rolling treeless brown hills to lush, wet Redwood forests. There are places in CA that are very lush and forested and other places that are virtually barren, almost all of NY seems to be forested except for farms and cities. Even the coastline varies A LOT between Southern and Northern CA, basically you're talking the difference between what the Oregon coast looks like to what the coast of Baja CA looks like. But NY does seem a lot more diverse than I've thought and what most people give it credit for.
I totally agree with you about California and I think for most people it is a given.
However while you are right NY is heavily forested the state is far from being barren. I think I read the state is 2/3 forested. But I also think the OP started this thread mentioning the suprisingly different areas of this smallish mid sized state.
For instance many people do not know that NY has more ski resorts than any other state. That there are hundres of lakes and ponds upstate mixed in with those mountains. That the state has many of the best trout fishing streams in America. Some of the reasons Canada has a $500 million tourist deficit with the state of NY!
Or that you can take a recreational boat from Chicago to NY or Toronto or Montreal (and all vice versa) by using the Great Lakes/Erie Canal/Lake Champlain/St Lawrence River routes.
Or finally that NY has over 35,600 farms and the state is #3 in dairy, #2 in apples, #2 Maple Syrup (behind Vermont) and #2 in wine (behind California).
Not to shappy for a state everyone thinks is filled with apartment buildings!
^ I heard upstate NY is one of the most beautiful places in the country in summer. I've seen pics and it looks pretty amazing with all the lush green forests, waterfalls, and lakes. I would like to visit one day, I really like how green the east coast is in summer.
Cali definately wins this one, and not just for it's size. Because in REALITY Los Angles County BY ITSELF is geogrphicaly diverse. Thats the only county that you can go to the Beach wearing a white short-sleeved tee shirt in about 70 degree weather and then go SNOW-SKIING in the San Gabriel mountains within an hour. You can do all that and NEVER leave the county. And I know some people are gonna say LA county is huge, but it's not that big. You can do that much variety of things with in an hour. In NY you can go to the beach but gotta drive upstate to do those other acivities. But there is not another place in the US where you can do those two completely different things within that much proximity of each other.
The problem is people on this thread have a hard time giving Texas credit for anything. You come on here and say Texas isn't diverse enough, which is very stupid on your part because Texas is praised for its diverse landscape. NY does not have more variety than Texas wether you believe it or not. You have beaches, but it's mostly too damn cold to be laying out on the beach. When you bring up beaches in Texas, people always only refer to Galveston, but forget about South Padre Island which is very nice. I could go from feeling like I'm in Louisiana swamps to a coastal city to Mexico to deserts to the west to the midwest and more all in one state. In NY, you got NYC and northern NY, it ends there.
In Texas you got South Texas, West Texas, East Texas, North Texas, and Hill country. Each offering a different feeling and atmosphere. West Texas equals your stereotypical Texan feel, East Texas gives you that deep southern feel with the tall trees and swamps, South Texas has that Mexico/ South America feel, Hill country makes you feel like your not even in Texas anymore with the colorful trees and rolling hills, and north Texas makes you feel like your in the midwest with the prairies and small rolling hills.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
. 
