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Inspired by a comment in another thread, I'm curious to see how this one shapes up. Neither State is really known for natural beauty, but all three have areas that could be seen as underrated: Driftless Area, Ozarks, Southern Indiana.
Landscapes that are not conventionally spectacular can be beautiful as the seasons change, which is definitely true for much of Iowa and Indiana. In the case of Oklahoma, the state has noticeable differences in the natural environment between the east and west sides of the state, and some very rugged terrain. I don't think the average location in the state where most people live is necessarily more scenic than in Indiana or Iowa, but Oklahoma does feature more variety within its borders.
Indiana, for sure. Iowa does not have anything comparable to the forests of southern Indiana and neither Iowa nor Oklahoma has Lake Michigan shoreline.
Indiana, for sure. Iowa does not have anything comparable to the forests of southern Indiana and neither Iowa nor Oklahoma has Lake Michigan shoreline.
To be fair, Indiana barely has a Lake Michigan shoreline.
Indiana, for sure. Iowa does not have anything comparable to the forests of southern Indiana and neither Iowa nor Oklahoma has Lake Michigan shoreline.
Oklahoma city has several big lakes within the city like Lake Hefner, Lake Overholser, Stanley Draper, Arcadia Lake, etc and the entire state has more shoreline than the east coast and gulf coast combined.
Mountains to the East and Mountains to the SW. Western OK and NW Ok is the plains part and there is an actual desert and Mesa's and salt plains in Western OK.
"With all of the man-made lakes, there is more shoreline in Oklahoma than the Gulf and Atlantic coasts combined, with over 55,000 miles of shoreline"
Oklahoma city has several big lakes within the city like Lake Hefner, Lake Overholser, Stanley Draper, Arcadia Lake, etc and the entire state has more shoreline than the east coast and gulf coast combined.
Mountains to the East and Mountains to the SW. Western OK and NW Ok is the plains part and there is an actual desert and Mesa's and salt plains in Western OK.
"With all of the man-made lakes, there is more shoreline in Oklahoma than the Gulf and Atlantic coasts combined, with over 55,000 miles of shoreline"
In my experience, reservoir "shoreline" is typically muddy and frequented primarily by dead fish, apart from small man-made beaches. Wave action on the Great Lakes occurs at an entirely different scale and the result is a shoreline more similar to an ocean than a river.
All of these states offer attractive prairies and some amount of woodland (although Iowa's forested land is much less than Indiana or Oklahoma.) To me personally, access to Indiana's small but interesting Lake Michigan shoreline outweighs Oklahoma's small mountains. 1900' max prominence (Sugar Loaf Mtn) doesn't move the dial for me. But, to each their own.
To be fair, Indiana barely has a Lake Michigan shoreline.
170.3 miles is barely? To put that into perspective, Maryland's southern border is 124 miles. It's northern border with bounded by Pennsylvania is 190 miles. Would that make Maryland barely a state? If course not!
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