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Skiing is actually a 2 hour drive from Charlotte, though the caliber of skiing options in the southeastern US is not on par with the northeast, let alone the rocky mountain states. You'd go to Beech or Sugar Mtn to practice for the real ski trip out west.
Swimming was probably a poor choice to pit 3 landlocked states against a coastal state on though. It's a 3 hour drive to the beach from Charlotte. How many days does it take you to drive to the pacific from Utah or New Mexico? And even then, the beaches in SoCal are very cold. Whereas the southeastern US beaches are practically bathwater in the summer, and they're swimmable for much longer.
Different places have different types of beauty. I do think that the mountains, deserts, and canyons of UT, AZ, and NM are fantastic and put them in a different tier than NC, though I think there are areas in NC that are every bit as beautiful as what you can find in these western states. There's less diversity, but there's still enough to spend a lifetime exploring.
im talking in one hour. you can't do that anywhere besides cali, arizona, new mexico. these are definitely up there for most diverse state
im talking in one hour. you can't do that anywhere besides cali, arizona, new mexico. these are definitely up there for most diverse state
Where are you talking about going swimming in Arizona and New Mexico? A lake or river? Most of Arizona isn't an hour from skiing unless we're talking somewhere like Flagstaff.
I mean in Portland I can go swimming in a river or lake in the summer and still go skiing in an hour away(Timberline Lodge stays open almost year round) and play golf right in town. You can do the same in a lot of western states if you get a long ski season and good snowpack and early warm weather by the spring or early summer and are close to the mountains. But as far as swimming in the ocean? You're sort of limited even in California, unless you're just talking about surfing in a wetsuit along anywhere on the West Coast or swimming for short times at the hottest times of the year in California.
im talking in one hour. you can't do that anywhere besides cali, arizona, new mexico. these are definitely up there for most diverse state
That's a ridiculous cutoff. 3 hours should be the cutoff for a day trip, I think. If you can do a day trip to go skiing, then there you go. To illustrate how silly your argument is... It's slightly more than an hour drive to skiing from Denver, Colorado. I guess they just don't have good skiing there. Oh well. Those extra ten minutes to get to loveland are just intolerable.
Remember that this is about diversity, not necessarily raw geographic beauty. I think the intermountain west is very beautiful and there are plenty things in states like AZ and NM that I'm pretty jealous of. That does not make them more diverse than a coastal state that also happens to have mountains.
-I think the west coast (Cali, Oregon, Washington) clearly beats the rest of the country.
-I would probably put Utah next due to the large lake and the arched terrain and vast variety of canyons and novel features.
-NM, CO, WY, the centerpiece states of the rockies would be next, and I think the most diverse east coast states, NC and NY, would be about on par with these. Alaska would also be in this group.
-Then AZ, ID, MT... with the next tier of east coast states alongside them VA, ME, NH. Texas would probably be in that group as well. Hawaii too.
-Then the other appalachian states plus south dakota
-Then the great lake states, florida, and the ozark states.
-Then any remaining non-mountain coastal states.
-Then the really empty stuff like Kansas, Iowa, ND etc.
Where are you talking about going swimming in Arizona and New Mexico? A lake or river? Most of Arizona isn't an hour from skiing unless we're talking somewhere like Flagstaff.
I mean in Portland I can go swimming in a river or lake in the summer and still go skiing in an hour away(Timberline Lodge stays open almost year round) and play golf right in town. You can do the same in a lot of western states if you get a long ski season and good snowpack and early warm weather by the spring or early summer and are close to the mountains. But as far as swimming in the ocean? You're sort of limited even in California, unless you're just talking about surfing in a wetsuit along anywhere on the West Coast or swimming for short times at the hottest times of the year in California.
That's a ridiculous cutoff. 3 hours should be the cutoff for a day trip, I think. If you can do a day trip to go skiing, then there you go. To illustrate how silly your argument is... It's slightly more than an hour drive to skiing from Denver, Colorado. I guess they just don't have good skiing there. Oh well. Those extra ten minutes to get to loveland are just intolerable.
Remember that this is about diversity, not necessarily raw geographic beauty. I think the intermountain west is very beautiful and there are plenty things in states like AZ and NM that I'm pretty jealous of. That does not make them more diverse than a coastal state that also happens to have mountains.
-I think the west coast (Cali, Oregon, Washington) clearly beats the rest of the country.
-I would probably put Utah next due to the large lake and the arched terrain and vast variety of canyons and novel features.
-NM, CO, WY, the centerpiece states of the rockies would be next, and I think the most diverse east coast states, NC and NY, would be about on par with these. Alaska would also be in this group.
-Then AZ, ID, MT... with the next tier of east coast states alongside them VA, ME, NH. Texas would probably be in that group as well. Hawaii too.
-Then the other appalachian states plus south dakota
-Then the great lake states, florida, and the ozark states.
-Then any remaining non-mountain coastal states.
-Then the really empty stuff like Kansas, Iowa, ND etc.
thats not a ridiculous cutoff. in one hour you go from mexico to canada essentially. thats diverse geography.
California
Maryland
Virginia
North Carolina
Texas
New Mexico
Georgia
Michigan
Pennsylvania
New York
How can you talk about diversity and only include 1 western state?!?!
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And even then, the beaches in SoCal are very cold. Whereas the southeastern US beaches are practically bathwater in the summer, and they're swimmable for much longer.
