Pitting Minnesota against Montana: A match made in heaven?
What does Minnesota have that Montana doesn’t?
I had to ponder that question this week as I was led to an online story titled “15 reasons why my heart will always be in Minnesota.”
I spent the first 24 years of my life in my home state of Minnesota, and I’ve now lived in Montana for 35 years. When I looked at this list of reasons to love Minnesota, I have to honestly say that Montana has most of the same attributes that are in certain cases — dare I say — better than Minnesota’s.
No. 1 on the Minnesota list is beautiful lakes. Yes, there are 10,000 of them, but I think a good number of them are sloughs and nothing special except they’re big incubators for mosquitoes. Living in a place like the Flathead, which touts two of the best lakes in the state, leads me to believe Montana wins the beautiful lake contest.
No. 2 is fun people, and the article shows a bunch of goofy Minnesotans playing broomball in the snow. I’m going to give this one to Minnesota because gosh darn it, we are just so nice and upbeat. My favorite Minnesota saying: “It could always be worse.” We smile in the face of adversity and constantly search out new ways to have fun in the snow.
Minnesotans also hand out hotdishes (casseroles) to anyone who needs a good, square, albeit high-calorie meal. No. 3 on the Minnesota attribute list is hearty food, with a photo of an enormous pile of Tater Tots. The Gopher State wins this one.
Minnesota’s “amazing” brews and craft beer scene ranked No. 4, but Montana is on par in this category. Moose Drool and Wheatfish, need I say more?
Montana’s festivals and fairs are just as good as Minnesota’s, if not better in some cases. However, the Minnesota State Fair is in a category of its own, and ranks No. 6 on the list. It’s far better than any of Montana’s big fairs.
Other top reasons to love Minnesota are its clean cities, dark night skies, local businesses, gorgeous parks, abundant wildlife, fall colors, small towns, cold winters and unreal sunsets. Montana has all of these wonderful amenities, and in Big Sky Country they’re bigger and better.
Minnesota does, as a rule, have colder winters, so I’ll let them have that one. My heart is never in Minnesota in January, ever since I spent three hours on the airport tarmac in minus 24 degree weather waiting for the crew to thaw the water lines.
I noticed that lutefisk, lefse and Norwegian heritage in general did not make the Minnesota list. I could call foul on that one, but I’m just too nice.
Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com