There are so many sayings out there that start with you know your from ________ when. Well through some research and asked some true North Dakotans, what they believed were the most true. Here comes the list.
You know your from North Dakota when...
1. The wind is faster than your truck.
2. You leave your keys in the car and the next morning it's still there.
3. You break down on the highway and somebody actually stops to help you.
4. You can see the stars at night.
5. People drive 200 miles to shop in a real mall.
6. The meat in your freezer is mostly deer.
7. A rodeo is more popular than a rock concert.
8. A yellow light means "Follow the car in front of you, no matter what."
9. You wave to someone on the highway because you recognize his/her truck.
10. Your definition of a small town is one that has only one bar.
11. You expect to be excused from school for deer hunting season and harvesting.
12. You lie awake thinking of uses for leafy spurge.
13. You have attended a formal affair in your best dress, wearing your best jewelry and your snowboots.
14. You know what's high by the 4th of July.
15. Your vacation means spending the week at the state fair showing livestock.
Yep, these are all so true. Even though most of these saying are pointed toward rural North Dakota there are many interesting things about our more populated areas of the state, here is a few facts about our state. These facts were taken from 50states.com.
- The town of Rugby is the geographical center of North America. A rock obelisk about 15 feet tall, flanked by poles flying the United States and Canadian flags marks the location.
- North Dakota passed a bill in 1987 making English the official state language.
- Geologically speaking Hillsboro is located in a large, flat, and ancient dried lake bottom surrounded by some of the most fertile farmland in the world.
- Milk is the official state beverage.
- Westhope located on U.S. Highway 83 is a Port-of-Entry into Canada. Each year more than 72,000 vehicles cross the border at this point.
- An attempt to drop the word North from the state name was defeated by the 1947 Legislative Assembly. Again in 1989 the Legislature rejected two resolutions intended to rename the state Dakota.
- When Dakota Territory was created in 1861 it was named for the Dakota Indian tribe. Dakota is a Sioux word meaning friends or allies.
- Dakota Gasification Company in Beulah is the nation's only synthetic natural gas producer.
- Bottineau is the southwestern gateway to the Turtle Mountains, Lake Metigoshe and the International Peace Garden.
- Petroglyphs carved into two granite boulders give Writing Rock State Historic Site near Grenora its name. Though their origins are obscure, the drawings probably represent the Thunderbird, a mythological figure sacred to Late Prehistoric Plains Indians. Outlines of the bird, showing its wings extended and surrounded by abstract designs, appear on both boulders.
- The Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba on the north, Minnesota on the east, South Dakota to the south, and Montana as its western neighbor border North Dakota.
- Max G. Taubert of Casselton built a 50 foot high pyramid of empty oil cans. It is believed to be the highest oil can structure in the world.
- Devils Lake is the largest natural body of water in North Dakota. Devils Lake derives its name from the Native American name Miniwaukan. Early explorers incorrectly translated the word to mean Bad Spirit. Bolstered by the many legends of drowned warriors and lake monsters the name evolved into Devils Lake. This very fertile prairie lake grows large numbers of the fish known as walleye, northern pike, and white bass. The lake has earned the reputation of being the Perch Capital of the World.
- This name Roughrider State originated in a state-supported tourism promotion of the 1960s and 70s. It refers to the First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry that Theodore Roosevelt organized to fight in the Spanish-American War.
- The Dakota Dinosaur Museum in Dickinson houses twelve full scale dinosaurs, thousands of rock, mineral and fossil specimens and a complete real Triceratops and Edmontosaurus.
Being a rural state has its advantages and disadvantages but many feel great about being from North Dakota, a place where many call home. I'm proud to call North Dakota my home.
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