I had a colleague from Ohio who flipped out when I suggested that it was in the Midwest.
Him "IT'S IN THE EASTERN TIME ZONE!"
He had a chip on his shoulder about Cleveland.
"I'm from The Heights."
I spent the first 2 decades of my life in PA, a stone's throw from NJ. Although soda starts getting called "pop" as you cross the Appalachians, the state is not in the Midwest. Too much of it, though, doesn't remember that it was part of the Union during the Civil War.
I grew up in Wisconsin, and I really can't believe you put Minnesota at #3 when it's got the North Shore and the Boundary Waters while Wisconsin has farm after farm after farm and, maybe, two scenic overlooks.
IL native with MI family who has lived everywhere on the list except WI and IA…PA isn’t Midwest, MN has the prettiest areas anywhere near population (not an expert on the UP and northern WI), prairie can absolutely be beautiful but OH and IN mostly don’t pull it off but S/SE OH is scenic
I lived in Michigan for 8 long years. Michigan thinks it is an Eastern state. People kept telling me it was beautiful there. I mean, I guess, if you never left the midwest.
