In the midst of a brutal Summer heat wave that has melted candy and gingerbread houses in Bangor, an online poll has named Maine “The State Most Likely To Be Cold”.
Conducted by AAA (The American Automobile Association, not Angry Alocoholics Anonymous…I can only imagine the confusion when the member of one group accidentally calls the toll free line number of the other!), the survey had over 250,000 participants, and Maine was the landslide winner in this category.
“We were surprised,” said a spokesperson from the Maine Tourism Board, who spoke to this Modern Philosopher under the condition of anonymity. “Alaska has won that one every year since the award’s inception. It’s not that we’re not excited about winning, but we would prefer that Maine be associated with a more tourism friendly honor.”
That made sense, so I asked my source at AAA how Maine fared in other areas of voting. “Maine didn’t finish in the top three of any other categories,” she told me after skimming through her records. “We did have a word association question for every state, though, and I could let you know what the top three answers were for Maine.”
That sounded perfect, so I told her I would love to hear the top three replies. “Please tell us the first word that comes to mind when you think of Maine,” she read the question aloud for me. “The number one answer was lobster, number two was lighthouses, and number three was a tie between white, frostbite, and blizzard.”
Whoa! White? I wondered if that was a racist answer, or just another comment about all the snow. Either way, I knew it would not please my source at the Maine Tourism Board (even if it was the truth!). I thanked the AAA lady and decided to not push my luck with any other questions.
It’s always interesting to find out what other people think about my home state. It had been my hope that writing this blog would help get out the word that Maine is a magical and wonderful place that people would be clamoring to visit.
Apparently, I’m not doing a good enough job of getting my message out there. Guess I’m just going to have to work harder.
What about you, Modern Philosophers? If you had to give Maine an award, which one would you choose? What word first comes to mind when you think of Maine? Could you please tell your friends Maine is a nice place?
The Return of the Modern Philosopher 
I believe Vermont will give Maine a “run for their money” on this award…
Nah, they’re all warm and fuzzy down there. 😉
🙂
‘Pennywise’ is the word that comes to mind for me when I think of Maine. A second word that comes to mind is Canadian. Isn’t Maine still a southern providence or something? Or did you guys secede from Canada?
and I think Alaska might have something to say about the whole ‘cold’ thing.
I think people didn’t vote for Alaska this year because of some sort of Sarah Palin hatred. That’s the rumor I’m hearing any way…
I actually think ‘frozen’ and ‘redneck’ when I think of Alaska now, particularly after watching all those shows on TLC.
Did you participate in AAA’s poll because I think those were in Alaska’s top 3. Eskimos and Igloos tied for #1…
No but I voted in our pool here. I settled on ‘inferno’ and ‘racism’ as the words for Arizona. They denied my first choices of ‘the surface of Mercury’ and ‘a place that makes Hell feel like Alaska.’
Ha!
I’m going to have to have Stephen King deal with you! Maine is not a part of Canada, although we have considered invading them and then forcing our prisoners of war to shovel our snow… 🙂
Lobster definitely comes to mind. Great blog! Keep it up. 🙂
If we put some Texas beef with Maine lobster, we cold share a really nice surf and turf dinner. 😀
Oh man, lobster and BBQ. Now I’m hungry.
Me, too! Thanks for sharing this post on Twitter. 🙂
No problemo 😀
I;m going yo have to send you a toga for that. 🙂
Maine is a beautiful state. Yeah, it might get cold in the winter, but they know how to plow the roads (are you listening, Ohio??) and they have plenty of trees to provide firewood for cozy fires in the winter.They have outdoor activities year round. Plus, (and this is a biggie) they actually know how to drive (are you listening, Massachusetts????? Oh yeah, there’s the seacoast, sailing, and LOBSTER.
Ohio rarely listens to much of anything.
It was a good place to live before the looney birds took over the state government.
😀
🙂
Nice rant. Love it!
I found Maine to be stunningly beautiful and friendly, I will be going back to visit it again! Although I don’t think it will be in the dead of winter, brrrr! (=
Good decision! And thanks for the kind words about my home. 😀
Your welcome, it’s a beautiful part of the country.
I like to think so. 🙂
Lol, you think?
🙂
Hockey!… followed by great food.
Hockey! Go Maine Black Bears! 😀
I won’t be able to vouch for a state, until I visit it. So, I’ll have to withhold an answer until I get to see it for myself. 🙂
Got it. Makes sense…
Maine is cold, but not the coldest state. Look at http://www.weather.com/travel/americas-5-coldest-cities?pageno=2 and you’ll see that Caribou, Maine ranks #5.
#4 is Jackson, Wyoming
#3 is Gunnison, Colorado
#2 is International Falls, Minnesota (where the average annual temperature is 37.8F
#1 is Barrow, Alaska, located at the topmost point of that state, with an average annual temp of 11.7 degrees. with 160 sub-zero days each year.
BRRRRRRR……..
Hey, I didn’t so the voting. Talk to the AAA members who did…
I’m an AAA member. Somehow I think polling members like me who pay too much for towing service aren’t the best people to decide where the craziest people in the US reside. 🙂
The questions weren’t about the craziest people in the US. I think you are confused about this poll.
If you want to know why I might be slightly confused, look at my latest blog entry.
Anyone who lives in Barrow is either crazy or extremely well paid. 🙂
🙂
Um….
fleece.
plaid.
moose.
So basically moose covered in plaid fleece comes to my mind immediately.
I have a Maine-iacal Stephen King themed post coming up this Wednesday all about our lovely state. Don’t miss it, Austin.
I promise I won’t. I follow your blog, so it will be right there in my reader, waiting for me.
Lobster, Bar Harbor, and Lobster in Bar Harbor.
Thanks for the like on my Doris Day post.
We have 5 kids that graduated from college. We attended each graduation and the graduation of 3 of their spouses. That’s a lot of Commencement Speeches. The best by far was from a Hollywood Screenwriter. He was articulate, funny, and got a huge round of applause when having likened the lives of the graduates to a play—warned them about moving back in with the folks in Act II.
Your trailers look great. I’ll watch for the films to debut.
Why don’t you buy the film rights to West with the Night by Beryl Markham and cast Emily Blunt as the lead. Ernest Hemingway said he was ashamed to call himself a writer after reading her “bloody wonderful book”.
Great blog. You’re an inspiration to me. I want to be a writer when I grow up.
Thanks for the kind words. I’ll check out that book you mentioned. Good luck when you grow up… 🙂