Alabama’s home football games are worth about $23 million apiece to Tuscaloosa’s economy, according to the University of Alabama’s research. On the season’s first Saturday, the whole state changes. These are the things that change around Alabama the weekend college football comes back. 1. Hotel Rooms Near Campus Book Solid Alabama’s season opener doesn’t need…
A typical home in Pennsylvania costs about $281,000. Cross into New York, and that same kind of house costs around $527,000, a gap of nearly a quarter million dollars. Housing is just where the differences start. Ask someone who’s called both states home, and many will give Pennsylvania their vote as the best place to…
Alabama doesn’t wait on a cold front to call it fall. It waits on a whistle. Football conferences, wildlife agencies, and county fair boards each pick their own date months in advance, and not one of them consults a meteorologist. These are the signs that fall has landed in Alabama that have nothing to do…
Think a jar in the back of your Georgia grandmother’s pantry has to be trash by now? Not necessarily. She might still be working through a jug of sorghum syrup from last year’s Blairsville Sorghum Festival. The syrup’s sugar content means it’d be hard-pressed to spoil. These are the things a Georgia grandmother’s kitchen holds…
Tennessee residents will defend just about anything tied to their state, whether the facts hold up or not. These are the things Tennesseans defend hardest about their state, even when they can’t fully explain why. 1. Jack Daniel’s Tennesseans wear Jack Daniel’s like a state symbol, stamped on koozies, murals, and welcome signs from Bristol…
Oklahoma can make a new resident feel financially lucky and completely unprepared in the same week. Their property tax bill brings relief, while their home insurance quote turns their stomach into knots. Such surprises are only the beginning of what newcomers discover after moving to Oklahoma. Note: This is general information, not financial, tax, insurance,…
A bodega register can turn down your card for a $2 coffee, and it’s completely legal. Wait, what? Federal rules let any New York City corner store set its own credit card minimum as high as $10, and many bodegas use every dollar of that room. These are the bodega rules that catch newcomers off…
Order a hot dog wrong at Chicago’s Wiener’s Circle, and the whole line will hear about it. Many out-of-staters don’t know the rules going in. These are the rules Illinoisans enforce on anyone who didn’t grow up ordering a hot dog this way. No Ketchup, Ever Chicago hot dog stands treat ketchup as a threat…
Think you know Ohio inside and out? Every history class says Ohio became a state in 1803, and Congress left a piece of paperwork on that unfinished for generations. These are the widely repeated “facts” about Ohio that turn out to be false. 1. First in Flight, Sort Of Ohio calls itself the “Birthplace of…
A family pulls in for their first Alabama-Auburn weekend, cooler packed, chairs unloaded, with no idea the campus they just parked on runs by a rulebook longer than the game program. One wrong move on the grass or at the gate, and their gear gets moved, or they get turned away outright. These are the…
