Louisiana has a name for the first stretch of cool fall weather. When it arrives, families know just what to do. Here’s what Louisiana families do the week gumbo weather arrives. 1. Season’s First Pot The season’s first gumbo goes on the stove the moment that cool spell finally holds for longer than a day…
Read an Oregon road sign out loud, and someone may politely correct you. These are the Oregon town names locals pronounce nothing like they’re spelled. 1. Yachats Yachats sits on the central Oregon coast, and its spelling gives no hint of how the name sounds. Read it out loud the way you’d read any other…
Some New York diners still look a lot like the ones from the 1990s. But a few things you used to count on are gone. These are the New York diner traditions that have disappeared since the 1990s. Ashtrays on Every Table Diner counters used to keep an ashtray close at hand, by the register…
Summer visitors see Maine at its best. Winter shows what living there really takes, from the early dark to the chores that come with the cold. Here’s what you’ll only understand about Maine after a winter there. 1. Sunset Before 4 p.m. Down East By mid-December, a winter afternoon Down East is over before many…
Colorado’s first big snowstorm of the season doesn’t wait for anyone to be ready. Locals have a routine for it, and it starts early. These are the things Coloradans do when the season’s first big snowstorm hits. Note: This is general information, not legal advice. Traction and chain law requirements are subject to change, so…
San Francisco has lived through a Gold Rush boom and the 1906 fire. Through all of it, a few businesses kept their doors open. These are the San Francisco businesses still open after more than a century. 1. Boudin Bakery Boudin Bakery has baked sourdough in San Francisco since 1849, and local reporting has called…
New Hampshirites can pay a lot of attention to their bills without saying a word about them. Plenty of things go unspoken, and everyone still knows what’s meant. Here are the things locals rarely say out loud but everyone understands. 1. Flatlander Whisper Natives have a word for anyone who wasn’t born there, and they…
Fall is here, and Vermont’s cold weather is on its way. Your cat can’t tell you when something feels off, but small changes can show it. These are the signs your cat needs a vet visit before winter hits. 1. Sudden Weight Drop A cat that feels thinner than it did over the summer carries…
Walk into a Nebraska church potluck, and the casserole table is where the opinions are. The dish may look the same from pan to pan, but cooks disagree on how it should be made. These are the casserole traditions that divide Nebraska church potlucks. 1. The Canned-Soup Camp A potluck casserole almost always starts with…
Some recipes don’t change, even when everything else in your kitchen does. Here are the family recipes Ohio households still make exactly like 1985. 1. Buckeye Candy The buckeye candy recipe started in a single Columbus kitchen, not a factory. Gail Tabor was dunking her mother’s peanut butter balls into melted chocolate in 1964 when…
