North Dakota!

The USA's least-visited state -- sometimes misinterpreted as the coldest of the contiguous 48 (Maine is colder, for instance), and made fun of by a movie that takes place in next-door Minnesota (Fargo) -- is getting the last laugh on the rest of us, it appears. According to a New York Times article a few days ago, North Dakota is, more or less, taking a bypass around the recession. It enjoys a $1.2 million budget surplus, the nation's lowest unemployment rate and a recent rise in real-estate values. Good for them.

I've particularly been a fan of the state's punk-rock threats of renaming its state -- from 'North Dakota' to simply 'Dakota,' which pops up in its state legislature every couple years. Predictably South Dakota -- the more famous twin -- gets furious over the notion, but I can't help but wonder if more states should remain fluid with its nomenclature.

Some examples:

*New Jersey --> York. The only thing that could possibly make New Jersey cool is upsetting New York (the Boss certainly hasn't done it). Another option would be simply Manhattan. Clearly 'Jersey' isn't working.
*West Virginia --> Authentic Virginia. No one will know which came first after 80 years.
*Oklahoma Panhandle --> Actual Massachusetts
*Michigan's Upper Peninsula --> Better Wisconsin
*Drop the New. Why does every 'new' state (eg New Hampshire, New York, New Mexico) feel the need to qualify itself with an adjective? Think anyone will confuse New York with the old one anymore?

I should also note that Virginia and Georgia are the laziest state names in the US. Maybe we can do something about that.

In the innocent-and-free days of early 2001, Lonely Planet offered me two projects: island hopping in the Caribbean, or driving around the USA's Great Plains. And I immediately took the latter, the 24,000-mile drive still remains my favorite trip I've taken. I had a great week in North Dakota, stopping in Grand Forks for lame university-troupe comedy and a bowl of cream of wheat in its birthplace. I saw Sitting Bull's grave, the wonderful badlands of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, and went well out of my way to the clunky International Peace Garden that straddles Manitoba/Dakota lines -- it was built to show the world how peace can last, just before WWII broke out. My car was searched crossing back from an hour in Manitoba. The most intense border experience of my life.

I arrived in Fargo the day its brand new tourist information center -- fashioned from a giant grain elevator -- was launching a seasonal 'visit North Dakota!' campaign. The staff were down though, as that day FUJI film deemed Fargo as the 'least photogenic' city in the country. That's just mean. You'd think a film company would appreciate the trials and tribs of good photography, rather than taking an easy kick at a three-legged dog.

No more FUJI for me!