During our last big giveaway, we had a prize pack designated for international readers. It was a lot of fun to put that particular prize pack together and to be able to reward an international reader with some print books. (Shipping is normally cost-prohibitive when it comes to sending print books internationally.)
Working on that giveaway got me to thinking.
Where are our Inspy Romance readers?
So I decided to take a poll and find out.
Besides, polls are kind of fun.
U
se the poll box above to let me know where you live. Then, in the comments below, share something unique or special about your home country (or state).
And remember, every comment during the month of June enters the commenter into the Inspy Romance monthly drawing.
Heather Gray loves coffee, God, her family, and laughter – not necessarily in that order! She writes approachable characters who, through the highs and lows of life, find a way to love God, embrace each day, and laugh out loud right along with her. And, yeah, her books almost always have someone who's a coffee addict. Some things just can't be helped. Despite their different lives and situations, Heather’s characters have something in common. They're all flawed...but loved anyway.
Hi Heather, how fun:) I live in beautiful Australia. We have had the second of three State of Origin rugby games, and I am delighted that Origin II was won by the state I grew up in, making it a tie into the decider- go the Maroons (the team’s other nickname is the Cane Toads!). We have one more week of term until a two week break…I’m looking forward to that!
Looking forward to reading/seeing where others are from.
Blessings:)
I had research this so here’s an interesting fact about Virginia.
Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in the American Continent. It was also the first capital of Virginia. In 1699, Virginia’s capital was moved from Jamestown to Williamsburg. Richmond became Virginia’s state capital in 1779 and continues to serve as capital till date.
http://virginiafacts.facts.co/funvirginiafactsabout/virginiafacts.php#r1280HFFCqjfh1Sc.03
I live in Northern Utah, USA We have the Arches National Park in the southern part of the state and it is goooorgeous. Look it up! :D
Tennessee is so wide that there are three very different regions. That is why there are three stars in the center of the state flag.
I guess this is more about the city I live in, than about the state, but did you know that Kansas City, Missouri has more fountains than any city in the world except Rome?
I live in SW Michigan across the lake from Chicago, Illinois. Michigan is called the Mitten State and has the Upper and Lower Peninsula. The peninsulas are connected by the “Mighty Mac,” a five mile suspension bridge that was an engineering marvel of its time (1957). Every Labor Day vehicle traffic is stopped and weather permitting people walk across the bridge from Mackinaw City to St. Ignace (UP). Mackinac Island is car-free vacation destination, associated with its iconic 1887 Grand Hotel. Michigan borders 4 Great Lakes (Michigan, Huron, Superior, and Erie) with 3200 miles of shoreline and 120 lighthouses, plus 11,000 inland lakes. Michigan has an international border with Canada. Michigan as an agricultural state produces blueberries, cherries, peaches, grapes and apples (besides corn and soy). The Gerald Ford Museum (38th President) in Grand Rapids (furniture city) has an excellent 1970s exhibit, especially on the Fall of Saigon. At Greenfield Village and Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn visitors spend a day in the place where yesterday fells like right now. Michiganders are blessed with excellent universities (Michigan State & University of Michigan) – well known for their football teams. Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland (World’s Largest Christmas Store) in Michigan’s Little Bavaria Frankenmuth has a replica of the Oberndorf (Salzburg) Austrian Chapel, were “Silent Night” was first sung on Christmas Eve 1818. Lakes, beaches, dunes, forests makes Michigan a favorite Midwest destination spot.
So glad you could join us from the other side of the hemisphere! And what fun! I’ve never seen a rugby game live, but I’ve watched a few on TV. I’d love to see a game in person someday. :)
As a homeschool mom, I remember the year we studied the Jamestown settlement. The settlers barely survived the first winter because they had come with this idea that everyone would work together to accomplish the good of the colony, but not everybody contributed equally. Then John Smith made his famous declaration. (I can’t remember the exact wording, but it was basically – “If you don’t work, you don’t eat.”) And, in a way, American capitalism was born – and the colony thrived because everybody worked hard after that. (And we’ve now exhausted the total of my knowledge of Virginia history. ;) ) So glad you could stop by today!
I’ve driven through there! I lived in Arizona for several years, and we would drive through the southern part of Utah on our way up to visit my mom and brother in Wyoming. It’s a beautiful part of our country!
Oh wow! I’ve been to Tennessee, but I didn’t know that about the flag. And you’re right – it’s a VERY wide state! I’m pretty sure I’ve only been in the eastern part of the state – Knoxville & Chattanooga areas.
How fascinating! I wonder what led to so many fountains in the city? Was it a planned thing, or did somebody just one day say, “Oh wow. Look at all these fountains we have…” ^_^
Texas…the Lone Star state!
Wow! I have a friend from Michigan, and we’ve talked a lot about her state – she’s from the UP – but I wonder if she knows nearly as much about Michigan as you just shared. I have a feeling not… ;) It’s so interesting because things that she considers perfectly normal about her home state, I find fascinating – but because they’re things she grew up with, she doesn’t think of them as special or unique. Which is probably common for most people – and therefore one of the reason that we should meet new people who don’t know all the same things we know. They help us see our life – whether it’s our home state, our faith, or something else entirely – through new eyes. Thanks so much for sharing Renate!!
From Canada, where we may or may not say “eh” after every sentence.
I was born in California, and have lived here about 2/3 of my life :-) Right now I’m blessed to live close to the ocean and to redwoods! Recently we got to stop at Donner Lake and remember the Donner Party who tried to cross into California when the snow was as deep as the Donner Memorial is tall!
I’m in southwest Virginia and 20 minutes from Mountain Lake Hotel, where Dirty Dancing was filmed. It’s fun seeing where everyone is from and something about their state.
Canada is celebrating her 150th birthday this year!
I know the USA has its share of problems, but I don’t think I would want to live anywhere else. I live in beautiful South Carolina grew up in Michigan.
Thanks for the history lesson ?
Hey Heather. I live in Maryland – known as America in miniature. We have everything that the entire country has (rivers, lakes, ocean, bay, flatlands, rolling hills, mountains, small towns, big cities, caverns, waterfalls and trees, trees, trees) all in a very small package – the 42 biggest state. The only thing we don’t have are deserts, but we do have plenty of desserts!
Hi Heather,
I live in Beautiful Oregon where we have ALL 4 seasons. Even tho people think we mostly have rain. That’s not true.
Where I live I can be in the mountains or the at the beach in just about an hour. We have so much to see it truly is God’s country!
Speaking of which, I used to live in the Eastern most part of Oregon. Near Wallowa Lake. It really is beautiful. They call it and the mountains around it the USA Alps. Look it up. It’s simply amazing!
I live in Alabama. We have a great football team, beaches in the southern area and beautiful mountainous areas in the north.
From the great state of Mississippi
A few years ago we visited the Jamestown site. The archeological dig is still in progress, and it is fascinating.
I live in GA…..very southern! lol We have a few beaches and some mountains….hot humid summers!
I live in southern AZ where it is hot, hot, hot right now. People from this area often go to the mountains in northern AZ to get away from the heat. We have Mt. Lemmon close by where it is cooler at 9000 ft., but I’m not a fan of the road going up there.
I live in Lebanon, PA known as the home of Seltzer’s Lebanon
Bologna. On New Year’s Eve, the town lowers a hugh Lebanon
Bologna for the arrival at midnight of the New Year.
Anytime! I’m a veritable font of unnecessary information. ^_^
Oh wow! I didn’t know it was still in progress, but you’re right – that would be so fascinating to see!
I lived in Texas once upon a time! That was a lifetime ago, but we did happen to settle briefly in a beautiful part of eastern Texas. :)
Ha! One of my husband’s favorite TV shows is The Red Green Show. While I also enjoy Canadian television, my tastes go a bit more toward Flashpoint. And I’m not sure I’ve heard an “eh” in either of those shows. ^_^
I spent part of my childhood in Sparks, Nevada. My grandparents had a cabin at Donner Lake, and we would spend time there every summer. I learned to fish in the Little Truckee. And during the winter, we used to have to go up there in order to shovel the snow off my grandparents’ cabin’s roof so that the roof wouldn’t cave in from the weight of all that snow. I have pictures of me standing with my grandfather next to the back of his Bronco next to snow that was taller than the vehicle or him (and my grandfather was a giant in my little girl eyes). I don’t know if it still is – but Donner Lake and that entire surrounding area (despite its difficult history) used to be a beautiful place. I loved walking the trails and going fishing and just sitting out on the deck and watching the birds and squirrels while listening to the wind in the trees. I have fond memories of it.
My son just finished up his junior year in high school, so we’re on the “college tour” circuit right now. We visited Virginia Tech a month or two ago, and one of the people there gave us the whole talk about Dirty Dancing. That was the first I’d heard about it being filmed in Virginia, but he said the site there still looks a lot like it did in the movie. He encouraged all the parents to spend a weekend there while visiting their child at college. ^_^
Oh wow! Do you guys (I’m showing my ignorance here) celebrate some sort of Independence Day like we do in America? Or were you independent from the beginning? I know woefully little about our neighbors to the north…and what I do know is pretty much limited to Canadian TV shows. ^_^
I’ve never been to Michigan (that I recall), but I’ve been through South Carolina – and my son will be there for a week this summer for youth camp. He’s really looking forward to it. (But it might be a week away from Mom that has him excited rather than a week in South Carolina.) ;)
I’ve never heard that before – America in miniature – but it’s so fitting! I’ve not seen all of Maryland, but I’ve been into Baltimore a handful of times, and over to National Harbor, too. You guys really DO have a little bit of everything! (And having grown up in the desert, I can tell you – desserts are WAY better!) ^_^
Oregon is a GORGEOUS state! I’ve been there in the spring, and with everything green and the winter runoff turning virtually every bend in the road into a miniature waterfall – just gorgeous. I’ll have to look up the USA Alps, though – that’s not one I’ve heard before. Thank you for sharing! :)
Y’all DO have a great football team! I’ve been to Alabama before, but it was just to meet someone so we could carpool from there on to Louisiana – so I didn’t have time to enjoy much of the state. What I do remember is kind of a blur, too, because I went through so many states in a such a short period of time on that trip. But in my book, any state that has a beach is a beautiful state! :)
I’ve been through Mississippi before, but I didn’t have a chance to stay long. (I think we stopped for gas and that was about it.) What’s your favorite thing about living there?
And peaches! You have delicious peaches. ^_^ I’ve been through Georgia before, but always on my way to somewhere else. In fact, my first time into Georgia, I was going from Tennessee to Alabama, and I saw a sign that said “Welcome to Georgia” and before I even registered that I was in Georgia, I saw another sign that said, “Welcome to Alabama” – so I must have just barely traveled through a corner of the state on that trip. I did make a north/south trip through the state another time, but we didn’t get a chance to stop and so much.
I lived in Eloy, Arizona, and in Casa Grande, Arizona, for a while when I was in gradeschool and junior high – and I went to NAU my first two years of college. Small world!
Ha! I had to look it up online just so I could see what that looks like! So what I want to know is – Do they then slice it up and serve sandwiches after? ^_^
I live in central Kansas, where most farmers have just finished wheat harvest. Kansas is the “sunflower state” but also is one of the top wheat producing states.We have wide open spaces and breathtaking sunsets. I’ve lived other places (Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas, Germany) but this is home.
Fun to read this! I’m originally from south central Kansas, but live in South Carolina now. SC definitely is beautiful, but KS will always be home and for me, and the most beautiful place in the world.
I live in Wild Wonderful West Virginia!
One of the most beautiful states.
The people here are survivors and it hurts me to see all the bad publicity they receive!
They are amazing just like our state!
Thank you!
I live in Kentucky where Abraham Lincoln was born, the Kentucky Derby ? Takes place and the life sized Noah’s Ark is built (Ark Encounter). Tons of beautiful horse ? farms that I like to drive by as much as I can.
Washington, which is a lot like Oregon. Though I wouldn’t say the west side of the state has 4 seasons, the east side does. I think Washington is more known for Mt St Helens, Sasquatch and Seattle Space Needle and Pike Place Market.
I live in northern Utah in a beautiful valley surrounded by mountains. The northern part of our state is so different from the southern part. We have so many different types of scenery and 5 National Parks in our state.
I’m from a western suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Melbourne is a beautiful city with lots of public gardens and parks. It’s also the only city in the world where trams (we’re talking electric trams, not cable cars) are still used for public transport (and that isn’t about to stop any time soon). As a child I loved it when my Dad brought me into the city and taught me how to use the trams to get around.
I am originally from Georgia but I now live in the northeast corner of Alabama. (Actually, the TN through GA to AL route spoken of in an earlier reply is very near me and I travel it often) We are located near Cloudland Canyon State Park and Desoto State Park which both have beautiful scenery. Lots of mountains, creeks, waterfalls, and trees which are especially colorful in the fall. Also, I am located close enough to the Great Smoky Mountains to visit them often.
My son and I are visiting West Virginia later this year! We visited some friends there last year, and my son held the door open for someone as we were entering a gas station, and that person said, “Thank you.” My son came up to me afterward and said, “Did you hear that? A thank you, and I don’t think it was sarcastic.” (Which tells you a bit about where we live that he was so surprised by that fact.) ^_^ I agree – West Virginia gets a bad wrap. It’s a beautiful state, and everyone I’ve met as I’ve traveled through the state (a handful of times) has been kind and gracious.
I’ve only been through a tiny corner of Kentucky – not enough to have any opinion of the state at all. And how did I not know that’s where Abraham Lincoln was born? I need to brush up on my American history! The funny thing is – I don’t watch or follow horse racing at all, but I catch the Kentucky Derby pretty much every year. And how amazing – a life-sized Ark! Wow. Sounds like you have a lot of great attractions and wide-open beauty in Kentucky. (I picture horse farms on big stretches of flat land…is that actually the case?)
I have a brother who was born in Olympia. And crazily – despite the fact that I lived in Idaho for eight years – I never made it over to Washington. I lived in Nevada when Mt. St. Helens blew. I remember it being on the news, and I remember the warnings about ash clouds, but I don’t remember actually seeing the ash. We’ve talked about Mt. St. Helens, though, in every class I’ve ever taken on creation. So many things happened to the landscape in such an intensely short period of time that creation-scientists use it as a microcosm to talk about how certain changes don’t need to take millions and billions of years like popular science says. (I’m not remotely scientific – I probably remember that part only because I was already familiar with Mt. St. Helens.)
You’re so right! Utah has so many different regions with different scenery! I’ve been through the state several times, and as you travel from north to south (or vice versa), the range of what you see is crazy! In fact, I got my first (and only) speeding ticket in Utah. That was roughly a hundred years ago. ^_^
Fascinating! I’ve read a couple of books placed in Melbourne, but I don’t know that any of them mentioned the trams. Like you, I probably would have thought that traveling on them was the greatest treat in the world when I was a child. ^_^ Thank you so much for sharing!
Ha! How funny that we’ve traveled the same road! It sounds like you live in a lovely part of the country. Honestly, you had me at “creeks” and “waterfalls” – I love to be near the sound of water. If only I could figure out a way to pull that off without also having to be near the sound of mosquitoes… ^_^
Oh fun! I’m in Mississippi! I need to check out your area!
I would love to go there! And Heather, thanks for the fun question! I had to check these out!
Oh fun!
Love it!
I’m in Mississippi! I love Tennessee!
I have a nephew who just moved to Utah. I need to go back!
Renate! You have so much great information! I love it!
I did not know that, Becky!
Looking forward to going there in September! Did y’all know there’s a Christian reader and author conference in the Dallas area?
I’ve never heard of those shows. Need to check them out. Didn’t know about the eh, ha!
How cool! Another Mississippian!
Love Georgia! My family lives there :)
I’m in Maine, but was raised in Vermont. Maine and Vermont are both beautiful states and I’m blessed to live in Northern New England. We live about 45 minutes from the Atlantic Ocean and Acadia National Park.
I have lived my whole life in sunny Northern CA! My city–Lodi–is a wine location!!
Hey! I wished I’d known. We could have said hey. I work at VT. Great place! It is now Mountain Lake Lodge and they have zip lining and a bunch of other activities. It is beautiful up there! I can see the mountain from my house. In the winter time, it can be snowing up there and not at my house. I’ll ask my husband to take me up there to see the snow. He says no lol. A local author holds book signings there.
This quote from History of Kansas City Fountains explains why we have so many fountains: “It all started with Kansas City native Harold Rice and a trip to Rome. While sitting next to his wife and admiring the famous Trevi Fountain, he had the idea that started it all. What would happen if we brought this culture of fountains to Kansas City? Upon his return home, he wasted no time pursuing his dream. Harold founded the City of Fountains Association in 1973. While Kansas City already had quite a few fountains, this marked the first effort to grow and maintain our current fountains.”
I currently live in Delaware, which everyone knows was the first US state. Delaware is the only state without any National Park System units such as national parks, seashores, historic sites, battlefields, memorials, and monuments.
I live in small town in Florida. Chattahoochee has a mental hospital and everyone says that we lock up our crazies at night while you let yours roam free. Although, I know a few crazies that roam free! lol
How cool!!
I’ve been through Kansas before! I love, love, love wide open spaces and breathtaking sunsets! Sunsets (and sunrises) are one of the things I hardly ever get to see since moving to the east coast. There are so many trees everywhere (not to mention buildings) that the only time I actually get to lay eyes on the sun is when it’s directly overhead and scorching my eyeballs. ^_^ Your home state sounds gorgeous – and relaxing!! :)
I’ve never been to New England, but I’ve read many a book placed there. It sounds like such a lovely part of the country – and filled with character, too.
California is such a big state that it has vastly different geographies – from north to south AND from east to west. If you’re in Northern CA – are you closer to the ocean or the mountains? Both are beautiful in their own ways.
I didn’t know that Delaware had no national parks! I’ve been to Lewes, DE and to Dewey Beach. Of the beaches I’ve been to so far (which is limited to only three states), Delaware’s have been the most pristine. :)
Ha! I was talking to someone yesterday. He had a question, and he said, “I just want to make sure I have this right so people won’t think I’m crazy.” And I told him, “The two aren’t mutually exclusive. You know that, right?” Luckily he had a good sense of humor. ^_^ I’ve been to Rotunda West, Florida, but I have no idea where that is in relation to Chattahoochee. I will say, though, that your town has a terribly fun sounding name. I kind of want to repeat it over and over again with different accents just to see what it sounds like. :)
Unfortunately, I have to drive a couple of hours to find a beach!!
I know I’m late commenting but I had to put my two cents in….lol! I live on the Oregon coast but grew up in Illinois.
Probably what we are most famous for is the Lewis and Clark Expedition. But I’ve found there is quite a lot of history here :-)
I grew up with stories of Lewis and Clark. I can remember playing at Sacajawea Park as a kid, too. ^_^ Oregon is full of rich history. For example, at one time it was a shared territory that the British and American governments both ruled. It was called the Columbia District during that time. That was shortlived, though, because the two countries simply couldn’t get along (nor could their citizens).
I live in SW Ohio. Here are some facts about the state flag: The blue triangle represents Ohio’s hills and valleys. The stripes represent roads and waterways. The 13 stars grouped around the circle represent the 13 colonies, while the 4 stars added to the peak of the triangle symbolize that Ohio was the 17th state. The white circle with its red center represents the “O” in Ohio.