You Know You're From Idaho....

I got this from a friend and it made me smile. It also made me think because, really, I'm not FROM Idaho -- I'm from New Jersey. But my home now is in Idaho, and most of these rang true for me, one way or another. There are probably similar lists for many different states/regions of the country (there is one for NJ for sure).

You know you're from Idaho when:

Someone in a Home Depot store offers you assistance and they don't work there. This has actually happened to me more than once.

You've worn shorts and a parka at the same time. I've never done this, but the teenagers and the college kids do it all the time.

You've had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed the wrong number. Okay, this one doesn't apply for me. True to my East Coast roots, it was probably a VERY short conversation. But I have seen my husband do it.

"Vacation" means going anywhere south of Salt Lake City for the weekend. True for winter vacations. In the summer, we all head north to Montana and beyond.

You measure distance in hours. TRUE! In NJ we measured by miles because you never knew how long it might take to get somewhere, given the traffic. Out here, I may not know the number of miles between point A and point B, but I know almost to the minute how long it will take me to get there.

You know several people who have hit a deer more than once. The fascination with deer out here really passes me. People get all excited when they see them, and there are some pretty gnarly accidents on the Interstate during mating season. But the only deer I've ever hit was in NJ, when I lived in the Princeton area -- where deer are EVERYWHERE all the time.

You have switched from "heat" to "A/C" and back again in the same day. True -- we do this routinely in the early summer and the fall.

You install security lights on your house and garage but leave both unlocked. This is true, but my NJ roots won't let me leave our house unlocked.

You can drive 75 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard without flinching. Well, I can't. But my husband (Idaho native) can -- while I tightly grip the "oh crap" bar above the passenger side window.

You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit. Not usually in Pocatello, but probably up in Moscow.

The speed limit on the highway is 55 mph, you're going 80, and everyone is still passing you. That must be a typo, because the speed limit on most sections of the Interstates is 75. And yes, I go 80. And yes, they're all passing me. Note: the 55 mph vs.80 mph is true on I-80 around Chicago -- I've experienced that for myself.

Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow. Hmm... I've never studied this one, so I don't know.

You know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter, and road construction. Okay, in Southeast Idaho, we actually have summer -- but not until July, and it ends in August. By late August, the days are still nice and hot but the evenings and nights are often too cold to be outside without a sweatshirt.

You find 10 degrees "a little chilly". In the dry climate out here, 10 degrees isn't that big a deal. Conversely, neither is 90 degrees all that awful. I love, love, love the absence of humidity!

And that's our geography lesson for today, kids.

- Catherine