I’ve been amused through the years about an apparent confusion between the state of Missouri and Minnesota with some individuals on the East Coast. 

I first ran into this on vacation late one Sunday night in Miami.  I was hanging out at Sunday’s, my favorite watering hole at Crandon Marina where I kept my sailboat The Saline Solution.  There was still a large crowd, partying down, and I asked my worldly, well-read friend Elaine, the bartender, “Don’t these people have to get up and go to work tomorrow?”

In dead seriousness, she scolded me and said, “Dan, you’re not in Minnesota anymore.”  I couldn’t help but laugh.  At the time I was living in St. Louis, Missouri, which I had told her in the past.  I chalked it up to her local knowledge and filed it away as a humorous life event. 

I’ve since run into this confusion by many other East Coasters so there’s something to it.  I guess from their standpoint, its Missouri, Minnesota, whatever, what’s the difference, just one of those states way out West from the East coast.

A few geography facts might be instructive here.  Minnesota is hundreds of miles from Missouri.  The weather in Missouri gets cold in the winter, but in Minnesota, it gets damn cold.  And Minnesota is made out of cheese (or is that Wisconsin)?  Missouri is made out of, um, Missouri stuff. 

See the difference. 

I mention this because you will see in future posts where even the prestigious New York Institute of Photography interviewed me and in their article mentioned I was from … you guessed it, Red Wing, Minnesota. 

Red Wing, Minnesota … St. Louis, Missouri, what the heck, what’s the difference I guess.

So are you from the East coast and do you think Missouri and Minnesota are the same?  Do you know someone like this?  Better yet, do you live in Missouri and think you live in Minnesota?  And do you eat a lot of cheese?

Please answer these burning questions by clicking on this articles title and commenting below. 

Have a nice day – J. Daniel (from a state beginning with the letter M – they’re all the same, you know)