The Great American Reach Around - The Midwest & Greece & Turkey

This article is part of the The Great American Reach Around series.

Known outside Minnesota as "The Land of 10,000 Lakes", this often-misunderstood state is fiercely independent and unique. The region is homogenous, with nearly 90% of the population able to trace their heritage back to Northern Europe. Minnesotans may think of themselves as a breed apart, but the rest of us like to think of them as the creamy filling in our national Oreo cookie; great when you pry the Canada cookie off the top and combine it with another America and Minnesota to create a sort of jury-rigged Oreo Doublestuf.

Minnesota's largest urban area is the Minneapolis and Saint Paul metro area, known collectively as the Twin Cities. That's a cute way of saying they form one big urban area; a frosty suburb with some genuine bumps of culture here and there. It's a great place to visit and watch the Twins or the Vikings lose a ball game. National Public Radio legend Garrison Keillor and left-wing talk radio host Al Franken are both from the area. Many consider Minnesota to be a fairly liberal state and I think this proves the state is on the leading edge of the intolerably boring radio movement.

Caught between the Midwest and the South is our final stop on today's journey. Missouri is a Midwestern state with a heavy dose of Southern Fried Stupid in a similar, but opposite, manner to Kentucky and its thin coating of Midwestern Chili Cheese.