I find the state-to-state comparison pretty incredible. That means that Hawaii is more than four times as expensive as South Dakota. D.C. is about three times as expensive, and New York is almost twice as expensive. And you’re right - that doesn’t even count things like shopping, buying tickets to shows, going out for the night, taking the family to an amusement park or otherwise having fun. This is just for food and hotel - you know, the things you need to stay alive.

This is huge for people from Europe. A gal from Cambridge, United Kingdom was in Deadwood last week, and she and her brother were thrilled with the drink prices at the Old Style Saloon #10. With the currency conversion being so favorable - and then factoring South Dakota’s low prices into that, too - she figured she was paying about half as much at the Ten as she would during a normal night at the pub.

South Dakota USED to be the Sunshine State. But Florida also claimed that title, and whoever decides these things decided that the U.S. can’t have two Sunshine States.

Florida somehow thought it was sunnier than South Dakota, and we finally relented. We became the Rushmore State. I found one website that said the change happened in 1992, but I think it was before then. (This coming from the guy who thinks South Dakota still is the Sunshine State.)

California, by the way, I think is the Golden State.