Washington vs. Mississippi vs. California

This is a post to keep me entertained, since Matt left yesterday and it's been raining ever since and it's rather depressing.

Anyways.

I'm going to compare Washington, Mississippi, and California based on coolness factor. This is purely unscientific, of my own opinion, and uses Wikipedia, so probably not even accurate. Whatever. What am I comparing them on? Their state animals and plants! Whoot! Let's begin. Also, please note, the scale is made up, so it should keep this interesting.

State Mammal
So, all 3 of these states have 2 (one land, one water), so we get double points, yay!

CA: California grizzly bear, gray whale. Bears awesome, gray whales cool, but rather boring.
MS: White tailed deer, bottlenosed dolphin, red fox. Deer? Really? Snore. They are yummy to eat, though. Dolphin: Wow, Mississippi did something right! Red fox: STOP CHEATING, MS! :)
WA: Olympic marmot, orca. Marmots are cute! Orcas, AWESOME (I'm biased, but no matter).

Land Mammal Rating (in order of increasing coolness): MS (1 pt), WA (2), CA (3)
Marine Mammal Rating: CA, MS, WA

Score thus far: CA 4, MS 3, WA, 5

State Amphibian

CA: Doesn't have one. LAME
MS: Also doesn't have one. SUPER LAME
WA: Pacific Tree Frog. Bonus point to Washington for having one (Yes, I can do this.)

So, rating, CA and MS each only get 1 point, for tying for last place. Washington gets 4 points, 3 for winning and 1 bonus point.

Score thus far: CA 5, MS 4, WA 9

State Bird

CA: California Quail. These things are so cute with their little feather on top. And I've heard they're yummy.
MS: Northern Mockingbird, Wood Duck. Ok, MS, you can't add an extra bird because you realized your first bird is the MOST ANNOYING BIRD EVER. EPIC FAIL. Wood duck gets thrown out, since it's technically the state waterfowl.
WA: American Goldfinch. So pretty. Still biased, but I say this wins because the goldfinch actually comes out and you can see it. Quail hide. Also, goldfinches completely win on the bird call.

Rating: MS, CA, WA

Score thus far: CA 7, MS 5, WA 12

State Fish

CA: Golden trout (fresh water), Garibaldi (salt water). Throwing out the Garibaldi, since the other states only have fresh water fish.
MS: Largemouth bass. At least you didn't pick the catfish. Well played, MS, well played.
WA: Steelhead trout

Rating: MS comes in last again, since I've never eaten bass, so 1 point for being last (again). CA and WA tie, since both the Golden trout and the Steelhead are classified as subspecies of the species Onorhynchus mykiss. Plus, being members of the salmon family, they are delicious. 3 points each.

Score thus far: CA 10, MS 6, WA 15

State Reptile

CA: Desert tortoise
MS: American alligator
WA: Apparently doesn't have one. EPIC FAIL WASHINGTON! I did see that someone said it's the gecko, but looking at my Peterson Field Guide, there is no gecko indigenous to Washington, so that would be a big fat no.

Rating: Well, clearly WA comes in last. I'd say CA and MS both win, since alligators are just awesome and tortoises live basically forever.

Score thus far: CA 13, MS 9, WA 15

State Flower

CA: California poppy
MS: Magnolia
WA: Coast Rhododendron

Rating: Clearly, WA wins, because Rhododendrons come in every color imaginable and grow basically into gigantic trees full of color. CA comes in last because the poppy I would assume does not flower all year long, at least with a magnolia you still have the tree to look at.

Score thus far: CA 14, MS 11, WA 15

State Tree

CA: California redwood
MS: Magnolia
WA: Western hemlock

Rating: Well, California wins since redwoods get the biggest. MS loses because they cheated and used the same flower and tree. That seems fair.

Score thus far: CA 17, MS 12, WA 17

And, finally,

State Insect

CA: California dogface butterfly
MS: Honeybee
WA: Green Darner dragonfly. WASHINGTON WHY DID YOU NOT PICK A BUTTERFLY?

Rating: MS actually wins. Honeybees are extremely important to the environment. WA loses, because butterflies are just more awesome than dragonflies.

SO THE FINAL SCORE IS:

Winner: California, with 19 points
Runner-up: Washington, with 18 points.
Loser: Mississippi, with 15 points.

I was definitely not biased. But California still won. Darn it.