We all have little parts of us that remind others of where we came from. These little indicators are just little ways to show people where we came from. Below I’ve compiled a list of ways people can tell that you are from CNY. I hope we can all relate on these and share some laughs!
10: We all grew up basically outside.
It seems like all us CNY kids were outside 24/7 when we were growing up. I can remember my parents yelling outside to get me to come in for dinner, that’s just how us kids were brought up. Being outside all the time was a way of life and that’s all we did, it’s a shame to see young kids spending all their time inside.
9: You might not have a camp but your neighbors surely do.
Endless summers I spent at my neighbor’s camp, weekends and even holidays. It’s funny because my whole cul du sac use to go to their camp, just showing how much we all loved going to any camp. Camp was the time where you could get away from everything and still today it’s just what we need time after time.
8: Either love or hate all the snow we get.
Winter after winter the CNY are just gets buried with snow...We all sit around and either enjoy the snow and its beauty or bicker about how annoying it is. The best part about winters in CNY, it could snow on Halloween or mother nature might wait till after Christmas to lay down a blanket of snow.
7: Have tried skiing or snowboarding.
Back to the snow.. At a young age you most likely saw all your friends picking up winter sports so you didn’t really have a choice but to do the same. It snows all the time so you might as well go outside and try to enjoy it. At this point in your life you either love skiing or snowboarding or you failed miserably
6: All your friends basically go to schools in NY state.
When deciding what schools, you and your friends wanted to go to you automatically went and looked at SUNY schools. Many times if you couldn’t get into any SUNY schools one looked to private schools in-state. If you and your friends go to school in NYS then you almost talk about going to visit each other all the time.
5: People tell you that you say “wicked” a lot.
This goes out to my friends at school. Apparently us “upstate” or CNY people say “wicked” a lot. Personally I never picked up on this but I guess we say it a lot.
4: We all agree even if Onondaga lake was “clean” you would never swim in it.
Growing up in the area we have seen numerous projects that say the lake will be “swimmable” again. After seeing all the stuff floating in the lake and smelling it, never would I ever swim in the lake. At one point it was one of the top dirtiest lakes in the world, yeah never would you see me in Onondaga lake.
3: Still don’t know your way around “Destiny USA”.
Even though to all us 90’s kids in the CNY area it’s called “Carousel mall”. The mall is so big that I will never find my way around it. When people ask where stores are I just tell them to keep walking and you’ll eventually find it.
2: Dinosaur BBQ will forever be the best.
Once you have their food you’ll never want any BBQ ever again. Thankfully they have many lactations all over NYS. No local BBQ restaurants have anything on Dinosaur, by far the best in NYS and that’s final.
1: You love the NYS fair but HATE the people there.
Growing up in NYS you have most likely been to the state fair at least once or twice, no matter if you are from Utica or as far away at Buffalo. The fair attracts hundreds or thousands of people each year, which is great but terrible sometimes. Walking around on the busy days is the worst...people forget how to walk and you end up bumping into hundreds of people.
