WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - State Facts: Georgia

Episode Date: September 26, 2024

Nate is joined by Storm Drexler to talk all about Georgia

You're listening to State Facts on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. I'm your host, Nate Gallagher, and I'm joined by Hillsdale's resident Georgian, Storm Drexler. How you doing today, Storm? Doing great, Nate. Thanks for asking. And thanks additionally for the pajama episode. This is a lot of fun. Of course. So where are you from in Georgia?

I'm from Atlanta, Georgia. Well, this next question should be easy, then. What's the capital of Georgia? It is, in fact, Atlanta, Georgia. I live so close to the capital. In fact, I can see the Golden Dome from my house. That's really cool. Yeah.

When was Georgia admitted to the Union? Well, Georgia was founded as a colony, I think, in 1733, but I don't think we were admitted to the union constitutionally until 1788. January 2nd, 1788. Let's go. I didn't have the specific date. What number was it admitted? I think fourth. Top five, yeah.

Pretty quick. Yeah, look at us go. How about the population? Pretty sure it's around 11 million, half of which I think is like in metropolitan. surrounding Atlanta area. What's the nickname of the state? Well, most would call us the peach date, but I'm on this podcast with the New Yorker, so I'm going to refer to us lovingly as the Empire State of the South.

The peach state would have been fine. Yeah, but, you know, we got to come at you in some ways. Fair enough. How about the state animal? Squirrel. The white-tailed deer. Oh, yeah. That would make sense. Why squirrel?

I don't know. We have a lot of squirrels. We have ones of like little red, like, blemishes running up their tails. It's kind of cool. How about the state bird? Oh, Brown Thrasher. Easy. We had the hockey team for a while. Like, major league?

Yeah, but then they closed them down. It was really sad. I went to one Thrashers game when I was a kid, and I was like, hockey is the coolest. And then they shut down because the ice rink melted because it's so blisteringly hot.

How about the state crop? The state crop? It got to be peaches. It's not peaches? He just shook his head of me. It's peanuts. It's peanuts. Oh, I guess we do boil them a lot.

Yeah, the peanut. Like, that's like the second. biggest thing I think anyone thinks about Georgia is peanuts. They do peaches and then they think peanuts. But are peaches a crop? We'll get to peaches. Okay. I'm going to answer peach to every question now. Okay. How about the state fruit?

Mangoes. Close. Peaches. Oh, dang it, man. So close. You know, I'm just not really good under pressure. How about the state food? Food, uh, peach cobbler?

Like, well... Grits. Oh, yeah, that would make sense. Oh, we have really good grits. Northerners don't really understand it, but below the southern line, dude, the grits are amazing. And by the coast, you can have shrimp and grits. Phenomenal. What is grits?

I've actually never had it ever. It's like, imagine oatmeal, but instead of the oat base, it's kind of a corn base. So it's like the, it's like disgusting breakfast mush, but it's gas when you mix it with, like, salt or gravy or, like, a cheese mix or, like, shrimp or, like, put some scrambled eggs on there. Oh, man. What about the state pet? Oh, got to be the dashund. I don't know. The state pet,

Garfield, the cat. Garfield's fictional. But he's a pet. But he's fictional. Okay. How about Snoopy the dog? I had to break it to you, but he's also fictional.

Okay. Well, then I don't know, Nate. Odie, the dog. Odie the dog? No, just dogs. Dogs in general? Yes. Wait, are there any of their states of that as their state pet?

I haven't seen any yet, but I mean, probably. We got honeybee and dog. I think we're kind of winning down here. What about the state tree? Ooh. It's either going to be like dogwood or oak. Oak. Yes.

It says the live oak. I don't know if that's like... Yeah, we leave dead oaks for Alabama. How about the state fish? Large amount of bass. I'm going to guarantee it's that. Yeah. Caught a good number myself.

Like, again, I've never seen a bass. So imagine it's just a bass and then it opens his mouth really, really wide. Fair enough, that's a good description. It just goes, oh. So for the first time in state facts history, I'm not going to ask you a question. I'm just going to make a statement

about something I found in my research. You have not won, but two different state barbecue competitions run by two different state organizations. How did this happen? I don't know. I doubt either of them are kosher, though. True. Yeah.

But, I mean, we love our barbecue down here in Georgia. I like to mix it with collard greens, baked beans. Southern food's very good if you haven't tried it. Cornbread, it's a ho-down. Well, I think that's all the time we have today. No worries. Thanks for coming on the show, Storm. I've been Nate Gallagher with State Facts on Radio for Hillsdale 101.7 FM.

See you next time.