I'm from Northern Pennsylvania, the area that has like no one and no one ever thinks about. It's no where near Philadelphia, it's closer to Pittsburgh but still hours through forest, mountains and farmland to get to the Burgh.

I was interested in Maine cause it's like where I'm from without the oil and gas politics, and a coast near by. Pretty much same critters too, outside of moose, but I'm used to driving like a granny due to overpopulated deer though. I thought the state was more environmentally minded than Pennsylvania too, but uh... Nope. They are protectionist against their chose economic drivers, it's just they don't have oil and gas resources to exploit like Pennsylvania does- and they never will, the geology ain't right for it there.

What gets me about Maine though is that it has the oldest population, and young people aren't staying... Yet they chase out young adults? My home area is like that- though the Mainers don't like hearing how Maine is like another place.

So... How are they ever going to keep a economy going if they don't let people move there? They complain about no jobs, yet shoot down anything that would make new jobs too. They hate remote workers.

I've seen a lot of Mainers say "At least we aren't West Virginia." Ironically, I live pretty close to West Virginia now, and hike there a ton. The people there are actually pretty nice, and take pride in their culture, unlike Maine where it seems like it's pride in family heritage and genetics.

WV is really trying to promote tourism and people moving there too, cause surprise, they have the same issue that Maine has. I think the big difference I've seen is that Maine has a history of tourism while West Virginia has a history of natural resource exploitation... Which has created both similar and different issues over the years.