Idaho is not in the Mid-West

I was watching a Buzzfeed video where a bunch of west coast and east coast American label the states in the Midwest.

Almost all label Idaho as a state in the Midwest.

Considering on how I memorize the US states, I could relate why, although I would not put Idaho in the Midwest. It's somewhere between Washington and Montana, a unique shape, like a sandwich with it top right corner bitten. Most of the borders are straight, except the one shared with Montana.

The confusion would arise from the fact that out of 4 states begining with the letter 'I', 3 are neighbours. They are Indiana, Illinois and Iowa, from east to west... and further west is Idaho.

Well, India is in the East, so is Indiana. Big cities are almost always located at the centre, so is Chicago, Illinois. Iowa is westernmost among these 3 states. W is for west, and WA, Washington is at the west.

Indiana is below the mitten (Michigan). Illinois is a rather big state, with the lest shoreline. To the west is Iowa and Missouri. Missouri is below Iowa.

Speaking of Iowa, I've been wondering where Des Moines was, when I was still in school. There's always a subscription form, addressed to Des Moines, in Better Homes and Gardens magazine. Back then, I thought it was somewhere near New York, Boston or Philadelphia (East Coast) or somewhere in California, since it have a non-English sounding name. Sounds Spanish, so California.

Des Moines is not Spanish, it's French, so is Detroit. French name is common in Midwestern cities, and Louisiana. Probably because they were once a French colony, which includes part of modern day Canada.

I wonder, how does it feels like to memorize 50 states. Not impossible, but quite challenging. During our schooldays, we have to memorize all the states. However, they are only as much as the American original colonies.