I need help, Americans!
As some of you may know, it has always been an ambition of mine to visit America, land of the free. I have now finally settled on a rough date, namely July/August '09. My intent is to be a cheap, pikey bastard, fly to NY (Which will cost about £300-ish) then bus and maybe fly around the country for a few weeks.
My problem is this! Where do I go? America is a big place, especially to someone from the UK. I mean jeeze, I could drive from one end of the UK to the other and back in less than 24 hours, God knows how long it takes to drive from one end of the US to the other. It even takes longer to drive across one single state!
So, where should I go? What should I see? Obviously places such as D.C. are an obvious choice, but anything more obscure? Quaint? I wanna try and absorb lots of different American cultures!
My problem is this! Where do I go? America is a big place, especially to someone from the UK. I mean jeeze, I could drive from one end of the UK to the other and back in less than 24 hours, God knows how long it takes to drive from one end of the US to the other. It even takes longer to drive across one single state!
So, where should I go? What should I see? Obviously places such as D.C. are an obvious choice, but anything more obscure? Quaint? I wanna try and absorb lots of different American cultures!
Comments
Whatever you do, don't go to the South. It's a baaaaad place.
As for visiting Chicago, I would be honoured to meet you and the missus. Besides, Chicago is one of those "I'd like to visit at some point" cities, so why not next year? I can savour America, you can savour my accent. Win-Win.
Most of the South is bad, yes, but Dallas is alright. I lived there for about five years and I liked it. Although if you go during the summer it might be too damned hot. Word on the street is Mish is from those parts too.
Well, if you're looking for quiet or quaint, the Mississippi River can be that. You can get a good feel of American suburbia that way. My hometown is on the river, and as Andrew can attest to it's surprisingly entertaining, given that it's Iowa. You can have some taco pizza from Happy Joe's pizza too. It's quite delicious.
Besides that... I dunno. Florida of course has Disney World, Universal Studios and all that, but it's pretty damn expensive, even if you go with your almighty pound.
Then we can go to SoCal, and go to the cheaper (since you can stay at my place) and less crowded Anaheim Disney Parks!
CAVES!!!! When I went on my cross country trip, we stopped at lots of caves! Does Brittan have many?
These are my sentiments exactly! Me and DBD are less than five minutes away, so we could meet and head to NY afterwards. And then we'll just go along with the flow.
I know that Mario and I would love to meet ya!
Other great places to go would have to depend on what kind of activities you are into. Chicago is beautiful, definitely try to make it over there, the western states are cool if you are into being outdoors but are not good for much else (Wyoming is pretty nice for outdoorsy stuff, Yellowstone is a good national park). Badlands in South Dakota (?) is absolutely stunning, SD also has Mt. Rushmore, and some neat underground caves. I've never been to the Grand Canyon, but I hear good things. Boston is fun for nightlife, Las Vegas is fun for a couple of days so long as you're into gambling and drinking, Seattle is fun but a lot like San Francisco, so you'd be better off going to one or the other (and guess which one I'm going to suggest, haa) New England is nice, if you went to New York, you could drive up along the coast and check it out that way...I know that Orange Belters are telling you to avoid the South, but I think it can be entertaining so long as you take into account that people down there are a whole different breed of humans...and they don't speak for the rest of the country! (watch the American Special of Top Gear...kinda like that, but the rest of America definitely is nothing like that)
That's about all I can think of for now.
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/
Arizona has Saguaro cactuses - you'll feel like you're in a looney toons cartoon. New Mexico is also pretty. Louisiana is creepy, kinda like Deliverance. Lots of water and swampy things, and dumpy little houses. Scary.
San Diego, nice beaches, tacos in Old Town, and you can dip into Tijuana!
Ottawa. Parliament. Yeah.
That's what it likes, anyway.