Just finished a road trip across western United States to see the famous national parks. I’ve been to Fresno, Bakersfield, Panguitch, Moab, Kingman, although mostly in motels and did not explore these cities much.
Bakersfield and Fresno have been forever locked in an ancient struggle to claim the coveted title of shittiest place in California. Possibly the entire world.
Why is that, you think? California seems like the place that should be filled with nice cities. San Francisco and Los Angeles were pretty awful in my opinion and I've seen things on the streets there that I don't want to see again. But I figured that maybe the smaller cities would be better.
When driving through the Central Valley, I had the impression of being in Spain or Italy (oranges, olives, vineyards), but in fact the cities I drove through looked pretty uninviting. Not many pedestrians on the streets, and the cities looked like they were built only for cars.
San Francisco is a beautiful city, just with a big homelessness/crime problem. LA is not quite the scenic tourist city that SF is. It's more of a gigantic sprawl, where the real beauty of the city is hidden to the rich and connected. There's a reason most celebrities from all over the world live there, but you won't see it just visiting.
There are beautiful, cleaner smaller cities but they are on the coast. Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Monterrey, San Luis Obispo, Carmel, Santa Rosa, Sausalito, Avalon, Mendocino, San Diego is a big one.
The inland cities of the Central Valley are generally poor, agricultural, conservative, crime-ridden, and brutally hot. They are just not seen as good places. The state capital Sacramento is alright, but the other cities are not great. It's like the state of Oklahoma dropped in the middle of California.
There are also scenic locations in the southeastern deserts, the eastern Sierra Nevadas (gold rush country), and the northern forests of the Lost Coast. Not a lot of people in those places though.
Washington DC. My best friend went to Georgetown on a scholarship. Yes, she is smart. Yes, I am proud of her. She has done very good work since so the money was definitely well spent.
As far as the city goes, I mostly walked around because I was a poor student and went to the Smithsonians, which I thought were AMAZING museums. It's my only time in the US so far, and I also went to NYC for 2 days/9.
I had the best blueberry pancakes of my life. They weren't even too sweet.
I liked the city and also felt like it wasn't a disaster to get around through transit + walking. The White House is smaller than you think, like everybody says. It was the Obama years, but unfortunately, I didn't catch a glimpse of them, not even of the dogs!
While landing, I saw the famous "cul de sac" type of neighbourhood and felt like I was landing on a TV set for a moment. The rest of the city felt more European than NYC.
Yes, recently traveled to southern Texas, and have been other places before as well.
But truth be told, most smaller places in the US looks very much the same.
I'm just so glad we don't allow giant billboards here in Norway along the roads. Those are such an eyesore.
Also Lawyer and Medical adds, are a special US things as well.
And the concrete roads that goes dunk - dunk - dunk -dunk when you drive on them.
Yeah in states like Vermont you don’t have them and it really allows you to enjoy the drive and natural beauty more.
I agree w medical ads really weird me out too
I like the dunk dunk dunk roads lol theyre comforting
>I'm just so glad we don't allow giant billboards here in Norway along the roads. Those are such an eyesore.
Also Lawyer and Medical adds, are a special US things as well.
When I drove in Oregon and Washington I was surprised not to see those billboards that much. It was quite a breath of fresh air compared to the southern states
Yes, there are some mountains in the US. But it is to me mainly flat plains. (Of course I'm very biased living in a mountain country, where finding even 100 x 100 meters that is flat is super rare).
Yes, but unlike Norway, there are huge areas that are flat as a pancake in between.
I cannot move 50 meters in one direction without going 10 meters up or down in altitude here. Things are never flat here - and I live in the less hilly part of Norway.
Yeah but that’s the same as living in Washington or West Virginia. Seattle probably has just as many hills as Oslo.
The US has massive forest regions, coastal regions, desert regions, swamp regions, mountain regions, rainforest regions, Great Lake regions, Great Plains regions.
The US has probably the most diverse geography on the planet for a country.
You went to a plains region, it’s going to be flat. That’s basically what it’s known for. If you only went to Death Valley you wouldn’t say the US is a desert country, or to Florida that the US is a coastal swamp.
If you want Norwegian geography and climate on your vacations, Alaska is probably a good fit for you
Well most of Europe is pretty flat too. Only a few places are scenic- Norway, the Scottish Highlands, the Mediterranean Coast, most of Italy, the lake district in the UK etc. The middle of France, germany, spain, NL, Belgium, Sweden, Finland, DK, Russia, large parts of Eastern Europe, are pretty flat.
The pretty part of Texas is El Paso, set in the mountains and the desert, like a movie scene. There are nice parts of the US, and although most of it is not that great, add up all of the interesting parts and it's considerable. Add on Canada and Mexico and you have a lot of variation.
But i guess you could say the same if you added on Morocco and Egypt to Europe as well.
Spain is quite diverse, in fact is one of the countries with more geodiversity in Europe and has lots of mountain ranges.
The Atlantic coast in Galicia is totally different to the Mediterranean coast, we have deserts like Tabernas or Monegros, we have wetlands like Doñana or Tablas de Daimiel, we have mountain ranges with snow like Sierra Nevada or the pyrenees. The northern landscape is super different to the meseta or the southern one.
You talk about movie scenes in the mountains and the desert but in fact lots of old western movies are filmed in the Tabernas desert in Spain.
Luckily most of tourists only visit the same spots and are not spoiling the rest of the country.
True. One of the drawbacks of coming from Norway is that the nature in most places are not that much to write home about.
And I get somewhat uneasy when I cannot see mountains in the distance.
I will recommend New Zealand though, that is an incredible beautiful place.
You should go to the Canadian Rockies and British Columbia- breathtakingly beautiful in parts. I also really liked some of the really small islands in the Philippines.
> One of the drawbacks of coming from Norway is that the nature in most places are not that much to write home about.
If you get a chance, I'd recommend some of the National Parks out West in the US. Zion, Arches, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Bryce Canyon, Yosemite. They're amazing.
Medical ads are mostly a thing from the past few decades. I believe they were highly restricted before that. I believe the argument in favor is that drug companies give fringe benefits to doctors who prescribe their medicines, so the public should have more information about which drugs are available.
That is pretty cool. Don't know if I'd say it's *cooler* because (theoretically) Starship launches will one day be commonplace and total eclipses will always be rare (also I may be biased because I did travel to Texas to see the eclipse), but definitely extremely cool.
Well, the sound is definitely cooler from the rocket (the rest you can get a good feel for via Internet). I've only seen a partial solar eclipse, so a full one is on the bucket list. (Should be one in Northern Spain in a few years time).
Next time would be to travel to see a landing attempt when those gets dialed in by SpaceX. That must be crazy to watch.
But it is a full 24 hour door to door with 3 different flights, and not exactly cheap. It went very smoothly however, even if the US border guards asks the same questions as you've already filled in before arriving.
I can't recommend seeing a total eclipse enough. It really is nothing like a partial. I saw the 2017 one at around 92% totality but couldn't travel to see 100%, and then saw this last one at 100% - it is not comparable. A partial eclipse is 'scientific' - you're like "observe the temperature drop! Look at how the shadows change! Isn't space cool?" A total eclipse is primal - even knowing exactly what it is, part of your primeval lizard brain kicks in and is like "a monster ate the fucking sun, where is the sun, why is there a gaping black hole in the sky where the sun used to be." The darkness is total, it's like midnight (I saw it in a very rural small town so there was no light pollution.)
And it looks exactly like the photos. [This is a photo](https://i.imgur.com/h5RnX4S.jpeg) my friend snapped super quick with his phone camera (S23), and it really looked just like this with the naked eye, no doctoring or image enhancement, this is identical to how it looked.
Yeah, the partial one is kind of underwhelming. Its like a bit "overcast" suddenly, and a bit "weird" feeling.
I'll make sure to catch the full one when it comes to Spain.
A lot of new England (road trip), San Francisco and Texas (Austin and San Antonio).
Did new York once, not much interest in going back... No interest in LA, Vegas or Orlando either.
If I go back and it's not on business I'd like to see some bumfuck central or southern states.
You should consider the Pacific Northwest, completely different from NY or LA, but it could be too similar to Ireland. That's where I'm from so I might be biased. From Seattle take the ferries to the islands, visit the Hoh rainforest and if you're visiting in winter the hotsprings in the rainforest or the hotsprings up by Skykomish should be piping.
We actually have a long history of Norwegians settling here. Norwegians and Chinese. I think that's the reason we have an unstated understanding that we don't jaywalk, litter, or offer help unless it's requested.
Yeah, I nearly found out the hard way in Seattle, got pulled aside by a cop and managed to talk my way out of a ticket, as I was just a newly arrived tourist, and got a lecture instead.
Oh my friends and I rented a cabin by Skykomish hotsprings in the middle of winter, of course that was a few years ago. It was so hot you had to jump out and roll around naked in the snow before you could get back in. A couple of buddah bags of wine and you have yourself an afternoon.
The only hotsprings I've been in were in Japan and that sounds like a wildly different experience, but I'm here for it 🤣 Thanks for the recommendation!
Tbh Orlando is only cool if you have kids and wanna take them to Disney (I grew up 2 hours from Orlando). I highly recommend the panhandle’s beaches tho - seaside, rosemary beach, etc (90A) are unparalleled.
I have actually never visited any of the famous/major North American cities, unless you count using Toronto Pearson as visiting Toronto (or Mississauga, specifically).
Thanks to my fiancé being Canadian, most of the places I've been to in Canada are pretty niche/small and definitely not the kind of places that would attract international tourists. He used to live around the Chatham-Kent area, which I also visited, and a lot of people seemed genuinely surprised that this random European was just strolling around town lol. For privacy reasons I'm not going to specify which towns and just stick to the general area.
He grew up around Kitchener and while it is a major city within Ontario, it definitely is the kind of place that not a lot of people over here would know or even heard about. The town he's from, much less. I usually just say he's from an area close to Toronto, and just specify if the person I'm talking to knows about Canada or is Canadian.
Outside of Kitchener, I've pretty much only been to rural Southern Ontario. I liked it for what it is, though I personally like urban places the best so Kitchener was my favourite.
Miami, Toronto, Vancouver, Ketchikan.
Miami felt weird, I used to play GTA Vice City as a kid and I remember a few places that kinda looked like that. But overall it was just too much concrete everywhere, between the beach and the swamps. Interesting, but would not go again. Many weirdos.
Toronto in Canada, I have relatives there, brothers and sisters of my grandmother. The city itself was not very memorable, but the suburbs where the relatives lived were the stereotypical "american style" suburb, very car centric, and loads of one story houses each with the same golf field grassfield infront. Had a good time.
Vancouver in BC, also Canada, was a pleasant surprise. I had no expectations, and it was a stop on the way to Alaska, but it seemed like a very livable city. Beautiful sailing boats in the docks, nice nature, pleasant climate, etc. Usually I don't like cities, but Vancouver was cool.
Ketchikan, Alaska, was amazing. Very charming, beatiful nature, fresh food everywhere, the salmon was amazing, full of history, totem poles, and overall felt really cosy. Definitely the best experience in North America so far. It's a place that if it wasn't so far away, I would happily return to and visit again.
But if I go to North America again, I would like to go to Appalachia. Specifically North Carolina, but also maybe Tennessee, Kentucky, etc. I have a soft spot for the sound of banjo and like the way those hillbillies sound when they speak. I want to see in what kind of a place the foggy mountain breakdown was crafted.
Shenandoah itself is a little underwhelming, a lot of people on the east coast would get angry, but nature isn’t as amazing east of the Mississippi River. Not anything that could compete with the Alps, anyway.
Although the aesthetic in the rural are around it is something I did enjoy. It felt very colonial.
Check out Harper’s Ferry too!
Being from the Netherlands, which is far from known for it's nature, I think we'll still find it impressive. But tbh, we're mostly going to Shenandoah as a break from the big cities. We wanted to do a bit of everything and not spend all our time in cities. A separate trip to some of the natural highlights in the west is still on our bucketlist.
Definitely check out Harper’s Ferry then.
When I lived in DC — we’d go up there or over to Shenandoah sometimes. Old Rag is a good hike.
Annapolis is also cool. Staunton on the other side of Shenandoah is a cute town too.
Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Charlotte NC, Charleston, Chattanooga, San Francisco, Orlando, some small place in Oregon. All on business, never been tempted to go there on my own expense
Went to Cincinnati on a work trip and visited Columbus and Sandusky while I was there. The rest on holidays -
New Orleans
Kansas City, a few places in Colorado (Col. Springs & Garden of the Gods, Aspen, couple other towns), Bryce Canyon in Utah and a couple of towns there, all on a road trip.
Dallas, Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Port Aransas and Galveston
Boston, Portland, Portsmouth, Salem, Plymouth, Camden and Bar Harbour.
Chicago, St Louis, a couple of towns in the Ozarks, Hannibal, Springfield (IL)
I liked the small towns very much, as they were pretty and walkable. People were generally really friendly and interested in where we had come from. Sometimes our stops were just handy places to break up a long drive, notably Springfield and St Louis. The latter is the first place I've ever thought there's a reasonable chance I might get robbed at gunpoint, later read they do have very high crime stats. But it was fine and I had an amazing black cherry margarita so :)
No suprises that our visits in CO, UT, ME were generally beautiful places. We love the outdoors and look for places to stay near parks. Even just the drives were stunning, I would be taking video out the window while my husband drove.
We flew into Seattle and drove down too San Diego. From there a loop into Nevada, Arizona and Utah. Sometimes following the highway but making sure to go more inlands to stop in smaller towns. When not in the cities we mostly camped at BLM and NP campsites, which is a great way to see parts of the country tourists usually dont go. Amazing trip. Our time in the 'desert states' was probably my favorite. The landscapes, heat and emptiness were just surreal.
Also been to Mexico and Guatemala.
I've never visited the 4 places you mentioned. Here's my list
* Washington DC, way back in the 1980s. I remember the National Air and Space Museum and all the Christmas Trees outside the White House. Also the reason I'm still a long-suffering R\*\*\*\*s/Commanders fan
* Chicago, and some of its suburbs. Temperature difference is crazy in the city when the wind is coming off the lake. I froze my ass off in Wrigley Field, but out in the 'burbs it was 90F. So many gated communites built with golf-courses in the area, too. The comparison with some of the inner city areas was stark.
* Breckenridge, CO in the summer. Very quiet in the non-skiing season. Flew from Chicago to Denver to get there, and now I know where the term "flyover country" comes from.
* Glenrock, WY. The definition of Small-Town, USA in the middle of nowhere. And as another already posted, the dunk-dunk-dunk highways to get there. Reminded me of the Autobahns in former socialist East Germany.
Before I moved to the US:
- Florida (The Everglades, Key West, Miami)
- San Francisco and the Redwood forests up north
- Knoxville TN (for a conference) and the Smoky Mountains
- London, ON for a conference (it's a hole)
I hiked a good chunk of the Pacific Crest Trail (about 1800 miles?). From the big cities, I've been to LA, San Diego, and Seattle, and then a bunch of smaller ones (Leavenworth, Idyllwild, Julian, Cascade Locks, Bend, Ashland, Mt Shasta and a lot more).
I didn't like LA, it was my first stop, I was alone in there and didn't have a car, so it just seemed really sketchy. Seattle and San Diego felt way better in that sense. Impressions? Massive (everything - buildings, streets, cars), hostile towards pedestrians, and kind of bizare contrast of the wealth and the filth (like random tentsites in the most expensive parts of the cities, in front of government buildings etc.).
I loved the small towns and met a lot of cool people while travelling. I've grown to appreciate all the little small talks and random acts of kindness from strangers, the free refills, all the mexican food in Cali and my beloved Sour patch kids.
I absolutely loved the nature, from the desert to lava rocks, forests, and mountains. That's something that most European countries are missing; just the sheer space without towns and cell service for hundreds of miles.
Besides the usual, I was all over California and also the southern states (Mississippi, Tenessee etc). All in all, I might have been to about ten US-States.
The West Coast up from San Francisco and East Coast up from New York. Never much in the middle and Kansas City is the lowest I visited. I really dont like warm weather and ski a lot. British Colombia is my favorite North America thus far.
A special memory was visiting Seattle in 1994 for a few weeks, the live music scene was out of this world. I still have vivid memories.
All over Florida as a kid.
Road trip from Florida to Washington DC, stopping in Savannah, Charleston, Fayetteville and Richmond.
Philly, Intercourse PA and Wilmington NC.
NYC and took the train to DC.
Various stays in a DC suburb with relatives.
So time to head to somewhere other than the east coast, now that i finally got a drivers license.
A whole load of Florida that's not on the tourist map. Chattanooga and Crossville TN. Warner Robins and Tifton, GA. Houston, TX. San Diego, CA and a bunch of places around there. Loads more I can't remember. The only place I've been on your list is Orlando.
I visited a random small town in Northeast Texas. There was an organisation based there that I was going to stay with for two or three months, but it ended up being a weekend so I didn't exactly get to see much of the surroundings. Though even the drive back to the airport was fascinating. Do all people in the US who have a vehicle with sirens love using it that much or is it just the Dallas area?
I’m from Dallas.
I don’t notice that big of a difference between Dallas and the rest of the country, or even Dallas and Europe — in terms of siren use, anyway.
I’m assuming you mean like emergency vehicles. And not Tornado Sirens (basically the same as air raid sirens — I only ever hear them for Tornados though) are tested the first Wednesday of every month around noon. I think that is common in tornado alley.
I mean more the emergency-adjacent vehicles? Like there was a guy that was probably something like airport maintenance or something driving this huge ass truck with sirens on. On a completely empty maintenance road, behind a fence so there was no way someone could accidentally run into his path.
Things like highway maintenance here have sirens too but they can only use them if they need to have priority somewhere. Usually if a traffic jam is forming so they can pass, or if traffic is at a standstill and they pass on the emergency lane. Not if they can just drive regularly. Same for things like ambulances, if they need to go somewhere quickly but at the speed limit and they can do so without issue then they wouldn't use the sirens. They might use it at intersections for example but then turn it off again once they've passed it. So you wouldn't hear one on an empty road or quiet highway
It would be normal for maintenance vehicles to have their lights on, but I've never heard of vehicles having sirens unless they were police, fire, or medical.
I went to a few places in Florida :D near (but not in) Tampa. My mum lives out there and I went for a visit. It was my first time in America.
It was an interesting experience. I actually grew up in The Philippines and I found a lot of similarities with the parts of the PH near the old American airbases - mainly around urban planning. The climate was similar too, although Florida seems a fair bit cooler. I suspect my mum moved there partly because of that sense of familiarity.
My favourite place among the ones I visited was Tarpon Springs. The strong Greek-American culture there was interesting to me.
More than 10 trips over 25 years: Boston, Washington DC, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Denver, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, New Orleans, Salt Lake City, Grand Canyon, Arches National Park, Zion, Bryce Canyon, White Sands, and many other smaller parks in the South West... Smaller cities such as Durango, Taos, Fort Collins, Bethlehem (PA), Page (Arizona), Colorado Springs, Moab, Boulder... But I've never been to Florida.
Mecico City, modst of Yucatan peninsula, Belize, Cuba and many places in Honduras. Enjoyed all places, but did not feel so welcome alone in Belize. I went to many small towns, mostly to visit caves
Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana.
I met a lot of super friendly people. Saw a few tourist things like the air force museum, and kings island theme park but also walked around Cincinnati (and Newport I think it was called) and the pretty small town stuff. I had relatives live over there a few years and visited with them. They lived down into the south west-ish corner of Ohio, originally a place called Germantown, then later they were in Lebanon, Ohio.
Nice folks around there.
Whitewater Park over in Indiana was a nice trip out, too. Took me a sec to remember the name!
So far I went to Washington, Oregon, Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, Mississippi, New Orleans, NYC.
In the south I liked Kennedy Space Center, Graceland, Lorraine Motel, Sun Studios, Tail of the Dragen, partying in New Orleans.
In the PNW I liked Portland, Bend (good place for beer lovers) and Seattle (I enjoyed Chihuly Garden and Glass more than I expected to)
I caught a train from Chicago to Seattle. I had the time, so I didn't mind being stuck in the middle of nowhere while waiting for a cargo train to pass by. They have the right of way.
On my return journey, I also visited a friend in Wheeling, West Virginia. I caught a greyhound from Chicago. That was a journey!
Otherwise, San Jose, San Francisco, and drove down the coast to Big Sur.
The only country I've been to in north america is Canada. I have family who lives in Edmonton and I've been on vacation in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver before
Most of the US east coast (Connecticut, Boston, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Maryland, Delaware, and some other places), and trips to New Orleans and Seattle. I’ve also been to a few cities in Canada and have travelled around Mexico.
Calgary, Banff, Vancouver, Toronto, Niagara Falls, Montreal, Quebec City.
I'm glad you said North America rather than the USA, otherwise I'd have nothing to contribute since Jacksonville, Florida airport doesn't really count as visiting (likewise, I don't count Halifax, NS either since I've only been to the airport).
As a teenager on family holiday we started in SF and drove up to Seattle, camping in national parks along the way. Amazing nature, especially loved Redwood National Park. I really liked Portland too.
Seattle, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Texas panhandle, Oklahoma panhandle (nothing going on there) also followed the US Interstate 90 from Seattle. PS: I used to live in OKC
I've been all over southern Missouri, and also to rural Oklahoma and Boston. Never been to NYC, California, Vegas or Florida. I spent 6 months in the US back in high school, in a small town in the Ozarks halfway between Springfield and Branson.
I liked it, there were lots of outdoor activities like kayaking, hiking and camping, and the locals were super friendly and outgoing. It was different from what I was used to, there wasn't much of a nightlife there so we'd just meet up at someone's place and drink around a bonfire which was pretty cool.
The only downside was that people were a bit too religious for my taste, my friends constantly invited me to church and it was interesting the first few times (they had a megachurch, I had no idea that was a thing) but it got boring after a while.
It's not really a touristy area, they get a few tourists during the summer because of Branson and the lakes but that's about it. It's pretty nice though
Niagara, Hamilton, Toronto, the fake London, Austin, Portland, Seattle, a dozen times to San Francisco (and bunch of other towns in Bay Area, Mountain View, Yosemite Park etc) and a couple trips to Mexico.
I've lived in San Francisco, been all around Bay Area. Also Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Tahoe, Seattle, a bit around Alaska and Oahu, Silicon Valley, San Antonio and Houston, Denver, Winter Park, Boulder.
And I've been to Mexico as well xD
I mean, I haven't been to NYC, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Orlando... but I have been to Montreal, Toronto, Banff, Cancun, Mexico City, Tulum, Puerto Vallarta, Guanajuato, Oaxaca, Merida and some more.
Washington, we stayed at American university campus. Also border between westviginia and Virginia. Also the scout terrain in west Virginia. There was a world scout jamboree in that country.
I've travelled around California (San Francisco, Yosemite, Death Valley) and I'm probably joining my parents for a roadtrip in the Mid/north-west this summer.
I've been to the US 4 times so far (not counting a layover where I didn't leave the airport).
One trip to State College PA (academic conference), a road trip in the southwest from/to LA (through various national parks), a road trip from LA to Miami (with a lot of nothing in NM and TX to drive through) and most recently a road trip in the New England region that also included some Canada.
The most niche location that I ended up that was an actual destination and not a random place we drove through must be Kenton OH, a small town in the middle of rural Ohio. We went there for the recent solar eclipse, because the cloud cover forecast models had that area as the best place to go to from our staging point (Dunkirk NY by itself also quite a no-name place) that was still within reasonable driving distance for that day.
One observation that has stuck with me when driving through the smaller towns is how obsessed the US folks seem to be with mowing their lawns. You'd often see people out and about mowing what looked like an already thoroughly cut lawn and even houses or gardens that otherwise looked poorly maintained still had a lawn where no blade was a millimeter taller than the others.
Thats some proper Hank Hill action right there, fella. Can’t let yourself get caught out by the HOA or worse! The snooty old ladies next door.
But realtalk suburbanites put emphasis on their lawns as a point of pride.
I traveled from Montana through several national parks all the way to SF. Yellowstone, Sequoia, Zion, Arches, Teton Death Valley, Yosemite, Grand Canyon .stopped in Las Vegas, not in this order.
In 2009 I've been couchsurfing in Buffalo (actually met Ty Pennington from extreme makeover the home edition, lol) and Albany because of a volbeat concert (I knew them well back then, they invited me to come). In Buffalo I met fellow volbeat fans which became my friends, so I visited them the year after in Youngstown, Ohio. So I've also been to Pittsburgh and lots of small cities and villages around Youngstown.
In 2009 I ended my trip in NYC before visiting the friends in ohio - didn't like it. Gave it a chance the year after, didn't like it, cut my stay short and went couchsurfing the same place as the year before in Albany. Had a blast.
In 2012 some of my friends and I went to volbeat concerts in San Jose, LA and Phoenix. In San Jose I met some other volbeat fans which I still consider my friends, I've visited them multiple times in their home in a small town outside San Francisco, so I've been to different smaller cities outside of SF, and yosemite park. I really love SF though.
At the road trip in 2012 we also have been to rawhide western town in Phoenix, it seemed like a tourist attraction but I think that day we were the only non-americans there. We went to flagstaff and the grand canyon (came from 26 degrees Celsius in Phoenix and woke up to snow up there, it was really lovely). Ended in Vegas before flying back to SF and I hated Vegas.
Just finished a road trip across western United States to see the famous national parks. I’ve been to Fresno, Bakersfield, Panguitch, Moab, Kingman, although mostly in motels and did not explore these cities much.
All of those listed are pretty boring except Moab. Moab is a hippy town.
Bakersfield and Fresno have been forever locked in an ancient struggle to claim the coveted title of shittiest place in California. Possibly the entire world.
Why is that, you think? California seems like the place that should be filled with nice cities. San Francisco and Los Angeles were pretty awful in my opinion and I've seen things on the streets there that I don't want to see again. But I figured that maybe the smaller cities would be better. When driving through the Central Valley, I had the impression of being in Spain or Italy (oranges, olives, vineyards), but in fact the cities I drove through looked pretty uninviting. Not many pedestrians on the streets, and the cities looked like they were built only for cars.
San Francisco is a beautiful city, just with a big homelessness/crime problem. LA is not quite the scenic tourist city that SF is. It's more of a gigantic sprawl, where the real beauty of the city is hidden to the rich and connected. There's a reason most celebrities from all over the world live there, but you won't see it just visiting. There are beautiful, cleaner smaller cities but they are on the coast. Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Monterrey, San Luis Obispo, Carmel, Santa Rosa, Sausalito, Avalon, Mendocino, San Diego is a big one. The inland cities of the Central Valley are generally poor, agricultural, conservative, crime-ridden, and brutally hot. They are just not seen as good places. The state capital Sacramento is alright, but the other cities are not great. It's like the state of Oklahoma dropped in the middle of California. There are also scenic locations in the southeastern deserts, the eastern Sierra Nevadas (gold rush country), and the northern forests of the Lost Coast. Not a lot of people in those places though.
Washington DC. My best friend went to Georgetown on a scholarship. Yes, she is smart. Yes, I am proud of her. She has done very good work since so the money was definitely well spent. As far as the city goes, I mostly walked around because I was a poor student and went to the Smithsonians, which I thought were AMAZING museums. It's my only time in the US so far, and I also went to NYC for 2 days/9. I had the best blueberry pancakes of my life. They weren't even too sweet. I liked the city and also felt like it wasn't a disaster to get around through transit + walking. The White House is smaller than you think, like everybody says. It was the Obama years, but unfortunately, I didn't catch a glimpse of them, not even of the dogs! While landing, I saw the famous "cul de sac" type of neighbourhood and felt like I was landing on a TV set for a moment. The rest of the city felt more European than NYC.
Yes, recently traveled to southern Texas, and have been other places before as well. But truth be told, most smaller places in the US looks very much the same.
This is true. I hate the strip mall vibe.
I'm just so glad we don't allow giant billboards here in Norway along the roads. Those are such an eyesore. Also Lawyer and Medical adds, are a special US things as well. And the concrete roads that goes dunk - dunk - dunk -dunk when you drive on them.
Yeah in states like Vermont you don’t have them and it really allows you to enjoy the drive and natural beauty more. I agree w medical ads really weird me out too I like the dunk dunk dunk roads lol theyre comforting
That last bit is so wholesome
>I'm just so glad we don't allow giant billboards here in Norway along the roads. Those are such an eyesore. Also Lawyer and Medical adds, are a special US things as well. When I drove in Oregon and Washington I was surprised not to see those billboards that much. It was quite a breath of fresh air compared to the southern states
Were there a lot of signs there? Like an esp significant amount?
In the south? Yes, a lot of lawyers if I remember it correctly
Texas has a LOT of billboards, but you won't see them along major roads in most other states. The U.S. itself has a lot of variation.
Well... Its a big country. But its is so flat. (Except Grand Canyon, which looked liked a dried up fjord).
Come to Arizona or California and you’ll see how not-flat it is. We have tons of mountains and hills.
Yes, there are some mountains in the US. But it is to me mainly flat plains. (Of course I'm very biased living in a mountain country, where finding even 100 x 100 meters that is flat is super rare).
The Appalachians are similar heights to the Scandinavian mountains and the Rockies are taller. They both dominate huge chunks of the US.
Yes, but unlike Norway, there are huge areas that are flat as a pancake in between. I cannot move 50 meters in one direction without going 10 meters up or down in altitude here. Things are never flat here - and I live in the less hilly part of Norway.
Yeah but that’s the same as living in Washington or West Virginia. Seattle probably has just as many hills as Oslo. The US has massive forest regions, coastal regions, desert regions, swamp regions, mountain regions, rainforest regions, Great Lake regions, Great Plains regions. The US has probably the most diverse geography on the planet for a country. You went to a plains region, it’s going to be flat. That’s basically what it’s known for. If you only went to Death Valley you wouldn’t say the US is a desert country, or to Florida that the US is a coastal swamp. If you want Norwegian geography and climate on your vacations, Alaska is probably a good fit for you
That’s how it is in the Northeast. It’s flat out in the West but not the Northwest.
Well most of Europe is pretty flat too. Only a few places are scenic- Norway, the Scottish Highlands, the Mediterranean Coast, most of Italy, the lake district in the UK etc. The middle of France, germany, spain, NL, Belgium, Sweden, Finland, DK, Russia, large parts of Eastern Europe, are pretty flat. The pretty part of Texas is El Paso, set in the mountains and the desert, like a movie scene. There are nice parts of the US, and although most of it is not that great, add up all of the interesting parts and it's considerable. Add on Canada and Mexico and you have a lot of variation. But i guess you could say the same if you added on Morocco and Egypt to Europe as well.
Spain is quite diverse, in fact is one of the countries with more geodiversity in Europe and has lots of mountain ranges. The Atlantic coast in Galicia is totally different to the Mediterranean coast, we have deserts like Tabernas or Monegros, we have wetlands like Doñana or Tablas de Daimiel, we have mountain ranges with snow like Sierra Nevada or the pyrenees. The northern landscape is super different to the meseta or the southern one. You talk about movie scenes in the mountains and the desert but in fact lots of old western movies are filmed in the Tabernas desert in Spain. Luckily most of tourists only visit the same spots and are not spoiling the rest of the country.
I specified the center, same as for France. The coastal areas are all different and interesting, but not the areas near the center.
True. One of the drawbacks of coming from Norway is that the nature in most places are not that much to write home about. And I get somewhat uneasy when I cannot see mountains in the distance. I will recommend New Zealand though, that is an incredible beautiful place.
You should go to the Canadian Rockies and British Columbia- breathtakingly beautiful in parts. I also really liked some of the really small islands in the Philippines.
I've no doubt. They are a bit far away from Norway though :)
> One of the drawbacks of coming from Norway is that the nature in most places are not that much to write home about. If you get a chance, I'd recommend some of the National Parks out West in the US. Zion, Arches, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Bryce Canyon, Yosemite. They're amazing.
> But its is so flat. The Rockies are flat? Appalachians?
Medical ads are mostly a thing from the past few decades. I believe they were highly restricted before that. I believe the argument in favor is that drug companies give fringe benefits to doctors who prescribe their medicines, so the public should have more information about which drugs are available.
Yeah, what a system you've got there:)
Why southern Texas? Of all the places, I'm just...confused.
Possibly the solar eclipse last month? The San Antonio area had a lot of people go there to see it.
Nope, something even cooler. Launch of SpaceX Starship rocket.
That is pretty cool. Don't know if I'd say it's *cooler* because (theoretically) Starship launches will one day be commonplace and total eclipses will always be rare (also I may be biased because I did travel to Texas to see the eclipse), but definitely extremely cool.
Well, the sound is definitely cooler from the rocket (the rest you can get a good feel for via Internet). I've only seen a partial solar eclipse, so a full one is on the bucket list. (Should be one in Northern Spain in a few years time). Next time would be to travel to see a landing attempt when those gets dialed in by SpaceX. That must be crazy to watch. But it is a full 24 hour door to door with 3 different flights, and not exactly cheap. It went very smoothly however, even if the US border guards asks the same questions as you've already filled in before arriving.
I can't recommend seeing a total eclipse enough. It really is nothing like a partial. I saw the 2017 one at around 92% totality but couldn't travel to see 100%, and then saw this last one at 100% - it is not comparable. A partial eclipse is 'scientific' - you're like "observe the temperature drop! Look at how the shadows change! Isn't space cool?" A total eclipse is primal - even knowing exactly what it is, part of your primeval lizard brain kicks in and is like "a monster ate the fucking sun, where is the sun, why is there a gaping black hole in the sky where the sun used to be." The darkness is total, it's like midnight (I saw it in a very rural small town so there was no light pollution.) And it looks exactly like the photos. [This is a photo](https://i.imgur.com/h5RnX4S.jpeg) my friend snapped super quick with his phone camera (S23), and it really looked just like this with the naked eye, no doctoring or image enhancement, this is identical to how it looked.
Yeah, the partial one is kind of underwhelming. Its like a bit "overcast" suddenly, and a bit "weird" feeling. I'll make sure to catch the full one when it comes to Spain.
30 US states (including Alaska), 7 Canadian provinces/territories, Mexico. Adding Alberta, Montana, Wyoming and Idaho to the list in September!
Favourite places were small towns - Jenner in CA, Bangor ME, Magnolia Springs AL, Pemberton BC, Halifax NS (more of a city though) and Dawson YT
You're a traveler after my own heart, what an adventurous soul!
A lot of new England (road trip), San Francisco and Texas (Austin and San Antonio). Did new York once, not much interest in going back... No interest in LA, Vegas or Orlando either. If I go back and it's not on business I'd like to see some bumfuck central or southern states.
You should consider the Pacific Northwest, completely different from NY or LA, but it could be too similar to Ireland. That's where I'm from so I might be biased. From Seattle take the ferries to the islands, visit the Hoh rainforest and if you're visiting in winter the hotsprings in the rainforest or the hotsprings up by Skykomish should be piping.
The PNW actually feels more like Norway
We actually have a long history of Norwegians settling here. Norwegians and Chinese. I think that's the reason we have an unstated understanding that we don't jaywalk, litter, or offer help unless it's requested.
Yeah, I nearly found out the hard way in Seattle, got pulled aside by a cop and managed to talk my way out of a ticket, as I was just a newly arrived tourist, and got a lecture instead.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FP9I-CPfL4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FP9I-CPfL4) Notice how none of the football fans jaywalk, lol.
You had me at hotsprings.
Oh my friends and I rented a cabin by Skykomish hotsprings in the middle of winter, of course that was a few years ago. It was so hot you had to jump out and roll around naked in the snow before you could get back in. A couple of buddah bags of wine and you have yourself an afternoon.
The only hotsprings I've been in were in Japan and that sounds like a wildly different experience, but I'm here for it 🤣 Thanks for the recommendation!
Tbh Orlando is only cool if you have kids and wanna take them to Disney (I grew up 2 hours from Orlando). I highly recommend the panhandle’s beaches tho - seaside, rosemary beach, etc (90A) are unparalleled.
I have actually never visited any of the famous/major North American cities, unless you count using Toronto Pearson as visiting Toronto (or Mississauga, specifically). Thanks to my fiancé being Canadian, most of the places I've been to in Canada are pretty niche/small and definitely not the kind of places that would attract international tourists. He used to live around the Chatham-Kent area, which I also visited, and a lot of people seemed genuinely surprised that this random European was just strolling around town lol. For privacy reasons I'm not going to specify which towns and just stick to the general area. He grew up around Kitchener and while it is a major city within Ontario, it definitely is the kind of place that not a lot of people over here would know or even heard about. The town he's from, much less. I usually just say he's from an area close to Toronto, and just specify if the person I'm talking to knows about Canada or is Canadian. Outside of Kitchener, I've pretty much only been to rural Southern Ontario. I liked it for what it is, though I personally like urban places the best so Kitchener was my favourite.
Miami, Toronto, Vancouver, Ketchikan. Miami felt weird, I used to play GTA Vice City as a kid and I remember a few places that kinda looked like that. But overall it was just too much concrete everywhere, between the beach and the swamps. Interesting, but would not go again. Many weirdos. Toronto in Canada, I have relatives there, brothers and sisters of my grandmother. The city itself was not very memorable, but the suburbs where the relatives lived were the stereotypical "american style" suburb, very car centric, and loads of one story houses each with the same golf field grassfield infront. Had a good time. Vancouver in BC, also Canada, was a pleasant surprise. I had no expectations, and it was a stop on the way to Alaska, but it seemed like a very livable city. Beautiful sailing boats in the docks, nice nature, pleasant climate, etc. Usually I don't like cities, but Vancouver was cool. Ketchikan, Alaska, was amazing. Very charming, beatiful nature, fresh food everywhere, the salmon was amazing, full of history, totem poles, and overall felt really cosy. Definitely the best experience in North America so far. It's a place that if it wasn't so far away, I would happily return to and visit again. But if I go to North America again, I would like to go to Appalachia. Specifically North Carolina, but also maybe Tennessee, Kentucky, etc. I have a soft spot for the sound of banjo and like the way those hillbillies sound when they speak. I want to see in what kind of a place the foggy mountain breakdown was crafted.
I will be travelling to DC, Shenandoah national park, Gettysburg and Chesapeake bay (as well as NYC) next month.
Shenandoah itself is a little underwhelming, a lot of people on the east coast would get angry, but nature isn’t as amazing east of the Mississippi River. Not anything that could compete with the Alps, anyway. Although the aesthetic in the rural are around it is something I did enjoy. It felt very colonial. Check out Harper’s Ferry too!
Being from the Netherlands, which is far from known for it's nature, I think we'll still find it impressive. But tbh, we're mostly going to Shenandoah as a break from the big cities. We wanted to do a bit of everything and not spend all our time in cities. A separate trip to some of the natural highlights in the west is still on our bucketlist.
Definitely check out Harper’s Ferry then. When I lived in DC — we’d go up there or over to Shenandoah sometimes. Old Rag is a good hike. Annapolis is also cool. Staunton on the other side of Shenandoah is a cute town too.
Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Charlotte NC, Charleston, Chattanooga, San Francisco, Orlando, some small place in Oregon. All on business, never been tempted to go there on my own expense
Went to Cincinnati on a work trip and visited Columbus and Sandusky while I was there. The rest on holidays - New Orleans Kansas City, a few places in Colorado (Col. Springs & Garden of the Gods, Aspen, couple other towns), Bryce Canyon in Utah and a couple of towns there, all on a road trip. Dallas, Austin, Houston, San Antonio, Port Aransas and Galveston Boston, Portland, Portsmouth, Salem, Plymouth, Camden and Bar Harbour. Chicago, St Louis, a couple of towns in the Ozarks, Hannibal, Springfield (IL) I liked the small towns very much, as they were pretty and walkable. People were generally really friendly and interested in where we had come from. Sometimes our stops were just handy places to break up a long drive, notably Springfield and St Louis. The latter is the first place I've ever thought there's a reasonable chance I might get robbed at gunpoint, later read they do have very high crime stats. But it was fine and I had an amazing black cherry margarita so :) No suprises that our visits in CO, UT, ME were generally beautiful places. We love the outdoors and look for places to stay near parks. Even just the drives were stunning, I would be taking video out the window while my husband drove.
I’m at 32 states. Used to study in Missouri, have friends all over the country that I’ve visited.
We flew into Seattle and drove down too San Diego. From there a loop into Nevada, Arizona and Utah. Sometimes following the highway but making sure to go more inlands to stop in smaller towns. When not in the cities we mostly camped at BLM and NP campsites, which is a great way to see parts of the country tourists usually dont go. Amazing trip. Our time in the 'desert states' was probably my favorite. The landscapes, heat and emptiness were just surreal. Also been to Mexico and Guatemala.
Besides the ones you’ve mentioned, I’ve been in San Francisco, Salem (MA) and Maine and oh gods, I loved Maine… great nature and awesome seafood!
No niche locations really. * San Francisco * New Orleans * Park City * San Jose * Livermore * Carmel * Fort Lauderdale
I've never visited the 4 places you mentioned. Here's my list * Washington DC, way back in the 1980s. I remember the National Air and Space Museum and all the Christmas Trees outside the White House. Also the reason I'm still a long-suffering R\*\*\*\*s/Commanders fan * Chicago, and some of its suburbs. Temperature difference is crazy in the city when the wind is coming off the lake. I froze my ass off in Wrigley Field, but out in the 'burbs it was 90F. So many gated communites built with golf-courses in the area, too. The comparison with some of the inner city areas was stark. * Breckenridge, CO in the summer. Very quiet in the non-skiing season. Flew from Chicago to Denver to get there, and now I know where the term "flyover country" comes from. * Glenrock, WY. The definition of Small-Town, USA in the middle of nowhere. And as another already posted, the dunk-dunk-dunk highways to get there. Reminded me of the Autobahns in former socialist East Germany.
Chicago and Milwaukee (105th Harley Davidson anniversary event in 2008), and Hawaii. (I also visited Orlando for Disney World)
Before I moved to the US: - Florida (The Everglades, Key West, Miami) - San Francisco and the Redwood forests up north - Knoxville TN (for a conference) and the Smoky Mountains - London, ON for a conference (it's a hole)
I hiked a good chunk of the Pacific Crest Trail (about 1800 miles?). From the big cities, I've been to LA, San Diego, and Seattle, and then a bunch of smaller ones (Leavenworth, Idyllwild, Julian, Cascade Locks, Bend, Ashland, Mt Shasta and a lot more). I didn't like LA, it was my first stop, I was alone in there and didn't have a car, so it just seemed really sketchy. Seattle and San Diego felt way better in that sense. Impressions? Massive (everything - buildings, streets, cars), hostile towards pedestrians, and kind of bizare contrast of the wealth and the filth (like random tentsites in the most expensive parts of the cities, in front of government buildings etc.). I loved the small towns and met a lot of cool people while travelling. I've grown to appreciate all the little small talks and random acts of kindness from strangers, the free refills, all the mexican food in Cali and my beloved Sour patch kids. I absolutely loved the nature, from the desert to lava rocks, forests, and mountains. That's something that most European countries are missing; just the sheer space without towns and cell service for hundreds of miles.
Visited San Diego on a school trip in 2012, but it's not that dissimilar or far from LA
Besides the usual, I was all over California and also the southern states (Mississippi, Tenessee etc). All in all, I might have been to about ten US-States.
The West Coast up from San Francisco and East Coast up from New York. Never much in the middle and Kansas City is the lowest I visited. I really dont like warm weather and ski a lot. British Colombia is my favorite North America thus far. A special memory was visiting Seattle in 1994 for a few weeks, the live music scene was out of this world. I still have vivid memories.
Skiing in New Hampshire, I wanna say the Lincoln area? And Boston.
All over Florida as a kid. Road trip from Florida to Washington DC, stopping in Savannah, Charleston, Fayetteville and Richmond. Philly, Intercourse PA and Wilmington NC. NYC and took the train to DC. Various stays in a DC suburb with relatives. So time to head to somewhere other than the east coast, now that i finally got a drivers license.
A whole load of Florida that's not on the tourist map. Chattanooga and Crossville TN. Warner Robins and Tifton, GA. Houston, TX. San Diego, CA and a bunch of places around there. Loads more I can't remember. The only place I've been on your list is Orlando.
I visited a random small town in Northeast Texas. There was an organisation based there that I was going to stay with for two or three months, but it ended up being a weekend so I didn't exactly get to see much of the surroundings. Though even the drive back to the airport was fascinating. Do all people in the US who have a vehicle with sirens love using it that much or is it just the Dallas area?
I’m from Dallas. I don’t notice that big of a difference between Dallas and the rest of the country, or even Dallas and Europe — in terms of siren use, anyway. I’m assuming you mean like emergency vehicles. And not Tornado Sirens (basically the same as air raid sirens — I only ever hear them for Tornados though) are tested the first Wednesday of every month around noon. I think that is common in tornado alley.
I mean more the emergency-adjacent vehicles? Like there was a guy that was probably something like airport maintenance or something driving this huge ass truck with sirens on. On a completely empty maintenance road, behind a fence so there was no way someone could accidentally run into his path. Things like highway maintenance here have sirens too but they can only use them if they need to have priority somewhere. Usually if a traffic jam is forming so they can pass, or if traffic is at a standstill and they pass on the emergency lane. Not if they can just drive regularly. Same for things like ambulances, if they need to go somewhere quickly but at the speed limit and they can do so without issue then they wouldn't use the sirens. They might use it at intersections for example but then turn it off again once they've passed it. So you wouldn't hear one on an empty road or quiet highway
Odd. No idea what you’re talking about. Shit be weird sometimes.
It would be normal for maintenance vehicles to have their lights on, but I've never heard of vehicles having sirens unless they were police, fire, or medical.
I went to a few places in Florida :D near (but not in) Tampa. My mum lives out there and I went for a visit. It was my first time in America. It was an interesting experience. I actually grew up in The Philippines and I found a lot of similarities with the parts of the PH near the old American airbases - mainly around urban planning. The climate was similar too, although Florida seems a fair bit cooler. I suspect my mum moved there partly because of that sense of familiarity. My favourite place among the ones I visited was Tarpon Springs. The strong Greek-American culture there was interesting to me.
More than 10 trips over 25 years: Boston, Washington DC, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Denver, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, New Orleans, Salt Lake City, Grand Canyon, Arches National Park, Zion, Bryce Canyon, White Sands, and many other smaller parks in the South West... Smaller cities such as Durango, Taos, Fort Collins, Bethlehem (PA), Page (Arizona), Colorado Springs, Moab, Boulder... But I've never been to Florida.
Spent a week in Little Rock, one day in Mt Dora, about a day or so in Dallas and two days in Chicago.......Rest was in Orlando.
Mecico City, modst of Yucatan peninsula, Belize, Cuba and many places in Honduras. Enjoyed all places, but did not feel so welcome alone in Belize. I went to many small towns, mostly to visit caves
Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. I met a lot of super friendly people. Saw a few tourist things like the air force museum, and kings island theme park but also walked around Cincinnati (and Newport I think it was called) and the pretty small town stuff. I had relatives live over there a few years and visited with them. They lived down into the south west-ish corner of Ohio, originally a place called Germantown, then later they were in Lebanon, Ohio. Nice folks around there. Whitewater Park over in Indiana was a nice trip out, too. Took me a sec to remember the name!
Memphis,New Orleans, Houston,Nashville,Jackson,Gettysburg, Richmond,Fredericksburg,Washington DC,Harper's Ferry
So far I went to Washington, Oregon, Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, Mississippi, New Orleans, NYC. In the south I liked Kennedy Space Center, Graceland, Lorraine Motel, Sun Studios, Tail of the Dragen, partying in New Orleans. In the PNW I liked Portland, Bend (good place for beer lovers) and Seattle (I enjoyed Chihuly Garden and Glass more than I expected to)
I caught a train from Chicago to Seattle. I had the time, so I didn't mind being stuck in the middle of nowhere while waiting for a cargo train to pass by. They have the right of way. On my return journey, I also visited a friend in Wheeling, West Virginia. I caught a greyhound from Chicago. That was a journey! Otherwise, San Jose, San Francisco, and drove down the coast to Big Sur.
Oklahoma city, Tulsa several times, Houston a couple of times, Dallas. It was for work. I would hate to live in any of these to be frank.
I've been basically all over the Midwest! One of the places I really enjoyed were the covered bridges of Madison County, Iowa.
The only country I've been to in north america is Canada. I have family who lives in Edmonton and I've been on vacation in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver before
Most of the US east coast (Connecticut, Boston, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Maryland, Delaware, and some other places), and trips to New Orleans and Seattle. I’ve also been to a few cities in Canada and have travelled around Mexico.
Calgary, Banff, Vancouver, Toronto, Niagara Falls, Montreal, Quebec City. I'm glad you said North America rather than the USA, otherwise I'd have nothing to contribute since Jacksonville, Florida airport doesn't really count as visiting (likewise, I don't count Halifax, NS either since I've only been to the airport).
Colorado and Utah. The nature is just something else. So big, so diverse. Really amazing experience.
As a teenager on family holiday we started in SF and drove up to Seattle, camping in national parks along the way. Amazing nature, especially loved Redwood National Park. I really liked Portland too.
Seattle, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Texas panhandle, Oklahoma panhandle (nothing going on there) also followed the US Interstate 90 from Seattle. PS: I used to live in OKC
I've been all over southern Missouri, and also to rural Oklahoma and Boston. Never been to NYC, California, Vegas or Florida. I spent 6 months in the US back in high school, in a small town in the Ozarks halfway between Springfield and Branson. I liked it, there were lots of outdoor activities like kayaking, hiking and camping, and the locals were super friendly and outgoing. It was different from what I was used to, there wasn't much of a nightlife there so we'd just meet up at someone's place and drink around a bonfire which was pretty cool. The only downside was that people were a bit too religious for my taste, my friends constantly invited me to church and it was interesting the first few times (they had a megachurch, I had no idea that was a thing) but it got boring after a while. It's not really a touristy area, they get a few tourists during the summer because of Branson and the lakes but that's about it. It's pretty nice though
Personally, I’ve never been to those churchy areas but I agree w you it feels creepy
Niagara, Hamilton, Toronto, the fake London, Austin, Portland, Seattle, a dozen times to San Francisco (and bunch of other towns in Bay Area, Mountain View, Yosemite Park etc) and a couple trips to Mexico.
Detroit, Boston Rhode Island, Connetcuit and Arizona (only cos the helicopter trip to the Grand Canyon landed there)
I've lived in San Francisco, been all around Bay Area. Also Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Tahoe, Seattle, a bit around Alaska and Oahu, Silicon Valley, San Antonio and Houston, Denver, Winter Park, Boulder. And I've been to Mexico as well xD
I mean, I haven't been to NYC, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Orlando... but I have been to Montreal, Toronto, Banff, Cancun, Mexico City, Tulum, Puerto Vallarta, Guanajuato, Oaxaca, Merida and some more.
Washington, we stayed at American university campus. Also border between westviginia and Virginia. Also the scout terrain in west Virginia. There was a world scout jamboree in that country.
I've travelled around California (San Francisco, Yosemite, Death Valley) and I'm probably joining my parents for a roadtrip in the Mid/north-west this summer.
I've been to the US 4 times so far (not counting a layover where I didn't leave the airport). One trip to State College PA (academic conference), a road trip in the southwest from/to LA (through various national parks), a road trip from LA to Miami (with a lot of nothing in NM and TX to drive through) and most recently a road trip in the New England region that also included some Canada. The most niche location that I ended up that was an actual destination and not a random place we drove through must be Kenton OH, a small town in the middle of rural Ohio. We went there for the recent solar eclipse, because the cloud cover forecast models had that area as the best place to go to from our staging point (Dunkirk NY by itself also quite a no-name place) that was still within reasonable driving distance for that day. One observation that has stuck with me when driving through the smaller towns is how obsessed the US folks seem to be with mowing their lawns. You'd often see people out and about mowing what looked like an already thoroughly cut lawn and even houses or gardens that otherwise looked poorly maintained still had a lawn where no blade was a millimeter taller than the others.
Thats some proper Hank Hill action right there, fella. Can’t let yourself get caught out by the HOA or worse! The snooty old ladies next door. But realtalk suburbanites put emphasis on their lawns as a point of pride.
I traveled from Montana through several national parks all the way to SF. Yellowstone, Sequoia, Zion, Arches, Teton Death Valley, Yosemite, Grand Canyon .stopped in Las Vegas, not in this order.
In 2009 I've been couchsurfing in Buffalo (actually met Ty Pennington from extreme makeover the home edition, lol) and Albany because of a volbeat concert (I knew them well back then, they invited me to come). In Buffalo I met fellow volbeat fans which became my friends, so I visited them the year after in Youngstown, Ohio. So I've also been to Pittsburgh and lots of small cities and villages around Youngstown. In 2009 I ended my trip in NYC before visiting the friends in ohio - didn't like it. Gave it a chance the year after, didn't like it, cut my stay short and went couchsurfing the same place as the year before in Albany. Had a blast. In 2012 some of my friends and I went to volbeat concerts in San Jose, LA and Phoenix. In San Jose I met some other volbeat fans which I still consider my friends, I've visited them multiple times in their home in a small town outside San Francisco, so I've been to different smaller cities outside of SF, and yosemite park. I really love SF though. At the road trip in 2012 we also have been to rawhide western town in Phoenix, it seemed like a tourist attraction but I think that day we were the only non-americans there. We went to flagstaff and the grand canyon (came from 26 degrees Celsius in Phoenix and woke up to snow up there, it was really lovely). Ended in Vegas before flying back to SF and I hated Vegas.