15

Must see places in the US... There are sooooo many places to see, ya kaint list em all here.
I coment on this string with some hesitation. I've seen so many places during my travels and found that all areas have good and bad points about them. Many of these places are season sensitive.
I'll agree with #10... The beaches of the Olympic National Park are wonderful. It was the entire ecosystem that drew me to that area. You can walk from the Sea Stacks, through a rain forest and upon a Glacier in a couple of days. A wonderous journey!

So, how about those places between your home and your destination. Long drives in North America can be broken into segments by getting off the interstate and driving on the 2 lane roads for a wee bit. Stop in the small towns and chat with the locals a bit. Ask the men about the crops. Ask the women about their parents and grandparents. Find a Diner (www.dinercity.com) or a greasy spoon!

I once had lunch at a small town joint. Met a guy that had been helping a friend with horses. Eventually, these words came out of that mans mouth. "My daddy once traded his car for a coon dog."
Must have been one fine dog, eh!

16

As an Asian, these are the things that impressed me most as unique and American

A road trip - with my husband in his Subaru, 10 states and 5 national parks from Mississippi to Graceland in 4 weeks

New Orleans - the French Quarter, Garden District
Yellowstone Park - so big and has so many things to offer, I also liked the exit road to Cody, Wyoming
New York - especially Central Park, Empire State Building
Washington DC - don't you feel the power?
Arizona parks - Grand Canyon, Sedona, Montezuma's Castle, Tonto
Las Vegas - golly, look at all those lights
Oregon - Crater Lake, and the route we took from Sequoia to my husband's hometown in Chelan, WA
Washington - Seattle (flying fish at Pike Market), Mt. St. Helen's, Mt. Rainier ... this summer my husband promised a camping and hiking trip on the Pacific Crest Trail for at least a week. No. 16 thanks for the tip

17

Alaska in general.

18

how about the famous Jersey shore??? Im a jersey girl so im partial.. but come on'... the Boss sang songs about the Jersey Shore.. its gotta be a notable trip... at least in my opinion...

19

Red aspens, I'm very skeptical. Are you sure that it isn't something else?

20

For Johann
As a native of Colorado and living in the Rockies I can assure you that there are indeed red aspens. While the majority of aspens turn a brilliant gold, the right temperatures can cause the leaves to turn a very deep red. Most frequently you will see the red mixed in with the gold and often a tree or a grove will shade from the red to the gold with some oranges inbetween. I have often seen individual trees that are red on the top and gold on the bottom.

My list
Sunrise on the rim of the Grand Canyon, preferably after a March snowstorm leaving the rim white and blending into the colors of the canyon.

St Highway 55-337 on the east side of the Los Pinos Mtns in New Mexico

Mesa Verde National Park

The Uncompahgre Wilderness in Colorado

The buffalo herd and the coyotes hunting prarie dogs in Wind Cave National Park

The North Cascades in Washington (in a rainstorm)

21

After 43 years of travel, and seeing all fifty states and almost 200 NPS sites, these are my must-sees, in no particular order:

1) New York City
2) Yellowstone NP
3) Washington DC
4) Yosemite NP
5) New Orleans
6) Grand Canyon
7) Las Vegas (no promise you'll enjoy it, but you must see it to disbelieve it!)

Highly recommended runner-ups: Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Rocky Mountain NP, Glacier NP, Arches/Canyonlands, Bryce/Zion NP,

22

everything sounds wonderful, except nobody mentioned Chicago!!!!
Great Architecture, Superb Food, World Class museums, an inexspensive Hostel in the Heart of the CitMy list Would be simple
1 the Field Museum, great natural history museum(lots of films shot there)
2 Starved Rock State Park(one hour and thirty minutes from downtown) has lodge motel and great walks
3 Washington Island, Wisconsin(small but relaxed)
4 north shore of Ouahu
5 circus world museum(baraboo WISconsin)
6 Wright Paterson Airforce Base Museum( huge)
7 Marshall fields down town store(just for the architecture)
8 western Massachsettes eastern pen or upstate New York(just for the senery)
9 Anna Maria Island(florida gulf)
10 any english pub(have to have a good pint of bitter)

23

In addition to the places above, I would add

Saguaro National Parks East or West on the outskirts of Tucson, best appreciated near sunset. Pop in a CD of old Western classics like "Rawhide" as you slowly cruise among the giant stands of saguaro cacti. Pull over at one of the scenic lookouts, get out of the car, and discover the other species of cacti and desert shrubs that co-exist in the beautiful Sonoran Desert.

24

I just took a look at the red aspens (see #6; beautiful photo!). I've seen them a vivid orange-red like that. In fact, my mother's kitchen was painted almost exactly that color to match an aspen leaf she brought home to show the painters! Usually they don't get that red, but it can and does happen! The mountain maples of the Cascades are even more fantastic and can rival the colors of the Northeast. But there is much more fall color in the Northeast because eastern forests have less conifers (the "forest primeval, the murmering pines and the hemlocks" was replaced mostly by deciduous trees after the initial logging). When I lived in Vermont we never missed at least one drive over Smugglers Notch at the height of the fall color season.

I forgot to mention in my post #14 that if drive #4 is done on a clear day, eastbound you should take US 12 and westbound you should take WA 410, so that you get the full benefit the awesome closeup view of Mt. Rainier from Chinook Pass (much more impressive through your windshield than in your rear-view mirror)! By mid-October, The Mountain will have fresh snow on its higher elevations. If you have time, take a sidetrip up to Sunrise, on the northeast slope. This is the best time to visit Mt. Rainier because it is relatively uncrowded.

Another place to mention--Hocking Hills State Park in southeastern Ohio. The Columbia River Gorge it's not, but it does have lovely small canyons with waterfalls and many trails. I saw it in March, with trees just starting to bud out, and I suspect it would also be lovely in fall colors.

25

Nice Thread! I just got back from a two month trip to Mexico and was depressed to be back and reading this thread made me fall back in love with my country again!

My votes, in no particular order, (from the little bit of the country I have seen!):

Boston (my home town, what can I say?)

NYC (Some of the greatest artwork in the world is housed there, and nothing beats people watching and dog walking in Central Park on beautiful spring or summer day)

Hawaii, (only been to the Big Island and Oahu, but Volcanos National Park on the Big Island is something to see! And the black sand beach of Punaluu, 'scuse the spelling, with the huge sea turtles just sitting there in the sand minding their own business, and South Point, proclaimed to be the Southern most point in the U.S., yes, further south than the Keys, so they say)

The hills of Kentucky and Tennessee

Fall in New England, the rolling green hills of Vermont, the rocky Maine Coast,

Blue Highways, back roads, mom and pop stores, most any place off the beaten path....

In Maine when asking how far it was to a particular place, I once got this answer, "Hard tellin'....not knowin...." delivered with the utmost of seriousness and the heavy-ayuh Maine accent.

Later, after living there for a few years, I found myself giving directions like this, "and then take a left where the old barn used to be....."

Having in lived on the East Coast my whole life I realize there is a ton I haven't seen but I just accepted a job offer in New Mexico so looks like I will get to see more.

Thanks for an uplifting thread!

26

To include in your "most haunting" and "must experience" categories:

An all-night Greyhound bus trip through the Deep South, from Memphis to New Orleans

27

Here are my picks.

1. PACIFIC NORTHWEST. The coastline of Wasington and Oregon has to be seen to be believed. I have seen much of the coastline in the U.S. and been to tropical beaches on several continents and NONE of them compare to the coastline of Oregon and Washington. Of course I am a Cascadian and proud of it, so I am biased on that. The Olympic coast in Washington is my favorite because sixty miles of it are accessible only by backpackers, so there are no sounds of the road and you can really be out and do some beach camping, but if backpacking isn't your thing the coast of southern Washington and Oregon are accessible by road and are also absolutely breathtaking. Visit Seattle for a few days, it's worth a look around, and try to take a tour around the San Juan Islands. Many of the islands are perfect for a day-long bike trip, about 10-30 miles around, and are covered in nice rolling hills, beautiful pine forests, and lonely little docks dotting the way. The North Cascades are, in my opinion, the most beautiful place on earth. The peaks are jagged and covered in glaciers and ancient forests. If you are at all into hiking and camping, the northwest has it all: some of the most beautiful beaches, forests and mountains on earth, and some of the best ganja.

2. San Francisco. San Francisco is a really cool city, if perhaps a bit touristy. It still has a lot of stuff worth seeing.

3. New Orleans. A drinking and partying town like none other on earth. Bourbon St. in the French Quarter has several hundred people partying in the streets seven nights a week. The architecture in the French Quarter is worth looking around, and if you walk the French Quarter alone at night, in a place where not too many other people are, you can almost feel ghosts in the air.

4. Grand Canyon and New Mexico. Many people suggested this, and I have to ditto them. Truly enchanting places.

28

Sunset in Key West
Balloon asension in Albuquerque
Taos Pueblo
Yellowstone Nat'l Park
Devil's Tower
Wall Drug
Niagra Falls
The view of the Pacific from Big Sur (after you've puked you're guts out).

29

I'm with you, One000days! With all the snow we're getting, the thought of walking the boards on a hot, sticky July night is sounding really good right about now. It's not necessarily the prettiest place in the country, but it has a definite feeling that I haven't found anywhere else.