Tips for first time US visitors wanted!

[WeakAnkles]

Ah @WeakAnkles, you're really making me miss New York (lived there for years) - there's no place like it! Definitely walking + subway is the best way to see the city, and walking across the Brooklyn Bridge is amazing. One of the things I really love about walking in NYC is that the blocks are quite short and there's always something to see, whether it's the people or the streetscape or stores...

There have been so many wonderful suggestions in this thread that it makes me want to travel!

But it also makes me think about the OP's desire to see places that are more typically American than NYC or DC. The thing is, we're such a huge and diverse country that it's really hard to say what's typically American. In some ways I think the biggest divide is between small town and big city life - someone living in Chicago probably has a lot more in common with New Yorkers than with a resident of Freeport, Illinois or Monroe, Wisconsin (both small Midwestern towns). At the same time, the Northeast, the Southwest, the Midwest, etc. all have distinct regional characters.

For me, the best way to get to know a place - even a place like NYC - is just to walk around neighborhoods where people live and work and have a coffee (in addition to hitting the museums and other "touristy" stuff). So in NYC I would go to the green market in Union Square. I might take the subway out to Jackson Heights, where there is a huge Latin American population, or to Astoria, which is full of Greeks, or take the train out to Newark (yes!) for Portuguese food. Or take Metro North to Larchmont, a ritzy Westchester suburb where a lot of French diplomats live, with the result that there are French bakeries and wine stores and schoolchildren speaking French on the street. Or take train out to the North Fork of Long Island and visit the wineries. Or I might go to one of these places:

http://m.newyork.com/articles/real-...ity-neighborhoods-with-a-suburban-feel-70146/

In Chicago I would go to Lincoln Park and might go down to Hyde Park, where the University of Chicago is, or to Oak Park, where Frank Lloyd Wright built a lot of houses. And I would definitely try to see the Blackhawks (hockey) play at the United Center!

If it were me I'd skip Iowa and Disneyland. Unless, of course, you go to Fairfield Iowa, which is home to Maharishi University and has a ton of residents who practice transcendental meditation (really!):

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairfield,_Iowa

But actually, April in Iowa might not be the greatest. As for me, I think I'd rather go to Boulder, Colorado or Berkeley, California than Fairfield.

Whatever you do, have a great trip and let us know where you end up going!

Ah Ironbound section of Newark! Wonderful tapas and great Portuguese food. And the Tibetan art in the Newark museum (the Dalai Lama actually was there years ago to open a special exhibition).

Yes, NYC is not typically American. We're more of a little world onto ourselves. And even sections of NYC are quite different: Inwood, at the Northern tip of Manhattan, has more in common with, say, Long Island, than it does with the East Village (but it does have The Cloisters, which is a wonderful little museum dedicated to Medieval art, with an outdoor balcony boasting a spectacular view of the Hudson River and George Washington Bridge).

Ok, it's true. I New York!

 

[dorispulaski]

Liquor buying in the US can be interesting, as I mentioned before.

In New York state, you can buy beer at the grocery or convenience store, but wine must be purchased in a wine shop or liquor store. OTOH, beer cannot be sold at liquor stores. In some towns, you cannot buy liquor at all
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lis...States_by_state#New_York.E2.80.93South_Dakota

Off-premises [ I.e. not in a bar or restaurant] sale of wine and spirits is only at liquor stores, and beer is not sold at liquor stores; it must be sold at supermarkets and convenience stores. Exchanges for returned items are permitted (at store owners' discretion).[85]
Some counties may retain the Sunday morning beer prohibition which the state discontinued as of July 30, 2006. Twelve dry towns, mostly in western region of state. Many counties have more restrictive off-premises hours, such as bans on beer sales overnight (hours vary). All liquor stores must be owned by a single owner, who owns that store and lives within a certain distance of it—effectively banning chain liquor stores from the state. New York City law does not allow open containers of alcohol in public

Quirky ones
http://www.duilaws.com/strange-alcohol-laws-in-the-u-s/
http://www.oddballdaily.com/2011/12/08/14-weird-liquor-laws/

 

[WeakAnkles]

Liquor buying in the US can be interesting, as I mentioned before.

In New York state, you can buy beer at the grocery or convenience store, but wine must be purchased in a wine shop or liquor store. OTOH, beer cannot be sold at liquor stores. In some towns, you cannot buy liquor at all
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lis...States_by_state#New_York.E2.80.93South_Dakota



Quirky ones
http://www.duilaws.com/strange-alcohol-laws-in-the-u-s/
http://www.oddballdaily.com/2011/12/08/14-weird-liquor-laws/

One major quirk about NYC--the bars stay open until 4 AM, there are plenty of afterhours joints (I can't quite call them clubs as most of them are totally illegal--and you have to know someone who knows someone etc to get in) that stay open from 4AM to midafternoon, and the city has blue laws. Yup, you can't buy any alcohol except beer on Sundays. So much for NYC being Sodom and Gomorrah. Maybe we are...but not on Sundays!

 

[dorispulaski]

There was even a song about this sort of after hours club. 1956 - The Green Door by Jim Lowe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vle44kNHxDg

 

[el henry]

OK, OT for anyone who just wants to visit, I think, but: Are open container laws really that unusual? In Pennsylvania, I lived with them my whole life, and never thought of them as anything peculiar (in fact, here in the Christmas City we have a big summer event called Musikfest where they waive the open container laws so that folks can buy overpriced mugs of beer and walk around with them).

Then again, between state stores for liquor and beer distributors for beer, Pennsylvania is not a place for buying alcohol. Probably why I'm not a drinker.

 

[TheGrandSophy]

OK, OT for anyone who just wants to visit, I think, but: Are open container laws really that unusual? In Pennsylvania, I lived with them my whole life, and never thought of them as anything peculiar (in fact, here in the Christmas City we have a big summer event called Musikfest where they waive the open container laws so that folks can buy overpriced mugs of beer and walk around with them).

Then again, between state stores for liquor and beer distributors for beer, Pennsylvania is not a place for buying alcohol. Probably why I'm not a drinker.

Do you mean unusual in the US or worldwide?

 

[el henry]

Do you mean unusual in the US or worldwide?

Ah, probably the US. Although I have not walked around with an open wine bottle in Paris, I can't imagine it being illegal.

But for a visitor, at least in Pennsylvania, no one is going to sell you a pint "to go". You will have the bar's real glass mug and not be expected to walk off with it. Which is why we have to waive the law for the plastic mugs of Musikfest...

 

[janav]

Reading all those suggestions makes me so excited for our trip - I wish that April was already here!

So far, our travel itiniary looks as follows:
April 2nd: NYC! We've already booked a place to stay (based on the reviews it should be nice place in a nice area with good connectivity to public transport). We are going to see Rangers game in Madison Square Garden on the 2nd and on 6th April we are going to Metropolitan Opera (Madama Butterfly!). In between, we have no plans yet (well, sightseeing and getting acquinted with the US cuisine - I plan to eat as many burgers and drink as many Big Gulps as I can! )
I looked at what will be on Broadway and nothing really spoke to me to be honest
In the morning of April 7th we plan to leave for DC (by bus - probably). We have not booked a place to stay yet but we are already in contact with bunch of Couchsurfers there, so it seems we will have tips from locals in abundance.
April 10th we leave DC for Florida and that's gonna be by plane - 13 hours in the car was just not feasible for people who aren't used to car travel. We fly to a place called Fort Myers where we plan to rent a car. We definitely want to go to Cape Canaveral (3-4 hour drive from Fort Myers according to almighty Google). No other plans in Florida yet, except that I want to go and observe the mighty manatees - those animals are my new love (althought I might have to compromise on this - hubby doesn't understand this newly found obsession of mine ).

Based on all of that, we will be in Florida for nearly a week, so that will be till April 17th/18th. Next is still undecided but we will probably head west. Our return tickets are from LA on the 29th of April and we are searching for plane tickets from Florida to somewhere from which the journey would gradually took us to LA (phew, does that sentence even makes sense?! it does to my non native English speaker brain, but what do I know).
Considering that we are coming to California no matter what and we want to enjoy it as much as we can with the limited time we have, we are playing with the idea of going straight to California from Florida. Which sucks in a way, because lot of you suggested Grand Canyon (and it indeed looks as a must-see), but we just cannot figure out the way of incorporating it into our journey without weird plane travel arrangements. I don't know how I could have been so ignorant in thinking we could make a trip around the whole of the US in just one month

Once again, thank you very much for all your suggestions, it already helped a lot.

 

[yuzushenko]

Hello fellow skating lovers! I'm coming to the US in April on a holiday and, given that lot of posters here are living in the US, have decided to ask for tips for our stay. My S.O. and I don't have any plans, the only thing we know is that we fly to New York's JFK and have 4 weeks to explore the country (we didn't buy return plane tickets yet). Given that we will be in New York at first, we plan to stay there for a few days and then go to DC, but we would like to see places that are more typically 'American' (I'm not implying that NYC or DC are 'unamerican', what I'm trying to say is that we would like to see places that are not necessarily on a foreign traveler's checklist, yet are worth visiting). So far the only thing we are thinking about visiting (apart from NYC and DC) is Cedar Rapids in Iowa (S.O is Czech and apparently, there are quite a few nice places connected to people who migrated to the US from there). I would be very grateful for any sort of tip, whether it is some nice place worth visiting, great place to eat/drink/dance/ see a play in/.. or some big cultural no-no that you think foreigners do and which creep/annoy/alienate people.

Thank you very much!

california especially. if you can get over there and just drive on the 101 freeway all the way up to northern california, that'd be quite a beautiful trip. monterey bay is nice. big sur in general. also down in southern california if you take the pacific coast highway through del mar and carlsbad. these beach cities will give you a sense of a different aspect of american culture. they are small towns and it seems people just live off of the beach. it's really quite beautiful, too. you can head down to san diego and that's quite a beautiful big city as well with its own attractions. you must try the mexican food there.

yosemeti national park is pretty awesome too.

montana is also pretty nice.

LA has some nice touristy areas, hollywood and walk of fame for example if you're into cinema. i figure you're rich since you can afford to travel so i say a trip to disneyland or six flags might be fun, too. i think disneyland is quite interesting in terms of knowing american culture. cuz you see all types of people, or you learn how mothers take care of their kids while out in public haha. six flags is fun but much less crowded quiet. i think disneyland is funner in terms of the breadth of people.

las vegas of course, you must go there!

 

[dorispulaski]

Here's Missouri:

Grocery stores, drug stores, and even gas stations may sell liquor without limitation other than hours.[63]

Patrons allowed to take open containers out of bars in Kansas City's Power & Light District.[64]

Parents and guardians may furnish alcohol to their children.[65]

Missourians over 21 may manufacture up to 100 gallons of any liquor per year for personal use, without any further state limitation, state taxation, or state license.[66] (Obtaining a permit from the Federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau and meeting other requirements under federal law probably still is required for private citizens to manufacture distilled alcohol - but not wine or beer - for personal use.[67][68][69][70][71])

Missouri law recognizes two types of alcoholic beverage: liquor, which is any beverage containing more than 0.5% alcohol except "non-intoxicating beer"; and "non-intoxicating beer,"[72] which is beer containing between 0.5% and 3.2% alcohol. Liquor laws[73] apply to all liquor, and special laws apply to "non-intoxicating beer."[72]

 

[Tavi...]

Fort Myers is only a couple of hours from Miami which is a great city. You can also take a ferry from Fort Myers to Key West.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami

http://m.miami.com/

http://m.fla-keys.com/?CFID=39597716&CFTOKEN=29235301

 

[dorispulaski]

If it is cold winter, in April, a lot of manatees may be enjoying the warm water at the Fort Meyers Power Station
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopi...s_Power_Station-Fort_Myers_Beach_Florida.html

I have done the ferry from Fort Meyers to Key West! It is a fast ferry.

Watching the spinner dolphins play games in the boats wake was cool.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvrG0n9mKxA


Plus the view of the stars with no light pollution was worth the trip alone.

In Key West,

The Atocha treasure museum is very worthwhile.

Plus do not miss the sunset celebration scene on the pier
http://sunsetcelebration.org/

If you are a Hemingway buff, there is a museum in his former home.
http://hemingwayhome.com/

Post Worlds, there is usually an SOI stop in Fort Myers. You might want to check their schedule.

 

[NanaPat]

If you want go to the Grand Canyon, you would fly to either Phoenix or Las Vegas. Here's a video about flying into one of these airports, the Grand canyon, and other nearby attractions.

http://grandcanyon.com/planning/fly-into-phoenix-las-vegas-flagstaff/

We did the North Rim of the GC on a trip to Zion, Bryce, and Kanab (that would be the Las Vegas version of the trip). You can google images of the wave, which is an amazing sandstone formation near Kanab; unfortunately, it's very hard to get permits to visit it.

We did the South Rim of the GC on a trip to Sedona (that would be the Phoenix version of the trip). The saguaro cactus and Sedona would be highlights of this trip.

Depending on time, you could maybe drive from one of those cities to California or from one to the other, then fly to CA.

 

[heyang]

If you really want to see Grand Canyon, I suggest flying into Vegas, which is a site to see. Even if you don't gamble, just taking a walk on The Strip in the evening would be enjoyable (and free!) Then, you could take a day trip to Grand Canyon - they offer bus tours from Vegas - so, you wouldn't need to rent a car.

If you skip GC, then I'd suggest flying into San Francisco and driving down to LA.

Both Vegas and San Francisco are major destinations - so, there should be many flight options, etc.

If you want burgers in California, In and Out is a slow fast food chain out West, which is yummy. It's also in Vegas. Fatburger is another yummy burger joint, which has a location on the Vegas strip.
In NYC, lots of people like Shake Shack. Personally, I don't think the burgers are that great there, but the shakes are terrific and the fries are very good. Bobby Flay has his own chain of burger restaurants Bobby's Burger Palace, which I enjoy.
Also, I love eating street food in NYC - gyros, falafel, etc.

 

[loopy]

Or fly to LA and keep a car and make a drive to San Diego, it is a very doable drive, esp if you spend the night there. Do some fun stuff like take a surfing or Stand up paddle board lesson. It will probably be cold but you can rent a wetsuit. You can take a boat to Catalina Island too from several spots in Long Beach and Orange County.