Hey Yanks!

[MOBIUS]

Or you go for what is likely the major defining thing in a particular genre.

For example, if we were to consider everything pertaining to the Civil War, including the reasons behind it, how it started, how it was won, what it meant - what it means today...

And then condense that down into one location, surely a visit to Gettysburg would encapsule that struggle as conventional wisdom regards it as the turning point of the whole war. Fort Sumter is merely a footnote in a war that was destined to start somewhere...

That's the sort of thing I am trying to pin down...

[Guynemer]

Mackinac Island!

[MOBIUS]

Nice bridge there apparently...

[Guynemer]

Not the bridge, nitwit. The island.

[Arrian]

5) St. Louis Arch -- not only is this a dazzling piece of construction but it memorializes the fact that St. Louis was the gateway to the West. It's here that the wagontrains departed

Strongly disagree. The Arch is nothing special, and there really isn't much in St. Louis. Or near it. Granted, you get to see the River, but I didn't find it particularly interesting[/arrogant Yankee]

The Canadian side of Niagra is the more impressive one, it's true.

I'd say definitely try to hit one of the major national parks. The one I've been to and can recommend would be the Grand Canyon.

NYC has lots of landmarks, of course, but I dunno... I've never been all that into such things. Maybe it's because I grew up close to NYC and thus its attractions didn't seem overly special to me, having seen them.

DC has lots of cool stuff as well, as others have mentioned.

-Arrian

[MOBIUS]

The 1812 equivalent of Fort Sumter.

I'd rather see the bridge...

[Guynemer]

Not the FORT. The ISLAND.

[Arrian]

As for the top 10 list...

In no particular order:

1) The Statue of Liberty (been there)
2) The Mall area of DC (been there)
3) Gettysburg, PA (been there)
4) The Empire State Building (been there)
5) Yellowstone National Park (not yet)
6) Bourbon Street area, New Orleans (been there)
7) Golden Gate Bridge in San Fran (been there). Maybe there's something better. Wanted something on the Left Coast on the list...
8) The Mall of America, Bloomington, MN. (haven't been, likely never will). Seems appropriate, no?
9) The Alamo, San Antonio, TX. (not yet). I think the list needed something Texan.
10) Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii. (been there)

-Arrian

edit: thought better of it and put Pearl on the list.

[MOBIUS]

Originally posted by Guynemer
Not the FORT. The ISLAND.

Well, in the scheme of this thread, the ISLAND is a big fat MEH!

[Patroklos]

A substitute for Williamsburg might be Savannah, GA perhaps?

If you looking for colonial America (+bars worth drinking at), Charleston SC is the place.

[MOBIUS]

DONE

New Orleans
1. Pearl Harbour (Honolulu, HI)
4. Golden Gate Park (SF, CA)
5. Grand Canyon (AZ)
6. Alamo (San Antonio, TX)
8. Disney World (Orlando, FL) Went to Universal Studios instead
1.) New York City (Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Pizza in Brooklyn)
2.) Boston (Old North Church, Bunker Hill, Fenway Park) Bunker Hill, USS Constitution etc
3.) Washington (Mall area, Smithsonian)
8.) Arizona (Grand Canyon, Senora Desert)
9.) Texas (Go to a Texas bbq, Alamo, Riverwalk)
10.) California (Pacific Coast Highway, Golden Gate Bridge)
1)Border Crossing into Canada at Milltown Maine (Headed North) Rainbow Bridge
2)Border Crossing into Canada at Calais Maine (Headed North) Derby Line
3)Ellis Island
4) Plymouth Rock Massachussetts where the "site" of our landing into this country, as we were the first foreigners. Not only been there and Cape Cod itself, but I have even stood at the steps in Plymouth where they set sail from, not to mention Southampton where the Mayflower began.
6) Miami Florida
10) Deep South-Does GA and LA count? With a bit of FL thrown in. Passed through most of the rest.
St. Augustine
The Giant Redwoods
3. Hoover Dam, Nevada-Arizona border
10. Alcatraz, San Francisco, California
1) Manhattan
8) Fly over the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles.
6) Bourbon Street area, New Orleans (been there)

Stuff not mentioned I’ve been to I thought was cool or interesting from a US POV: Hearst Castle, Monument Valley, Route 66, Biosphere 2, Savannah GA, Key West, Hershey’s (blame the GF), The Amish, The Mississippi, Seeing a Plantation House, Basketball game (Spurs), Mi Tierra, Las Vegas (No one mentioned Las Vegas! ), Death Valley NP, Kilauea NP, Haleakala HP, Ka Lae/Na’alehu ,

Favourite state: AZ
Favourite city: New Orleans
Most amazing sight: Grand Canyon
Best Man made thing: Manhattan


NOT DONE

7.) Chicago (Sear's Tower, Wrigley Field, Pizza downtown)
Kennedy space center during a launch
2. The Space Neddle (Seattle, WA)
3. Mann's Chinese Theater (Hollywood, CA)
7. Mall of Americas (MN)
10. Fenway Park (Boston, MA) Saw a game in the Skydome – baseball is booooooooring
4.) Philadelphia (Independence Hall)
5.) Great Smoky Mountains National Park
5) Kitty Hawk North Carolina,
7) Brownsville Texas
excepting that it leaves out Kansas and Nebraska. I'd replace Philadelphia or Boston with a drive down I-40 from Kansas City to Denver (count it as two and drop both if you want). The Rockies (Denver) are a big part of it too, of course.
WYOMING
Jamestown...
Yosemite
No one has mentioned Alaska yet?
1. Cahokia, Illinois
2. Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia
4. The Plaza, Kansas City, Missouri
5. Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Utah
6. Mesa Verde, Colorado. Meant to, not enough time. Did the Hopi reservation in AZ though.
7. Henderson, Nevada
8. Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Meant to, not enough time. The only battle sites I visited were Bunker Hill and New Orleans…
9. Nauvoo, Illinois
5) St. Louis Arch
6) Iowa/Kansas/Nebraska
7) Either Yellowstone or Yosemite
9) Hollywood filming --
10) Panama Canal –
I'm suprised no one has mentioned Mt. Rushmore.

Stuff not mentioned: Would love to see Falling Water (saw the Guggenheim and Xanadu Gallery in SF), Titan Missile Base, Karcher Caves, Pima/Davis-Monthan, Utah, Oregon/Portland, Paul Brown Stadium

====

Basically I was just seeing if there was any point in ever bothering to visit the US again…

The jury is definitely out…