Which State Is The Bestest

[BBB]

from my travels, I'm going to chime in with going to the Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee type places.

All of my favorite vacations have been spent there, and through out the midwest and eastern seaboard.

Lake Cumberland in Kentucky on a houseboat for 5 days, Cedar Point in Sandusky Ohio, Camping in the Mountains of Tennessee... all of it wonderful memories.

[BoTox]

Eastern TN is some very beautiful country. If you do Kentucky, you are bordered by TN almost the entire length of the southern part. We have some really nice roads, a lot of scenic areas, white water rafting, lots of historic areas.

You could easily fly into well-connected-to-the-UK Atlanta (or Cincinnati and reverse it) and drive north through Georgia country side. Then into eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina around the Ocoee river. Beautiful area with breath taking views and winding roads galore for motorbikes. As a bike rider, I love this area!

Then head up I-24 to the Jack Daniels distillery before continuing on I-65 to Nashville. Nashville has plenty to see and do and it can be pretty touristy but still has a nice feel. Further up I-65, see the Corvette museum if you are a car guy. Mammoth Cave is close by as well. Touristy but definitely a natural wonder I've never been but there is a SCA (Tena) plant just up from the Corvette museum that makes adult diapers. Maybe you could pioneer a diapered America tour?! Then continue on to Louisville or southern Ohio.

I'm sure your exchange rate right now makes us a real bargain. Get on the web and hit a few state sites to get maps and other information. They'll send you books, maps, coupons and such to help you out! I know mine does.

[tndyperboy]

This is always a tough request when asked what to see in a one or two week stay in the U.S. I spent a week in England once and only managed to see the Cotswalds and London. You are going to have to target an area and work out the itinerary from there. As far as population, maturity of cities, etc. you are looking at the Eastern U.S. 80% of the population of the U.S. live east of the Mississippi River. I live in Nashville, TN but was born and raised in Los Angeles and love the American West. But the West is so vast and the distances so great that you would use up most of your time driving (or flying) from place to place. Case in point, you could spend an entire 2 week vacation just exploring California (Los Angelos, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Napa Valley, the north coast just to start). We drove from Nashville to Yellowstone National Park (it is in Wyoming) a few years back and it took 3 long days of driving to get there.

If you come the the southern states you can hit the hightlights like Louisville (a nice city), Nashville which is good for a couple of days, Atlanta is just big and cosmoplitan; most of us just go there to shop, Memphis with the Elvis thing going on, etc. Personally I love the Carolina Coast, Charleston in South Carolina and the Outer Banks off of North Carolina. My partner and I also go to Ashville, NC at least once a year. From the Carolinas it is an easy drive to Virginia for Williamsburg, Richmond, James River plantatations which puts you close to Washington D.C. and Baltimore. Actually D.C. is good for 4 or 5 days and most of what you want to see is free. The traffic is horrible and parking non-existent but they have good public transportation, especially for an American city. If you want to really see the American Past then you won't find a better concentration of museums then the Smithsonian in D.C. Which as you may know was started with a bequest by an Englishman in the early 19th century.

New England in the northeast is compact like Western Europe. Being the center of the original British colonies (Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, and New York) it is the oldest developed part of the country. The cities, except New York, are smaller, public transport more available and more "historic" buildings. Keep in mind a 200 year old structure is considered old here and for the most part venerated like a kindly old rich uncle. My own house was built in 1940 and considered a classic "older" home. Parts of my parents house date to 1812 and it is considered an historic home.

So, if you want to see we everyday Americans pick a region of the country, rent a car with a GPS, load up on guide books and maps, and for the most part avoid the large cities (New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, etc.) and stick to secondary cities. That is were you will find most of us.