Places in the U.S. that have surprised you (good or bad)?

[pete6032]

Have you ever been anywhere in the U.S. and been surprised, either in a good or a bad way? Maybe surprised by culture, amenities (or lack thereof), safety, weather, terrain, wildlife, etc.?

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Have you ever been anywhere in the U.S. and been surprised, either in a good or a bad way? Maybe surprised by culture, amenities (or lack thereof), safety, weather, terrain, wildlife, etc.?

Sumter SC, despite being populated by a lot of military, that place is a shit hole and dangerous if you're stupid.

Germany was surprisingly clean. You could eat off the A-roads.

 

[pete6032]

I drove through Gary Indiana once thinking it can't be THAT bad. It really wasn't that bad, because several areas I drove through were completely abandoned. There is no crime when there are no people. Seeing the flare from the BP refinery shooting 50 feet high into the air in the middle of the night made me scared for my own health though.

 

[pete6032]

One time I went to Wisconsin Dells. Thought it was going to be a shit hole tourist trap and it was for the most part, but the duck boat tour and the dells themselves were actually very ecologically interesting. Fun to see all the diversity in flora and fauna.

 

[Ken g6]

Nashville is all-kinds-of-Music City, not just Country Music City. Or so they say.

 

[bbhaag]

This summer my wife and I visited the western shore of Michigan and were pleasantly surprised by the natural beauty and the cute little towns that we stopped in. For years I had written off Michigan but not so much anymore.

 

[IronWing]

I had expected the Las Vegas strip to be a gargantuan crap-hole. It turned out to be a much smaller crap-hole than I had envisioned.

 

[IronWing]

LA has some pretty cool stuff to do. I was pleasantly surprised.

 

[Chaotic42]

This summer my wife and I visited the western shore of Michigan and were pleasantly surprised by the natural beauty and the cute little towns that we stopped in. For years I had written off Michigan but not so much anymore.

I spent some time up in Traverse City and Sleeping Bear. It's nice up there, but way too cold and dark in the fall/winter.

 

[bbhaag]

I spent some time up in Traverse City and Sleeping Bear. It's nice up there, but way too cold and dark in the fall/winter.

We officially kicked off our trip in Saugatuck and then worked our way up to Traverse City before heading back. There was so much to do and see.

 

[lxskllr]

East Liverpool Ohio. I was surprised by the poverty. It was a has-been town, and their "premium" used car seller sold stuff our tier 3 or 4 sellers sell. Shops closed up, and nothing going on that could see. That was early 90s. No idea what it's like today.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

South Central LA / Compton. From all the west-coast hip hop I grew up listening to I thought the Shaw was going to be a nightmarish looking area but it looked like Disneyland compared to Scott Street and the area I lived in (Third Ward) when I lived in Houston for a couple of years. I know LA was violent as hell but even in the late 90s I didn't think South Central looked as bad as the shit you see in the south. Well at least the areas that weren't burnt to the ground in the 92 riots. Still never felt like it was worrisome riding the bus to go pick up some Dickies at the south central Walmart on Crenshaw or hit up the porno shop on Rosecrans for example.

 

[waffleironhead]

One time I went to Wisconsin Dells. Thought it was going to be a shit hole tourist trap and it was for the most part, but the duck boat tour and the dells themselves were actually very ecologically interesting. Fun to see all the diversity in flora and fauna.

I agree, the dells boat tours are the best part of the area.

 

[skyking]

Paducah Kentucky, specifically the National Quilt Museum. Went in looking for cool old quilts, found that.
Then found a huge section about the civil rights movement.
we rounded the corner and there was Harriet Tubman, reaching out a helping hand on the underground railway. Kinda took my breath away.

 

[Chaotic42]

I was once pumping gas in rural Utah on a fairly mild day. About halfway through the fillup, a very cold wind hit and I got pelted with hail. It had to be 20 degrees colder by the time I finished. I mentioned it to the guy inside and he had a good laugh. I thought it was neat, but I had never seen anything like it.

 

[DigDog]

i rememeber i found it shocking as a foreigner that you could drive 2 days and people were still speaking the same english. in italy if you drive 4 hours you already wouldn't understand the locals.

 

[dullard]

I was once pumping gas in rural Utah on a fairly mild day. About halfway through the fillup, a very cold wind hit and I got pelted with hail. It had to be 20 degrees colder by the time I finished. I mentioned it to the guy inside and he had a good laugh. I thought it was neat, but I had never seen anything like it.

I had a similar thing happen when hiking in Utah. My wife went into an outhouse for an extended stay when the weather was cool but decent. 5 to 10 minutes later when she emerged everything was covered in white sleet. I purposely did not brush any off of me, so when she entered the outhouse I was wearing black and when she exited, she was greeted by me in a thick layer of all white.

I think much of Utah itself would surprise those who don't research what is there ahead of time. So much stunning beauty. I've heard multiple friends exclaim how the scenery was somewhat dull when driving until they round a curve and BAM everything is gorgeous.

The drive from Escalante to Torrey is only 65 miles but most people would be stunned by the variety of scenery on that trip. Desert -> terrifying drive with steep drops of both sides of the highway -> golden Aspen trees -> evergreen mountain top forest with cows on the road (so many cows that you have to emergency stop at least half a dozen times) -> Desert

 

[Dr. Detroit]

The drive from Escalante to Torrey is only 65 miles but most people would be stunned by the variety of scenery on that trip. Desert -> terrifying drive with steep drops of both sides of the highway -> golden Aspen trees -> evergreen mountain top forest with cows on the road (so many cows that you have to emergency stop at least half a dozen times) -> Desert

Huge fan of the area NE of Bryce Canyon - crowds are super-thin, Hole in the Rock road, Escalante River, waterfalls, and epic slot canyons!

 

[skyking]

If you have not driven the Burr trail across Capital Reef NP, do so. We went East to west and then the Escalante to Bryce Canyon one day.
Looking back down the switchback from partway up.

It was fine the day we went, but sometimes the wash at the east end is not too good for a car.
You can call and check on the conditions.

 

[NuclearNed]

North Cascades National Park - just outside of Seattle. Mrs Ned & I went there many years ago and mostly stuck to the parts you can see from the car... and we weren't impressed. I went there climbing in 2023 & had to drive miles and miles into the middle of nowhere, then hike several miles on an unofficial/unmaintained trail... and the mountains were incredible, some of the best I've seen anywhere. I described them to Mrs Ned as being very Switzerland.

 

[IronWing]

The Big Sur, all totaled, is kind of meh. The scenery is great but when you add in the traffic and that the classic Big Sur scenery is less than half of the miles driven from end to end and the endless crap one has to drive through to reach the Big Sur, it almost isn’t worth it. If not for the condors and orcas, I wouldn’t bother.

 

[pete6032]

Paducah Kentucky, specifically the National Quilt Museum. Went in looking for cool old quilts, found that.
Then found a huge section about the civil rights movement.
we rounded the corner and there was Harriet Tubman, reaching out a helping hand on the underground railway. Kinda took my breath away.

I have read about the quilt museum but never been. Did you do anything else while you were there?

 

[dullard]

Huge fan of the area NE of Bryce Canyon - crowds are super-thin, Hole in the Rock road, Escalante River, waterfalls, and epic slot canyons!

I'm in that area yearly, on good years twice. I can't exclaim enough about how it is the most beautiful spot in the US. Got all my canyoneering gear to do the simpler technical canyons. My wife and I aren't confident enough to do the R-rated canyons.

I love to camp at spots like this that probably less than 100 people in the world know is a campsite. Camp, hike down the canyon, raft around a few bends, hike back up and camp again.

 

[Brainonska511]

They might be touristy at times, but both the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone are absolutely beautiful, and pictures don't do them justice in conveying the true scale and natural beauty that exist in those places.

I went to Yellowstone and Grand Teton in 2016 - we did a few days in different parts of Yellowstone and then a few days in Grand Teton. Fabulous places that I want to go back to some day.

And for the GC, I went in 2017 - we stayed overnight in a cabin about 150 feet from the rim that I somehow booked a few weeks in advance in the summer. Walking out at night with a partly cloudy sky and the moon illuminating different parts as the clouds rolled by was awesome. Then we got up early to watch the sun rise.

 

[skyking]

I have read about the quilt museum but never been. Did you do anything else while you were there?

Thread about the trip.

We did Starnes BBQ after the museum.
https://starnes-barbecue.res-menu.com/

We went to the largest quilt and fabric store in the US, and it is really a quilt store. Not a lot of anything else as far as fabric.
https://www.hancocks-paducah.com/

Those are kits.

Clearance kits and patterns.

This was the factory side of the store, the other building was traditional racks and racks of bolts.
We visited Boulder Cave NP east of there, and many other cool spots along the way from NY.