What are your favourite American States?

[SqueakMcGeek]

I'm planning a trip to the U.S with a friend when it's possible to do so. It's an enormous country with so many States and I can't decide where to visit. Texas is a must do for us for various reasons but which other States would you recommend we visit? What's your favourite?

I appreciate that we will only be able to see a little of each State, considering the size of many of them and wanting to visit at least a few, but we can cover more on another trip.

Where would you recommend?

I love the big Midwestern states, which I think isn’t a common choice. I’m interested in pioneer history and in tornadoes, which is what took me to the Great Plains, but I found the landscape astounding. There’s loads of interesting historical monuments and parks (I love Independence Rock, where pioneers carved their names on the Oregon Trail). The Badlands, Chimney Rock. All wonderful and all more or less deserted when I went. I loved Nebraska. It is the biggest, boringest, most unpopulated place I’ve ever been (pre-Pioneer Woman this was), but everyone I met was lovely to me and I had such a strange and brilliant time there that now it’s my favourite.

@ZZTopGuitarSolo Definitely the Ozarks and the north western corner of Arkansas. Eureka Springs, a Victorian town / resort in the mountains is charming, and the city of Bentonville is nice and has a great art museum (Crystal Bridges, funded by the Walton family of WalMart fame, so free to the public).

To add to the Texas recommendations; Big Bend National park, down on the border with Mexico, and Dallas / Fort Worth for museums, galleries and concerts. We used to drive down from OKC for the weekend to get our fix of culture!

And buy a US National Parks annual pass at the first park you go to if you’re planning to go to several.

store.usgs.gov/pass/index.html

If you want to see a lot of the scenery you can get a train literally across the county. The California Zephyr runs from Chicago to San Francisco and is amazing.

Maine (stunning in the Fall) & New York, but they are a hell of a distance from Texas!
Also Hawaii, but that’s a stand alone holiday really