People who have been all around America

[Fgowfms]

Where was your favourite place? I've only ever done the east coast. I liked Washington DC. NYC was too crowded. I went this summer but I probably won't go to the US again for a few years.

If you've been all around. Tell me about it however. If you lived and worked there what was it like?

Second vote for Charleston, beautiful and walkable. I also love Clarksdale, Mississipi (Birthplace of the Blues) and Santa Fe for the museums and the Grand Canyon.

I had my one of my best ever meals in Sante Fe - burritos with a jug of margaritas.

@Fgowfms No it’s not dangerous around the university. Who’s feeding you this rubbish? Although it’s not Ivy League, it’s got fantastic buildings and a brilliant Frank Lloyd Wright house. We got the train to the university and found the campus outstanding. Stopped off on another neighbourhood on the way back. Like anywhere, don’t be flash but it’s safe.

I always heard that U Chicago is near "the hood" and is very dangerous. And that U Chicago often get robbed at gun point on campus?

@FgowfmsWhere did you hear this? Never heard such rubbish. The campus at University of Chicago is beautiful. It’s a fantastic place to walk around and has the beautiful Rockefeller Chapel and the outstanding Robie House designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It receives many tourists. It has manicured lawns and outstanding buildings and civic art. It’s not remotely as you describe.

I assume you know all Americans can get guns? That doesn’t mean it’s unsafe for tourists!

If you’re that worried you can trawl the university police department’s incident log.

Over the last month most incidents have been petty theft from shops, cars, porches or unattended coats / bags, minor traffic accidents, vehicle theft, drunkenness, drugs and DV.

safety-security.uchicago.edu/stay-informed/police-data-information/crime-data-trends

It often depends on where you go. I am there at least once a year. I bring my children to Chicago. It's a wonderful city.

I live in a large city myself and we have neighborhoods that can be more dangerous than others, but also know every city, town and rural area in America is potentially dangerous because people have guns. Loads and loads of guns. I have friends in a small rural area who just this last month had a 10-vehicle police barricade because a man was shooting off his guns and had kidnapped family members and was threatening law enforcement. He lit his house on fire and somehow, a drone caught him and now he's wounded and in custody.

It can happen in the most idyllic spots in the US. Just don't worry about it and go visit because there are so many wonderful places to see.

Gun ownership doesn’t result in dead tourists. I don’t like the gun laws in the USA or the extreme security in South Africa but it doesn’t impinge on me as a sensible tourist.

Honestly. Google how many tourists have been shot in the US, it’s very few. People also tend to forget that when reporting on gun deaths, it’s not all nightclub shootings and armed robberies. For example in 2023 suicides accounted for more than 50% of the big scary number. I’ve lived in multiple countries including the US and people who research where they’re going and keep their head on a swivel are 99.9% likely to be just fine.

@TMess? That’s what I said! Honestly!

I was agreeing! Sorry if I worded it to sound like I didn’t! 😅

The neighborhood west of Hyde Park, stretching from the western edge of Washington Park to the Dan Ryan Expwy, is not the safest, though I've driven through it many times, schlepping one of my DCs to and from U Chgo, even very late at night.

Hyde Park itself and the entire lakefront museum campus are among Chicago's safest neighborhoods.

Crime maps are available online if you're interested.

In my opinion you can't get more beautiful than the Pacific coast..The drive from Washington State, through Oregon to California is spectacular.

Thank you all for telling me.

Same, but have visited some lovely places. Yosemite was amazing.

Yellowstone, Monument Valley, Fort Worth, North and South Dakota were stunning to spend time in.

Grand Canyon was the biggest surprise, I really thought it would just be a hole in the ground.

We fly in, hire a car and just see where we end up, usually only planning a day or two in advance.

Pre internet, we used to buy a flight, rock up at the car hire desk and ask for the smallest car they had advertised (invariably unavailable so you’d get a huge sedan with armchairs for seats), pick up a map and set off.

Lots of ‘interesting’ motel stays along the way, but if you liked somewhere you stayed on, otherwise you just mosied on. I think we’ve visited about 30 states.