Article created by: Mantas Kačerauskas
Open roads, a good hamburger, and freedom aren’t all exclusive to the US, but America is a pretty unique place, through its size, history, and diversity. So it’s no wonder that visitors from around the world want to visit and see if it’s all it's cracked up to be.
One netizen wanted to know what “quintessentially American experience” any tourist to the US-of-A should try, and the internet delivered. National parks, aggressive cops, and portions larger than some European countries are all featured, so strap in, scroll through, and be sure to upvote your favorites, and don’t forget to comment your own suggestions below.
Visiting a national park. United States has a lot of things good and bad but it's abundance of breathtaking and well taken care of national parks is probably one of its biggest strengths..... next to its number of aircraft carriers ofcourse lol.
My first USA tourist experience was watching two soccer moms fistfight in a Walmart in Florida, 10/10 would watch again
The quintessential American Experience for tourists from Europe is discovering you can't combine all the ideas in these comments in one week because there's so much distance and traffic between them. You're better off thinking of the state you land in as the "country" you're visiting.
Drive the coast! Highway 101 from Oregon to California. Beautiful beaches. Great camping. Small towns quite often. Redwood Forest.
Have a cheeseburger and fries in a 24 hour diner, ideally one that has a lot of chrome and looks unchanged since the 1950's.
Go to the museums in NYC or DC.
Americans have a real way with museums, it might be a mix of the love of big spaces, a certain kind of insatiable curiosity, and incredible avarice. There are few places in the world this many truly amazing museums of so many kinds in just one place, and pretty close.
Even the museum stores at some of these places are better than the best museums in other cities.
EDIT: I want to add here that I am a real museum hound and go to every museum I can everywhere I travel or live. I’ve lived or spent multiple long visits in probably about 15 different cities including Chicago, San Francisco, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Montreal, Toronto, and Buenos Aires. For art, there are several cities that equal or even excede NYC and DC, but if you want science and history as well, you really cannot beat these two cities.
1) Visit any of the National Parks. Glacier, Yellowstone, or Yosemite are the big ones. Just leave the animals alone.
2) Find a BBQ shack made out of corrugated metal (bonus points if the floor is dirt). Go nuts on pulled pork, ribs, and brisket.
3) A beer and a hot dog at a baseball game is a must.
4) Go to a rodeo. Not one held in some major city. Go find a county fair or rural rodeo.
5) Develop a stance on the best type of pie. Different regions have VERY strong opinions on this. (Pecan is the best. Fight me)
6) Tour the Bourbon trail
7) Eat a bison steak.
Go to a live performance of blues, jazz or bluegrass/country, all are unique American music styles
Go to a county fair, eat a bunch of fried Oreos, and then ride sketchy carnival rides until sick.
On October 31 dress in costumes, attend parties, visit haunted houses and eat Halloween candy.
Check out a minor league baseball game! They have awesome stadiums, great fans and it's usually pretty inexpensive!
- Eat a s'more if you are going camping... It is a pleasantly simple treat: marshmallow, graham crackers, and chocolate.
- go to a national park if you can. Camp if you can.
- if snow cones are available, get ice cream on the bottom &/or a bit of condensed milk on the top. It's another simple treat
- Go to a Costco and check out the giant bottle of ibuprofen
- look and see if there are any local events going on in the area you are staying at... Farmers market, fairs, berry picking etc
- if you haven't had Mexican food, get it at a family owned restaurant. Ask locals about this one.
- if you smell good BBQ, try it.
- go to a sporting event, maybe tailgate
- go to multiple states across the country so you can see the differences... (Hawaii is going to be vastly different from Montana, which is going to be different from Louisiana, which is going to be different from Oregon... Ect)
Being covered in sauce from eating ribs and wings
