Americans, esp Southerners: Help w/ speculative itinerary

[Sinclair]

I'm seriously considering a trip to the US this summer, esp. to the South and West.

Basically, I'd go with my godfather and his wife to Gettysburg, Philly, and Washington, and then, armed with luggage, some cash, and a Greyhound pass, I'd just bum around, perhaps with a friend.

I'd probably end up in San Diego, finding refuge with a couple my godfather knows. Then to LA, perhaps, and back to Toronto.

Anybody know anywhere good to go? Anybody want a visit?

The thing I'm most worried about is being pressed into service by a bunch of Confederate re-enactors, then being arrested some months later while, under the impression that I am in fact Captain Amos P. Mosley of the 5th Louisiana Dragoons, drunkenly vandalising the Lincoln Memorial while screaming something about the "Damnyankee Carpetbaggers".

[Felix the Cat]

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[1-800]

Charleston, South Carolina if you like history and architecture, especially of the colonial variety.

Virginia has the most Civil War battle-grounds of any state in the Union. Check that out if you're interested.

The Shenandoah Valley in Virginia is absolutely beautiful, if you're into scenic hiking, fishing or hunting.

Washington, D.C. is weird. Everyone here seems to be either a Capital Hill intern, lobbying intern or wants to be one (at least people my age). Everyone is obsessed with connections, connections, connections! Watch out for power-obsessed, would-be future senator frat-boys from Georgetown slipping roofies into your drink! Seriously. If you want to go home with a girl, just tell her that your dad is a "well-connected" state represenative and that you're interning with the White House PR deparment. Political power is the ultimate aphrodisiac!

Forget North Carolina and North Virginia--they might as well be New Jersey. Yuppified, everyone drives a Volvo and works in the bio-tech or IT fields. Easy to find Banana Republic stores, if that's your cup of tea.

If you're heading out West, do it. It's glorious. Colorado--go rafting, fishing, climbing, whatever. You'll come across seventh year college students who summer as carpenters and ski instructors, all happily baked out of their gourds. They'll offer to share their weed, too. I would be going to hike the Pacific Divide Trail this summer but I have to go to the Officer Leadership Course for ROTC.

[Niko Bellic]

I second the suggestion to go out West, anywhere from Flagstaff, AZ all the way up to the Canadian border, you have to see the Rocky Mountains if you're visiting America.

[Sinclair]

A major part of my plan is eating as much barbecue as is humanly possible.

[Lenny]

GettysburgInteresting. Why do you want to go to Gettysburg? Surely as a Canadian it does not have any emotional appeal to you as it does to Americans, does it?

Anybody know anywhere good to go
It depends what you want to see and do, what you're interested in. On the East Coast there's tons of sites relating to the American Revolutionary War and the US Civil War (also other historical sites), but why a Canadian would want to see those I dont know (lots of Americans wouldnt really be interested in those either)

In general some good advice would be: don't jump from metropolis to metropolis and do the tourist-ey stuff, if you want to see the country in any real way you got to go off the beaten path, that is to say off the tourist path. Youre Canadian so you dont have a foreign accent, plus youre white, so you'd get by just fine (and dandy) passing through small towns, eating in diners in smaller cities and such, outside of the metropolitan areas. Hell, even the McDonalds restaurants outside of metro areas are 50 times more "American" than the McDonalds inside metro areas. Probably best to stay away from McDonalds in the first place

One specific suggestion would be driving through the mountain roads of West Virginia, it's incredible out there, something you should absolutely do if you can