During August, September, October and November, my wife and I toured the States for 14 weeks.
We commenced in CA then through Nevada, Utah, Wyoming South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvannia,
Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona then back to CA.
In all we did 13,000 miles and thoroughly enjoyed it.
We never felt threatened at any time and were impressed by the friendly nature of all we came in contact with. It seems Australians are well-liked over there.
The secenery we saw was quite spectacular. It seems a bit unfair that you have so many beautiful places in USA. I know we do have some in Australia but USA does offer a lot more.
We have been asked time and time again which was our favourite place, unfortunately we dont have an answer to that question.
Some places like Charleston SC and New Orleans stick in our mind, but we also liked the open spaces of Wyoming and the greenery of Tennessee.
The Grand Canyon defies description and I wouldnt attempt to describe it. There are a few places like Colorado and New York/New England area that we missed and would dearly like to return in the future, but overall we did see a lot of America and all of it was superb.
Just a thank you to all who made our trip so pleasant and I certainly intend to return when my finances have recovered (the exchange rate was not kind to the Aussie dollar).

I think it's fabulous that you let us all know about your trip. It's good for those of us who have always lived in the USA to be reminded of what a treasure our country is in terms of the diversity of its natural beauty and interests from city to city. Glad you enjoyed it and felt safe. You really do need to see those places you said you missed though - the Colorado Rockies are spectacular - although so is a lot of what you saw!

I too am glad you had a wonderful and safe time here. That was a pretty long vacation here and you covered a lot! It's always interesting and enjoyable to read msgs like yours from our international posters. In my trips to Australia, I've always found Australians to be extremely friendly, outgoing and helpful so I'm happy the experience was a positive one and you'll come back for more.
Next time, come on up to Washington and Oregon States!
Happy Holidays.

John--glad that you had such a positive trip to the States! Thoroughly agree with your comment about Charleston, SC standing out...

Your post serves as a reminder that there are so many areas of beauty and friendliness in our country that we overlook!

Hi John!

So happy to hear that Americans - who can get, and deserve, some pretty bad press overseas - were on their best behavior when on home-ground! It really is good to get the impressions of someone else...it's true, we're very blessed here with the diversity of our landscape, etc....Sounds like you missed most of the big cities...definitely put a couple of those on your "next time" list....NYC is incomparable...but Chicago/Boston/Philly aren't bad either. Thanks for sharing your impressions...was sure fun to read.

Please accept our grateful thanks for your courtesy in expressing your opinions about your travels across America. From time to time, I read postings by what sounds like young Australians on the Thorn Tree web site. By and large, their language could use a good cleaning-up. And they could use a good reading of history, especially the period 1941-1945. But, Mr. Thompson, you have greatly raised my impressions of Australian travelers, confirmed by my personal dealings with Australians here and abroad. A generous, hearty, and fun-loving people.