(I tried to read thru pretty carefully, but maybe thefirst couple of these are still duplicates...OTOH:)

-Walked the Brooklyn Bridge
-Waded (or swum) in the Atlantic, the Pacific, the Gulf. (And as a Midwesterner, it shames me to have to admit, I've only been in one of the Great Lakes...)
-Gotten teary eyed at an elementary school assembly program (even when it's not Christmas, or not your kid)
-Tossed coins in a Salvation Army bucket
-Kicked autumn leaves in Chicago's Lincoln Park
-Skated at Rockefeller Plaza or ridden the Central Park carousel
-Tried to figure out just how many road miles or how many hotel/motel rooms you and your spouse/partner have toted up?
-Done Thanksgiving grocery shopping past midnite, early Thursday a.m.
-Stopped to appreciate all the accents/dialects that can be heard thruout our 50
-Quoted poetry on a late nite Staten Island ferry trip

A few of mine. Have you ever ...
* petted a dolphin?
* been to Mass at a California mission church?
* been on the Sandia Peak tram at Albuquerque?
* seen the Peabody ducks march to "King Cotton"?
* had your picture taken with a Tucker car?
* seen manatees at play?
* ridden a rollercoaster going 70+ mph?
* skinny-dipped at a state park (in the daylight)?
* put money in a jukebox? In your 40s?
* had a travel pic named "photo of the month" at your processing place? (Mine was of Devils Tower.)
* finished a 24-hour dance marathon?
* had a mailing address for a town whose population had fallen to 0?
* ridden in a combine that was harvesting wheat? Bonus if the operater was your mother in her 60s and 70s.

And you're truly American if you've bought and worn a silicone bracelet to promote a cause.

jimmyk64, I hadn't heard that slickrock (sliderock?) had issues with the water.... it seems clear enough.... and the place was crowded..... and I'm still here..... you definately missed out on some fun.

Some more:

** Overlooking Monument Valley and thinking of yourself in a John Ford/John Wayne movie (or as Chevy Chase in Vacation)
** Standing in four states at one time at Four Corners
** Taking the Aerial Tramway to the top of Mount San Jacinto in Palm Springs
** Taking the Skylift to the top of Stone Mountain in Georgia
** Watching the laser-light show at Stone Mountain
** Virgin River hike at Zion N.P.
** Going to the top of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.
** Walk aroung the entire base of Devil's Tower in Wyoming
** Visit Little Big Horn Battlefield
** Watch Indian dancers at various festivals throughout the country (like the Trail of Tears Ride between Chatanooga and Waterloo every September)
** Take the fast catamaran to Catalina Island
** Watch the body-builders workout at Muscle Beach on Venice Beach
** Walk on Hollywood Blvd looking at all the stars on the sidewalk
** Attend a Hollywood Bowl performance (especially Movie Night)
** Drive Rim of the World in California
** Climb Moro Rock in Sequoia N.P.
** Drive Kangamangus Highway during the height of the fall leaf season
** Visit the U.S.S. Constitution in Boston Harbor
** Eat at the Lobster Pot in P'town
** Visit the Vermont Store in Weston, Vt
** See where The Old Man of the Mountain used to be in New Hampshire
** Visit Cedar Point Amusement Park along the shores of Lake Erie in Ohio
** Shop in Mishawaka, Indiana
** See the Superman statue in Metropolis, Illinois
** Visit Colorado National Monument in Grand Junction, Colorado
** See the dinosaur bones stuck in the wall at Dinosaur National Monument
** Take the road to Lemhi Pass to see where Lewis and Clark passed across the Continental Divide
** Visit Bannock Ghost Town in Montana
** Explore Mark Twain Cave at Hannibal, Missouri
** Visit Vulcan overlooking Birmingham, Alabama
** See Rock City near Chattanooga, Tennessee
** Ride the Incline at Chattanooga
** Visit Dahlonega and/or Helen Georgia
** Take a paddle tour of the Okefenokee Swamp
** Tour the old fort at St. Augustine
** Climb the lighthouse in Key West
** Visit the Parthenon in Nashville
** Stroll along the Grassy Knoll at Dealey Plaza in Dallas
** Eat lunch at the huge cafeteria at the bottom of Carlsbad Caverns
** Watch the sunset over the Grand Canyon from Desert View Point
** Check out the ruts from thousands of wagon trains along points of the Oregon Trail like Scotts Bluff, Nebraska
** Visit old forts like Laramie in Wyoming and Old Bents Fort in Colorado
** Drive to the top of Pikes Peak where it may be snowing in July
** Walk across Royal Gorge Bride, 1000 feet above the Arkansas River near Canon City, Colorado
** Visit Little River Canyon in Northeast Alabama, one of the deepest canyons east of the Mississippi.

Keith

This is a cool thread.

I've done lots of the OP's list. Plus more.

Been to the Alamo?
Walked the Riverwalk in San Antonio?
Done the Mission Trail?
Driven Hwy 1 to Key West?
Seen the sunset at Mallory Square?
Toured the Everglades?
Had breakfast with Mickey?
Driven the Pacific Hwy?
Ridden a SF cable car?
Watched a Sunrise and Sunset in the Grand Canyon?
Watched a sunset on the dunes in P town?
Landed a large Halibut in Alaska?
Rafted any glacier fed river in Alaska?
Walked on a glacier?
Camped in the Adirondack?
Snowmobiled in Canada?
Walked the Freedom Trail and Eaten dinner in the North End?
Had a beer at Cheers?
Looked down into the World Trade Center site from above, after 9/11?
Been in a NYC blackout?

Sorry for duplications and I could go on and on and on. I've been so lucky.

was in a hurry but don't think i saw this one- teared up as they threw the lei in at pearl harbor?

Oh Keith, I want to go on another drive trip now.

I've done LOTS on SweetHome's list and also on yours Keith.

I love slide rock- it was a blast.

I've eaten something in about 15 ball parks. I love baseball, and I love baseball people.

Some others:

*Eaten White Castle, sober and drunk, and once after a prom. I love sliders.

*Eaten smelts cooked 2 minutes after the net on the banks of downtown Chicago Lake Michigan on April 1.

*Did almost all on Gardyloo's list including been in the crowd at the 1968 Democratic Convention. (Hid behind a statue in Grant Park, as I was just trying to get home from work.)

*Experienced the Friday Night Frenzy in small town Central Michigan. Everything for 100's of miles seems to stop for High School Football.

*Set up displays and lodged with the Amish at their Shipshewanna Auction and Flea Market held every Tuesday /Wednesday in Summer (Indiana).
Ate pies and MUCH more. Rode only in the horse/buggies etc. No electricity.

*Attended tractor pulls in 4 states, and numerous state fairs.

*Had a fight with a domestic goose on a Iowa farm when I was 6 or 7. I lost.

*Experienced a day at a pig farm in MI that covers 100s of acres. More fun that it sounds.

*Did the "Rocky" run at A. Lincoln Memorial in D.C. when I was about 12.

*Road all 7 roll coasters at Riverview in one day was I was about 10.

*Experienced a lunar eclipse at Lake Michigan when the waves were so large we could surf.(I was about 15.)

*Had a wild donkey steal the licorice out of my pocket in AZ.

*See the crater left by the meteor out in the desert on the way to Albuqurque.

*Went to Ruby Falls

*Went to Lookout Mountain

*Tasted great wine in Sonoma

*Got soup at the Soup Nazi's in Manhatten

*Got lost in Shawnee National Forest

*Got lost in San Diego

*Got lost in San Francisco

*Got lost in UP of MI

*Got lost in MN and didn't care because there was another lake to see anyway

*Stood and watched a wheat field that went on as far as you could see to the horizon line

*Saw Old Cosmiskey Park's last game and experienced the aftermath

*Meet George McGovern at Midway Airport and meet him in person when I was 8 months pregnant and he was running for President

*Had a rainbow cone eating contest and got to the pistachio first

*Went through the Everglades in FL on a boat with my new husband in 1967. We caught something so big we were towed- had to cut the line.

Perhaps not exclusive to the US but some fun things to me from my childhood. Have you ever...

- stuffed more than 6 people in a telephone booth or a commercial dryer?
- gone on a scavenger hunt?
- caught fireflies in a jar
- played in the sprinklers on the lawn but didn't want to come in to take a bath?
- been to an alligator farm?
- prank called your neighbor to ask if their refrigerator were running?
- wrapped (toilet papered) a house?
- been caught by the cops while wrapping a house?
- been given more toilet paper from the cops so that you could do a good job? (It happened! - Honest!)

It's a nice song but some of the things on the list you most certainly CAN do outside of America. Living in Europe for the last several years, I know that Europeans have, in their own countries:
ridden a dog sled
gone ice skating on a frozen pond (and also on the frozen moat of a 15th century castle under the moonlight)
carved a pumpkin
gone ice fishing
taken a boat through downtown (no disrespect of San Antonio, but I think the boat rides through downtown Venice, Italy, are just a *bit* more impressive)
Shopped at Ikea
Seen Rocky Horror Picture Show with live actors (in fact, the leading newscasters from the BBC recently dressed up in full RH regalia--leather corsets and garter belts on the MEN--to perform the Time Walk dance on stage for charity--you ain't never gonna see Bryan Williams or Bill O'Reilly do THAT on TV!)

It's great to do the things on these lists, but some of them aren't in the least unique to the U.S.

ooh this is fun!

i've done...
*county fairs
*hot dogs at yankee, mets stadium (and pinks jserpente!)
*seen the sunset and hemingways house in key west.
*ice skated on a frozed pond.
*shopped/lunched in the hamptons.
*carved a pumpkin
*cheerleaded at a homecoming football game!!
*had lobster and blueberries in maine
*rode a cable car in san francisco
*bbq, blues, elvis, and the peabody ducks in memphis.
*vinyards in napa and sonoma.
*gambled and caused minor trouble in vegas. (still love my "leaving las vegas" photo i took!)
*luau, and u.s.s arizona in hawaii
*been to weeki wacki seetheworld! years ago.
*climbed the statue of liberty, survived a blackout ('03) and marched in the st patricks day parade in new york. i'll leave the rest out...
*drove up as far as possible to the hollywood sign
*seen rocky horror picture show with live actors at midnight!
*numerous clambakes, 4th of july parades, etc...fire island beaches. ;-)

Yeah, but have you ever eaten tater tot hot dish and green jello salad in a church basement in Europe? :-)

And some of them absolutely are unique to the USA. Mine all are. I adore going to and being in Europe but think of the diversity here without crossing anything other than a state border.

When you enter the Badlands, yipes- you wonder what planet you are on. We do have some variety.

JJ5, not really. There are nice pig farms in Europe. The geese in SW France are every bit as feisty as the geese in the midwestern US. French farm kids there will no doubt have their own memories of losing battles with geese. There are local, county (shire) and regional fairs very little different from state fairs.
Tractor pulls (and monster truck shows) are surprisingly popular in the Netherlands (at least, we were surprised!).
The endless fields of sunflowers in Europe are as stunning as endless fields of wheat.

My point is that we have more in common with the rest of the world than we think and given how many conflicts are started by people insisting on their differences, it might be nice to recognize what we share.

Btilke, you are right, but it's an entirely different flavor. The big difference is size and space.

I could argue with you on figures (more pigs in Cass County MI than in entire European countries, BTilke), but I won't. This is tin pig huts as far as the eye can see to the horizon. Few places in Europe have any land given over to that kind of spacing.

And quite frankly, I'd take a sail down the Chicago River over one through Venice anyday. Both are impressive, but in entirely different ways. Doesn't make one "better" than the other.

We are just having fun, re-enjoying the memories, and not writing a literal treatise.

Your point is well-taken that we have a lot in common, but not a whole bunch of these things. And there is absolutely nothing I have come upon that is like an American drive vacation yet. All that space and no country borders to cross for days upon days.

It's my favorite vacation trip of all- and I can go any direction for 2 to 3 days.

I don't think anyone is arguing your point, BTilke. Many of us love to travel in Europe also - this thread isn't about which is better.

Even if, for instance, I agree that boat rides in Venice are more interesting that boat rides in San Antonio <i>to me</i> the mere fact that both exist doesn't make them <i>the same</i>. One experience is European (Venetian, actually, as opposed to river trips in Amsterdam, Paris or London); the other experience is Venetian.

When you can show me a tiny county fair with all of the following, I'll take you implied point that we're all alike, no differences at all, no point in traveling or talking about anything:

* Corn art.
* Cross-stitched last suppers.
* Antique John Deere tractors restored by 15-year-olds.
* 4-H projects on citizenship, rocketry, the ailments of a horse's hoof, and &quot;My Dog Skip&quot; photo essays.
* Maid-Rites.
* The Zipper.
* A place that makes cheesy personalized cedar house signs.
* A demolition derby.
* You get the idea....

Let's just have some fun, OK?


So here are some more:

* Eaten chicken-fried steak at a truck stop.
* Seen the ice castle at the St. Paul Winter Carnival.
* Driven the North Shore of Lake Superior.
* Seen the Corn Palace in Mitchell, S.D.
* Visited roadside attractions like the World's Largest Ball of Twine.
* Killed your feet at the Smithsonian museums.
* Alcatraz.
* Dug your toes into a white-sand beach that rivals any in the Caribbean -- in northern Indiana.
* Flown into Boston and wondered if they were SURE where the runway was.
* Going through immigration in Chicago and having the agent finish his questions about why your passport is so full of stamps with &quot;Welcome home.&quot;

Dang, I hate it when I hit &quot;post&quot; when I meant to hit &quot;preview.&quot; You're all smart enough to figure out what I meant.

BTIlke, I yield to someone who's obviously brighter than me - you can post a legible message. Game, set, match. :-D

JJ5, first, about pigs. Since you are such an expert on the subject, you do of course realize that Danish farmers raise 25 million pigs a year and that at least 50% of the baby back ribs purchased in the U.S. come from Denmark (there were years when the figure was closer to 80%). That's an awful lot of pigs. At any rate, having the biggest pig farm is not something I find particularly alluring. I'm rather more fond of small family farms than major agricultural complexes anyway.

Worktowander, I would never suggest that there aren't wonderful things to celebrate in the U.S. But we Americans *sometimes* tend to rush to assume that things are unique to this country that really aren't. It's a slippery slope from national pride to jingoism (the latter often seems to substitute for the former on a certain news channel).

Living overseas, I hear lots of misperceptions about the U.S.--that every town is alike and that we Americans are all alike (esp. that we're all fatties who wear sneakers and elastic waist pants everywhere). That we can't make decent beer or coffee. It's rubbish. But OTOH, when I'm back in the U.S. I tend to hear the opposite--that the U.S. is unique in all the good ways.

As for these lists, there WERE things people were suggesting were unique to the U.S. that really weren't. And some of the experiences listed as unique to the U.S. were just plain ordinary. Gotten lost in San Francisco? That's like saying I-5 is unique from all other interstates because you took the wrong exit in Portland.
Or...thanked a veteran? That's unique to the U.S.? I think the families of British soldiers serving in Iraq would disagree.

Finally, shopping at Ikea? Please. We have shopped at Ikeas in the U.S., UK, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. They are ALL equally mesmerising (is there any community left in the developed world that hasn't been invaded by the Billy bookcase plague?)--and maddening. Go to any Ikea anywhere in the world and they are guaranteed to be out of stock of the one item you really need, or if they DO have it, it won't fit in your car. Or if it DOES fit in your car, when you get it home, a crucial piece will be damaged or missing. However, if YOUR Ikea has in stock the Jonas desk in medium/dark brown, then I capitulate--yours truly is unique!

You're angry, BTilke, you have a chip on your shoulder. Europe's farms are tiny truck farms compared to the agri-business farms of the American continent.

If you don't like people to have fun being content with their own brand of goodies, I don't know that there would be any answer that would please you on this. Of course you can do all this the same way in Europe- so why think we may be different or unique. I got to tell my parents who immigrated that one.

And I just looked up the pig count. 67.5 million from Jan. to Sept. in 2005 alone.

visited the statue of liberty , the alamo , the arch in St. Louis , traveled route 66 , sang La bamba in Mexico , ate my way through louisiana , skinny dipped on block island , saw my fair lady with the original cast.

BTilke - get over yourself

Everyone else - I love these lists and I am amazed at how much I have been fortunate enough to do in my 46 years. I do still have my pension and I am not sure that I have been in a Waffle House while sober. I have missed the gren jello in the basement of a European church .... I'll have to work on that one.

Walked Augusta National with the Dogwoods in bloom?

Danced to the band at the Floribama liquor store, bar &amp; grill (right on the florida/alabama line on the beach)?

Been to the San Diego zoo?

Been to a pig-pickin'?

Watched fireworks over Portland Head Light (in your winter coat of course)?

Driven thru a New England covered bridge in the fall?

Watched the ducks at the Peabody?

Been to a Jimmy Buffet concert?

Driven from Miami to the Keys?

And amen to that SEC footbal game mention. (although I'm an Athens person myself!)