This is just a random thread....well, actually I had to cancel a trip last year and as a result have 2 tickets I can use to fly anywhere domestically, and need somewhere to go. I'm a big fan of nice little small town America. Towns like Durango, Jackson, Flagstaff, etc. I haven't been to many on the East Coast, but I know there are a lot of little nice ones in the Northeast (Connecticut, Vermont, Maine, etc.) What are some of the best, in your opinion? Best to visit and best to live?
I don't know why, but when I read the original post, one of the first things I thought about was my meal at Fore Street. Portland is a cool city.....both the one in Maine and the big one in Oregon. If you're into small town Americana, New England really is the place to go. Get OFF of the main highways and just drive around up there. They still have small town parades with the local volunteer firetrucks and highschool twirlers. Sometimes it's like stepping into the past. Lobster rolls, stuffies, and clam chowder don't suck either.
its really kinda like stepping back about 10 years its funny cause I've always lived in big cities for most of my life growing up in houston and such, this is the smallest town I've ever living in by far, 60,000 people the rules and the way of life are so different from the rest of america its bizzarre good example, I'm at this bar called amigos, theres a bluegrass esque band playing and I start yelling out for them to play some Bobby Bare or something, totally smashed, and some guy starts talkin mad **** to me and I start talking back and then I go back into the bar get some buddies, come back the guy smashes a pint class on my friends face, he takes one punch to break his face and the place turns into a brawl, the band even jumps in, the kids who got hit wen tto the hospital for a week and worked there, my friend and me just left, he wa sso pissed he didn't get to smash that guys face in harder he breaks his hand punching a parking meter. All in all, if **** like that can go on? who knows I've got tackled in Austin Texas for being drunk in public and walking across a street when the no walk sign was on, sitting outside of some big country bar in pasadena while cops play the old "we dont have the key to the handcuffs" and such... but here in Portland this summer I was swigging a bottle of Jager in a parking lot, dancing with some girls, and all the sudden I was surrounded by police officers, they made me pour the jager out told me to get along and just gave me a warning, I know for a fact in Texas I would have gone to jail. Of course I've tried to push a cop car over in Prague with a cop sitting in it, so I think it has more ultimately to do with my inferiority complex to cops when I'm trashed and there around then it does small town america, but still its like a whole nother world, its much better "downeast" up north, but theres no jobs so what you gonna do
I'd actually recommend Green Bay as a fun place to go. I went there in August, and had a great time. It's a really neat little town, and Lambeau Field is incredible. They also have the National Railroad Museum if that's your thing. I can also recommend AGAINST Punxsatawnee, PA. I went for Groundhog day last year, and it was fun to be able to say I went, but otherwise it was a waste of time. The town is really boring.
The city I live in is pretty cool although it is in a dry county and we don't have a lot of the restaurants you find in other cities. Jonesboro, Arkansas
Prescott and Jerome, AZ, and Cedar City, UT, are great small towns in the Southwest, especially if you like the mountains.
on my roadtrip to california a week ago, i took a half hour road off of I-10 to Tombstone, AZ. nice history there with the OK Corral. it was pretty much empty, with the occassional tourist.
LOL. That's what I call a tangent. But I agree w/ jbond, after living in South Florida (which is virtually a huge city) and moving to this small town (Ocala), it's very bizarre and backwards, to put it nicely. But I too digress... I'm guessing the tickets are for the continental U.S., but if not, maybe visit Alaska. I've had friends take cruises there and loved the experience. I've recently visited several Maryland towns for a wedding, like Bethesda and Frederick which are very quaint and nice. For those who didn't know, I think Bethesda has the highest concentration of people w/ PhD's or something like that. And I agree w/ the Green Bay recommendation. I've heard it's a great town w/ a pretty diverse and laid back vibe. Lots of bars and lounges and a good selection of ethnic restaurants. I'd like to visit there sometime.
Check out a college town somewhere -- it always seems that they have great restaurants, bars, and nightlife.
i so love Durango. One of my friends (a rice prof) has a house there on Vallecito Lake....it is so great. but when I left his place to drive to Boulder...I mean..i fell in love with a town ...actually many small towns...but all that might me too small for you....too small for everyone JayZ750... I'm a small town kid. I love Texas. This is it for me....unless I move to a small town like my childhood.... best small towns.... Paonia, Colorado...is the house I'm looking at.
Twenty years ago, we did a NE tour: up New Hampshire and down Vermont. Loved it. All those fascinating town greens. We stumbled upon a church lobster supper one evening....
I lived in Nacogdoches for a few years. I had some of the best times of my life there. I got to know many locals etc. It can be like your own playland. I'm going back there for a superbowl party, my pal just bought one of those giant outdoor inflatable projection screens. Can't wait.
Really.....I lived there for almost ten years in the late eighties, early nineties. And I've been "almost" living there during the work week for the past year or so.
