I Want To Go To America One Day

Was Walt Disney really an anti semite? Was Henry Ford an anti semite?

That’s the rumor with Walt, Never heard that about henry ford, although both those dudes are from a different era where that sort of stuff was accepted so I wouldn’t be surprised the next town over from me still has the slogan “a better way of life” and they’ve had that slogan since it was written into land and housing contracts that “no niggers, Japs or jews will hold land” I hear rental notices had that too!

Can you go to Area 51?

I don’t really keep up with this type of conspiracy theory but from what I understand the government has just barely ackowledged it’s existance and so No you can’t visit. Feel free to visit Roswell New Mexico where the aliens crashed though! [:)]

Can you buy a chili dog in any city?

Yeah it’s called Weinerschnitzel!

Is Elvis still really big in America?

Perhaps in graceland!

Do you see movie stars everywhere?

I suppose if you go to the movies you will… the most movie stars I ever saw was working at In n Out Burger I’ve never seen one in L.A. though.
Late,
grmpysmrf

My travels have taken me to all of the states you’ve listed so I’ll do my best to try and sort it out.

Maine - Kinda quiet and provincial. Good seafood but Maine is the kind of place where families with old money have a summer lakehouse and not much else really happens.

Massachusetts - Feels a bit like England, moreso than anywhere else in the States. Lot’s to do and see and very compact. Expensive.

West Virginia - Mostly populated with rednecks and hillbillies. Beatiful place though. Often wondered by it’s so backwards given it’s proximity to the East Coast.

Colorado - Lovely mountains and …not much else. Most of the people are old hippies or transients with no roots. Food’s not great. If you like skiing, I suppose it’s OK.

Oregon - Portland…YES!!! Oregon is great.

Wyoming - Cowboys and right-wing militias mostly. Nice scenery though. Yellowstone Nat’l Park has to be seen to be believed.

California - An absolute must. LA is a great place, SF too. If I won the lottery…I’d immediately move to California.

Washington - You know, I’ve never been able to catch to Washington vibe. Starbucks, Microsoft, lot’s of rain and people walking around in flannel shirts. What can you expect from a place that’s populated with the descendents of lumberjacks and salmon fisherman?

Minneapolis is a very progressive place. I wouldn’t mind a visit again soon. The best place to be in the summer is Chicago. We’ve got it all. Too much, in fact to bother writing down. Suffice to say…there’s no better city to spend a summer day in the US than Chicago. Winter, however is not for tourists.

Was Walt Disney really an anti semite?

I’ve never seen any evidence of Walt as an anti-Semite either and am not sure where that came from. There was a Donald Duck cartoon that came out during WWII called “Der Fuhrer’s Face” where DD is a Nazi soldier in the German army. But it’s really just goofing on the Nazis to make them look stupid. I’m sure some people could take it out of context, though.

This would be rather ironic if he was, by the way, since Disney has been run quite extensively by Jewish individuals for some time now.

Can you go to Area 51?

Not exactly. But you can go out and fart around Rachel, NV where it is supposedly located. There is a little Inn called the A’Le’Inn which is all kitched up to cater to the spacenuts. There’s other local souvenir stands and so forth, and there’s some UFO-enthusiasts that you may run into, but there’s really nothing out that way worth going to. Alien Burgers. Oh, and they titled the 375 HWY as “The Extraterrestrial Hwy”.

Can you buy a chili dog in any city?

Yes, you can. But Wienerschnitzel (mentioned by Grumpy) is not in every state. You WILL be able to find chili dogs anywhere, though. Any diner will have them and in many downtowns you can just buy them off the street. But in L.A. we pay homage to the BACON DOG. Bacon-wrapped franks grilled up on the sidewalk by a trusty homeboy or homegirl, served hot and ready for chowing down at 1AM after rockin’ your ass off at the Paladium or boozing it up downtown.

Is Elvis still really big in America?

Not big in the sense that everyone listens or cares about his music or anything. But he’s an ICON of our culture. You will see him all over in Vegas and of course, if you are a fan of the King, a visit to Graceland is like going to Mecca.

Elvis and Marilyn Monroe are kind of the King and Queen of American entertainment symbolism respectively.

Do you see movie stars everywhere?

Certainly not everywhere. But there are a handful of too-hip restaurants in LA and Malibu where you are pretty much guaranteed to see some.

Most of the stars live either up North of LA or in secluded, fortressed off areas in Bel Air and what not.

You can take those “star homes” bus tours, but about 50% of the labels are inaccurate anyway, so you’re just as well off just looking at random houses. I can show you the Phil Specter murder house, though.

[reply]Can you go to Area 51?

Not exactly. But you can go out and fart around Rachel, NV where it is supposedly located. There is a little Inn called the A’Le’Inn which is all kitched up to cater to the spacenuts. There’s other local souvenir stands and so forth, and there’s some UFO-enthusiasts that you may run into, but there’s really nothing out that way worth going to. Alien Burgers. Oh, and they titled the 375 HWY as “The Extraterrestrial Hwy”.
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Gunnar is correct on all his answers, but I will elaborate a bit on this one.
Not only can you not go to Area 51, the government bought the land surrounding it just to keep away people who were hanging around the hills with binoculars and whatnot.
I don’t believe that there are any aliens there, but that’s definitely where the military skunkworks is located, and they’ll arrest your ass for snooping around.

[reply]
[reply]Can you go to Area 51?

Not exactly. But you can go out and fart around Rachel, NV where it is supposedly located. There is a little Inn called the A’Le’Inn which is all kitched up to cater to the spacenuts. There’s other local souvenir stands and so forth, and there’s some UFO-enthusiasts that you may run into, but there’s really nothing out that way worth going to. Alien Burgers. Oh, and they titled the 375 HWY as “The Extraterrestrial Hwy”.
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I don’t believe that there are any aliens there, but that’s definitely where the military skunkworks is located, and they’ll arrest your ass for snooping around.[/reply]

Plus you might get anal probed! Then the space creatures will be able to track you and further examine your anus as many times as they wish. Haha

[reply]
Austin, TX: Great music, bars, people, lakes, college, downtown,…

There is nothing spectacular about Austin but it is alive enough that it isn’t a boring place to live. But, if you are coming in from out of town, unless you time it so that there is a cool band to see or some other event in town, it wouldn’t be worth the visit.[/reply]

Really? I went for a bachelor party and had a blast. Went to the lake, played frisbee golf, went to the bars and met all kinds of weird cool people. Talked to a girl in a RevCo shirt about them and the Skatenigs and Ministry. I liked what I saw, but maybe it was the beer goggles.

Oregon - Portland…YES!!! Oregon is great.

Washington - You know, I’ve never been able to catch to Washington vibe. Starbucks, Microsoft, lot’s of rain and people walking around in flannel shirts. What can you expect from a place that’s populated with the descendents of lumberjacks and salmon fisherman?

How could you like Portland and not like Seattle? Seattle is practically just Portland on steroids… same rain, very similar laid back culture. Sounds like you haven’t been to Seattle since the 90’s at least. No more flannel shirts, lots of alternatives to Starbucks, lots of other “tech” companies (Adobe, Google, Nintendo) besides Microsoft. Not defending Seattle per se, but usually if one likes Portland they like Seattle too… so similar.

We Texans are pretty cool and laid back. I recommend giving South Padre Island a visit especially during spring break you’re guaranteed to get laid then. Plus you can buy yourself a cowboy hat and show it off to your mates!

And don’t get me started on the killer Mexican food in San Antonio, Tx HANDS DOWN the best in the entire southwest! Cali’s Mexican food eats dicks compared to here HAHA

[reply]Oregon - Portland…YES!!! Oregon is great.

Washington - You know, I’ve never been able to catch to Washington vibe. Starbucks, Microsoft, lot’s of rain and people walking around in flannel shirts. What can you expect from a place that’s populated with the descendents of lumberjacks and salmon fisherman?

How could you like Portland and not like Seattle? Seattle is practically just Portland on steroids… same rain, very similar laid back culture. Sounds like you haven’t been to Seattle since the 90’s at least. No more flannel shirts, lots of alternatives to Starbucks, lots of other “tech” companies (Adobe, Google, Nintendo) besides Microsoft. Not defending Seattle per se, but usually if one likes Portland they like Seattle too… so similar.[/reply]

It’s probably it’s quaintness that attracts me to Portland more than Seattle. That and the general bias I’m feeling this week since the Bears are hosting the Seahawks in a playoff game. And honestly, the Pac NW is probably the region of the country I’ve visited the least and therefore know the least about. My opinion of Seattle is admittedly askew.

A lake, frisbee golf, bars, and weird people are fun but you don’t need to travel to USA or TX for that. Like I said, it’s a fun and alive place but nothing spectacular.

Yeah, I guess you’re right. Not to worth crossing an ocean for.

I can’t really see any reason to come to America besides NYC.

Actually, go to Maryland. Maryland is really beautiful - in a kind of haunted, old style kind of way.

It’s like a fantasy, Lord Of The Rings type landscape in parts.

I can’t really see any reason to come to America besides NYC.

There’s always the atomic cannons!

Actually, go to Maryland. Maryland is really beautiful - in a kind of haunted, old style kind of way.

It’s like a fantasy, Lord Of The Rings type landscape in parts.

I haven’t been to Maryland, but you’re making it sound intriguing. Can you recommend any specific cities to go to? My wife and I are looking to do some road trips in summer; we prefer mid-size or smaller cities, and natural scenery.

Olsen, please elaborate on your story I really want to hear.

To cut a long story short (there is some shit attached that I won’t go into) we were at this ratty motel in Nebraska one stormy night, and we’re out in the parking lot trying to score weed off people. After some searching, one of the motel guests points us in the direction of one of the rooms and tells us that the guy there is a dealer of sorts. So we go and check it out.

We knock on the door and a sleepy lookin’ black guy answers. We tell him that we’re lookin’ to score and heard that he could possibly help us out. He stares at us for a about a minute in complete silence, then goes back in the room and we hear him talking to someone. He comes back out and tells us to come inside. So we go in and we see this white chick sprawled on the bed in her nightie and she’s eating pizza. We start chatting to her and find she’s real nice and soon enough we’re sittin’ down with her, eating pizza and talking about our travels. The black dude all the while is sitting back on the bed watching television and saying very little.

Anyway, we’d been in the room almost an hour and then we remember why we came there in the first place and we bring up the subject of weed again. So the black dude goes into the bathroom and comes out with a bag, places it on the bed, takes out a bag of weed and starts emptying some of it out into a smaller bag. One of my friends, who is watching the television with the girl, makes some sarcastic comment about some news story that’s just come on regarding some murder or something. The girl starts flippin’ out and going psycho on him, screaming in my friend’s face and calling him a bunch of names and jumping up and down on the bed.

We try and calm her down and as it turns out, the victim in this news story happened to be a high school friend of the girl on the bed - lucky us. The black dude, during all of this, has disappeared into the bathroom, but soon emerges, this time carrying a fucking handgun which he is waving at us and motioning us to get on the floor - which we do…really fucking slowly and calmly as possible.

After much negotiating and after being repeatedly bitch-slapped by the psycho girl we get the fuck out of there, get in the car and speed off as fast as possible. Thinking that we’ve gotten away, we slow down and take it easy and decide to cruise along for another half hour or so and find a motel in the next small town. That’s when a siren suddenly sounds and we turn and there’s a cop car behind us with its lights flashing and motioning for us to pull over.

These two fucking nasty assed cops get us out of the car, make us put our hands on the bonnet and spread our legs and start searching us. They find a small plastic container in the car with some cocaine residue and so then it’s off to the county jail to be interrogated and spend the night in lock up.

At the jailhouse, I get given the full cavity search, I get interrogated and thrown in a cell with some guy whom I find out has been arrested for raping his niece. Great. I spend the entire night sitting in the corner of the cell bed, trying not to look this guy directly in the face and all the while he’s smiling at me and calling me "pussy’.

In the morning we get let out and told never to come back, but at least we’re all ok - except for one of my friends who has received a rather nasty looking black eye.

Then, over the next few days a bunch of other shit happens and we decide to abruptly cut our trip short and get back back on a plane and head home.

I love how one little comment precipitated all of that. One stupid little poorly thought comment that didn’t mean much.

I also want to go to Minneapolis one day too - because that’s where Prince is from. Fuck he’s funny - funniest motherfucker ever. Have they named any landmarks there after Prince? Are there any parks or gardens with unpronounceable symbols for names? I wanted to change my name to an unpronounceable symbol but my mum wouldn’t let me. Is there really a place called Paisley Park? Any thoughts on Minneapolis?

there are a shitload of parks all over the place–but they usually have Scottish or Swedish or German names. Immigrants. Prince does live there and apparently destroyed part of his Paisley Park Studios to avoid having it go to his divorced wife. There is no Paisley Park “park”.

Also This fuckin’ city is like one giant shopping mall. They have this “mall of america”–which is like the largest indoor, enclosed, anything—wasted spaces filled with redundant shopping. Every edge of the city has a ____-dale shopping center. Like Rosedale, Southdale, Ridegdale. Shopping up the fuckin’ ass.

The medical care sucks. Norweigan doctors, I would assume.

Prejudice is rampant and it’s like going back in time 20 years.

Any other reasons? no, can’t think of any offhand (if you have any specific questions PM me. I am the expert on this town.)

Was Walt Disney really an anti semite? Was Henry Ford an anti semite? Can you go to Area 51? Can you buy a chili dog in any city? Is Elvis still really big in America? Do you see movie stars everywhere? Are we there yet?
No, but disneyland is cool to go to imagining there must be some “Westworld”-like conspiracy of robots and technology eating us up alive.

Yes. this is why Fords suck.

No. The military owns much land and, with all the other things to do, I don’t know why you’d want to stand around a wasteland.

Elvis-no, not anymore. Priscilla made Graceland a money-making operation and has essentially wrung every cent from the corpse of Elvis-dom.

movie stars–yeah. I guess. In SoCal, they can be seen–and they shit and piss–just like real people.

To cut a long story short (there is some shit attached that I won’t go into) we were at this ratty motel in Nebraska one stormy night…

Man, that’s pretty crazy. But yeah, if you’re trying out America for the first time, stay out of the middle. With some exceptions, there’s not a lot of good to be had in the plains. I’d say the Appalachains are pretty (East TN/West NC). Always liked New Orleans, though I haven’t been since the storm. New York is an experience everyone should have at least once.

To cut a long story short (there is some shit attached that I won’t go into) we were at this ratty motel in Nebraska one stormy night

Entertaining story Olsen. Why on earth did you choose to go to Nebraska, probably the most boring ass state in the union?

I’m unsure why you list all these places because most of them are flat, plain types. Really nothing going on except for scenery - and if that’s your thing, I can’t verify if a lot of them has this.

My advice? Go to the south: places like Savannah, GA (history, sub-level monuments and awesome trees) or Asheville/Chapel Hill, NC (mountains). Maybe New Orleans or Florida, too.

I live in NYC and we are the biggest city in the country, and it’s just…I dunno. It’s its own world, and I’m a transplant.

having just transversed this great land of ours, I can comment on some especially relevant I’d re-visit:

Colorado: fascinating scenery, real people.

California: I love Southern California, and live in a place many foreigners visit (Santa Barbara); I wouldn’t recommend it–it has some physical beauty, but not much, unless you have an attraction for its charms

L.A. --frankly I love it all: the freeways, they mass of cars, the snobby, pretentious "we set standards of ‘cool’, the Hollywood trash, and its old reputation for having true stars. The dead underworld of has-been–people who lived too fast, musicians/actors who laid it all on the line and never knew their tolerances. Something intrigues me about people chasing their death. For myself, I know exactly where the line is demarcated; others have a murky area they fuck with.

The Desert of SoCal: Has an ethereal beauty of breath-taking views of mountains and dry-live-able air. Native people are nice there, even doctors!!

Oh, in Minnesota: Duluth!! Lake Superior and a city on a hill, like San Francisco with North Woods creepiness. All old, Stayed in an OLD hotel where I expected Jack Nicholson to jump out of the woodwork. Actually I can say a lot about Minnesota having explored the whole state. I think the state had found out a lot they disliked about me–and vice versa.

peligro–any US questions, please fwd. them to me. I’ve driven almost everywhere–and during my last travels HAD to pick somewhere–so your inquiries are fresh in my memory.