>>2810097
So I just read through all the posts ITT because I also love places like Gatlinburg, Branson, Wisconsin Dells, St. Augustine, FL, the beaches of southern Maine, the Jersey Shore and all manner of kitsch, vintage tourism and roadside attraction related stuff. I actually happen to be somewhat of an intellectual authority of sorts on the subject. I'm writing a book, working on a google maps project documenting over 15,000 locations in the US with cultural or historical relevance and I am also a content creator with a lifelong passion for all this stuff.
This kind of stuff is so culturally underappreciated that it's sickening. I've been to many other countries and there is nothing out there that is quite like what we have in the US, and definitely not on the quantity or scale of what's out there. We are very blessed to have all the thousands of vintage drive-ins, amusement parks, quirky museums, muffler men and large fiberglass objects along the highways, tourist traps and destinations full of all the above and more. Not only does it make the US more fun to live in and travel to, especially if you only consider that stuff a side extra to all the national parks, mountain ranges and coastlines etc. it also makes traveling in the US a deeply cultural experience that is misunderstood thanks to unwarranted pretentiousness like the joker ITT who thinks Paris and all the obvious places that people compare the US to Europe to are objectively better for having good travel experiences. The problem is most people are doing it all wrong. Try setting a destination for yourself in the US for something interesting and unique like my picrel (House on the Rock in WI) and look for other cool stuff to check out along the route to get there and you will discover the real American travel experience from our previous generations that you can still have today.