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I first gravitate toward cities with a distinct sense of place, which to me, means if I ever woke up from a coma there and walked outside, I would instantly know where I was. This comes from spending most of my life in Houston and Dallas, which are the antithesis of this. I also love a good baseball town--that's about more than the game, it's the culture around the game. It's cool if it's also a good sports town, but really, how people feel about the baseball team(s) is a big deal for me. I like Liberal cities in a deep shade of blue. I like urban density, local folklore, walkable neighborhoods and good public transit. I also love places with a vibrant, CREATIVE food scene, not just good ethnic variety (though that's welcome as well).
So, my favorites are:
1. (tie) NYC and San Francisco--NY gets the obvious edge as a place to visit, because it offers the greatest concentration of urban amenities in the world and checks every above box 2-3 times. For living, though, SF is better for me on so many levels, checking my boxes, and adding some things like incredible weather, its urban and natural setting, proximity to Wine Country (where I recently moved), earning opportunities, etc. Too hard to choose between these two. I got a great opportunity in SF first, so that made the choice for me to relocate.
3. Chicago--Great place. I don't love the weather, or the general vibe I get from the people, but I love the city. The rest of the Midwest sucks for me, though, including StL, even though it's a great baseball town.
4. Boston--exudes a sense of place better than almost anywhere else. It's polished and smart, but rough around the edges. It's best experienced in its neighborhoods. with a better food scene, Boston might have enough to trade places with Chicago for me.
5. DC--Similar to Boston in its appeal, but even more distinct sense of place. The food here also is not in the same league as NY/SF/Chi. and despit the championship last year, DC is a football town, not a baseball one...though Baltimore is.
Out of the "Major" US cities you have been to, what is your top 5?
Speaking as someone who has visited 49 states, I can declare with a fair amount of confidence that I have been lost in every major city in the US. Some places were pretty scary, some were not very pretty, some had wonderful people, some didn't.
Here goes:
For walking, give me Boston in the summer.
For "vibes", I'll take pre-pandemic New York.
For Sports bars there is no question - Chicago.
For ethnic experiences and restaurants there is no question - Chicago again.
Most dramatic entry has to be Albuquerque as you first view the valley from the East.
But I never met anyone I didn't like from Minnesota, so Minn/St Paul has to be on the list.
I got mugged in LA, so that's out.
But I turned 21 in San Francisco - that was many years ago, but they are probably still talking about it.
Have I listed over 5...........? I haven't even mentioned Charleston. Or New Orleans, and all its churches. Wait!.. I didn't get to talk about landing in San Diego, where pilots have to almost tilt their wings to get through town. And how nice that beautiful young lady was in Newark and how she touched my arm as she gave me directions (thought my heart was going to stop).
I haven’t been to Miami, New Orleans or Atlanta. I also haven’t spent enough time in LA to give it a fair shot so I left it off. Boston has great establishments but felt too provincial and old-school for my tastes. DC I only consider for its museums. Everywhere else is meh.
New York City
San Francisco
Chicago
Boston
Washington, DC
Runner-Up: New Orleans
Man, your list could be mine. I traded SF for SD, though most times if you'd ask me I'd have SF over SD. Something about my last visit to the SF left me feeling like it didn't have "it". Idk what it was. But I'll take the Bay Area over just about any other.
NOLA is awesome. Just wish the great areas to visit were a bit more substantial in size. To me, it doesn't feel any bigger than Charleston, which i'd put right next to NOLA.
Chicago- Even though I live here now, one of my reasons for always wanting to move here is remembering coming here as a kid during the summer. We had family who lived out here and like 3 summers in a row during high school, I remember visiting Chicago and just being blown away my the clean downtown, Lake Michigan, the Mag Mile, the food, and the awesome architecture and clean downtown. Living here now, the real jewel of the city, is all of the unique local neighborhoods that operate like mini-cities (each with their own shops, stores, restaurants, bars, etc. where you see the same people all the time and get to know each other as locals). Have had a blast living here.
I grew up in the Chicago suburbs, so a bit different. But I remember feeling some kind of way as I'd drive into Chicago and that skyline would come over the horizon. It felt like the baddest city in the world. The architecture and the vastness of the city gave me a sense of pride almost..
When we moved to Boston, I remember driving in for the first time. I was like "that's IT!?". From a distance, it resembled Milwaukee more than Chicago. Of course, once I got in to Boston and Cambridge, I was like.. Dang, OK, this is different, but this is effing cool too.
Speaking as someone who has visited 49 states, I can declare with a fair amount of confidence that I have been lost in every major city in the US. Some places were pretty scary, some were not very pretty, some had wonderful people, some didn't.
Here goes:
For walking, give me Boston in the summer.
For "vibes", I'll take pre-pandemic New York.
For Sports bars there is no question - Chicago.
For ethnic experiences and restaurants there is no question - Chicago again.
Most dramatic entry has to be Albuquerque as you first view the valley from the East.
But I never met anyone I didn't like from Minnesota, so Minn/St Paul has to be on the list.
I got mugged in LA, so that's out.
But I turned 21 in San Francisco - that was many years ago, but they are probably still talking about it.
Have I listed over 5...........? I haven't even mentioned Charleston. Or New Orleans, and all its churches. Wait!.. I didn't get to talk about landing in San Diego, where pilots have to almost tilt their wings to get through town. And how nice that beautiful young lady was in Newark and how she touched my arm as she gave me directions (thought my heart was going to stop).
Five?.......... Nah. I love 'em all.
Just curious: what’s the one state that you haven’t been to? And do you have any plans to go there soon so you can check all 50 off your list officially?
Just curious: what’s the one state that you haven’t been to? And do you have any plans to go there soon so you can check all 50 off your list officially?
Alaska.
I travel in my 1-man RV sometimes - it's a pickup with a camper cap - and I was going to go to take a trip to Dawson City, Yukon Territory last summer. It's just across the Yukon River from Alaska, so I was going to go into Alaska just so I could say I had done it. But Covid, and all that stuff happened.
Maybe in 2021, but I'm getting pretty old for that sort of stuff...I get all stove up after a day behind the wheel.
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...........? I haven't even mentioned Charleston. Or New Orleans, and all its churches. Wait!.. I didn't get to talk about landing in San Diego, where pilots have to almost tilt their wings to get through town. And how nice that beautiful young lady was in Newark and how she touched my arm as she gave me directions (thought my heart was going to stop).
