What US City Surprised You?

[grinningghost]

Meaning, you didn't think it would be as cool as it was?

I was much more impressed with Las Vegas than I thought I'd be. Not so much the strip, but the outskirts are drop dead gorgeous. The whole "surrounded by mountains" thing just floored this Yankee girl.

 

[Sparx]

The whole of the outerbanks. TOTALLY not what I expected. I fell in love though, and I can't wait to go back again and again.

 

[HOGFAN]

not really a city, more like town. Gettysburg.
I am not really into civil war stuff like dh is but this town was very interesting.
we enjoyed a ghost tour, ate at some wonderful small diners and even the battlefield was very interesting. We plan on going back and doing a horseback tour.

 

[grinningghost]

not really a city, more like town. Gettysburg.
I am not really into civil war stuff like dh is but this town was very interesting.
we enjoyed a ghost tour, ate at some wonderful small diners and even the battlefield was very interesting. We plan on going back and doing a horseback tour.

Gettysburg is the next place on my "to do" list. I've finally convinced my DH. I've wanted to go there for eons.

 

[JennyMominRI]

CHicago..I really love downtown CHicago..I don't care for downtown LA much at all

 

[Rella Bella]

I have to say Kansas City... which we now call home but when we moved here 15 years ago I expected a cow town with questionable zoning. Wrong! This is a beautiful city! Lots of great architecture, hundreds of fountains, many beautiful wide boulevards & a fair amount of culture... we love it!
http://www.visitkc.com/visitor_info/shopping_premium.cfm?ID=10196

 

[Crankyshank]

Savannah. I figured it would be a quaint town with a lot of history, but I never thought I would love it as much as I did.

 

[happybratpack]

The Phoenix/Scottsdale area. I thought it was just going to be desert and blah, but it's so beautiful and I really fell in love with it.

 

[TENIA66]

Las Vegas. I expected seedy, dirty, dangerous....It was clean, fun and pretty.

 

[ClarabelleCowFan]

The area around West Point in New York. I couldn't imagine a place just an hour outside of the city could be so gorgeous. The mountains along the Hudson River - especially in Fall when the leaves are changing - are just breathtaking.

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

I have to say Kansas City... which we now call home but when we moved here 15 years ago I expected a cow town with questionable zoning. Wrong! This is a beautiful city! Lots of great architecture, hundreds of fountains, many beautiful wide boulevards & a fair amount of culture... we love it!
http://www.visitkc.com/visitor_info/shopping_premium.cfm?ID=10196

And more Hallmark cards than you can shake a stick at?

 

[figment52]

CHicago..I really love downtown CHicago..I don't care for downtown LA much at all

I was expecting something like Detroit and Chicago was anything but. There were parts of downtown LA that surprised me in a good way, especially Olvera Street and China Town - but that was about 15 years ago.

 

[MinnieFan4ever]

I would have to say Memphis. The food was great, the city was really clean and easy to walk around.

 

[need_a_Disney_fix]

Nashville. DH and I visited this fine city a few years ago and fell in love with the historical downtown area. I wish I was sitting upstairs at Tootsies "hollaring and swalloring" right now...seriously. We love it!!!

 

[Jimbo]

Dallas in a good way. I went there on business, and I was prepared to hate the place. Actually, I liked everything about it. Everyone I came into contact with was very nice, there was tons to do, and the parts I saw were very clean. I actually had thoughts about relocating.

Atlantic City in a bad way. I was thinking that AC was like Vegas, but on a smaller scale. Not!!!

 

[Caradana]

I would have to say Memphis. The food was great, the city was really clean and easy to walk around.

I echo this - definitely MEMPHIS. My first visit came after I traded off a business trip with a French guy at my [French] company in NYC - he was of African descent and was not excited to visit what he considered to be the "home of American racism" to do a consulting project at a very American company immersed in cowboy logistical culture ... so I traded him for LA and I went to Memphis. Now granted, I had a special friend there, and that perhaps skewed my experiences, but I loved EVERY SINGLE TRIP. Between the Peabody, the Madison, Beale, the Mall, the Mississippi, Tunica, the fact that everything costs pennies, the wonderful weather ... I had a blast.

I've also been pleasantly surprised by:
Austin, TX
Santa Fe, NM
Wilmington, DE (nice renaissance going on there)
Minneapolis (pretty, immaculate, extremely welcoming people)
LA (I liked it a lot more than I expected. The "cobblestone suburbia" can be pretty comfortable, I thought)

I've been "take it or leave it" on:
San Francisco (I'm always cold there. It's beautiful, but it's never really connected with me emotionally)
Chicago (in a floor-length fur and still like a popsicle out there)
Jacksonville (no NASCAR tee shirt, I didn't fit in)

 

[fabumouse]

I second that on Austin, Texas - I expected it to be lousy with women with *Big Hair* and lots o'lipstick. Instead, we drank the best margaritas on the planet, and went to a chic comedy club where they made fun of Dallas or was that Houston?

Is there really a difference?

 

[Nancy]

Chicago.

I expected it to be like Buffalo, but it is so much nicer! They (Chicago) has really made use of their waterfront, and ours stinks. I loved having a beach right in the city! Walking around on a Sunday it was busy. Downtown Buffalo is like a ghost town on Sundays.

 

[minkydog]

OMAHA! We were scheduled to take a choir trip to London, but then 9/11 happened and the trip was cancelled. In it's place we were offered to go to Omaha. The choir kids went wild! They didn't know exactly where this Omaha was, but they were glad to be going somewhere. Omaha was great! We practiced at the Univ. of Nebraska, very nice. Took in a street festival, visited the STrategic air command museum, went to the fantastic zoo,rode a river boat. Every person we encountered was just as nice as could be. I'd go back on a family vacation if the opportunity ever presents itself.

 

[GIOny]

Savannah. I figured it would be a quaint town with a lot of history, but I never thought I would love it as much as I did.

I agree, I recently went to Savannah (very unexpected) and loved it. We were there for just 2 days but I would like to go back and explore more. I really loved the River Walk (I think that's what it was called).