![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
Had a truly amazing time, drove 2000 miles starting in Atlanta GA and through Montgomery, Mobile, New Orleans, Natchez, Memphis, Franklin, Nashville, some place in the Smoky mountains (Franklin?) Stayed in 7 States - Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina
Saw so much and had some amazing experiences, went to our first baseball game on 4th July - Memphis Redbirds - was really enjoyable but very different from a soccer game which is all about the game and no distractions, stops every 5 minutes. Really enjoyed it though. Went to Gracelands which was good and Sun studio which as awesome, highight of my trip. Loved Beale Street Memphis. Was intrigued by New Orleans, was the sort of place I would have been drawn to 20 years ago. Liked the voodoo museum, thought Bourban Street was tacky and full of drunk kids much like Ibiza etc. Apart from that the less busy streets were amazing very interesting. Found it to be vibrant and had feared the worst after the hurricane but was a pretty upbeat place.
Didnt spend too long in Nashville, had done cities to death but went to the Grand Ole Opry which was an experience.
Some of the smaller towns I really enjoyed. I loved the Smoky Mountains and would love to spend a week there and really get out into them, maybe even overtook the Lake District as the most beautiful place I have ever seen.
Stayed in a lovely town on our last night, Clemson? In South Carolina. A real small town USA, couldnt get an alcoholic drink on the sunday! But a really lovely town and somewhere I could see us living.
Came home and decided we will definitely move to US in 3 years time, need to start looking into Visas etc. Spoke to Gems mom last night. They are moving away when Gem is 18 too and apparently Gem has said she is thinking of m,oving to US with us :-) that would make me soooooo happy.
I am more tired than I thought so going back to bed for a few hours got a lot to sort out today.
Comments
But I do enjoy the French Quarters - lots of booze, cajun spices, everyone gathering for laughs and a good time, king cake, running steamboats...nice place. I do have to say I lived in both the Carolina when I was in the USMC and I have to say the food is horrible and everything closes so darn early. The rest of the states, I just drive by. Never found anything worth visiting really.
Oh! I do have to say one of my friend's mom is selling her home north of Atlanta. Wonderful house and at an excellent price - even the property tax is amazingly low... http://www.icatch360.com/slideshowv6.cf
I would buy it myself if it wasn't 10 hours away from everything I hold dear.
The food was good and the people very friendly and it was nice to see parts that tourists didnt get to see.
I looked at the house, it is lovely and as you say a good price, less than half of what you would pay here for an equivalent house.
You pretty much saw the south east minus Florida and Texas. SO you liked it here? I should've warned you that some of these small counties, especially in the South, have weird alcohol rules. If you're outside of the Southeast, probably more out west, I don't think that's as much of an issue, but I'm not completely sure. I think some of the southern counties may not sell alcohol at all while some of them may not allow it sold on Sunday. I think that I'm in a place that's pretty progressive when it comes to that so I don't even think about things like that.
Now what did you like about the small towns over the big cities? just wondering.
Where in the United States are you thinking of moving too?
We did really like it there, people were very friendly. The alcohol thing was a bit weird but not the end of the world.
I'm not sure about small towns over big cities. I liked both but the small towns were more different to what we have over here if that makes sense, whilst the big cities have there own uniqueness they arent that different from say London or Birmingham. Whereas the small towns are very different.
We are very open minded about where we live, ideally it would be near water preferrably the sea which was the only thing lacking in some of the towns we saw. The east coast would be good because its easier to get back to UK and for people to visit but having said that we havent seen anything of the West coast. I would like to see Virginia, it seems to have a lot of things we are looking for, other than that Florida is still pretty high up on the list.
We are looking into how best to try and get a Visa and maybe start the ball rolling soon, it will take a while and the only thing stopping us is my daughter and she might even want to come out when she is 16 - about a years time.
I could get into baseball, the atmosphere was very different but I can see the appeal.
People in the South, for the most part, are pretty accomodating and friendly, but you do have your rude rednecks here and there. I think I know what you're saying about small towns here. A lot of them have a certain charm about them.
One thing I would warn you about living on the east coast is that there is the risk of hurricanes and we're in an active cycle. Buuuuut, for some reason, it doesn't seem like the Georgia coast or the Jacksonville area of Florida really gets hurricanes, or at least not direct hits. Good luck on deciding where you're going to live.