America Land of the Free..

... soft drink refills at dinner
... public restroom use

I missed America. I've been back to work since Tuesday (sadly). You never feel quite as clean as you do in your own shower and you never sleep quite as well as you do in your own bed, so I was glad to get back home.

As much as I loved Germany and the experience of another country, I think I'd still rather travel across the US. We had this discussion at work today. Obviously it's still cheaper to see the US, you don't have to use different money and you can understand what everyone is saying and the US has so much to offer that I haven't seen. I mean for Pete's sake I've only been as far west as St. Louis and I've been to Florida once, my travel bubble isn't that big. I'm not saying that I wouldn't go back given the opportunity and I definitely want to go to Ireland someday but I'm good to travel the good ol' US of A.

It's an interesting thought to think that people come here for their vacations, we don't have the history that European countries have because we are not that old of a country. Everything we have is mostly modern, we don't have royal palaces or historic castles laying around. (I will say that while at Neuschwanstein castle it did remind me a bit of Biltmore Estates in North Carolina, which I love and would definitely go back for a visit. I'd love to go at Christmastime) But it made me wonder what foreign travelers want to see when they come to America and if I'd want to see the same things. So I Dear googled and here is what I found...

The top Five places to visit according to a random website are:
1. Times Square New York City - been there :)
2. Vegas
3. Golden Gate Bridge San Francisco
4. New Orleans
5. Navy Pier (really, not that cool)

Those were lame, I thought Grand Canyon would have been up there and some of our National Parks at least, NYC was a given and Vegas is just as fun I'm sure. But it still makes me wonder, what do people come here to see?

Leave your comments on what you think people come here to see, or places you have yet to see here in the State's.

PS- If you read my Germany posts and you noticed spelling errors and such please forgive me. When I went to use the spell check it knew I was in Germany and thought I should have been writing in German because it highlighted every word and said it was wrong. You'll just have to deal. I'll leave you with a list of a few things I missed while I was away.

My hairdryer- when you turn it on you can tell that's American power in that thing, my hair dried so much faster here :)

American Toilets- because you are never as comfortable on someone else's toilet as you are you own and those toilets were a little weird.

Iced Tea- I don't drink soda so I was bummed that my beverage of choice was not available. I missed you iced tea. First thing I did when we got back was McD's large ice tea :)

Driving- I don't mind driving and having had someone drive me around and all kinds of planes and trains I missed my automobile... good ole Simon.

My TV shows- I'm going to need to weekend to catch up fully but I missed my shows. TrueBlood fans- HOLY MOLY was that an ending and SOA fans what a beginning! I still need to catch up on Bachelor Pad this weekend. And for the first time in awhile I missed the Notre Dame season opener.

Work friends- I missed my work friends too (although I don't know if they all missed me) they are my family away from my family and make me giggle a lot. Do not confuse work friends with work. I did not miss work.