Smaller Cities and Towns You Visited and Enjoyed in the US that Many People Would Scoff at Ever Taking a Trip To

Lowell Massachusetts. I thought it was pretty and I liked the architecture.

Me

Surprisingly? Omaha, Nebraska.

[quote]Smaller Cities and Towns You Visited and Enjoyed in the US that Many People Would Scoff at Ever Taking a Trip To

Smaller US Cities and Towns You've Visited and Enjoyed That Many Would Scoff at Visiting

Ukiah, CA. August 1994.

I just visited my brother in Grants Pass, Oregon and surprisingly liked it

Crawfordsville Indiana was interesting and the home of all male Wabash College I think it was called.

Some very enthusiastic students roaming those streets.

Oh...and Lew Wallace, the guy that wrote Ben Hur was from Crawfordsville.

Chicago was surprisingly adorable.

Solvang, CA in 1999 with my dad & stepmother. It was quaint. We stopped in on our way back from Hearst Castle.

Tupelo MS. We went to Tupelo Hardware to see where Elvis got his first guitar. The rest of downtown is nice, too.

I also liked Tupelo. I went around 1996, before the internet homogenized everyone and every place. Every rural town felt different from the other in its own way.

Savannah is quite unique among American cities. I don't know that people would scoff at it, but it's also not on the "must see" list of most people. The architecture and layout of the city really set it apart. Mobile Alabama is sort of a New Orleans-lite, especially during Mardi Gras time, with considerably less public urination.

Eureka Springs, AR is quite charming.

Hot Springs, Arkansas. We made an impromptu stop there on a road trip many years ago. I knew nothing about it and was not expecting to step back into the early 20th century in perfectly preserved Bathhouse Row.

I would happily stop there again if given the opportunity.

Princeton, New Jersey

Bakersfield is the butthole of California and the most Republicant of its “bigger” cities. No worse place in the Central Valley, which is really saying something. Troll thread or OP is a GQP, Chamber of Commerce member from Oildale.

[quote]Buck Owen's

Oh, dear.

Oxnard, CA. Nice people, laidback vibe.

[Quote] Bakersfield is the butthole of California

I call it BakersPit. My family has lived in California since it became a state in 1850. That place is a butthole for sure because of the Deplorables that live there.

That is Kevin McCarthy's district.

Branson, MO. I loved it. We went to a great theme park, Silver Dollar City, played golf at a great course that also had beautiful trails, creeks and shopping, went to some fun kitschy places, and had the best Indian food I've ever had.

And we went to Eureka Springs, AR and I agree with the other poster. A charming, beautiful town, great shopping and food, and a gay paradise in a very red state.

[quote] Solvang, CA in 1999 with my dad & stepmother.

Solvang is the wackiest town I've ever come across. We also visited on a trip up the Ca coast. Google it.

I’m going to one up the coast from R18 and say Ventura. First, there’s a certain energy in the Mission towns of California to begin with, they have a long history, and it can be brutal, but it gives you a sense of time and place not in many towns have in California. The waterfront and Marina is cut off from town proper and is it’s own thing without it becoming a commercialized beach from like Laguna or Santa Cruz. It feels natural and almost New Englandish and there’s also a channel island to visit and watersports activities.

The downtown has a 1960’s feel and vibe with the architecture and stores, it feels like a throw back to just before California blew up and transformed extensively. It’s a town that you can really walk and not need a car. There are multiple bookstores and the best vegetarian restaurant transported from hippy days. I haven’t indulged, but apparently there’s a good local music scene. The food overall is great, people seemed nice, it felt Gay friendly without being overly extended, antiquing and thrifting at reasonable prices. The last couple of times going to LA, I’d always spend a few days there and felt transported back to childhood vacations of the 1970s and leave rested and relaxed.

Already mentioned above are Solvang and Santa Barbara, which are Mission towns with lots to offer although there’s extensive commercialization and the “themes” of the towns tend to overwhelm them. San Juan Capistrano on San Luis Obispo are also lovely, but best as day trips. But in Ventura I always want to stay around for a few days and pretend I’m a local. It’s also a great launching pad to visit other places and day trips and it seems more affordable then many other beach towns.

Flagstaff AZ was kinda cool in a honky tonk way

Louisville, KY. A great place for a few days. Beautiful cemetery in the middle of the hipster district where you can see Sanders grave, a great Victorian home section (second only to SF) which is fun to walk around in the fall, and then great walks on the river.

And, if we wanna get really small, the collage town of Berea is great for a visit. Check out the antique stores, the college craft stores, and the Appalachian museum at the local school.

R23 Big fan of Flagstaff, AZ too, for some of the same reasons I mentioned in R22 and Princeton above as well. College towns hold a great appeal to me, they’ve got youth and energy, but also a sense of history. They have great cultural attributes, but usually other great amenities be they athletic/gym resources, restaurants, transportation. Even a town that at its core is a shit hole like New Haven, Yale makes it magical and overflowing with things that you can’t even find in big metropolises like world class art and science museums, libraries and archives, theater and performing arts, architect and erudite people.

R25. Agreed. I love Charlottesville VA for this reason.

Madison, WI

Bozeman, MT. Hip but charming downtown, friendly people, nice natural history museum, planetarium and great hiking trails minutes away.

So far, these are already well-known towns, with the exception of Grants Pass. Does anyone know a truly out-of-the-way places worth going to?

Ely, NV. Not much to see in the town except for a small museum and some railroad history (and two brothels), but it's the place to stay if you want to visit Great Basin NP and Lehmann Caves.

I'm an odd person in that I can find something interesting or enjoyable anywhere I go. I don't go to sneer at flyover deplorables like a lot of DL.

Not so much a town, but the whole area around Terlingua had an interesting vibe. Artists and hippie dippy types with a lot of people trying to get off the grid. Some shockingly good local wines and the best stargazing ever.

I love Ferndale, CA. The mercantile alone is worth the trip and they have a wonderful old cemetery.

R21 like you'd know what I eat, bitch.

Apologies R21 wrong thread. How does that happening? A DL glitch?

Graeagle, CA. A 2 hour drive north of Truckee, or 1.5hrs WNW of Reno, NV. The drives there will remind you of scenes from The Big Valley or Bonanza. High elevation, forested; there is a chain of glacial lakes above the town in the mountains where each lake has unique characteristics. For golfers, there are 4 ( at last count?) highly regarded courses. Hiking, camping, even gold-panning opportunities abound.

I grew up there quite a bit. My grandmother owned the burger and ice cream shack at the north end of town.

One of my favorite places to visit is Brattleboro, Vermont. New England charm combined with a laid-back hipster vibe. The surrounding countryside is beautiful. We considered buying property there for a vacation/retirement home but ended up buying a place in Colorado instead.

Hallowell, Maine. A small, funky town near Augusta. Very scenic summer destination with a quirky/scenic downtown, historic buildings, and excellent restaurants.

If you like mountain towns, I'd recommend Cloudcroft, NM. It has a wonderful old hotel (The Lodge) and adorable diner/bar (Western Bar/Cafe). It's gorgeous and snowy and there are plenty of elk around. A quiet getaway. When you leave you can plan to drive through White Sands which is also gorgeous.

Natchez and Oxford Mississippi are worth a weekend.

Salt Lake City, Utah. I was surprised at how clean and beautiful it is. There are some lovely homes. It has a small town feel for a well known city.

Surrounded by desert and snow capped mountains...^^

Mineral Point, WI. The place was settled by Cornish immigrants and the whole place still has a quasi- English Village feel. Artsy shops downtown and a grand "Opera house." I knew a photographer from Chicago who retired there to set up a little art studio. The landscape around it is more interesting and varied than the rest of WI due to lack of glaciation.

Boise, Idaho

Spent a few months there for work about 10 years ago.

At the time it wasn't fully overrun by Californians and still had a small town vibe with a hipster overlay--there was a funky 50s style motel we used to go for drinks.

Drive an hour though and you were in the Rockies with incredible scenery all around.

r33 Ferndale is a cute little town, but they will never be forgiven for giving us Guy Fieri.

[Quote] I'm an odd person in that I can find something interesting or enjoyable anywhere I go. I don't go to sneer at flyover deplorables like a lot of DL.

I'm a lot like you. We should travel together but I actually prefer to travel by myself.

Utah is beautiful R42. Unfortunately, it's full of pod people.

Savannah disappoints a lot of people, myself included. There are lots of little arts towns scattered over the country like Yellow Springs, Ohio or Nashville, IN, plus all the architecture in middle of nowhere Columbus, IN. There are lots of Amish countries that aren't human zoos like Lancaster County--Holmes County, Ohio actually has more Amish people. There are some quaint towns near DC like Berkeley Springs, WV.

If we’re including places outside of the US, I loved Glastonbury in England. Cool historical sites and home to many myths and legends, with an entertaining new age, hippy vibe.

Portsmouth, New Hampshire is a nice coastal city with a cool, historical downtown.

[R45]

R14 I've always loved the newspaper headline:

NEWLYWEDS LEAVE DAVENPORT FOR HOT SPRINGS!

I have not visited there yet, but many people say that Bisbee, Arizona has its charms, and I'd like to go there sometime.

Lawrence, KS. Yes it’s flyoverstan, but if you are on a cross country trip, it’s a nice sized liberal college town with a lively main street.

Southlake, Texas. Beautiful, walkable town square with shops and restaurants.

Mason City, Iowa. Dozens of buildings by people like Frank Lloyd Wright, Walter Burley Griffin, and Marion Mahoney.

Decorah, Iowa. quaint nature

Lanesboro, MN;

MacGregor, IA, just to visit Pike's Peak.

Athens, Ohio. One of the most pleasant college towns.

Chillicothe, Ohio.

Cooperstown, NY. Forget the baseball shit: it's a beautiful town

Guntersburg, Alabama. Jonathan Raban worked as a teacher there for a year or two.

Milledgeville, Georgia. Much the prettiest town in Georgia, and not by a little bit.

Highlands, NC. Mountain town

Staunton, VA. If you ignore the prison, it's one of the most beautiful towns in the nation.

Milford, CT. Unusual old timey beach atmosphere

Peninsula, Ohio. Odd place inside a national park

Walla Walla, WA. Surprisingly a wine town and rich from Green Giant

San Augustin, TX. One of of the only tolerable towns in TX

St. Martinville, LA, the lest redneck side of cajun country

Vicksburg, MS. Easily the nicest town in MS.

Jonesborough, TN. Peculiar but interesting

Wenatchee, WA. Less fake than Leavenworth and Cashiers on the east side of the Cascades.

Houghton, MI. Like a different country

Salisbury, MD. Like a different century

Thomasville, GA. Just a few miles from Tallahassee but like a health resort from the 19th century

St. Francisville, LA, former capital of the Republic of West Florida

Shreveport/Bossier City. Rose gardens, mid-century modern architecture, an unusual style of deco

French Lick, Indiana. Unfortunately not as sexy as it sounds.

Madison, Indiana. Cornucopia of federal architecture and pleasant little Hanover College

Acoma Pueblo, NM. Not really America's oldest town but very much America's most impressive ruin

Cadillac, MI. Michigan the way it used to be.

My family went to the ghost town of Bowie, California back in the '70s and I was absolutely fascinated by it. I remember them showing us a picture of the showgirls from way back when who had had their bottom ribs removed to make their mid-sections smaller. I know that women do that, but I can't imagine having it done in the early 1900's.

Quincy, IL. Surprisingly prosperous.

Among the gay resorts Saugatuck, Ogunquit, Bellows Falls....

Allerton Park in Monticello, IL, built by the flagrantly gay Robert Allerton who also built the national tropical botanic garden in Hawaii

Taos, NM

[quote]pleasant little Hanover College

Which produced the very unpleasant Mike Pence.

And New York City and UPenn produced Trump. Your point is?

Kansas City, MO

[quote] "Lowell Massachusetts. I thought it was pretty and I liked the architecture."

R1 = Bette Davis From Beyond The Grave

I'll add Boothbay Harbor & Alna Maine. Go to the Alna General Store to have lunch at the counter, and listen to salty old Mainers chat (if you're a fan of accents as I am). They used to have a corn chowder that was DELICOUS. I'm not sure if they do anymore. But it is a charming little hole in the wall. I need to get back there. I love Maine.

Livingston, Montana -- beautiful scenery; really looks and feels like the Old West.

Avalon, CA -- mostly a Catalina Island tourist trap, but it's pretty and peaceful on off-days.

Waterville, Maine

r58 Did you mean BODIE?

Tomorrow I get to see Marquette, Michigan. If it is anything like Houghton, Michigan as per R56 it should feel like a different country too since it’s in the Upper Peninsula as well just a much larger town.

Santa Fe, NM. Mackinac Island, MI

R55, that town square, like everything in Southlake, is completely fake. It's a shopping center that was built from the ground up in an empty field in 1999. Also Southlake is racist Trumpville. Listen to the podcast that NBC News did on the town.

[quote]Tomorrow I get to see Marquette, Michigan.

Glad you're making it before the snow falls! It's been a mild October thus far, but they usually get their first snow this month.

Ocala, Florida....good restaurants, Ocala national park, silver springs. However trump country...avoid the place

R67 - Did you mean BODIE?

Yes, sorry, Bodie, not Bowie.

Our first Indiana geography lesson R57:

South Bend is north, North Vernon is south, and French Lick is nothing like it sounds.

Not sure why someone would be surprised at finding Taos charming.

The small East Texas town of Jefferson, which looks like it hasn't changed in 100 years or so. If you're ever traveling across Texas on I-20, it's worth a side trip.

Agree with Natchez, MS - middle,of nowhere but amazing architecture. Staunton, VA as a less developed stop than strip mall Charlottesville and Abingdon and Middleburg, quaint historic towns.

I'm not a troll. We really did go to Bakersfield and enjoy it.

R32 love Terlingua! I’ve stayed there many times.

Bemidji, Minnesota, Nice small college town with a healthy downtown on the shore of Lake Bemidji. It also has the giant statues of Paul Bunyon and Babe the Blue Ox. Just don't go in the winter.

R68, I can't wait to read the report of your visit. I'm willing to pay S&H for a vial of your tears of disappointment. Please make sure they have the postmark of "BFE, Michigan" on the package.

I actually have stayed over in Pittsburgh a couple of times and liked it a lot more than expected - definitely more than Philly. It’s interesting to me because it’s the gateway to the Midwest - and I also like the3 rivers - ate at a couple of restaurants with great views of them and I found the city low key charming.

Also liked Lexington Ky a lot.

OP, I love the part of that show

where they pay tribute to Buck's secret gay sex life

How many of you that set and judge me ever walked the streets of Bakersfield?

Spent some time in San Francisco, spent a night there in the can...

I hear that Mount Airy, NC is a charming little place.

as mentioned above / Bisbee Az, also Jerome Az, both old mining towns that have been reclaimed by artists and hippies with a lot of people trying to get off the grid, making pottery...... mixed with the crowd from Quartzite Az, the town in the beginning of the film Nomadland..... hey, who's got a joint?

Belfast, Maine

Bennington, VT - battle monument and cute downtown

Montpelier, VT - one of the smallest state capitals, has a granola hippie dippy feel to it

I also liked Lowell, MA. Went to college there. Still rough around the edges, but the national historical park and revived riverfront makes it nice.

Saugatuck, MI - cute little resort town with a strong gay community. Just a place to be mellow and have good coffee/food.

The politics of Colorado Springs, CO suck (home of Focus on the Family) but both the downtown area and the "old town" area have cute little spots.

R82 No disrespect but Pittsburgh is very much NOT a small town or city.

Camden, Maine. I can see why they filmed Peyton Place there. It is the quintessential New England village.

Johnstown, PA, for the history.

Johnstown? Oh, my.

Well, I guess it does have the flood museum and incline.

Has anyone mentioned Marfa, Texas, one of the foremost contemporary art towns in America, and also having the history of filming Giant? It’s a great place if you like art to explore. Beacon, NY is another small little art town that has world class collections of art to explore and fun eateries and antique shops to explore.

OP, I went on a similar tour of Bakersfield (with a senior center day trip.) We went to that zoo (which I'd never even heard of previously), had lunch at a Basque place, and visited the Tule Elk State Reserve. Since all of us were over 60, I'm glad w skipped the nude beach.

Idyllwild, CA. A small artsy mountain colony. A pleasant day in the clouds.

R81 Not all of us fuck our way through Club Med, hence the purpose of the thread. LOL

San Francisco, Chicago.

What's that smell?

Oh, it's just R81's rotting cunt.

[quote] San Francisco, Chicago.

Some of us are CLEARLY not understanding the assignment.

Road tripping and outdoor activities have become popular in the age of covid. There a many worthwhile places to visit in the United States. The Mississippi River basin is fun and historical. Also, Canada.

We go Russia 🤡

In what world is Chicago a small city or town? I swear some of you are brain dead.

Even Pittsburgh is no small town.

Morro Bay, CA - a seafood shack, a shell store, stunningly beautiful water views, and seals that wake you up in the morning bleating.

Mount Airy NC has a Andy Griffith Museum and a mini grand ole opery with live music broadcasts on weekends. The downtown is perfect Norman Rockwell Americana, and the surrounding countryside gorgeous with no sprawl. I really liked it.

I enjoyed the Michigan towns on both sides of the Mackinaw bridge about 20 years ago when I rode with a relative on their vacation.

I had them go to Madonna's hometown to see what it was like & then we hugged the eastern coast all of the way up to the bridge above.

It had a lovely coast & nice small towns to pass by. I have no idea what that area is like today.

On another road trip (during the same vacation weeks) going south we stopped off in Pikeville Ky.

I remember it had a comic book store & I got a bunch after giving up the hobby for years.

A nice attractive guy held the door open for me as I carried one of the heavy comic book boxes out the door & he took the other heavy one out to the car for me.

Also on our trip to Michigan's upper pen., we stopped off in some nice small Ohio towns =

Celina (which is on Grand Lake), Lakeview (where the 60s song "Indian Lake" came from), Carey,

New Washington (had an ice cream shop & some unusual looking buildings for such a small place)

& Lexington which is just south of Mansfield & had a small collection of stores to get food & stuff at.

Black Mountain, NC. Charming downtown, walkable nearby neighborhood. Close enough to Asheville airport for travel purposes.

Atlantic City LOL

Catskill, NY. Just visited and had a Carnegie Hall-worthy concert experience (a visiting pianist from Paris); cocktails afterwards on the grounds of one of the most beautifully sited houses I have ever seen; and a surprisingly good Polish dinner afterward. And the people seems actually interesting - a mix of all sorts of folks. Great architecture and a lively little main street.

Hudson is seen as the destination and people in Hudson always bad-mouth Catskill, but I preferred it.

I ❤️Pensacola FL

Billings, Montana.

I know (without having visited) that Bozeman and Missoula further to the west are prettier and are real college towns, but I really enjoyed Billings the three times I've been there. It's nice with the rock rims around the city. Honestly, there's really nothing of note, nothing spectacular. It's a small-ish city (I think the entire Billings metro is 200k+). But nevertheless I had a good time; enjoyed downtown and the breweries, enjoyed walking by the river south of the city. On one visit, I made a side trip to Red Lodge, which is about an hour southwest of Billings in the Beartooth mountains. We didn't go straight there. we took a back route and the trip up to Red Lodge was gorgeous as the mountains got closer and closer and the expansive ranches along the way. Red Lodge itself I didn't like.

It's the Black Lodge I didn't much care for, R114.

R94 I was coming here to post Marfa! And Fort Davis is sweet, too.

( I saw the Marfa Lights on NYE about 10 years ago. Magical.)

Loved Lowell, MA.

I also liked Omaha and the older neighborhoods in it. Apparently Warren Buffet does too, since he still lives in an old house in one ofthose old neighborhoods, while he could live anywhere. The newer sections, surrounding the older core of the city, are boring and ugly. I also visited the mysterious Hummel Park, which is supposedly haunted.

Most of the posts are referring to small towns that are wildly popular with tourists.

Taos, Idyllwild, Solvang, Catskill, Savannah, Flagstaff, etc - tons of tourists in these places.

[quote]Apparently Warren Buffet does too

B-U-F-F-E-T-T. He's not a Golden Corral.

Chincoteague was a charming little fishing town when I went through years ago and I did see plenty of the wild ponies on the beach.

Thank you R19 for pointing out that this thread got hijacked by cute little towns with art galleries, hippies, small gay communities, restaurants for foodies, victorian houses and the rest of that ilk. I'm talking places like Fresno, Scranton, Walla Walla, Pahrump, Augusta. Places where you really need to search and dig and plan some to find what makes them special and unique.

I know DL hates Florida but I love St Petersburg, it’s a beautiful city with great neighborhoods. I could easily retire there.

Newport, Oregon

Pretty coastal town. If you visit, stay at the Sylvia Beach Hotel

r123 Once again, hardly a "smaller city or town."

I visited a friend who recently moved to Sacramento, it was much nicer than I expected. The waterfront is lively and the historic district has some beautiful homes. I also loved strolling through Old Sacramento. The food was fantastic.

Troy, NY. And not for it’s twee hipster vibe, Brooklyn Heights-style brownstones or excellent restaurants.

I like it because freaks run wild in the streets scaring the shit out of the day-trippers, hippies and Hudson Valley bourgeoisie types. And the downtown architecture is gorgeous. It was a real upstate city with a big fancy department store and all sorts of shops, full off Italians, Armenians and Irish who moved there during the post WWII boom. Then all of the good jobs got outsourced and it festered with druggies and kooks. The whole city reeks of vaporized dreams and long-ago glory days. Oh and piss too. It totally stinks of piss in some areas.

r127, and why would anyone ever scoff at traveling there?

r126 Once AGAIN, not a smaller city or town.

Maybe you should specify your criteria for what constitutes a small town, R129, so we don't waste any more of your precious time.

I think Kansas City is where we want to go...

R123, Dunedin, Safety Harbor, and Tarpon Springs are all small towns with all kinds of amenities and good politics near St. Petersburg. We moved to Dunedin because we love it.

Who the fuck are the tsk tskers who can't accept the answers? "You're WRONG! That town is too touristy; the charms are too obvious. FUCK YOU; pick something else that's the right answer."

I’m so confused! Can I please have the judges read out the criteria one more time before I answer?

I am writing this from Long Beach, WA this evening. My husband and I are here for a family trip and could really use some pointers and context about enjoying this town. That way we might be able to stop worrying about my family's sensibilities for relocating here.

So far, I have been promised good seafood chowder this trip, which is a plus. The minus is that it seems all coffee is dispensed from tiny pre-fab "drive-thru" huts on the sides of the roads.

Etowah and Blytheville Arkansas.

I agree with r40 about Natchez and Oxford, Mississippi. Downtown Natchez has a bit of New Orleans vibe. Lots of people relocated there after Katrina and it has a relatively happening downtown on the weekends. I’ve been there three times for work and have enjoyed it. Great walking around and looking at all the beautiful old homes and mansions.

Oxford is a great weekend, too, but don’t go if Ole Miss is having a home game! You’ll regret it. The town is flooded with both rednecks and snobby, rich football fans. The best time to go is when Ole Miss is out for fall or spring break, or during the summer.

I’m from NYC and as far as I’m concerned most of the cities listed in this thread fit the criteria. I’m now curious to visit some of these cities/towns.

The big cities in the U.S. are: New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Miami, Atlanta, Chicago, Austin, Dallas, Houston, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Minneapolis/St Paul, New Orleans.

DC, Phoenix, Detroit and a few others as well - if you're just going by metro area size and not some "big city vibe" or other subjective criteria - which it looks like is the case. That list includes a range of "big." NO and Austin might not belong on the list simply based on size (all the other ones are Top 20 population metro areas). If so, there are others that could be included.

Everything's up to date in Kansas City.

Pahrump is where you go if you want gambling, fireworks, marijuana, prostitution, alcohol, guns and ammo, livestock feed, cheap gas, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, auto parts, haircuts or Chinese buffet, all in one little town. The prostitution is outside of town but close enough to be considered the Pahrump area. It's where you go to get your needs met. Not a destination otherwise. The minimum age to live in Pahrump appears to be 80. Very hot for half the year, like Las Vegas. Pahrump is, however, only an hour from Death Valley National Park, an hour from Mt. Charleston skiing area, 30 minutes from Tecopa Hot Springs and Shoshone, or 30 minutes from Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge.

LaCrosse, WI. I would pass through on business and got laid every time.

Oxford, Ohio is a very pretty little college town. Very traditional-looking campus and lots of trees. I remember a Mexican food place that had "burritos as big as your head".

R142 Oh yeah, La Crosse. Lots of beefy college boys that love, love, LOVE to get blown. And some of their married daddies like that, too.

Collinsport ME

OP, I once had a boyfriend who was from one of Bakersfield's leading families. The outlying area has some charm, especially along the Kern River. But the town itself is an absolute shithole and full of deplorables. I'm horrified for you that you admitted that you stayed at the Econolodge and ENJOYED it.

" I remember a Mexican food place that had "burritos as big as your head".

La Bamba - a Midwest "fast casual" Mexican place that I know from Champaign, IL. It actually doesn't even have that many locations.

I remember La Bamba from Madison, WI (near UW's campus). I think Ohio State also had one on their campus.

It caused significant gastrointestinal distress.

[R137] I had a great time in Oxford. We hung out at the famous bookstore and had cocktails at night on the patio. It was easy to meet people and make friends. Went to the Faulkner conference and to Water Valley, home of Fat Possum records. I’m a big music fan, so this area of the country is fascinating to me.

Laurel, Mississippi!

Hope to Big Ben and Little Cheery Erin!

[quote]The prostitution is outside of town but close enough to be considered the Pahrump area. It's where you go to get your needs met.

Not if you're gay.

If you're gay you go over to Vegas and go on Grindr, or maybe a slight chance at Tecopa Hot Springs. You're not likely to find any action in Pahrump.

We ate lunch at a Marie Callendar's in Bakersfield once. The waiter seemingly forgot we were there several times. We had to keep asking for him. When w finished, we stepped out of the restaurant and into a tremendous dust storm. I ccould barely see to drive. I understand that in the winter, the Tule Fog in the Central Valley makes driving difficult and dangerous.

My aunt was a good friend of Marie Callendar's. Marie asked her to go in with her on her new pie store and my aunt said, "there's no money in pies!"

Salem's Lot

r153 r154 Her name was CALLENDER.

Marie was a real person?

She was.

I wanna see Boy’s Big Boy then!

* Bob’s

Your aunt could have had a piece of the pie!

I'm going to restart this thread in a year and more clearly define the parameters.