Cheers!

I’ve recently been shooting in cities a bit in the South (Nashville, Charleston, Knoxville, etc), and found the restaurant thing to be a real drag, but also the people to be often lovely & friendly. I’m looking forward to my 2 month road trip down the East Coast to the Keys, through the deep South, New Orleans and over to Austin, NM, CO, AR, NV & finally SoCA. Hoping I find some more good to mix with the – well – the very same thoughts that you started out your story with! Silver linings always exist, you just have to search!

That said, hey all you travelers out there, I am looking for a travel buddy who might be down with said road trip! I have the car, am leaving June 10th from NY area, and simply would rather go it w a laid back partner than solo. Have only ever traveled abroad & solo, so looking forward to seeing a bit of this country & doing it with a trav buddy! Feel free to find me on couchsurfer’s if your interested! :]

Kind regards,
Crystal

P.S. Sorry for posting that on here Matt, but the offer extends to you as well! Happy travels all.

Yes, for some the Civil War was just yesterday, but then again, we lost the war and Americans dont take well to getting their butts kicked – think about the pain still felt over Vietnam or the ongoing strong feelings about Iraq or even 9/11 and you come closer to understanding the feeling…

Yes, there is racism here, its just more overt than in other parts of the country. I have heard the n word come out of the mouths of white Northerners more than from Southerners. It never fails to astound me.

True, we are sorely lacking in culture and infrastructure, odd for the amount of time we’ve had to rebuild. West Germany was able to rebuild East Germany in a matter of years without a detriment to their economy. Guess they wouldn’t have been so enthusiastic if East Germany had waged war on them or resisted progressive changes every step of the way like the South seems to have done.

But, on a personal level, I’ve taken minority friends and Yankee friends home for family functions and they have been welcomed, even though even my family can be pretty dogged in their insularity. But then again, the North has words of prejudice that they use that we haven’t even heard of – dago, kyke, moolie, eggplant, spic. We only hear them in the movies…

I’ve traveled a bit in Europe and oddly enough the Southern cuisine is actually pretty much British – fruit cobblers and custard pies and deep fried everything and our ubiquitous sweet tea (albeit iced in the hot South) are all thoroughly British, only the names have changed. Georgia was a Loyalist colony until dragged into the Revolution and the Brits even backed us during the Civil War, so that might be where the civility comes from. It might explain why we weren’t on fire to remain during the Civil War, too.

Oddly enough, when traveling, I am constantly asked if I am German or a New Zealander or whatever. They never believe that I’m an American. I guess our attitude resonates more with the world at large a bit more because we haven’t ever been in the typical American Top Dog position and it shows.

Hope you don’t take all this amiss, it’s just my own musings about the South. But you are right for the most part. And believe me, not everybody in the South is a rabid conservative bible-thumper. They are just the loudest voices here. I’m sure you have them in the North – parts of Ohio and Pennsylvania come to mind – but there they are the minority. And for that you can thank your lucky stars!

Next time you come South, look me up and I will show you some of the more positive faces of the South!

Take care!

I find the restuarant thing funny too. When think of going out to eat, a chain does not come to mind. Talledega Nights hit it on the head when they always went to Applebees.

@Theresa: btw- I’ve heard it called the war of northern aggression

The thing about southern hospitality that most people don’t realize until they live in the south is that some of it is a facade. Some of those southern folks can be quite nice to you in person, but cut you to pieces behind your back. Not all, mind you, as I don’t mean to generalize that way. But I did learn that some of that friendliness is faked until they come to accept you (if you live there — it’s different with visitors that aren’t staying). Some never did. I worked with one woman in Atlanta who kept wishing all us Yankees would go home to the north and leave the South in peace.

The restaurant thing is interesting too. Although Huntington, West Virginia is not part of the deep south, they have that same sort of mentality when it comes to eating out. A Friday night out usually meant going to Cracker Barrel or Shoney’s for dinner.

Ron’s right about Savannah and Charleston, though. One could gain a lot of weight in those cities. And of course, there’s the Cajun and Creole food of New Orleans.