^^^

But aren't California wines 'new world' wines?
I do love French, Italian, Spanish etc wines but I think that California wines are not given credit they deserve...And honestly I do like CA style Chardonnay better than Chablis...
It is so funny - my hubby and I went to Napa for a wine tour, and we visited one of the most renowned wineries and the attendant referreed to one of my favourite wines as "Orville Redenbacher" pop corn flavor. And I just love it!!!

Not always. In some cases familiarity breeds lazy, bad, even dangerous habits - think of unsupervised flight attendants on many of the US legacy carriers and how their habits diverge from service standards.

I was looking at driving purely as a motor skill with some light cognitive aspects. Come to think of it that maybe wrong.

No. They behave like geese. Those in front of me are doing it, so I will too. I drive an ambulance for fun (long story). I can ALWAYS count on the person in the left lane, with an open right lane and me approaching behind them, to HIT THE BRAKES in front of me rather than moving to the right. Always. 100%. It's why I don't fly up behind people and close the gap too fast. I also refuse to go around them to the right since our traffic laws work such that if I do, and they then pull right as they're supposed to, I'm at fault. Another long story (but no accident to go with it).

Er, that's not true. Adding a teenage male to the household auto cover drives up the cost by thousands of dollar per year.

Errrrr, not in our household - the cost for a young female was very low. My Sisters family in England however are paying a fortune for 3 young males to drive a gutless Clio.

This article (amongst many others) seems to conflict with your experience and confirm that of my friends.

Pucci, please tell us you are coming to San Francisco. We need you! We want you! (skip Texas entirely)

I think even driving styles are noticeably different in various parts of the US. In the northwest people tend to drive slow and courteously (seems everybody is always driving 5 mph under when driving up the 5 in Seattle).

The LA-area, if you're actually moving, is frantic, but there is a modest politeness. If you signal for a lane change, somebody will give you just enough space to get in - and you have to act right away, or you'll lose it!

Miami has an odd mix of senior citizens, drug dealers, and Latin American immigrants who follow the driving laws of their country-of-origin.

There does seem to be a lot of distracted driving over here though, especially where I live (mom driving to the grocery store and trying to tend to seven children in the minivan at the same time). I haven't noticed that as much elsewhere.

My friend from ARN chimed in on her favorite reasons to visit the US. Her responses:

- Everything is cheap! Food, clothes, media, everything!
- National parks
- Reese's peanut butter cups, non-dairy coffee creamer, fried mozzarella sticks from Arby's ()

I for one would like the name of your insurance company. Have a daughter and son, and I can appreciate a reduction on their insurance. Mind you they don't have cars, they live in cities that they don't need to. But they have to have insurance if they drive my car.

I think that stuff is disgusting. You know it's flammable, right? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXG5_...eature=related

Doesn't seem to be the case. Try googling "Canada's worst driver" One episode here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XiElZlzQs4

Hi,

I like the US for the following reasons;

A wide variety of landacape in the same country ( ie deserts ,mountains plains)
Great choice of cities to vist
Good value for money ( usually cheap to get ot and around) Food is generally good value and served in large portions
Easy to get to and around
Having the same language helps
Lots of information on the internet to help planning
Friendly people ( applies anywhere)

Regards

TBS

Who's been to the most states then? (Come on - who hasn't done a minor detour now and again just to add a new one to their collection?)

I'm a Brit who moved to the US 6 years ago (although I used to come here on holiday at least once a year prior to that) and I've done 42 states - not too shabby I feel given that I was reduced from 6 weeks down to 2.7 nanoseconds of "vacation" allowance once I moved here.

I have a friend in the UK who's trying to complete the set before me - no mean feat, especially as he has an additional handicap of not driving. I think he's done around 40 so far. It's getting ever so slightly competitive.

Any other OCD state "scoopers" out there?