10 classic American experiences
Don't forget to look the part.Afraid of returning to the States and feeling out of sorts?
Arriving on North American shores for the first time and wondering where to start “experiencing” the United States?
You’re in luck -- we know how to get your Yankee Doodle mojo working.
“We can derive great comfort from visiting a state fair or rodeo, and enjoying traditions not far removed from those of our great grandparents,” says Kurt B. Reighley, author of “United States of Americana: Backyard Chickens, Burlesque Beauties, and Handmade Bitters -- A Field Guide to the New Americana Roots Movement.”
From Reighley’s rah-rah to road trips, rebel yells and roller coasters, here are 10 experiences guaranteed to connect anyone with the classic American spirit.
Football and baseball might be considered the national pastimes, but rodeo embodies the legacy of the American West.
“A great thing about [rodeo] is that we’ve all had an opportunity to represent, to a degree, the Western lifestyle,” says rodeo legend Larry Mahan. “And how this game started from the agricultural industry; from the ranchers and the ranch cowboys to rodeo cowboys.”
Rodeos take place somewhere in the country every month of the year.
Upcoming major 2012 events include the February 26 San Antonio Xtreme Bulls competition at the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, and the March 23-24 Southeastern Pro Rodeo in Ocala, Florida.
Check out the Professional Cowboys Rodeo Association website for a full nationwide schedule of upcoming rodeos. www.prorodeo.com
2. Road trip on Route 66
Yeah, a gallon of gas will likely push beyond $4 this year, but the best way to discover America is to drive straight through the nation’s heartland between the Great Lakes to the Pacific Ocean.
The country’s most famous old highway, Route 66, was laid out based on old trails and railroad tracks. As its namesake song says, the road “winds from Chicago to L.A., more than two-thousand miles all the way.”
Route 66 was removed from the U.S Highway system in 1985 (Interstates have made it obsolete for speedy travel, thereby preserving its back road cachet). But the “Main Street of America” still has enough roadside attractions, retro pump stations, seedy motels, ridiculous museums, kitschy signs, rolling tumbleweeds and long stretches of desolation to take you back to a time when freedom meant a full tank and enough bills to get you to the beach.
A slide show and turn-by-turn description at the Historic Route 66 website will prepare you for one of the world’s great road trips. Download a copy of Dwight Yoakam’s classic “This Time” CD to round out the experience.
3. Civil War reenactments
Be they amateur “polyester soldiers” or more zealous “stitch counters,” who labor over the authenticity of every detail, tens of thousands of Civil War reenactors go to battle every year to show civilians how it all went down in the 1860s ... or how it could have gone down.
With the country recalling the 150th anniversary of the Civil War -- or the War of Northern Aggression, if your politics remain Confederate -- this is the perfect time to watch grown men dress in period military costume, wave guns and shout out antiquated insults.
There’s no shortage of opportunities for watching one of these battles unfold, including highly attended events in cities that never hosted a historic clash (although maybe if the war had just gone on a little longer …).
To really make it count, circle the first full weekend in July on the calendar and attend the Battle of Gettysburg reenactment.
Annual Gettysburg Civil War Reenactment, 1085 Table Rock Road, Gettysburg, Penn.; +1 717 338 1525; July 6-8, 2012; tickets $10-$54, depending on seating preference and number of days in attendance;www.gettysburgreenactment.com
Loud. Casual. Unpredictable. Advertiser-driven. It doesn’t get much more American than a National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing -- you know it as NASCAR -- event.
NASCAR’s famed week-long tailgaters and high-octane excitement are centered around colossal speedways where hundreds of thousands of fans gather to watch their favorite drivers burn through hundreds of gallons of gas in an American-made car decked out in corporate logos as they race toward glory or death.
As "Rides" magazine editor Jonathan Millstein says, “No sport stems from American culture and remains rooted in American industry more than NASCAR.”
The sport itself actually stems from a different sort of industry. The first drivers were former Prohibition-era bootleggers who drove modified cars that helped them wind around Appalachian roads and outrun the law.
There’s a big race every month, none larger than the Daytona 500 held in Daytona, Fla., this year on February 26.
Visit www.nascar.com for information on upcoming races.
5. New Orleans jazz
The exact birthplace of jazz is hard to pinpoint, but there’s no debating the music is very much alive in New Orleans.
Preservation Hall is one of many jazz venues in the city, but some of the best music can still be found on street corners, in backyards and at funerals. It’s hard to find a spot in the city where jazz can’t be heard nearby.
Mardi Gras tends to steal the party spotlight, but the annual New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival is arguably the best music fest in the nation.
This year’s event will be held April 27-May 6. The lineup features incredible gospel, blues, jazz, Dixieland and pop acts, along with The Eagles, Al Green, Eddie Vedder, Florence and the Machine, My Morning Jacket and John Mayer.
Preservation Hall, 726 St. Peter, New Orleans, La.; +1 504 522 2841; www.preservationhall.com.
Find out about other New Orleans music venues at www.neworleansonline.com.
6. Bourbon distillery tour
In 1964, the U.S. Congress decreed bourbon a “distinctive product of the United States,” and established rules that distillers must abide by in order to earn the privilege to label their whiskeys as such.
Bourbon is also the base of three of America’s most definitive cocktails: the old fashioned, mint julep and whiskey sour.
Anyone who likes a good drink should tour a distillery so that they can better appreciate the industrious care that goes into this distinct whiskey.
You can knock out six distilleries in two days by embarking on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, which covers Four Roses, Heaven Hill, Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark, Wild Turkey and Woodford Reserve.
Kentucky Bourbon Trail; +1 502 875 9351; tours available year-round; tickets $5; www.kybourbontrail.com
7. Barbecue
The first American barbecue was cooked up in the early 16th century in what is now South Carolina, when Spanish colonists arrived in the southern region of America and introduced the Native Americans to pigs. The Native Americans taught the Spaniards their art of slow cooking with smoke.
Barbecue was born.
Today, barbecue sauces and techniques stem from different regions, with different cultural roots. Each has its legion of die-hard supporters.
Barbecue is arguably the most American of foods, and there’s no shortage of festivals, restaurants (some of the best are attached to gas stations), contests and TV shows that prove it.
Two of the biggest and best annual barbecue events are Memphis in May: the Worldwide Barbecue Cooking Championship in Memphis, Tenn., (May 17-19) and the American Royal World Series of Barbecue in Kansas City, Mo. (October 4-7).
Memphis in May International Festival, +1 901 525 4611; May 17-19; www.memphisinmay.org
American Royal World Series of Barbecue, +1 816 221 9800; September 29-October 2; www.americanroyal.com
8. Drive-in theater
Relieve a classic slice of Americana -- or at least the break-up scene from “Grease” -- by taking in a movie in a car. And taking your car into a movie.
The first drive-in theater opened in Camden, N.J., in 1933, with the movie "Wife Beware." By the 1960s there were around 4,000 open-air theaters catering to families and high schoolers who wanted to watch a public flick from the privacy of their own sedans.
Outdoor cinemas have been experiencing a mini-renaissance in recent years; there are currently about 350 in operation around the country.
DriveinMovie.com bills itself as “the Internet focal point for drive-in movie theaters” and maintains a database of theaters still in operation, arranged by state.
9. State fairs
Carnies live the American dream. They spend their lives surrounded by rickety roller-coasters, freak shows, fun houses, scam games, corn dogs, fried Twinkies, fried butter, fried bacon, fried anything else, livestock and agriculture competitions, eating competitions, art exhibitions, and fair-goers from all walks of life and levels of gullibility.
Sprawling, fun and family-friendly, fairs can be found in all 50 states, usually during summer and, especially in the Midwest, during fall harvest times.
No state, however, does a fair quite like Texas.
Each fall Dallas hosts the biggest state fair in the country. Held at Fair Park, a 1.12-square-kilometerentertainment and exhibition complex, the fair features approximately 75 amusement rides, 8,000 livestock entries, 7,000 creative arts entries and, of course, endless corny dogs, which were invented here in 1942.
There’s even a blood-rivals college football game, the annual Red River Rivalry between the Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners (October 6).
State Fair of Texas; +1 214 565 9931; September 28-October 21; www.bigtex.com
10. Las Vegas
Every American needs at least one regrettable weekend in this neon mecca to the seven deadly sins, located in the heart of the Great Basin, in one of America’s most unwelcoming deserts, made slightly more inhabitable by power and water management from the Hoover Dam.
Sleep at the hotel pool all day, check out Cirque du Soleil, gamble away your rent money, visit the Liberace Museum, catch a boxing match, go to the Gun Store on Tropicana Avenue and shoot every gun you’ve ever seen in a mobster movie, wander the Strip and try to leave without a wedding certificate.
One of the best times to be in Vegas is during the opening week of the NCAA “March Madness” men’s college basketball tournament.
Televised hoops action from around the country runs non-stop for four days; sports bars are packed with screaming fans and gamblers; and an influx of good times alumni and coeds livens up the already crazy city.
March Madness 2012 runs from March 13 until the championship game in New Orleans on April 2. Few Vegas weekends match the excitement of the opening rounds, held this year March 15-18.
Las Vegas Information Center; +1 877 847 4858; www.visitlasvegas.com
Jennings Brown has worked as an editor and writer for Cigar Aficionado and Cowboys & Indians magazines.
Ultimate checklist for returning U.S. expats
Upon return, even the comforts of home can lead to culture shock. Actually, any food with "turd" in the name is always kind of shocking. Likewise three-headed poultry.Depending on how long you've been abroad, your transition back to the U.S. could be as stressful -- perhaps even more so -- as your initial expatriation.
When you arrived in your foreign home, you likely had to undergo an understandable period of culture adjustment.
What you may not expect is the inverse upon your return; the expectation of the familiar derailed by the degree to which things have changed.
Change isn’t a bad thing, it’s just something you’ll want to prepare for. After consulting with a number of repats, here’s our checklist for re-Americanization.
Setting up the basics
You’ll have to satisfy fundamental necessities quickly in order to function as an adult. Here are the major items to take care of.
Blackberry is dead. The company can no longer compete with its chief rivals, the iPhone and Android-based handsets, and it doesn’t even do well anymore what it used to; a new Blackberry works worse than one from two years ago.
Three of the four major carriers -- Sprint, Verizon, AT&T -- carry the iPhone, and all service providers offer some form of Android-based phone. Check BillShrink for the plan that best suits you.
You may be able to use your existing phone on the AT&T and T-Mobile networks, which operate on the GSM standard.
Finance
There are four U.S. banks now: Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Citi. And they’re looking for any and every way to disgorge you of the money you keep with them, including a recent failed attempt to charge monthly for debit card use.
So you might want to check the Internet for places to store your war chest, find where rates are most favorable and fees are fewer.
High-yield savings, which, before the financial collapse, reached annual rates upwards of five percent, is now defined as anything above zero.
But check Fat Wallet.com for the best of what still passes for interest.
Housing: Buy or rent?
Interest rates are at their lowest in modern history. Couple that with a weakened housing market and, if you're returning permanently, you have good credit and anything together for a down payment, this is a good time to consider purchasing a new property.
Especially since the paradoxically crowded housing market is driving up rents in many major cities.
“Even though in many cities there are very fewer (housing) listings now than in previous years, it’s still a buyer’s market,” says Brian Brink of Brink Appraisal in Portland, Ore.
“Although some people still believe we haven’t seen the bottom of the real estate market, there are signs nationally that the market is stabilizing and has seen its low point.”
Everyone has less money now, but everything costs more
Economic experts insist that inflationary pressure in the United States is low, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at the prices of some of the most common items.
Since 2008 …
Was: $1.62 a gallon
Is: $3.38 a gallon (average, in places above $3.75)
Utilities
Were: $95.66 a month
Are: $110.55 a month
J. Crew swimsuit
Was: $78
Is: $94
Xbox Live membership
Was: $49.99
Is: $59.99
College tuition, public
Was: $6,585 a year
Is: $8,244 a year
Median household income
Was: $52,029 a year
Is: $49,445 a year
The IRS? Yep, still there
According to everyone’s least-favorite government office, if you meet certain requirements, you may qualify for the foreign earned income and foreign housing exclusions, or even the foreign housing deduction.
U.S. citizens or resident aliens abroad are taxed on their worldwide income. However, you may qualify to exclude from income up to an amount of your foreign earnings that is now adjusted for inflation ($91,400 for 2009, $91,500 for 2010, $92,900 for 2011, $95,100 for 2012).
In addition, you can exclude or deduct certain foreign housing amounts.
Your best financial friend, the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE) allows you to except income earned abroad only if you’ve filed a tax return each year you’ve been away.
The IRS may allow you to file past tax returns without penalty.
The straight dope from the feds can be found at the FEIE page on the IRS website.
Don’t forget state taxes
States are reluctant to lose you as a benefactor. Regardless of whether it’s been years since you last lived there, states can use an arsenal of criteria to continue considering you a resident/host body, including your driver’s license, voter registration, local bank accounts, bills and of course any properties owned or rented.
Be sure to check with your state's department of revenue or tax office before declaring yourself free and clear of tax burdens.
Report everything that’s not stuffed in a mattress
You’re also obligated to disclose any financial accounts held overseas that total $10,000 at any point during a given tax year, so you’ll want to fill out a federal TD F 90-22.1 form. Enjoy!
Catch up on the culture
Having likely adopted the ticks and trends of your adopted country, you’ll want to get up to speed on what’s en vogue in the United States so as to hasten your assimilation/lessen your happy hour humiliation.
Also on CNNGo: 7 best expat movies of all time
Style
The culture has thankfully dispensed with the $100 Ed Hardy skulls-and-roses rhinestone-studded T-shirt, so if you missed that trend entirely, count your blessings.
Still prevalent are indoor scarves, high-waisted jeans, pork pie hats, DayGlo basketball sneakers and skinny pants that inexplicably sag, making the wearer look like a Seuss character.
Leave the house swaddled in the 1980s and you'll blend right in.
TV
Depending on when you left, it was either all about "True Blood," "The Sopranos" or Milton Berle's "Texaco Star Theater."
Now, it’s shows like FX’s creepy "American Horror Story" and quirky "Wilfred," Showtime’s psychologically gripping "Homeland" and HBO’s gruesome "Game of Thrones" and historically meticulous "Boardwalk Empire."
Technology
Apple is finally starting to dent Windows’ market share, while Firefox and Google Chrome are quickly killing Internet Explorer.
Amazon’s Kindle Fire presented the first real competition to the iPad in November 2011, while 3DTV and connectivity among all devices (TVs that connect directly to Netflix, refrigerators that notify your cell phone when a tomato is about to spoil) are slowly catching on.
Charlie Sheen = the new Amy Winehouse
The Kardashians = the new Osbournes
Ron Paul = the new Ross Perot
Food
People are increasingly eating out of the back of a truck now. Articles, phone apps and whole web sites are dedicated to tracking a rapidly metastasizing strain of rolling restaurant -- food trucks -- that, in some cases, serve food fit for a star-rated eatery.
Experimentation and novelty abound, the most notable examples being Korean tacos, Cuban crepes and gay ice cream.
Everybody in the U.S. is crazy now
If you previously identified yourself as conservative, it's likely that you now qualify as a moderate on the updated partisan slide rule. If you identified as liberal before your expatriation, it's likely you're returning home to a tent city of organic patchouli smoke and protest signs.
Also, politicians tweet pics of their Weiners to constituents now. But you knew that already. See you're feeling more at home already.
Reverse culture shock
The United States you remember has been replaced by its cinematic evil twin.
It’s really just the same old country with a mustache, but that’ll be enough to cause what is widely regarded among the expat community as reverse culture shock: the unexpected difficulty of adjusting to life back home.
According to Mobility magazine, “For many, it takes a full 12-month-cycle of holidays and work-related events before [returning expats] feel fully re-established back home.” Here’s what to expect …
Boredom
Regardless of what your routine was while abroad, every day brought discovery. Now, discovery means waiting with anticipation for what the new Hess holiday toy truck will look like.
Tip: Dive back into the culture. There has been a panoply of acclaimed movies, television shows, music and books since you left.
Missing your second home
The homeland has always been there waiting for you, so coming back to your country of origin actually makes you more homesick for the foreign land.
Tip: As a foreigner, you were more willing to adapt. Now that you're “home,” you may feel out of place, only without the willingness to conform. Identify what you miss about home before you return then focus on those things once you do.
Nobody cares where you’ve been
People outside the U.S. often like to hear what life is like there. Americans, owing to either a sense of superiority or disinterest, aren’t all that curious about what’s going on in Mamalikibooboostan. (Which is a close approximation to how they might pronounce the name of your most recent home. Ha ha, your high school friends are funny!)
Tip: Keep your remembrances brief unless someone takes an active interest in your experience. No one likes aCarmen Sandiego.
Job dissatisfaction
Your new job may not allow you to capitalize on the multi-cultural skills you cultivated during your time abroad (“Just input the data from this form into that one and start the next pile as soon as you’re done, Ferguson!”) and/or you may not enjoy as senior a position upon your return.
Tip: Don’t let this engender a sense of lost career momentum. Nobody in America likes their job, so this will give you something to bond over!
No one understands you
Your difficulty reintegrating into American society is as foreign a concept to others there as the place you just left.
Tip: Get over it.
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Long before embarking on a life of leisure and recreational crime fighting, Jordan devoted himself to the written, spoken and, during the occasional shower, harmonized word. He is currently based in the U.S. following stints in Hong Kong and Florida, which he refuses to recognize as U.S. territory.
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