Hi @Babs Hunt Yes have been lucky enough to visit New York, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon and Hawaii. Only on holiday. We did consider Florida as our forever home. We were a bit frightened of the gun culture in the States. If you upset somebody it's credible you could get shot. I love Americans though. I found you polite and actually take an interest in folk. The UK not all tend, to be so warped up in themselves or too busy. That's why we moved to Spain. Even in New York I chatted to many interesting people.
Well that's amazing @Honey Gee Here I have lived in America all my life and never been to one of those places you came here on Holiday to visit. And I understand about the gun concerns....that is getting to be a major problem all over America now. All my children have guns and go to the shooting range...they have them because they feel they may have to protect their Families. I hate that they feel the need to have those guns...but I do believe it is a real need with the way things are going here now. I still have my trusty baseball bat just in case...that will have to do because I can see myself hitting someone with a bat to defend myself...but I can't see myself shooting anyone. So where you live and have lived there is no gun problem or the need for them? I am guessing in Spain you found people who take time to enjoy life and each other? I like Florida, the warm weather, the beautiful beaches, etc. But I also like green, wooded areas with lakes. In fact, I would rather live in a place where I just have to walk out to the end of my back yard and sit on the pier and fish anytime I wanted too. I love fishing...and I love eating the fish I catch too.
The media makes that out to be a lot different than it is. Most gun violence takes place in our larger cities, where the strongest gun control laws are in place. A lot of people have guns here in Maine, far more than the statistics show because, until recently, no paperwork was involved in buying a gun, yet I think the police shoot more people here than citizens do, but that is also a very small number. What @Babs Hunt says is often true though, and probably in other countries as well. We often don't visit the tourist places nearest where we live. I grew up in Michigan, yet I picked up a tourist pamphlet highlighting the top 21 places to see in Michigan, and found that I had been to only two of them -- Mackinac Island and the Mackinac Bridge.