Art & Cities Nature Need 1 Welcome Culture & Towns Road Trips & Wildlife Adventure to Know worldnomads.com Where Nomads Go Nomads Where through the Deep South. and follow the barbecue trail stargaze in the Badlands, hang out with orcas in Alaska, Go moose-spotting in Montana, USA 2 worldnomads.com World Nomads’ purpose is to challenge Contents travelers to harness their curiosity, be WELCOME 3 brave enough to find their own journey, Getty Images / Stellalevi WELCOME Essential USA 4 and to gain a richer understanding of To paraphrase that most American of poets, Walt Whitman, the United ART & CULTURE 6 themselves, others, and the world. States contains multitudes – yawning red canyons and thick pine Music Across the USA 8 forests, steamy swamps and rock-ribbed coasts, languid small towns A Vegetarian on the Barbecue Trail 14 and cities that stay up all night. We can’t possibly cover it all in a A Nomad's Story: handful of pages, and we aren’t going to try. Welcome As American as Apple Cider 18 4 Museums Worth a Special Trip 20 Think of this guide as a series of windows into the United States – a Travels With the Gullah-Geechee 24 selection of first-hand accounts from Nomads who’ve hiked the trails, Native American Journeys 28 sampled the local specialties, and roamed the highways. With a focus CITIES & TOWNS 32 on the undiscovered and less-visited areas of the country, it’s meant Underrated USA 34 to inspire Americans to explore parts of their own backyard they never Culture Art & 5 Adventures Outside knew existed, and encourage visitors to get to know the US beyond the Major Cities 44 the famous icons. Lesser-Known Destinations Join our travelers as they surf the shores of Lake Michigan, tag along for LGBTQ travelers 48 with Creole cowboys, and follow their taste buds along the barbecue ROAD TRIPS 50 & Towns trail. You’ll find plenty of inspiration and enough practical information Cities Celebrating the Strange in South Dakota 52 to start planning your own journey. Beauty & Industry Discover the United States, World Nomads’ style! on the Great Lakes Loop 56 Uniquely New Mexico 60 Road Trips Road NATURE & WILDLIFE 64 ALASKA 4 Under-the-Radar State & National Parks 66 Juneau Behind the Wheel of an Alaskan Whale-Watching Boat 70 Of Moose and Mountains: & Wildlife& Hiking in Glacier National Park 72 North Cascades NP Nature Glacier NP ADVENTURE 76 Acadia NP Bluebird Colorado 78 Providence Kauai: Beyond the Beaches 82 Buffalo Badlands NP Milwaukee A Moment of Truth in the Detroit New York Smoky Mountains 84 Oakland Chicago Pittsburgh Adventure Great Sand Exploring the Maine Coast by Boat 86 Dunes NP San Francisco Goblin Valley State Park Buffalo NEED TO KNOW 90 National River Climate & Weather 91 Great Smoky Mtns NP Los Angeles Santa Fe Oklahoma City Getting Around 92 Birmingham Charleston Top 9 Safety Tips for the US 94 Know to Festival Calendar 96 Need Austin Essential Insurance Tips 98 Our Contributors 100 worldnomads.com Touring Utah Get a Quote 102 HAWAII 2 3 worldnomads.com SEEK EXPERIENCES ESSENTIAL Welcome USA Don’t miss out on these uniquely American places, experiences, and adventures. Culture Art & & Towns Drink in the Cities views at Glacier National Park Catch a wave Getty Images / Jordan Siemens far from the ocean on Lake Road Trips Road Michigan Getty Images / ErlienDesign Dance with Old Man Gloom in New Mexico Sample southern Enrique A Sanabria / Flickr barbecue in Summit a all its delicious massive Foden Getty Images / Stephanie forms sand dune in & Wildlife& Colorado Nature Getty Images / The Washington Post Getty Images / The Washington Getty Images / Nancy Rose Join a Creole Witness cowboy trail ride one of the in Louisiana Enrique A Sanabria via flickr world’s great Foden Stephanie migrations Meet the Gullah- Adventure Geechee of the Lowcountry Getty Images / Diana Robinson Photography Getty Images / Diana Robinson to Know to Tackle an epic Need Hobnob with mountain bike goblins in Goblin trail in the Getty Images / Rachid Dahnoun Getty Images / Rachid Getty Images / Federica Grassi Valley, Utah Great Smokies Getty Images / Cavan 4 5 worldnomads.com Amanda Vandenberg Welcome Culture Art & & Towns Cities Cities Road Trips Road & Wildlife& Nature The US is a true mosaic of influences – it’s home to immigrants and pockets of culture from around the world, Adventure ART & not to mention a rich indigenous heritage. From this mix has sprung wholly original creations such as jazz and hip-hop, regionally accented foods and to Know to CULTURE traditions, and the fascinating, Need sometimes checkered, history Olivia Steele's Save Me, of a country that values both Bombay Beach unity and independence. 6 7 worldnomads.com Coachella Valley Music SEEK EXPERIENCES and Arts Festival Getty Images / Frazer Harrison MUSIC Welcome Culture ACROSS Art & THE USA Jazz, blues, hip-hop, rock – the US has given birth & Towns to some of the world’s most beloved and influential Cities genres. Music journalist Maura Johnston offers her insight on the best ways to experience it. Road Trips Road t's a sweaty May Saturday at the New one huge strand of it. Rooted in the jazz Orleans Fair Grounds Race Course, that its home city incubated in the early Iand I'm standing at the crossroads of 20th century – defined by polyrhythms and American music. A brass band marches by, an innate sense of musical chemistry that its exuberant jazz providing a beat for its has its players embarking on improvisations dancers; strains of gospel music echo from – the festival also shines its spotlight on & Wildlife& a nearby tent; depending on which way I genres that descended from the blues, Nature turn, I can hear classic rhythm and blues, which originated from the Mississippi Delta, crisp mariachi rhythms, or locally sourced and gospel, which blossomed from black jamming; and people in t-shirts supporting churchgoers' testifying at services. These the Boston-bred rock legends Aerosmith and forms have persisted and shape-shifted blues' instrumentation and added heavy is easy. Sites like Songkick (https://www. the Colombian dynamo Juanes mill around. over the years, with new technology and grooves; rock's rise amped up the volume songkick.com) tell you what artists will be Adventure This is the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage old desires for camaraderie resulting in new – and the singer-songwriter ideal; and arriving in a particular geographic area, Festival, a multi-stage, two-weekend styles like bounce and trap bubbling up out hip-hop's earliest DJs took records from while the industry pub Pollstar will help celebration of all types of American music of dive bars and Discord chat rooms. all those genres, remaking them in a way you figure out the biggest-ticket items in – and arguably the country's best place to Look at the website everynoise.com, No matter inspired by the “toasting” (chanting over stadiums and theaters alike. experience that art form as a melting pot, a which charts nearly 3,000 genres, and you where you go a beat or rhythm) of Jamaican song styles But some venues are worth seeking gumbo of genres that runs the gamut from can see how, while almost all “American” and inspiring a whole new way of making out. The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville is in America, Know to Americana to zydeco. music has its roots in the blues and soul, finding an music. one of America’s most storied stages. Need its final forms can vary wildly. Country Preservation Hall in New Orleans What is American music? music initially added the vocal harmonies opportunity or Finding your new favorite artist celebrates the city’s jazz traditions, and its There's no one ideal of “American” music, and pathos of American folk; R&B's origins two to see live No matter where you go in America, finding house band has become one of America’s although the Jazz Fest lineup represents happened when musicians amped up the music is easy an opportunity or two to see live music most beloved jazz combos. Minneapolis’ 8 9 worldnomads.com SEEK EXPERIENCES as well as celebrations of iconic artists like Johnny and June Carter Cash. Many non-music-centric museums also offer music as part of their regular Getty Images / John Hicks programming. Mass MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts, has a series of concerts Getty Images / Douglas Mason that includes the Wilco-curated festival Welcome Getty Images / Gavin Hellier robertharding Solid Sound and the experimental-minded Loud Festival, which features artists like neo-classical legend Philip Glass and loop composer Julianna Barwick. The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh celebrates its namesake artist’s involvement in the Country Music Hall of Culture Fame and Museum music business – which included his Art & shepherding of art-rock legends The Velvet Underground – with Sound Series, a concert series featuring modern-day indie-rock luminaries. & Towns Cities Cities Getty Images / Jim Steinfeldt Festivals Multi-day, massive-bill music festivals have been popular in Europe for decades, but they didn’t gain traction in the U.S. until 1999, when Paul Tollett and Rick Van Santen decided to bring a bunch of bands Trips Road to the Indio Polo Club near Palm Springs, California. In the two decades since Sun Studio First Avenue Coachella's founding, it’s become one of Memphis nightclub, Minneapolis America’s premier festivals, broadening its genre remit to include pop, hip-hop, and R&B stars including Ariana Grande, Childish & Wildlife& First Avenue is where Prince tore down Culture, in Seattle, began its life as a Gambino, and Beyoncé. Nature the house in Purple Rain, and the galaxy of music-only museum, an origin that lives on But other up-and-coming festivals in stars painted on its exterior wall is a who’s in its interactive Sound Lab exhibition as far-flung locales promise great artists as who of rock and soul greats.