# The Deep South - what's it like?



## MillwallShoes (Feb 23, 2013)

i like the literature and music that has come out of the place.

Would saving for a trip of a life time (baring in mind it would prob take me half a decade to save for) around the southern states be worth it?

what's good, what's bad about the place? cheers


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## story (Feb 23, 2013)

Good: hospitality
Bad: racism


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## twistedAM (Feb 23, 2013)

story said:


> Good: hospitality
> Bad: racism


 
Not that other parts of the US are racist, eh?


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## Johnny Canuck3 (Feb 23, 2013)

Good: weather
Bad: accents can be hard to understand.


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## dessiato (Feb 23, 2013)

If it is anything like the back woods parts of Florida it will be quite an experience. My trip of a lifetime is going to cross from Chicago to LA then go down south across Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi etc. The south does appeal, but you will be appalled by the overt racism.


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## spanglechick (Feb 23, 2013)

m impressions of texas (too hot in august, but i guess you wouldn't be as stupid as me), were that people were lovely, food was good - in a not especially sophisticated way - but I was horrified at how many people drunk-drove.  As in, almost everyone we met in bars jumped into their open-backed trucks at the end of the night and drove home.

Also, a student flat in austin, where every single lad living there had at least one gun.  Which was a shock, because up until that point, they'd seemed like completely normal twentysomething lads.


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## Plumdaff (Feb 23, 2013)

One of my really good friends knows and visits New Orleans a lot and has travelled a lot into Louisiana and the neighbouring states. Certainly if you like music a trip to NO and Louisiana would be amazing, I'd personally love to go. He's said the music, food, nightlife and welcome are fantastic, the  racial segregation and poverty shocking. Go though, I would.


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## petee (Feb 23, 2013)

"the deep south" means to me missisippi-alabama-georgia-south carolina, and the florida panhandle. with these places i have a little familiarity. my wife and family are from north carolina which isn't usually included in the definition but with which i have alot of familiarity. some people say the south extends into central pennsylvania. however you define it ...

1: everything really does move at a slower pace, sometimes to the point of rudeness
2: i have been more shocked by the poverty than the racism
3: a dixie i knew said this, and i agree: southerners are crotches pretending to be nice people, while yankees are nice people pretending to be crotches
4: in the dead of winter it'll be 60 degrees in the lowlands
5: in the height of summer it'll be 60 degrees in the mountains
6: cheese grits, pulled pork, and tomato barbecue are simply delicious. i don't like vinegar barbecue much but if you make the trip you should try the barbecue everywhere you go


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## fractionMan (Feb 23, 2013)

I love visiting the south, my dads side of the family are from mobile.

As well as the cliches, as in they have gun & hunting shops that are more like theme parks, they have a whole host of interesting heritage, lovely beaches and great food.  You can pull buckets of fish and shrimp out of mobile bay with nothing more than a handnet then eat it whilst watching the sunset.  And the beer is remarkably decent now they've relaxed some of the state laws.


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## MillwallShoes (Feb 23, 2013)

fractionMan said:


> I love visiting the south, my dads side of the family are from mobile.
> 
> As well as the cliches, as in they have gun & hunting shops that are more like theme parks, they have a whole host of interesting heritage, lovely beaches and great food. You can pull buckets of fish and shrimp out of mobile bay with nothing more than a handnet then eat it whilst watching the sunset. And the beer is remarkably decent now they've relaxed some of the state laws.


this is the sort of thing that attracts me!


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## twistedAM (Feb 23, 2013)

fractionMan said:


> I love visiting the south, my dads side of the family are from mobile.
> 
> As well as the cliches, as in they have gun & hunting shops that are more like theme parks, they have a whole host of interesting heritage, lovely beaches and great food. You can pull buckets of fish and shrimp out of mobile bay with nothing more than a handnet then eat it whilst watching the sunset. And the beer is remarkably decent now they've relaxed some of the state laws.


 
Mobile and Gulf Shores. Nice. Not much more to A-la-ba-ma, though Birmingham and Tuscaloosa nighttime is OK. Really didn't like Montgomery.
The Mississippi coast (apart from Biloxi) is also interesting but haven't been there since Katrina. Mississippi has a lot going for it tourism wise with the riverboat gambling on the Mississippi River and then towns in the northern hills like Oxford plus scenic drives like the Natchez Trace. Pus lots of heritage sites from the civil war and blues music.


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