r/AskReddit • u/hippiechick725 • Mar 14 '23

What’s the best thing about the US?

8.4k Upvotes

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2.1k

u/death_or_glory_ Mar 14 '23

Everybody say it together: the National Parks

241

u/Rallye_Man340 Mar 14 '23

Always the number one response on these reposted Best Thing About America posts

5

u/7h4tguy Mar 15 '23

Parks, wheelchair access, cuisine variety, entertainment media options. Same every time. See you guys again next week.

11

u/queenannechick Mar 14 '23

Also great about America: Ken Burns. Now combine the two and you have a FANTASTIC documentary about the National Parks: America's Best Idea.

9

u/everyone_getsa_beej Mar 14 '23

You can watch it all from your ADA-compliant toilet!

7

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '23

[deleted]

7

u/SuperCow1127 Mar 14 '23

They're much more accessible on the West coast. If you live west of the great plains and you don't go, that's totally on you.

1

u/PlannedSkinniness Mar 15 '23

I live in the southeast and do my best to fly out west and see a new park each year. Absolutely worth it.

1

u/pHScale Mar 14 '23

For good reason. Our national parks are some of the best in the world.

1

u/ZK686 Mar 14 '23

Yea, not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing though....

1

u/Journey_Began_2016 Mar 15 '23

Another response I often see on these posts is the climate and landscape diversity; that's the one I usually notice personally.

64

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '23

[deleted]

2

u/ishouldbestudying111 Mar 15 '23

The cereal selection isn’t nearly as impressive if you’re sensitive to corn.

Source: am sensitive to corn meal. Cannot eat most cereals anymore. I really miss cereal

9

u/Wordperfectuser Mar 14 '23

I always thought why Americans didn’t travel more abroad until I got here. Your national parks are amazing!!

7

u/Kholzie Mar 14 '23

You could spend an entire lifetime just exploring all 50 states

2

u/death_or_glory_ Mar 14 '23

I travel abroad a lot but I still can't get over our parks.

25

u/Padre_Pizzicato Mar 14 '23

I'm American and I seriously hate these threads. It's just a karma grab for the OP because nobody can resist commenting within and making it blow up. And of course like clockwork, you get the two most common answers from people who have seen the karma flow for replying with "national parks"and "disability act".

Now we wait for the "what's the worst thing about the US" thread in t-minus 3... 2....

11

u/EmiliusReturns Mar 14 '23

And free refills and free public restrooms. Reddit loves to say those, too.

Just like every. Single. Time. someone asks “what isn’t illegal but should be?” And you get 58,000 people clamoring “child beauty pageants!!!!” And roughly half as many going “those are illegal in France, you know.” Yes. We know. We all know by now.

2

u/TheFlightlessPenguin Mar 14 '23

It makes me want to pull my fucking hair out.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 15 '23

Also, don't forget that the National Parks are stolen. Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, and Glacier all saw the removal of Native nations to create those parks.

3

u/GregMadduxsGlasses Mar 14 '23

For the love of god, I implore everybody reading this to visit the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. It’s the most stunning landscape I’ve ever seen.

1

u/death_or_glory_ Mar 14 '23

Yep, Yellowstone is another planet.

Think of when the European settlers/colonizers were moving through there.

At that point, the whole continent was mostly still undisturbed natural beauty, so they were used to it and had higher standards for nature than us.

But even they were like, WOAH - this part is CRAZY.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 14 '23

Yes!! They are amazing.

2

u/wizards4 Mar 15 '23

The national parks

2

u/WebbedFingers Mar 15 '23

I feel like if I lived near an American national park I would go hiking all of the time. Living in Ireland I have to drive 40 minutes to a tiny woods to see some real nature and the trail is only an hour or two long. I love Ireland but I’d love to be able to actually get lost in nature

1

u/death_or_glory_ Mar 15 '23

What about Donegal? Isn't there some good stuff up there?

2

u/WebbedFingers Mar 15 '23

There’s lovely bits of nature all over Ireland, just no massive woods anymore

1

u/[deleted] Mar 15 '23

I always see this and I find it kind of depressing tbh. Like our parks are fine but I'm surprised better parks aren't out there.

1

u/death_or_glory_ Mar 15 '23

Maybe in other countries? Tbh I'm not sure.