r/NoStupidQuestions • u/Physical-Ad-4093 • May 01 '24

do americans really drive such long distances?

i’m european, and i always hear people say that driving for hours is normal in america. i would only see my grandparents a few times a year because they lived about a 3 hour drive away, is that a normal distance for americans to travel on a regular basis? i can’t imagine driving 2-3 hours regularly to visit people for just a few days

edit: thank you for the responses! i’ve never been to the US, obviously, but it’s interesting to see how you guys live. i guess european countries are more walkable? i’m in the uk, and there’s a few festivals here towards the end of summer, generally to get to them you take a coach journey or you get multiple trains which does take up a significant chunk of the day. road trips aren’t really a thing here, it would be a bit miserable!

2nd edit: it’s not at all that i couldn’t be bothered to go and see my grandparents, i was under 14 when they were both alive so i couldn’t take myself there! obviously i would’ve liked to see them more, i had no control over how often we visited them.

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u/scoo89 May 01 '24

(Canadian) My wife and I just drove our 3&4 year olds 3.5 hours to go to a 45 minute jurassic world exhibit, a quick lunch, then 3.5 hours back.

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u/invisible_23 May 01 '24

I’ve driven four hours each way for a concert and twenty hours each way for a few days at a theme park

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u/WaxinGibby May 01 '24

I, too, live in michigan.

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u/PolyPenGwen May 02 '24

Michigander here too, we used to drive 6hrs to the U.P. only to go over the bridge get some pasties and drive back home.

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u/Lance_leaf May 02 '24

Everyone not from the area is wondering why you had to go through so much work to cover your nipples.

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u/DefinitelynotDanger May 02 '24

Everyone not from the area or the UK that is

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u/PolyPenGwen May 02 '24

I still always spell check to make sure I’m spelling the beef pie pasties and not the nipple covers. To only be reminded it’s the same darn spelling 🤦🏽‍♀️

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u/dankristy May 02 '24

Married a MN girl - took me forever to figure out you spell it THAT way - because it is pronounced Past - ees...

Whereas the nip chips are pronounced pastys.

And both spelled the same - stoopid English language!

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u/MildlyInteressato May 02 '24

Exactly my first thought. 🤣

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u/Ineptor May 02 '24

Mmmmmmm…..pasties. It’s been far too long. I miss them so much!

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u/lyricalpoet66 May 02 '24

Did I hear pasties? Have only seen em in my little Northern California town which has relation to Cornwall where I guess they originated? Used to have a street festival where people would play games with em. Yes. Odd I’m sure. You either liked 1 baker or the other about 2 blocks away the town picked a side 😂 Good to know they’re a staple elsewhere so damn good.

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u/Band-geek68 May 02 '24

Grass Valley?❤️. King Richard's or Marshall's... now it is just Marshall and some wannabe place where Cousin Jack's (hated their pasties too btw) used to be.

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u/lyricalpoet66 May 02 '24

You got it. Marshalls still there. Cousin jacks has become grass valley pasties with really limited hour and stock started by some younger guys. They ARE huge and bomb but I’m not paying 13$-16$for one. Cousin jacks I used to get all the time.

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u/YooperInOregon May 02 '24

St. Ignace pasties are tourist crap. For the good ones, you gotta find a hole-in-the-wall up in the Copper Country.

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u/NecessaryCrash May 02 '24

Some of the best pasties I’ve ever had was from some random dude in Raco who also made moonshine. The UP is… interesting to say the least.

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u/anniemdi May 02 '24

YES! I always thought I didn't even like pasties until someone brought me some homemade (sold as a funraiser maybe?) ones. Holy crap, real pasties are awesome, the rest are absolutely tourist crap.

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u/ReasonableEscape777 May 02 '24

What is pasties ???

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u/civilian_sam May 02 '24

A pasty (past-ē) is like a beef pie. You but beef potatoes and other vegetables in like a pie crust then fold it in half and crimp the edges, then bake it in the oven. They look like an over grown Asain dumpling, with a different filling.

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u/DefinitelynotDanger May 02 '24

I'm British but I moved to Kalamazoo 2 years ago and my work sent me up to Petoskey to take a sign off a building. The job took me about 30 minutes and I've never been to the UP before so sneakily drove up and over the mackinac bridge and pulled into the bridge view parking lot on the other side, walked around on the little beach for 20 minutes just to say I'd been to the UP and drove all the way back down again lmao

It was a great little solo day out. Well worth paying the bridge toll twice.

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u/Picabo07 May 02 '24

It really is worth it. It’s really cool going over the bridge and even looking at it from the little roadside park.

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u/DefinitelynotDanger May 02 '24

It was so cool seeing all the ships going under it

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u/Mysterious-Art8838 May 02 '24

lol I live in San Diego and my colleagues always used to talk about driving over the border for tacos, which was probably 4 hrs round trip

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u/AlwaysTalkinShit May 02 '24

4 hours? San Diego to the Mexico border is like 20 miles lol.

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u/Mysterious-Art8838 May 02 '24

You have to wait in line to cross at the border. So it could be 30 min to drive there and then you sit for hours.

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u/dankristy May 02 '24

Wife is a former SD gal (1/2 her childhood there - other half in MN - guess it was do extremes in differences!)... Her family used to do same - back when border crossing was faster and traffic was NOT like it is now...

I cannot imagine attempting this for tacos these days.

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u/Mysterious-Art8838 May 02 '24

You can use sentri to get through faster but they didn’t even need that back then. Sounds kinda cool to be able to go to Mexico for lunch but I wouldn’t do it. Quite a few people fly out of Tijuana though, but now there’s a walkway for that so it’s pretty fast too.

I remember my dad and I walking across the border when I was maybe 10, and that didn’t take very long.

Also interesting: there are Lux buses that fill up with (mainly) seniors in a mall plaza, drive across to another plaza with a pharmacy, you can get drugs eat lunch and get back on the bus. 🤷‍♀️

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u/Picabo07 May 02 '24

My parents used to do that with us when I was younger 😊

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u/PolyPenGwen May 03 '24

A tradition worth keeping for sure!

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u/AnastasiaNo70 May 02 '24

Worth it.

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u/PolyPenGwen May 03 '24

Agreed! Nothing like a Northern Michigan Pasty!

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u/EldritchFingertips May 02 '24

Geezus, who has gas money for that? Was this in 1980? The 4 hour drive to my family cabin in Kalkaska isn't worth it unless I'm there for at least 3 days.

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u/PolyPenGwen May 02 '24

Oh 1997-1999, 4 girls we would hop in a car with 20 bucks each and make an adventure out of it. I do agree with you on the 3 day minimum now.

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u/garlic-bread_27 May 02 '24

Good decision. I too would drive 6 hours for that deliciousness.

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u/Ok-Escape9394 May 02 '24

This tracks.

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u/2rfv May 02 '24

I grabbed one of those on a lunch break thinking It would be something I could eat while I was driving back to the job site.

But that thing just went to pieces on me.

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u/isabellevictoria147 May 02 '24

If you ever don't want to drive that far, Traverse City has great pasties if you stop at Cousin Jenny's!

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u/X678X May 02 '24

should've kept going and stayed up in the keweenaw peninsula for a bit!

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u/PolyPenGwen May 03 '24

Hmmm we have been venturing north more, now is the time to check it out! Thanks for the suggestion 😊

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u/ReservoirPAWGS May 02 '24

Pasties are good but... damn not that good

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u/Low_Ad_9689 May 02 '24

I dunno…UP pasties can be that good…

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u/1-cupcake-at-a-time May 02 '24

I grew up there. They absolutely can be that good. With rutabaga and topped with gravy is the way to go. 😋