It encompasses a broad spectrum of climates and geography. The East Coast harbors the Appalachian Mountains, cold, snowy winters, and hot, humid summers. The historic New England states hug the Atlantic shore and are dotted with colorful clapboard houses and white stucco lighthouses. In sharp contrast, New York City is a powerful cosmopolitan hub of fashion, nightlife, and culture. The South stirs images of Gone With the Wind and continues to charms visitors with its historic antebellum homes, its Civil War history, and its down-home hospitality.
Life moves at a slower pace, as do the prolonged vowels heard in the speech of most southerners.
The Midwest offers prairies and wide-open spaces and a huge agricultural base. The city of Chicago , on the other hand, is a metropolitan mecca leading the nation with its massive collection of museums. The Southwest enjoys dry, hot weather across its vast deserts. Here the landscape is stark and at times prehistoric, its red earth scattered with petrified trees and lone cacti. A large number of Native American reservations and renowned national parks are also found here.