11 days in United States Itinerary

More than the country of car-packed streets seen in TV shows and movies, the United States of America is a complex and diverse home to over 300 million people living in a wide range of landscapes and climates. From its big-city skyscrapers to its sprawling natural parks, the country's ''melting pot'' combines many ethnic groups that share a strong sense of national identity despite their cultural differences. A country of road trips and big blue skies, the United States harbors orderly cities filled with restaurants, parks, museums, and innumerable sightseeing opportunities, as well as pristine natural areas perfect for a holiday in the great outdoors. To see as much as you can of this diverse land quickly, drive over some of the more than 6 million km (4 million mi) of highways leading through deserts, mountain peaks, fertile fields, and giant urban centers.

The core of Pennsylvania's famed "Dutch Country" lies in Lancaster County, a compact area in the southeastern portion of the state. The county features a rolling landscape of green fields and gentle hills, interspersed with small towns and Amish farms. Despite its somewhat misleading nickname, the county is not home to Dutch but German-speaking Swiss Anabaptists, who began settling in religiously tolerant Pennsylvania in the early 1700s. Although Lancaster County thrives on tourism and the Amish community is its main attraction, the Amish themselves remain an intensely private people who are not particularly fond of camera-toting visitors. To learn about their hard-working way of life respectfully, take a trip to one of their hardwood furniture showrooms, clustered around the county's main roads.