For me, all of my travelling has been done inside of the United States - a) because it's my home, b) because I have never had enough money to travel more abroad.
In my personal experience some of the best places I have visited include:
San Antonio, Texas
While it is horribly hot and I'm not used to the type of heat they have, visiting was pretty awesome. It had the River Walk which was lovely to walk around both during the day but especially at night because it was a bit cooler. The shops were pretty neat (albeit expensive) and it was the first time I had eating/visited a Hard Rock Cafe in my life, which added to the experience. I also visited the 6 flags there as well and while I originally feared many of the coasters at first, I ended up riding all of them and thoroughly enjoying myself. I also got to visit some outskirt parts of Texas (some of which I can't remember the names to) which had kind of "old western" type feels to them. Shops and buildings still looked old and not-so-modern and the people were genuine and provided good service. Overall it was a nice visit for the short time I was there.
Orlando, Florida
My homestate is Florida but to be honest, I don't / didn't visit a lot of different parts of it (I especially don't now since I no longer live there lol). Mainly due to financial reasons. But for my senior trip we went to the Universal Orlanda / Islands of Adventure theme park. This was by far one of my greatest experiences because I overcame a lot of fears here. Before this time in my life the worst rides I had ever been on was just regular, non-upside-down rollercoasters. Nothing that went up too high, or dropped you too far, or went upside down or did anything crazy. The whole ride there my friends were telling me I had to ride their ride first because it would get me used to the experience and told me it wouldn't go upside down or anything. Little did I know I was being tricked into riding a thing called Doctor Doom which is one of those "sit down with a bunch of people in a circle ride and they launch you way the hell up in the air and then you plummet down and then launches you again and plummet down with less momentum until you stop" type rides. Needless to say with my fear of heights and fear of thrill rides, I freaked out the whole way in line, while being seated and during the ride. It was devastating at first but looking back at it now it makes me laugh. After that ride, though, I rode all the rollercoasters they had, including upside down ones and super fast ones, and also even went on Doctor Doom a second time. Riding all the rides and a little peer pressure with my friends got me to overcome my horrible fear of thrill rides and even to this day I sometimes get nervous on a new ride and have some gut wrenching feelings on them but overall I still go on them and still have a great time.
I could go on, but I feel just a couple places was enough to talk about. I am interested in hearing some stories of places others have visited! Perhaps it can even give some people travel / vacation ideas!