One: The gun counterI know, I know. Michael Moore made a really famous documentary showing how WalMart sells guns. But it still shocked me to see them right there in front of me, in between the chilly bins and the toddler's t-shirts. I haven't seen many guns 'in real life' so it was a bit of a shock to see big ones and small ones and boxes full of bullets.
Two: The family sized bag of Doritos
I would love to know how many family members are supposed to enjoy a bag of Doritos so large that one of the children could probably wear it as a Halloween costume.
My goodness, they were about four times as big as a family pack of chips in New Zealand. I imagined the accompanying bowl of dip the size of an ice cream container. Speaking of ice cream, I also spied bucket sized tubs which I guessed were not sold solely for kids' birthday parties.
Three: Four long aisles of greeting cards
In America it is possible to get a greeting card so specific to any occasion, you would never have to write a thing on the card. I was looking for a Nana-friendly birthday card and could barely believe the range.
It's hard enough picking one in New Zealand but after four aisles, I was thoroughly confused. Is your grandfather turning 86 and graduating from college? No problem, there's a card to match. It will probably have David Beckham on the front and an audio chip inside with a terrible British accent giving the greeting.
Four: Starbucks in a can
It shouldn't have surprised me really to see how much Starbucks rules the United States. You can get their cold coffee drinks in WalMart chillers. And if you love alcohol and Starbucks, they have combined the two with a range of creamy Starbucks liqueurs.
Five: Parking spaces the size of camp sites
I remember when Auckland City was considering cutting down the size of its car spaces to discourage SUV drivers. WalMart has done the opposite.
When we parked our small Chevrolet at the Florida City WalMart, we could still have swung a whole collection of cats around in the vast space surrounding our sedan. But the truly amusing part was that some drivers still couldn't park within the lines and there were Hummers and Dodge Rams practically sideways in some spots.
Check out more photos from my trip in my Flickr album.
Find out about the United States.
Read more of Kelly's blogs.
