Groningen itself is a nice historic city, also a major university there so plenty of night life. Probably best to just look at the tourist board site:
http://toerisme.groningen.nl/en
The province itself (also called Groningen) is one of the lesser populated areas so there is plenty of areas to do cycling/walking etc. Windmills in the area (not all are open to visitors though)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...s_in_Groningen
You could drive across the
longest dike in the worldand visit Den Helder, which is a nice city with a rich maritime history. Navy museum there has several ships including a sub:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Navy_Museum
Most of the well known touristy stuff is in the Amsterdam/Rotterdam/Utrecht area which is about two hours from Groningen by train or car. Personally I think Amsterdam is a filthy, tourist filled shithole but I'll throw some stuff out:
-The
Rijksmuseumis about to reopen after a ten year renovation, so it's probably going to be really busy but it has some world famous paintings (Rembrandt, Vermeer etc).
-The queen is abidicating and her son taking the crown on April 30 so that is going to be a major, major spectacle with events all over (especially Amsterdam where it takes place).
-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waag_%28Amsterdam%29(well know historic building)
-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Frank_House(the actual house, you can go in)
-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Wallen(The famous red light district)
-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Gogh_Museum
General tips for the American tourist: most people will speak english well enough to help you, if you have a heavy accent try to speak slowly and clearly. We're used to British English and Hollywood movies, not pig farmers from Alabama. Leave the white socks at home unless you want to have girls point and laugh. Try not to run over any bicyclists, they will always run red and generally have total disregard for any rules of the road. Just avoid them.
Any other specific things you want to know, post them.