Touring the states, advice much appreciated!

[VemuKhaham]

Hi ya'll!

Since you are the best, biggest and most diverse American group of friendly and smart people I know, I was wondering whether you could give me some advice.

You see, I'm planning to come to America with three friends of mine next summer, hoping to see as much of that huge continent as we can. Though nothing as of yet is definite (so please feel free to suggest otherwise), we will probably fly over to Boston, from where we will make our way south through NY, Philadelphia, Washington, and then our next stop is uncertain. Nashville definitely seems interesting, but we also really want to get a taste of the east coast southern states.

At first, it was our plan to stay for some 6 weeks and do the whole East-West Coast thingy, but sadly some of us can't really put up the time and money needed for that. So now we have some 4 weeks, and we wish to see as much as possible in that time, and also get a feel for the diversity of the States, both culturally and environmentally. New Orleans is also a real desire on our list. My friends have suggested to stop at Houston, Texas. I myself would really go to Colorado, too, and actually as far west as possible, but there's only so much time...

Remember, we're all of us historians, we like to see some history...

The main question is: how would you divide your time if you had 4 weeks to go through the US? Do you have any practical tips? Like transportation? We're considering hiring a car. Like cheap places to stay? Any advice is really appreciated!

And if time allows, looking forward to meet some of you as well.

[Rojito]

If ya wanted to hit up the midwest, my area, we have Mt. Rushmore. i would say stop in Vegas for atleast a night, if ya can stay only 1 day lol

[TheUdjat]

Hm. History.

The East Coast is pretty good for history, bearing in mind that most of it is focused squarely on the colonial era and revolutionary war. I don't know many of the specifics around New England, though I'm sure you'll want to see Boston and New York City, and maybe some of the old colleges and pilgrim stuff. I've always wanted to hit Providence, Rhode Island, too, if only to visit HP Lovecraft's grave and see the sites that inspired him.

Down towards DC, we have a thriving sight-seeing culture--again, focused on Revolutionary War. There's a bunch of civil war stuff in Gettysburg, PA as well, if you care about that sort of thing. In DC, there are the monuments, most of which you can hit with a quick tour on the National Mall. TONS of museums, courtesy of the Smithsonian, including the Holocaust museum for some Europe-relevant stuff. If you're really curious about America, we do have an American History museum and a American Indian museum, both of which I doubt have analogues over in Europe. They're also, like all Smithsonian things, free.

I think you'd personally dig a tour through the Masonic Temple in Alexandria, VA, too. There's lots of old Knights Templar stuff in there and some very cool architecture. For outdoors stuff, there are a few Chesapeake tours and on your way west a bit, there are some neat sites over in Shenandoah, including the fantastic Luray Caverns. Harper's Ferry, also out that way, is a neat place for more civil war stuff and old Western expansion.

Further on south, the East Coast gets less interesting, to me. It does change in tone very distinctly at about Richmond, and suddenly you're in the South. I don't know many sites to see in North Carolina barring the beautiful Smokey Mountains and accompanying Cherokee Reservation, but South Carolina has Fort Sumter, another civil war site (where open conflict began, in fact), and... probably some other stuff. I avoid the South. Don't know much about Georgia, either.

Then you get into Florida, where you can break into a few more American Indian sites with the reservations down there (Seminole Tribe), not to mention old Spanish colonies like St. Augustine. Miami is usually nice during Summer, as well (though so is Virginia Beach in Norfolk, so you kind of have your pick, not to mention a whole number of others).

And that covers what I know of the East Coast, which could keep you busy for weeks all on its own. The midwest, frankly, is pretty boring--but you can cover it with a drive through Kansas or Ohio or something, if you really want to. You could do it on the way up to Chicago, which is a hell of a city in its own right, and right on one of the Great Lakes. But that takes you a considerable distance from places like New Orleans (which you really should visit) and St. Louis.

It'd be worth your time to visit one or two of the national parks, too. Yosemite and Yellowstone are classics, but there are many more, including the Grand Canyon (which has a cool American Indian-funded glass bridge over part of it, for truluy stellar site-seeing). Rojito's right about Mount Rushmore, which you can gaze at in awe at America's arrogance in erecting manuments on sacred Indian land. Ah, our ignorant ancestors... Lots of Indian Reservations in South Dakota, if you're into that.

I'm sure KMan and company would love for you to swing by Colorado, and Denver is a pretty nice area. I'm sure they know more about stuff there than I do. The Rockies, of course, are near there. A lot of people like to go up Pike's Peak.

The West Coast has a unique flavor, too, even north-to-south. I personally loved Portland and Seattle for their very unique feeling, and the Cascades are definitely worth seeing, out East of there. Mt. Hood is up in that area, too, I believe--if you dig hiking/mountain climbing.

California is very different, but I've only been to LA, which was sort of unexciting. I've heard good things about San Francisco. The lowest point in the US is out there, Death Valley, if you can stomach going there in the Summer. There are Redwoods, too, and Rojito mentioned nearby (relatively) Las Vegas, Nevada, also in the region.

I'd just avoid Texas entirely, unless you have a burning desire to see the Alamo (neat battle site). But I'm biased. They are a unique subculture out there, so maybe it's worth it to you.

Phew. It's honestly a very big country, Vemu, so trying to hit all or even most of the above will probably break you. But I applaud your ambition. Just be sure to swing by and visit all of us! I'll hit some monuments with you when you're in DC. Unfortunately, my place is too small for much crash space, unless you guys like sleeping on the floor.

[VemuKhaham]

Thanks, that's some mighty fine advice. Some of the places I'm definitely going to see, others I didn't know about but they seem really interesting, but as far as the sites further west, it's probably going to be impossible to do in 4 weeks (even though Cali, Las Vegas, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon and so on really really attract me). Perhaps I'll do a west coast-midlands tour some time in the faraway future to make up for that...

But our main concern now is to see how far we can go by car in 4 weeks. Of course, you don't want to feel rushed to get from one place to another, but still you want to see as much as you can.

Distances are therefore the real question. I think, to make it all worthwhile, we really can't go much further then say, Texas.

If you were to chose, say, between two routes from Washington DC to New Orleans, would you take the more northwestern route along Knoxville and Nashville, or the more southeastern one along Richmond, Birmingham and such? I think the second one will be best.

It definitely sounds like a great idea to meet up at DC, Udjat. If I could, I'd go and meet you at mt. Rushmore too, Rojito, but it's quite out of the way! Unless all of you say that it's probably much smarter to just hurry and drive west in those 4 weeks, instead of linger in the east.

Anyway, I'm always open for more ideas, and I'm going to lay these suggestions so far before my travel companions. Thanks!

[TheZebraShakes™]

I live just outside of New York City. I don't know much about the norhternmost and westernmost areas of the state as they are fairly rural, but if you're sticking to the NYC area, I'd say check out some of the historic houses in the Hudson Valley. You can get tours and walk the grounds. Some of the issues covered are the revolutionary war, slavery, and specific people of the era.

Here is the website of the organization i work with
www.hudsonvalley.org/

Also there are tons of museums in the area, esp in New York City (Manhattan to be more specific) you can prob find a museum or venue for the history of anything you can think of there

Living in the area myself, I haven't done much of the things that a tourist might do, but I'm sure you can find tons of stuff to see in the city with a quick look online haha. But if there's anything specific that you'd like to know about any of the area, you can feel free to ask me.

I'd suggest staying away from tourist traps like Salem Massachusetts or any other place that is attempting to make money off of a gimmick, esp on your first big trip to the states, will just waste time that you could spend doing/seeing other things.

It is a big country, maybe you'd like to make multiple trips and see it a chunk at a time. do the east coast this time. there is a lot to see and with travel time, four weeks or so will fly by.

In terms of travel, if you type in your start and end locations, sites like mapquest.com are pretty accurate in terms of travel time estimates, so that can give you a good idea of how long you will be driving for each day. I'd say car is prob the most convenient way to travel, as train tickets are quite costly nowadays.

Most of this is pretty general, but if there is anything more that you would like to know in detail or if you have any specific historic interests that you would like to find places which could cater to them., again, just ask, someone will know I'm sure.

[TheZebraShakes™]

Oh, and definitely check out pennsylvania, it's a huge state, but there's alot of history there. Valley Forge, Gettysburg, Whatever parts you can get to, cause I know it takes nearly 8 hours if not more just to drive across Pennsylvania east to west. There is even a small historical society in Milford Pennsylvania which displays the american flag which was placed under Abraham Lincoln's head after he was shot and still is stained with the president's blood. I saw that a while back when i was younger.

Now I am inspired to get to some of the places that I haven't been to yet considering my proximity to them. I want to see the statue of Liberty up close, I think I'll do that soon.

Vemu, good luck, you really do have a lot of plotting and planning to get done for this trip.

[VemuKhaham]

Just letting everyone know, today we booked the flight. I'll be arriving in the states June 30 in Boston, and leaving again August 3 from Houston. The four of us are planning on travelling by train between Boston and Washington at first, setting up our base of operations in New York hiring a cheap appartment there, then hiring a car in Washington and drive down south.

So, we'll be in the New York area around July 4. Anybody know a particularly good place to experience American national pride at it's best?

Oh, and we plan on getting a log cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains for a couple of days. Good idea?

[similar]

Sounds like an awesome adventure V. I wish I had managed to find a month to do something so cool.

Try and meet as many Kmans members (past and present) as you can while there yeah?

[Deekin]

I'd give you some traveling advice, but you are on the wrong side of the Rockies for that.

Still, while you are in New York, spend a day at the American Museum of Natural History. And I do mean the entire day.