Road trip!!

[Mr.Wizard]

So, due to a wedding happening in the states in September, I'm going to be visiting the US for the first time. I've decided to make a big trip of it (hey, if I'm going to be paying $1500 for flights anyway I might as well make the most of it while I'm there right?).

Anyway, myself and a friend will be getting a car and exploring the west coast for about 2 weeks, then catching a flight across the country and then dong the same thing for the east coast. I was hoping you Escapists might have recommendations of things to do, things we have to see, or things to avoid while we are in the states.

The places we are looking at going so far are:

San Francisco
Los Angeles
Tijuana. Mexico
Phoenix
Grand canyon
Las Vegas

We'll then fly out of Las Vegas and start again from:

New Orleans
Panama City
Orlando
Fort Lauderdale (this one is non-negotiable, it's where the wedding is)
Durham (might as well catch the expo while I'm in town right?)
New York
Montreal, Canada

We may be doing flights up the east coast rather than driving all the way considering the distances involved, it's not 100% decided yet.

There you have it Escapists. Do you live in any of these places and have some great recommendations for things to do while we are there? Do you know of something just a little bit out of the way that we might not see if you didn't tell us about it? We are open to all suggestions, from rodeo riding to fine dining and everything in between.

 

[Hazy992]

Panama? That's pretty far to go from the US

EDIT: I am a moron :S

 

[Mr.Wizard]

Panama? That's pretty far to go from the US

Panama City, Florida. It's on the way from New Orleans to Orlando

 

[Hazy992]

Panama? That's pretty far to go from the US

Panama City, Florida. It's on the way from New Orleans to Orlando

Oh my mistake :S The capital of Panama is called Panama City too

 

[Mr.Wizard]

Panama? That's pretty far to go from the US

Panama City, Florida. It's on the way from New Orleans to Orlando

Oh my mistake :S The capital of Panama is called Panama City too

I'd love to visit the actual Panama City, but you're right, it's a little bit out of the way

 

[Hazy992]

Panama? That's pretty far to go from the US

Panama City, Florida. It's on the way from New Orleans to Orlando

Oh my mistake :S The capital of Panama is called Panama City too

I'd love to visit the actual Panama City, but you're right, it's a little bit out of the way

I know I was like 'that's miles away!' but I think I just had a brain fart haha

Anyway OT: Baltimore seems like a nice city, if I was you I'd stop off there, then go through Pennsylvania on the way to New York.

 

[bobmus]

San Francisco is brilliant, make sure you go Whale Watching - it's where I saw my first Blue Whale.
Los Angeles was dull for me, apart from the Theme Park, speaking as a British teenager here.
The Grand Canyon is great, but don't miss out Monument Valley nearby!
Las Vegas was a lot of fun, even below the age where I could gamble. Be prepared for some seriously dry, oppressive heat both here and at the Grand Canyon.
New York is just a great city to be a tourist in, loads to see (I recommend catching a Broadway show if you like any musicals)
And I'm very jealous you get to go to the Escapist Expo.

Thus ends my list of places I've been on that list.

 

[Vault101]

unrelated but its funny imagining the scale of different countrys

I think Ive heard of european travelers thinking they can "drive to melbourne"...from Perth....it only takes..a few days? a week? since Australia is like england several times over

 

[Mr.Wizard]

San Francisco is brilliant, make sure you go Whale Watching - it's where I saw my first Blue Whale.
Los Angeles was dull for me, apart from the Theme Park, speaking as a British teenager here.
The Grand Canyon is great, but don't miss out Monument Valley nearby!
Las Vegas was a lot of fun, even below the age where I could gamble. Be prepared for some seriously dry, oppressive heat both here and at the Grand Canyon.
New York is just a great city to be a tourist in, loads to see (I recommend catching a Broadway show if you like any musicals)
And I'm very jealous you get to go to the Escapist Expo.

Thus ends my list of places I've been on that list.

Hmm, I wonder when their whale watching season is? I've seen plenty of humpback whales before but I'd love to see a blue up close. Monument Valley is a great idea, didn't think of that one.

unrelated but its funny imagining the scale of different countrys

I think Ive heard of european travelers thinking they can "drive to melbourne"...from Perth....it only takes..a few days? a week? since Australia is like england several times over

I know, even just going to fairly close by places, people (Europeans especially) don't realize how big Australia is. For example I work in a hotel in Brisbane and I've seen people come in to Brisbane after a coach trip from cairns and just have this look of horror on their faces at how long they've spent on a bus

 

[bobmus]

San Francisco is brilliant, make sure you go Whale Watching - it's where I saw my first Blue Whale.
Los Angeles was dull for me, apart from the Theme Park, speaking as a British teenager here.
The Grand Canyon is great, but don't miss out Monument Valley nearby!
Las Vegas was a lot of fun, even below the age where I could gamble. Be prepared for some seriously dry, oppressive heat both here and at the Grand Canyon.
New York is just a great city to be a tourist in, loads to see (I recommend catching a Broadway show if you like any musicals)
And I'm very jealous you get to go to the Escapist Expo.

Thus ends my list of places I've been on that list.

Hmm, I wonder when their whale watching season is? I've seen plenty of humpback whales before but I'd love to see a blue up close. Monument Valley is a great idea, didn't think of that one.

Glad I could contribute something!
I tend to holiday in August, so I imagine if you're up for a wedding in September that it'd be around the same season I saw Blue Whales in.

 

[Aur0ra145]

If I were you, I'd stop by Mobile, Alabama. They have the USS Alabama and the USS Drum. One is a South Dakota-class battleship, the other is a Gato class submarine. Both are museum ships now, so you can walk through them and stuff.

 

[eimatshya]

It's a bit out of the way, but while you're in California you might be interested in heading up the pacific coast to Humboldt county to see the redwoods. Some of the those trees are ridiculously huge. Also, it's where they filmed the Endor scenes from Return of the Jedi. That area's several hours north of San Francisco, though (although it is a really pretty drive).

 

[axlryder]

You should TOTALLY visit Detroit. Yeahhh.

 

[Chemical Alia]

You should visit Pennsylvania and try some Tastykakes and Amish food like shoo fly pie. It's also got great countryside and cool looking towns/factories for taking photos and stuff.

 

[Dags90]

Personally, I would recommend either Redwood National Park or Yosemite from San Francisco, with Yosemite being the easier choice.

New York to Montreal is about a day's drive, eight hours-ish.

The Grand Canyon is great, but don't miss out Monument Valley nearby!
Las Vegas was a lot of fun, even below the age where I could gamble. Be prepared for some seriously dry, oppressive heat both here and at the Grand Canyon.
New York is just a great city to be a tourist in, loads to see (I recommend catching a Broadway show if you like any musicals)

It's really not that bad, I think it's quite nice actually. But every time I've seen British tourists anywhere remotely warm they're bright pink and sweaty, so maybe it's just a British thing.

I would recommend against visiting Phoenix, it's not a particularly interesting American city and skipping it will save you a few hours.

 

[BlackStar42]

It's really not that bad, I think it's quite nice actually. But every time I've seen British tourists anywhere remotely warm they're bright pink and sweaty, so maybe it's just a British thing.

Yes, but you have to remember we get about 3 days of sunshine a year here, tops. We're not designed to cope with heat and light, instead we've evolved to resist the depression caused by endless grey drizzle.

 

[Kae]

Tijuana? As a person that has actually lived there, I have no idea why you would want to go there, it's a horrible city, hard to navigate and with nothing particularly interesting to see, if you have time I would recommend going to Ensenada instead, considering you still have to go through Tijuana it should take you around 2 hours to get there from San Isidro, it's not the prettiest place in México but it would give you a better representation of what the country has to offer than Tijuana, seriously Tijuana is horrible.

 

[NightHawk21]

I'm Canadian and haven't been far into the states in a long time, but I don't know how your planning to hit Montreal. Shit I'm like an hour from the american border and Montreal is still a pretty long drive. I would suggest if at all possible you get a plane from NY to where ever you're from with a layover in Montreal for a couple hours. Save yourself the drive. Mind you I don't know all the details of your current situation lol

 

[Mr.Wizard]

Thanks for the suggestions guys, feel free to keep 'em coming.

I know there's some fairly long distances in between the places we're actually wanting to see, but we want to do a pretty classic road trip style vacation with the option to get lost somewhere for a day or two if we find something interesting along the way.