Driving from LA to San Fran, stop in Paso Robles for one of those days. Small town in the heart of wine country, and the wine is Good. Hearst castle on the coast is always worth a few hours, too. Used to be one of my go to date spots. Fish tacos in Pismo beach, drive up to Paso for wine tasting, motorcycle up the coast to Hearst, 100% success rate.
The Smithsonian in Washington DC is the museum experience to end all museum experiences. It is an absolute must of the highest order.
Awesome itinerary man. Few thoughts 1) Don't plan on too much time in San Antonio, not much to see there outside of the Riverwalk and the Alamo which can be knocked out in a day. Austin is amazing though. 2) If you're spending NYE in NYC, just stay away from Times Square. It looks "cool" on TV, but in reality, its a clusterfuck and an absolute pain. 3) When you get closer and have a better idea about timing in Chicago, let me know and I can let you know hotspots. Unfortunately it will be cold as hell, haha.
Has anyone spent any time in the Azores? All of the pictures look gorgeous and plane tickets out of Toronto are weirdly cheap. There are also promises of things like wine and cheese and fresh seafood, so I feel like there has to be a catch. Thoughts? Experiences?
I haven't been there personally, but I have some close friends that did some construction work there and spent about 5-6 months. Their take was that the islands got real small, real fast. To a man they all said they enjoyed it, but after that amount of time they were all ready to come home. And yes, they said the food was amaze-balls.
Side note to NYE in NYC. Don't plan on ever going to the bathroom. There are 10 Porta potties for every 10000 people
NYE in Time Square... Don't do it. If you must, just book a hotel room at the Double Tree or something. There's an up charge, but not as much as you think. Boston... Hit up Harpoon Brewery, the North End for some authentic Italian, walk the Freedom Trail, and do touristy things like Quincy Market.
$0.02: I love the North Bay, so if you can allot any extra time in California, I would recommend a day up there. Following Hwy 1 up past the Golden Gate Bridge takes you by Muir Woods (magical redwood fairyland), Stinson Beach, and up to Point Reyes, where there's more gorgeous coastline and also amazing oysters, mussels and clams. Then to the east a bit there's Sonoma and Napa. I assume you're catching the train out of Emeryville (or at least somewhere in the East Bay), and the drive down from Napa is really straightforward. Not sure if I would leave a whole week to get from New Orleans to DC, and I'm not sure what route you're looking at, but Kentucky has fun things like Mammoth Cave and bourbon. Also, I think the best time to go to the National Mall is in the middle of the night when no one else is there and things are all lit up. It's really pretty, especially down by the river. It all sounds awesome, I imagine you'll have a blast!
How flexible are you on the routes you drive? Any thing specific you'd like to do in addition to a shooting range? Between New Orleans & Washington DC there's plenty to do, but your route will drive what/where you go. If you're planning to drive to Jacksonville, FL and then up the east coast, I'd recommend stopping in Charleston, SC and/or Savannah, GA as well as Williamsburg, VA. If you're driving up through Alabama and along the Appalachians, you could veer towards Knoxville, TN and Great Smoky Mountains National Park, then drive the Blue Ridge Parkway to Shenandoah National Park. As far as while you're in DC, I also recommend the National Mall at night; next to no other people about and it looks spectacular lit up. Even more so if it happens to snow. You could also check out Great Falls National Park, its just north of DC and while not an easy hike, the Billy Goat Trail is easily doable in an afternoon. If weather's bad while you're here, you can't really go wrong visiting any of the Smithsonian museums or the Botanical Gardens. While you're in DC I recommend staying where you can easily utilize the Metro. It can be a pain, but driving & parking around the city is even worse. Old Town Alexandria is a nice area with plenty of places to eat/stay and will likely be a bit less expensive compared to hotels downtown. Unless you also want the scenic view from the train (I've never taken the train so I couldn't tell you how scenic it is) but you may want to consider flying from DC to NYC. It's stupid, but flying from DC to NYC is significantly faster and cheaper than taking the train. If you have questions when you're closer to arriving don't hesitate to send me a PM; I live across the river in Virginia and work in downtown DC. You'll have better options in Texas, but there are a few ranges around DC in Virginia and Maryland, but I couldn't tell you what they're like or what firearms they have available to rent. The NRA headquarters is just outside DC in Virginia and in addition to the firearms museum they have a range in the basement of their building.
Thanks all, really appreciate the responses! We are pretty flexible on route but Savannah and Charleston look really cool and the fiance is quite keen on seeing them so the route will probably be up the coast. We were only thinking train from DC to NYC because it'd be more reliable in bad weather than flights and we didnt want to risk getting stuck in DC. Any ideas if we'd need to book flights in advance? Or can we just wing it and book when we are actually in DC? So i've heard this from a few people and what we were thinking of was going to a restaurant or venue with an NYE event on (on or near Times Square). These seem pretty reasonable with number limits, seating, open bar, food etc (and of course access to toilets 100,000 other people haven't destroyed) and not standing in the fucking cold for hours on end. Any thoughts on these events? Any that someone can recommend? One other question, whats the state of the roads going to be like for the drive between New Orleans and DC? I've never driven in freezing weather and the fiances pretty nervous about it
I'll be in Vegas in a month. I've been there well over a dozen times. I've done the strip. I've done the strip clubs, I've done old town and Hofbrauhaus, I've been to the indoor firearm ranges, is there anything else I need to see or have I pretty much tapped out the city in terms of things to do?
That's closer to Reno Back to Vegas, what about heading out to Red Rock, or an afternoon on Lake Mead?
Lake Mead is fine if you like crowds, broken bottles & piles of garbage. Red Rock is a pretty cool way to spend a day though.
As far as weather for flights, it shouldn't be an issue, but that time of year there is a chance of a delay or cancellation. You'll get your best price if you book at least two weeks in advance, but I just checked if I were to book a flight to leave this afternoon it added a little less than $150. Realistically, its probably 50/50 on whichever you decide to take. For the drive up from New Orleans, the southeast US can experience freezing rain/snow, but more than likely it'll be fine. I wouldn't worry about it until you're much closer to making the trip and have an idea what kind of weather you might experience.
Cool I'll try to hit up Red Rock. I love the hockey tourney I go to, I really do, but every dam time we stay at the Rio because they get a deal there. I don't think there is any better place to get accosted by a hooker at 2am than the Rio.
Quick story about the Rio: In the late 80's, I had a friend that was a male model. It was fucking embarrassing to go anywhere with him because girls were falling all over him, cat calling and all that shit. He was also dumb as a fucking stump. He found his girl of the week and I asked her what she did for a living. "Oh, I just hang out at the Rio and guys give me money" I pulled my buddy to the side and explained to him his girlfriend was a hooker. He was having none of that..."Look at her dude! She has huge tits and she's gorgeous, those old guys just give her money to hang with them." Verbatim. A week later he was screaming when he pissed.
I am going to be in Puerto Morelos, which is 40km south of Cancun, in Mid April. Any of you been in that area, which could recommend stuff to do or see that is a must, or anything that you might not normally think of doing. I am also going to post this in the alcohol thread. But I have no idea about anything Tequila. I want to bring back some good Tequila, any suggestions?
Fells Point or Inner Harbor are two spots where you should find decent food and drinks. Are you going there a few weeks or months from now? A few days, a week?