David87's American Road Trip Thread Social • Page 3

Skip Houston.

Phil's Ice House is my favorite burger place in Austin. Nothing fancy, and there's usually an Amy's Ice Cream right next store to it.

You can find live music pretty much anywhere downtown. Zilker Park is a nice green spot of land. Barton Springs is an outdoor, natural pool that is so cool. Literally, that water is cold.

As far as night life, if you want to hang out with drunk college kids wandering the streets, 6th street can be worth a peek. Rainey Street has a more chilled out vibe, which is better for an old man like me.

 

The museums are incredible. I also recommend (with permission) going into the ladies room at the water tower on the top floor. View is incredible.

 

I'd also recommend going to the Masonic temple. It's really cool. Check their website to make sure the day you go they don't have a private event.

 

Any museums in particular you'd rec? Keep in mind neither of us are big "art" people haha. We're more into history type stuff, maybe science-y.

 

Anyone got a beer/brewery Rec from South Dakota? Google search tells me I'm either gonna be stopping in Sioux Falls or Rapid City, since that's where all their brewpubs are, but figured I'd solicit opinions if anyone has one.

 

WoodGrain in Sioux Falls is pretty cool. My roommate's band played there awhile back.

 

Awesome, thank you! Saw it in my google search, will write it down.

 

American History is awesome and you should do a tour of the Capitol. Air and space is really great and if you feel like braving it, trek out to Dulles and see the Udvar Hazy air and space museum.

 

So the election totally screwed up my planning process....and by that I mean I got too distracted and stressed lol.

I'm back to planning now and way behind...and as silly (and not silly) as it sounds I'm not too confident in what's going to happen to our National Parks System in the next 4 years, so it's kind of raised the urgency on getting this in this summer now. Hopefully their budgets aren't cut too far this year.

I'm in Wyoming now, which is the real meat of the planning for the northern route, between Devil's Tower, Grand Tetons, and Yellowstone. I've got plenty of info on those parks but if anyone has been before and has any recs of things they did there and loved, let me know. (if anyone has found any, ahem...private but still outdoors places/backcountry camping spots in those parks, that would also be appreciated lol). Also if anyone has drank beer from one of Wyoming's breweries and has one worth recommending, please do.

This state and Utah are going to be the most time consuming to plan with all the National Parks.

 

So we're probably not going to spend too much time in Seattle, so what are the absolute must-do's there? And anywhere else in between Spokane and Seattle? Brewery recs as well?

Also any suggestions on Olympic National Park?

 

Any west coasters out there wanna chime in? I think I more or less know what we're gonna do at Olympic, but if someone has one day or one night in Seattle, what needs to get done? Talking to others, seems like the things that come up the most are the space needle and Pikes' Market. That might end up being all we have time for honestly but I like having more written down just in case.

@Jason Tate I'll probably tag you soon for Portland suggestions, but figure you might have made your way to Seattle at some point or another. Any other west coasters out there, lemme know.

 

Alright, Oregon dwellers....What's the best thing(s) to do with a day in Portland?

Also, Crater Lake....I'm putting it in the plans, but I'm currently torn, as it seems the Oregon coast gets rave reviews for the drive. Is Crater Lake a must-see, or can it be skipped this time for the drive down the Oregon coast? I will be on the California coast as well, so if theyre not that different......Also, time constraints may end up answering this for me and we might skip Crater Lake because of that, but won't know until we're actually on the trip.

 

The Oregon caves are great. I used to go there in the summers growing up.

 

As someone who has only been to Seattle once, I recommend sushi at momiji and also going to bainbridge island

 

Still need help with Minnesota?

 

I think we'll be going to Bainbridge Island just to go that way out towards Olympic NP instead of dipping down and around through Tacoma. Any must do's on the island or just a good place to drive through and stare at the big houses? Also, do yu have any idea how much the ferry costs with a car?

I've got Minnesota done a while back, based on suggestions here and elsehwere we'll basically end up just in Minneapolis/St. Paul, hit Minnehaha Falls...I have Surly Brewing down as the brewery we'll hit. And if we have time we'll maybe hit some of the F. Scott Fitzgerald stuff. Also probably am gonna drive by the Jolly Green giant in southern Minnesota on our way to South Dakota haha

 

I didn't take a car onto the ferry so I'm actually not sure. We just walked around the island, probably walked about 3-4 miles total. We ate at Streamliner Diner. Walked down to the water. Explored the antique shops. It was December..and raining..so we didn't last long without a car.

 

Any San Fran suggestions? M'lady has been there before so we might be all set, but the obvious things we're gonna hit there are Golden Gate National Rec Area, Pier 39, Probably the Full House and Mrs. Doubtfire houses....seems like there's a lot of parks in the city besides the GG Rec Area, so any suggestions on which park or parks to do would def help. We'd both love to do Alcatraz but from what i've heard you gotta book those tours months in advance and as previously explained the timing of this trip in terms of exact days is fluid.

Also, California is a huge ass state, and we'll be hitting San Fran, LA, and San Diego...so I have no idea which brewery we're gonna hit.

 

Hello *waves* how is this all going for you? i never went around San Fran while i was in cali, wish i did

 

Not sure if you're still in need of recommendations for Miami, but Ocean Drive and South Beach are great spots for a drink or two with a view. Bayside in the downtown area is also a very nice place for boat rides, live music, and just walking around the town. The Liberty Tower is a pretty sight and it's close nearby Bayside. There's a couple of museums here and there, but you've mentioned you're not much for art so the Perez Art Museum won't be a big attraction. However, you should DEFINITELY hit the Wynwood Walls. Beautiful graffiti art sprawling across 2/3 stories high walls.

 

The planning is going okay, I'm behind where I wanted to be by now but I could still get it done quickly. I am starting to consider the prospect of having to delay a year though because we are in the process of buying a house. I'm just not sure we'd have the finances to do it without digging ourselves a pretty big hole. I was planning on funding most of the trip on my credit cards, but I feel way more comfortable doing that while also knowing she has a sizable savings. If we buy the house, the savings won't really be there, so...ugh. I know it's all #firstworldproblems and shit but the idea of putting the trip off for another year is a little heart breaking at the moment considering how much effort I've been putting into the planning and how excited I've been for it to happen. And the whole what will Trump/Republicans do to the NPS lingers in the back of my mind...

Cali is gonna be jam packed, but to be honest, with San Fran and LA, there's so much damn shit to do there that planning was almost impossible. I wrote down a few points of interest and figured we'd just see where the days take us when we're there haha. Golden Gate Nat Rec Area looks amazing in San Fran, looking forward to that a lot. We'll of course see the Painted Ladies and probably visit a few film/TV locations while we're there too (Gotta see the Mrs. Doubtfire house!)

Haven't gotten to Florida yet but yes definitely appreciate the Miami advice. We're prob just gonna pass through there more than anything else, but def wanted to know what to drive/where to stop for food. She's been there once for a bachelorette party but that was more about clubs and other bachelorette-y type stuff haha

 

Did you end up going on the trip this summer? If not, I can definitely give you some recs for California, Washington, and Utah.

 

We bought a house and had to scrap the big trip until next summer, but we still were able to do a 2 week jaunt through the middle of the country because we had a wedding in Colorado to get to. It was nice because we got to hit some places and states we weren't going to get to on the main trip, namely Shenandoah National Prk and Mammoth Cave National Park.

I've been taking a break the last couple weeks from the busy traveling of the summer, but am hoping to dive back into planning the rest of the big trip soon.

 

Well job situation has settled down a bit and I'm starting to dive back into planning for this summer. We're also planning a wedding, and work is gonna be crazy for me the back half of January/Early Feb, but I'm excited to get back into planning.

Our mini-road trip that we did this past summer was awesome. We saw black bears and a Timber Rattler in Shenandoah NP, went into the caves at Mammoth Cave NP, stopped at Lincoln's Boyhood Home NHS and the Brown vs. Board of Ed NHS, and saw a momma moose with a baby, and elk, at Rocky Mountain NP. Arches NP was awesome as well. We're gonna see RMNP and Arches again on this trip so it'll be cool to hit some things we didn't have time to last time.

 

By not including New England David has purposely made it so I cannot contribute, his loss