Travel Bucket List

[thalassa]

*this is not a list of where you want to go*

If someone was coming to visit you (your town, state/province/region, or country--whatever you prefer), what places do you think they should go to get a complete picture of your locale?

[CrystalJackal]

Re: Travel Bucket List

The giant acorn in Raleigh..................
Kitty Hawk......
The farmer's markets.............
There are some beautiful beaches.....
We've got some pretty great museums........
Beautiful Horsefarms...........
The Outer Banks...............
I'm pretty sure the most interesting and unique thing in NC is the giant Acorn, no lie.

[volcaniclastic]

Re: Travel Bucket List

Oh, I like this! (and it helps me procrastinate from real life for a while longer)

My town: As most of you know, I'm the most northern member of the Forum. I live in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. We get thousands and thousands of tourists each year, because it's the most easily accessible northern town in Canada (we're the last major airport before flights north get REALLY expensive. I mean, REALLY expensive.) We are also a capital city (of 20,000 people).

You need to see:
- Pilot's Monument: largest hill in town, overlooks the entirety of Back Bay (a part of Great Slave Lake), the entire houseboat community, the Robertson Head Frame (the tallest building in the NWT), and most of downtown.
- Bullock's Bistro: an overpriced, under-serviced part of Yellowknife's history. Serves the best fresh fish and chips you're likely to ever have, in probably the longest amount of time you'll ever have to wait...but the fish is fresh. Has a lot of character. One plate: $45.00
- Old town: quirky. Lots of gift shops and northern flair.
- The Ingraham Trail: there are only two roads out of town - the highway south, and the Ingraham Trail, which is a 70km, partially paved, partially gravel trail that leads out to all the off-grid cabins and lakes and wilderness. Turns into the ice road to the mines in winter. Crosses the Yellowknife River (great for bonfires and paddling).
- Cameron Falls: The biggest waterfall within an hour's drive. 45 minute hike in.
- Big Hill Lake: The second longest 'proper' hiking trail near town. Great for swimming and fishing once you get there. Takes 2-3 hours.

Summer:
- Folk on the Rocks: 2 day festival on the beach with lots and lots of music, beer, and food.
- NWT Pride: 3 day festival celebrating LGBTQ+ peoples across the North. Family friendly, free, lots of workshops and live music, and food. And yours truly is one of the organizing members.
- Paddleboarding on Back Bay
- Paddling anywhere on any of the lake routes
- Getting eaten alive by our national bird, the mosquito
- Seeing the midnight sun

Winter:
- Dog sled tours
- Aurora watching
- XC skiing
- Getting frostbite (or trying not to)
- crazy carpet slides
- Longjohn Jamboree: March. Festival on the ice.
- Snowking Castle: March - castle made out of snow and ice on the lake. Live music plays nightly inside. Dance with your parka on and drink hot cocoa!

What you need to bring:

Winter:
- Warm clothes. Think you brought enough? You're probably wrong.
- Sunglasses: It's always sunny. Snowblindness is a real thing. Wear your sunnies.

Summer:
- Bug spray. So much bug spray.
- Sunglasses: It's still sunny.
- Bear spray: Don't bring this. Buy it here. It's no bueno on planes. And yes, we have lots and lots of bears.

All year round:
- More money than you think you need. It's expensive here. A pint of beer is usually $8-9, a 1 bedroom apartment is $1500/mo, and hotels average at $170/night. There are cheaper ones, but they are griiiiiiimy. There is no hostel.
- An appetite for booze. We are, sadly, a government town with a drinking problem.

Edit: So now you've read this...come visit me!

[thalassa]

Re: Travel Bucket List

Here in Virginia, I'd have to say...

1) Tour Monticello (the home of Thomas Jefferson)
2) Visit the Battleship Wisconsin (there are other battleships and other ships preserved as museums, but the Iowa class battleships are among the biggest in the world, have the largest guns that didn't get sunk, and are extremely well preserved, and have one some of the longest timespan of service, from WWII to the Gulf War), followed up by finding all of Norfolk's mermaids (better yet, MAKE your own Norfolk mermaid to take home)
3) Canoeing at the Great Dismal Swamp (Lake Drummond)
4) Drive the Bay Bridge Tunnel to see the wild horses at Assateague (ever read Misty of Chincoteague as a kid?)
5) Colonial Williamsburg (and pay for the tour to go into the buildings), if you start early and have time, hit up Yorktown and Jamestown in the afternoon
6) Day trip for biking, hiking, or kayaking at Belle Island in Richmond (which has a fascinating history) followed by a Saturday night movie at the Byrd Theater (they still play the Wurlitzer)
7) Caving at Grand Caverns (I like it better than Luray because its owned by the town, rather than a squabbling money hungry family, and its actually the oldest show cave in the US...though there are better choices if you are a caver, these are good for the regular tourist)
8) Climb the Cape Henry Lighthouse (and maybe cruise the boardwalk in one of those 4 person bike carriages afterwards), followed by a roll down Mount Trashmore (in Virginia Beach)
9) Visit Arlington, along with the White House, Lincoln Memorial, the war memorials, and the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum--the memorials are best in the evening at dusk
10) Go hand crabbing (pretty much anywhere in the watershed)
11) Take a hot air balloon ride in the Shenandoah (the camping is lovely here too)

Seasonal Bonus--a Christmas carriage ride in Colonial Williamsburg, driving Skyline Drive in the fall, winter birding at Back Bay and winter whale watching, the Pony Swim at Chincoteague (in the summer), rocket launch at Wallops Island, and catch a bluegrass festival

[B. de Corbin]

Re: Travel Bucket List

To get a good picture of the locale, Bogart's, at about 11pm when the fights start breaking out amongst the drunk rednecks.

But I would prefer to take them to (in random order):

Mackinaw City and Mackinaw Island, specifically, the reconstructed colonial forts in both spots, and the colonial buildings on the Island - Dr. Beaumont did his famous study on digestion there.

Mackinaw Bridge

Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary - tour the shipwrecks!

The old & new Presque Isle lighthouses

And

Sea Shell City, for no particular reason except that it is one of those old 1950s tourist traps that is still operating...

P.S. Almost forgot. Hiking in my back yard.

[thalassa]

Re: Travel Bucket List

Hmmm...I can probably do my homestate too:

Chicago: IMO, the only places worth going are the Field Museum and Shedd Aquarium. The art museums are good, but there are better...same with the zoos. Ride the free trolley to see the Magnificent Mile and Navy Pier and then visit the rest of the state, I may be biased, but its actually more interesting

Shawnee National Forest: Don't miss Ferne Clyffe State Park, Bell Smith Springs, the Cache River, the Millstone Bluff Archeological area, Garden of the Gods, Giant City, Cave in Rock, Bald Knob, or pretty much the entire River to River trail area (it takes 5-10 days to hike the R-to-R trail--5 @ 20 mi/day, 10 to actually do it justice and visit places)

The middle parts: Cahokia Mounds, Rendezvous at Fort de Chartres, the Great Galena Baloon Race, the Popeye Picnic and Parade in Chester, New Salem (state historic site), the Broom Corn Festival at Arcola (and don't miss Rockome Gardens for the Amish shopping), the Piasa Bird, and driving the Mother Road--whats left of Route 66

[iris]

Re: Travel Bucket List

Uh... my town is small.
You'd have to see the lake, and the mansion on the opposite site from me is cute...
we have a church designed by the same guy who made the Sydney opera house...
Zealand (my part of Denmark) has copenhagen, lots of stuff to see, but honestly that will keep you busy for just a day or two.
Hareskoven ('hare forest') is a nice place and has a few remains from the vikings scattered around.
Roskilde vikingeskibs museum - viking ships! They have hand built replicas that you can get a ride in too sometimes.
Frilandsmuseet and lejre - both outdoor museums with lits of old houses... frilandsmuseet is from around 1600 'til now. Lejre is pretty dedicated to vikings - and they usually have lots of activities too...

Honestly. Denmark isn't that exciting

[volcaniclastic]

Re: Travel Bucket List

Uh... my town is small.
You'd have to see the lake, and the mansion on the opposite site from me is cute...
we have a church designed by the same guy who made the Sydney opera house...
Zealand (my part of Denmark) has copenhagen, lots of stuff to see, but honestly that will keep you busy for just a day or two.
Hareskoven ('hare forest') is a nice place and has a few remains from the vikings scattered around.
Roskilde vikingeskibs museum - viking ships! They have hand built replicas that you can get a ride in too sometimes.
Frilandsmuseet and lejre - both outdoor museums with lits of old houses... frilandsmuseet is from around 1600 'til now. Lejre is pretty dedicated to vikings - and they usually have lots of activities too...

Honestly. Denmark isn't that exciting

Says you. I'd kill a person to go to Denmark. I think it's amazing. I'm awestruck by some of your towns and cities.

[kalynraye]

Re: Travel Bucket List

TEXAS!!!!! Every one should see and experience my state and its amazingness (and not so amazingness) at some point.

Points of interest in the whole state
Alamo- one of the "biggest" battles of Texas Independence was fought here.
San Antonio River Walk
Space Center Houston
Big Bend National Park
The USS Lexington, Corpus Christi
Natural Bridge Caverns

Regions you should visit
Texas Hill Country- we can actually grow some really good grapes for wine making
Piney Woods- Swaps, and gators, and trees oh my
Plains- Just that rolling plains also beautiful to watch a storm roll in

Waco (yes I'm from Waco)
Dr Pepper Museum: Yep it originated in Waco
Waco Suspension Bridge: 1st suspension bridge in the U.S.
Homestead Heritage: Amish Homestead, you can take classes, see how they live, take a tour, eat in a cafe.
Branch Davidian Compound: no you can't visit it, there is nothing left... you can try and locate it on a gps but this is one thing we of Waco hate.

DFW
Ft Worth Zoo- one of the best zoos in U.S.
Ft Worth Stock Yards- they are just that stock yards. Rodeo and a great time
President Kennedy and the 6th Flour Museum:
Six Flags Over Texas
Fearings, The Ritz Carlton Dallas- you should come see me, I'm in an open kitchen and you can see me prepare your food. Dinner and a show.

I think thats a good list to start with.... Oh and you should float a river!!! We have tons of long rivers perfect for floating.

- - - Updated - - -

Also my Grandmother and Dad are from southern Illinois Thal. My grandmother is from Old Shawnee Town, and my Daddy grew up in Cave in Rock/Elizabethtown. I love the Shawnee National Forest, and Garden of the Gods is breathtakingly beautiful.

[Jembru]

Re: Travel Bucket List

<Deleted for being mainly where I want to go, and not relevant enough to the topic>

Oops, so I totally failed to talk about hotspots here.

ANYWHERE in Northumberland. The place is so enchanted and has so many different landscapes in a relatively small area. Lots of standing stones too. And castles! And amazing coastlines...

There are so many lovely places to stay. Like the B&B's in Alnwick (the castle was used to film parts of the first two harry Potter movies).

The towns are so historic with beautiful old cobbled streets and stone buildings. Much of the UK is scarred from agriculture, but Northumberland is one place where you can still experience 'wild Britain' as she would have looked long ago.

There are some nice islands too that are worth a visit, especially if you're interested in History. Lindisfarne in particular has a lot of historical significance during the Christianisation (and de-christianisation) of mainland Britain.

Oh, but please... bring a warm coat, even in the summer. Whatever the weather, expect it to be windy! ^^

- - - Updated - - -

Oh and we have the oldest herd of wild cattle in the British isles (which we simply call the 'beasts' and are extremely dangerous, so please just view from afar).

[anunitu]

Re: Travel Bucket List

One should at least once go to the "Mystery spot" near Santa Cruz,and also to Sarah Winchester's house in San Jose,Both in California.

[B. de Corbin]

Re: Travel Bucket List

One should at least once go to the "Mystery spot" near Santa Cruz,and also to Sarah Winchester's house in San Jose,Both in California.

Believe it or not, since I rarely travel, but I have been to the Winchester House, and it is FANTASTICLY WEIRD!

(Everyplace with steep hills has a "Mystery Spot." I've been to one on the UP, and it was quite fun... and mysterious...)

[anunitu]

Re: Travel Bucket List

I was told by a native Hawaiian,there is a road there that if you have pork of any kind in your car,the car will die. I take this friends word that is true..

http://weirdus.com/states/hawaii/sto...road/index.php