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    Northern Americana

    Where have you been, what have you seen that is worth seeing? What, where you are, would you consider to be a "must see" item/event/place/etc?

    For example: Anyone that comes to Vegas (who has, perhaps, seen the casino's already) should see Red Rock Canyon, the Valley of Fire, and Boulder Dam. I know it sounds all touristy (and it is), but there's a reason tourists gravitate to the cool spots

    Ok - North America: Go!

    #2
    Re: Northern Americana

    Tahquamenon Falls, Pictured Rocks, Macinac Bridge, Detroit (especially Joe Louis Arena). All of these are in beautiful Michigan
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      #3
      Re: Northern Americana

      A lot of the states of Colorado, Arizona and Utah are amazing, landscape-wise.

      The West Coast of Canada. Vancouver is a great city, but also it's on the ocean and in front of the mountains. VERY beautiful.

      Banff National Park

      A lot of the older cities in Quebec such as Quebec City, Montreal and Trois Riviers. You not only have the French speaking culture thing, but they're also some of the oldest cities in North America.

      Yellowstone- it's touristy, but there's really nothing quite like it.

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        #4
        Re: Northern Americana

        St. Louis metro: St. Louis Zoo (its free, and excellent), the Arch (both to see and go up), the City Museum (anytime if you have kids, weekend evening/nights if you aren't), Soulard Market (in operation since 1779), Missouri Botanical Gardens (one of the best Botanical Gardens in the world, and particularly the Japanese Garden there)

        Southern Illinois: Ferne Clyffe State Park, Garden of the Gods, Makanda's old train station (now a arts/antique/shopping area that looks like an old Western town), Giant City State Park, Bell Smith Springs

        Hampton Roads: the "Historic Triangle" of Colonial Williamsburg, Yorktown downtown and Battlefield, and Jamestown, Bacon's Castle, Va Beach's "strip" (the boardwalk and beach), a tall ship cruise, a trip to the Eastern Shore or the Outer Banks (Kitty Hawk is only about 90 min drive), the James River Plantations, BElle Island (in Richmond, about an hour drive), (if you come in the spring) berry picking at Vaughan Farms (it has been owned and operated by the same family since 1695), the Mariner's Museum in Newport News (where artifacts from the USS Monitor are)
        Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of HistoryPagan Devotionals, because the wind and the rain is our Bible
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          #5
          Re: Northern Americana

          The one place that pops into my head is Turner Falls in Oklahoma. I didn't get to get to the actual falls just on up the hill a bit, it was labor day weekend and we didn't feel like waitin.

          There's a place in Mena, Arkansas that was pretty cool when I was younger but I can't remember what its called.

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            #6
            Re: Northern Americana

            I have been to so much places that to me the only beautiful places are thoses who have incredible natural beauty. Like Chic-Chocs Mountains... The Canadian Shield cliffs areas like along the St-Lawrence River up to Quebec City and inland up to North of Shawinigan in a place called Carignan...
            The Saguenay fjord... Parry Sound... Superior Lake Northern Edge from Parry Sound to Thunder Bay...
            Vancouver... some areas of Victoria Island....Rocky Mountains... Banff...
            Mackenzie River in the summer...

            The places I hated the most: Toronto, Montreal, Edmonton, Winnipeg... any damn place with huge amounts of concrete... altho I do go there for work reasons, resupply reasons, and winter.

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              #7
              Re: Northern Americana

              For me, it's all desert and ocean

              - Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. Actually, just New Mexico. Drive through it. It's some of the most beautiful desert in America.
              - Death Valley in California
              - Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah
              - La Bufadora (the Blow Hole) in Baja, Mexico
              - Carmel-by-the-Sea in northern California

              I love my cities, too... check out the blues & jazz on Beale Street in Memphis, TN and then do the same in New Orleans, LA. It hasn't fully healed yet, but the Crescent City is recovering, and people still play the blues, jazz & zydeco. Love the zydeco.

              San Francisco is funky and fun, Seattle has some great little shops and boutiques
              The forum member formerly known as perzephone. Or Perze. I've shed a skin.

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                #8
                Re: Northern Americana

                Originally posted by Taiga Pagan View Post
                Vancouver... some areas of Victoria Island....
                *Ahem* It's called Vancouver Island

                But I agree. And I don't know how I forgot about it....A LOT of Vancouver Island is amazing. Victoria is a really pretty Victorian era seaside city, Tofino has great landscapes and beaches on the open ocean, and the North Island has AMAZING hiking (there's just so much between Campbell River and Port Hardy I just can't even name it all). And great camping too once you get off the beaten path a bit. I'm from there, so I kind of take it for granted. But having been to a lot of places in the world, it's actually one of my all-time favourites.

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                  #9
                  Re: Northern Americana

                  Sum up?

                  I hadn't wanted to announce anything just yet, but pretty soon I think this thread is going to become cumbersome without some more information

                  My mid-life crisis having fully kicked in right when I'm unemployed, I'll be taking a trip. At some point in the next two weeks or so I'm going to attempt a roughly 12,000 mile journey via motorcycle, starting in Vegas, to Los Angeles, up the coast, over to Winnepeg, continuing to the Great Lakes, a trip to Maine, and following the coast south to Florida. I have not yet decided whether or not to hit Mexico, as I suspect that by this point I'll be fairly exhausted. I don't really have a time-frame in mind for getting home, however I will be continuing to apply for jobs so circumstances may dictate an early finish.

                  I will be taking pictures and hosting them online, I will be Tweeting my progress and blogging what/when I can. My wife will have access to perform updates, but I suspect she'll be too busy much of the time.

                  Regardless, most of my life has been spent being afraid of taking a risk, of being outside of my comfort zone. The first 1,000 miles of the trip or so I'll be travelling over semi-familiar roads in semi-familiar territory. I'll be able to stop and see family members that I haven't seen in the last 10 years. After that, it'll be just the road and no schedule at all, with only the vaguest of directions to travel

                  Cost is prohibitive - I'll be spending a lot of time sleeping out of doors and at campgrounds to save money. The more time I have to spend on the road, the less likely I'll be able to continue financially. I'm already planning right around $2000 for the trip, and I'm probably gauging that a little low. But what can you say? You only live once!

                  I'll have proper links and websites set up sometime over the next week...nothing too fancy, but it'll be functional

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                    #10
                    Re: Northern Americana

                    hmmm....if that is the case....I take it you are looking for random things to do/see that scream Americana, rather than the more expensive family va-cay stuff...



                    I recomment the world's biggest catsup bottle in Collinsville, IL...its a worthy stop because its not far from St. Louis, and you *do* need to see the Arch (the Arch and its museum is free though the trip up to the top costs, and all the attractions in Forest Park--Zoo, Art Museum, History Museum, Science Center are free too), and if you time it right, you can go to the International Horseradish Festival for the root car derby...then you can drive down Rt 3 (the River Road...might want to check on flood conditions), where you could go to Ft. deCharters to see an old French and Indian War fort or for their Rendezvous (I think it is the first weekend in June for the summer Rendezvous) and will pass thru Chester, IL--the home of Popeye, and cut over at to stay at Ferne Clyffe state park, which has cheap camping ($3 primitive, $7 with hookup and bbq when I was last there)--the Shawnee National Forest is pretty...and from there you can hop onto 57 and then 55 to hit Memphis or 24 to hit Paducah and then Nashville

                    Also...I still recommend the historic triangle, the Colonial Parkway is gorgeous and you can visit all those places without paying to go into the tours...and Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah...its BEEEYOUTEEFUL.
                    Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of HistoryPagan Devotionals, because the wind and the rain is our Bible
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                      #11
                      Re: Northern Americana

                      Just an FYI, in case you were planning it - the Grand Canyon skywalk thingie is overpriced & underwhelming. But you can always stop & check out that enormous thermometer in Baker, CA
                      The forum member formerly known as perzephone. Or Perze. I've shed a skin.

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                        #12
                        Re: Northern Americana

                        If you plan to come to Michigan, Rok, check ahead. We're likely to be closed due to government cost cutting measures. About the only thing this state has going for it since industry left is tourism - and now, to save money, they're gonna close the campgrounds.

                        But there's a lot of nice stuff to see. If you like cities, there's the southern Michigan cities. If you like trees, rocks, water, and wildlife, there's the northern lower and most of the upper penninsula.
                        Every moment of a life is a horrible tragedy, a slapstick comedy, dark nihilism, golden illumination, or nothing at all; depending on how we write the story we tell ourselves.

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                          #13
                          Re: Northern Americana

                          I hadn't quite decided how I was going to handle the Eastern side of the states - I'll be leaving Winnipeg in Canada, and I'm not sure if I'll continue to the coast from there, or head down to the Great Lakes. I suspect it's going to largely depend on how many people I'll be stopping to visit in the area

                          I'll have a website up soon with links to the map, blogs, Twitter accounts, and my phone number in case anyone wants a visit while I'm in mid-trip...going to do that this week.

                          Got some work this next weekend that I have to stay in town for, but I'm thinking the next week or two will see me off

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                            #14
                            Re: Northern Americana

                            If you come up through Vancouver, I recommend biking the Sea to Sky (#99 highway) up to Whistler. Pretty scenery.


                            Mostly art.

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                              #15
                              Re: Northern Americana

                              If you are going to Canada (or Mexico), I recommend you make sure you Passport is in order...
                              Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of HistoryPagan Devotionals, because the wind and the rain is our Bible
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