National Parks to visit

Basically, I'd like to visit them all.
http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/places/parks/index.html

Perhaps we should collect all the parks we'd want to visit here

Scenic routes to drive

this one is in utah
http://www.scenicbyway12.com/

we can add on more here as we go along

Arizona

This is home to the Grand Canyon, I really want to visit this and if I feel brave enough, go on that glass skywalk.
(by the way I read somewhere that it's obscenely expensive and very crowded...)

Perhaps we can drive Arizona Highway 179 through the Sonoran Desert through Sedona to reach it? Something like this?
Red Rock State Park... and so on. There is such a lot to see in this state!!!

We could end our trip with this scenic drive and then go on to Las Vegas - Death Valley National Park and end point Los Angeles to fly back home. What do you think, Joy?

California

Amtrak Starlight Express
(bump is going for a test drive in 2009)

Theme parks
California is sort of synonymous with theme parks for me.
Should we go visit one? I'm not a huge theme park person but also not averse - do you want to go?
Maybe someone has a place they think we SHOULD NOT MISS!!!! ?

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Joshua Tree National Park
I was thinking. If LA is our start/end point, we could make this our final stop before we leave to go back home again. Wouldn't this be a wonderful end to our trip? Perhaps reality would be different but the place looks like pure magic to me.

messing with the map

so, since we will be going in summer/fall, and there's no need to make new orleans our first stop any more, i was thinking to start out driving up the west coast, begin at los angeles (unless we could easily fly in to san diego but i doubt that) drive wayyyy up... right up to seattle! then drive on to utah and ditch the car there. fly/train/bus to chicago, hopefully people will meet up with us there and show us some of their local sights. we might hop on various types of transport and use chicago as base. then fly/train over to london and get on the trans canada railroad to nova scotia. find obob in a cottage, spend some time there. fly/train/bus to new york. train to new jersey. from there, rent a car for the trip down the east coast right down to kate. visit kennedy space centre (i cannot be so close and not visit it!!). then drive the coastal road to new orleans, spend the last bit of the holiday there. make forays out to texas, new mexico (?) then hop on our separate planes back home.

what do you think?

View Larger Map

Vermont

Vermont in autumn is apparently one of the most beautiful places on the planet.
Perhaps we should go have a look for ourselves...

the village of Grafton is supposed to be one of the state's prettiest hamlets

Wyoming

If we manage to pass through this state at all, I'd love to visit Yellowstone.

West Thumb Geyser Basin tour

updated map

phew!

map with pins and names

still filling it with names etc.
route is not on here, i thought that might make it too confusing
can you use this, beej?

Michigan

Detroit
Charles H Wright Museum (Museum of African American History)
Detroit Institute of the Arts
Holocaust Memorial Center - Farmington Hills, Michigan
The Dutch Community of Holland, Michigan
One of the biggest malls in the world: Mall of America

Louisiana

New Orleans,

The French Quarter & Mardi Gras

Must eat: gumbo, jambalaya, clam chowder?

anja New Orleans:
visit cemeteries of new orleans
want to see the Mississippi River levee

Georgia

Savannah of course.

The Old Governor's Mansion - Milledgeville
"Ashley, oh Ashley!"

Florida

Kennedy Space Center
Swimming with manatees

Everglades is too far south, isn't it, as is Key West?

Little Havana in Miami?
South Beach at Miami Beach in Florida, for the Art Deco buildings?
Salvador Dali Museum in St Petersburg, Florida?

Texas

Big Bend National Park
Paloduro Canyon
Space Center Houston

New Mexico

Very Large Array (Jodie Foster / Contact)






Santa Fe Southwest Food:
Chicken enchilada with Silver Coin Margarita at Coyote Cafe

Roswell! Roswell Museum (no aliens but).
Route 66

Indian Pueblos of New Mexico

MUST see or visit in USA and Canada (we can add to this list)

visit kennedy space center

Grand Canyon (glass skywalk?)

stuff to bring with (add on to this post)

laptop

extra hard drive backup for photo's etc

converter, electricity

converter, plugs

cables to transfer pictures from camera to computer

notebook & pen

extra discs for digital camera(s)

extra pair of glasses (anja)

Sunglasses!!!! (since we are going in summer now)

about ten mp3 players, so we can make various playlists & chop & change as the mood takes us :)

MUST experience (we can add to this post)

drink a mint julep

beauty treatment & facial (jac wants to come along for this, her toenails need painting)

eat grits and greens

experience some Jewish culture and food.

big concert.

meet Quakers and Amish

beginning of the trip - latest planning

so far, the planning looks like this:
fly into orlando if it's cheapest, otherwise the airport closer to kate.
she'll pick us up individually - visit with her till we both have arrived, then she will drive us to savannah. ozfest! we then sleep over at wonk. i think pick up rental next morning or day after (spend a day in savannah, visiting gone with the wind houses?) and then drive on to new orleans via coastal route, overnight en route cause it's a very long drive. meet up with sooz and other ozites in new orleans no later than the 13th and stay with sooz till the 18th. then, morning of the 19th, leave for austin texas...


we will be hopping from vest to vest :)
1. savannah
2. new orleans
3. utah, at the weasels?
4. london, ontario?
5. new york?

did i miss any? of course we'll be looking for ozfolks along the way, don't want to miss a soul.

first leg, correction

i think we should start things in savannah, where we could meet up with a crowd of ozpeople. this would be the route to drive. it´s an almost 12 hr drive, NO to savannah on the 9th-10th so overnighting en route would not be a bad plan.

another option maybe is on arrival in NO take a short connecting flight to savannah, first ozvest, pick up the rental car there and start the road trip with the drive to NO, along the coast. i think i might prefer this joy, what do you think?

first leg?

Arrive feb 4 or 9 in NO.
Drive down to Saint Augustine (8 hr drive), mini vest with Kate, Starry and Wonk. maybe even pop down to Venice Beach on the way back. not a MUST for me, but hey it might be fun, I've read about it in books and would like to see it. the everglades is also on my wishlist but that's quite a long journey to look at an alligator or two: 6 hrs south and 6 hrs back.


Drive back to NO in time for the Mardi Gras kick off, feb 13, along the coast... that's a 17 hr drive the way it's plotted so perhaps we should overnight en route. Stay in NO up to 18th, then leave for Austin Texas. Sooz suggested to the 18th so we can play tourist a bit. I'm all for it, I would love to visit some of the graveyards!

Stuff to keep in mind: electricity

australia

netherlands

usa


check whether electric loaders etc will work on 100-260 Volt (most modern items work okay)

What to see - apart from certain people?

This place has a few ideas: Metafilter Roadtrips
This might be handy: Road Trip USA
This looks weird: Roadside


It'd be nice to collect music for the places we're going to and play it there. I wouldn't mind seeing where some movies were made too, if we just happened to be passing through.

new map

View Larger Map

improved map

okay this is more doable, i think

View Larger Map

fly from utah to chicago and again from chicago to toronto.
train toronto to maritimes, and again from nova scotia to new york
back to amsterdam from new york.

with minor variations, this will probably be the trip.

this is the journey so far

View Larger Map


hahaha.
i'll need a year to do this...
maybe some pruning is in order!


it looks like i might have a travelling companion.
i do hope that joy will manage to organise it!

great plans!

planning to go to the usa in 2010 for a two month road trip.
also planning to visit canada: toronto and nova scotia definitely.

so far the plan is to leave for new orleans from amsterdam on february 11, 2010. start off with a bang - the mardi gras ends one week later!

i'm going to try and meet up with all my friends in the usa.
part of the way travel by car, part by train or bus.
in canada, train will be the way to go.

i have almost a year to plan and research it all
phew!