Road trip destinations

Sounds like a cool idea.

I lived in Vegas for 5 years. And all my family lives there, so I go several times a year.
In Vegas, it's like no other. It's like when people check their bags they check all common sense and inhibitions. People are loud and crazy. They yell out of their cars at people they drive past, you can get flashed at any given time.
You can walk around with alcohol in your hands, in fact seeing people walk around with a Yard long margarita from La Salsa Cantina is a normal thing. Either that or a football shaped plastic cup full of beer.
It's bright as day on the strip, there are neon flashing lights all over the place, there's always construction going on. (If you need a strip map go here:
http://www.lasvegasstripmap.info/lasvegasstripmap.htm
and as you walk from casino to casino, there are men and women -they are usually Mexican- lined up and down the sidewalks slapping little cards together and trying to hand them to you. They are cards with pictures of nearly naked women advertising their "escort service" or phone sex business.
As you walk down the strip, almost every other car is a taxi, some form of Limo, including a stretch Hummer, or a party bus. Which is a smallish VIP bus with a disco ball, black lights and a stripper pole inside. Also, there are moving billboards, which are trucks that drive around with a scrolling billboard.
Everywhere you go in Vegas, even drugstores and grocery stores (this is actually all of Nevada), there are slot machines. If you can believe they're actually trying to put slot machines in the Hospitals, too?
If you go to one of the extravagant night clubs, expect to wait in line a looong time, and it's pretty pricey to get in. But you'll most likely run into any array of famous people.
Almost every hotel has a buffet.
Expect to see a lot of families, and elder people. Actually expect to see everyone, seriously. Just think of Vegas as the world's largest and longest running frat party. And go from there.

Good luck, I hope I helped you out a bit!

Perhaps visiting the site of a characters favorite book or movie?

NaNo '05: Failed
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some possible destinations:

-Graceland. Home of Elvis.
- Also, they can visit other homes/shrines of rock stars all over the place.
-Yellowstone National Park. Old Faithful, yes, but also many dazzling pools and mud pots and mineral formations, and then there's the bison and gray wolves and elk all over the place. And the Grand Tetons, if you like hiking.
-If they're visiting the Grand Canyon, they should also stop by Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park, both of which are nearby and equally gorgeous. (Bryce has strange alien-looking rock formations called hoodoos, and Zion is just full of beautiful mountains and cliffs and rivers and trees and stuff.)
-Cooperstown, New York, home of the baseball Hall of Fame.
-New York City. No more need be said.
-Los Angeles/Hollywood. Again pretty self-explanatory.
-The giant redwoods of California.
-Petrified forests. I think Washington state and Arizona both have 'em.
-Seattle. Full of wonderful sights. Also see Mt. Rainier, the highest mountain in the lower 48.
- Los Alamos, New Mexico. Home of the Manhattan Project (that's the code name for inventing the atom bomb).

You should decide whether they're going north-south, east-west or a combination of the two. There's only so far you can drive in 2-3 months if you're stopping to sightsee... Also, is this a round trip or one-way?

I suggest you give them a theme, like going on a quest for the best tacos in the Southwest, or taking a mascot with them everywhere, or seeing as many baseball games as possible ... you can tell I love national parks, but that's just me!

I had a soul ... but NaNoWriMo eated it. :(

Breeder of Plot Wolverines

I can help with the Disney World stuff. First and foremost, Disney World is the entire land mass that the company owns near Orlando. Epcot is one of four theme parks inside the World. The other three are the Magic Kingdom, MGM (will be called Disney's Hollywood Studios starting January 1), and the Animal Kingdom. Other things in Disney World are Downtown Disney and the Boardwalk, two water parks, and varying non-Disney hotels. The World is actually a pretty big place- parts of it are actually in another county. It is techinically a town called Lake Buena Vista because they have a certain number of actual residents.

What your characters will do there is up to their personalities. My twin sister and I love Disney World (we're about your characters' ages). However, a lot of people my age don't. Still, are they into clubbing? If so, they could go to Pleasure Island (part of the Downtown Disney complex). Are they more interested in the theme parks? If so, are they more into movies (MGM), animals (obvious), more tech and culture (Epcot), or the prototypical experiance (MK)?

Are they staying on or off site (it does make a difference). On property means that they get special perks like getting into each park on certain days early or staying late after the other guests have left. This may be more expensive, but there are value hotels. Off-site can be less expensive, but you either have to drive to the parks (and parking costs money) or taking the hotel shuttle which may run at inconvient hours.

When are they going to Disney? The parks tend to be more crowded at certain times of the year than others (Spring Break season, the summer, Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Year's). The quieter seasons tend to be early Decemeber, the fall, and January/early February (not President's Day weekend).

Tickets are also expensive- about $70 for a single days admission per person. Surprisingly, the longer you stay, the cheaper per day the ticket price is if you buy a mutliday pass.

I'll give you a couple links to check out:

http://disney.go.com/index The official Disney website

http://www.disboards.com/ A huge Disney forum. The people there are pretty friendly, and will be happy to answer whatever questions you have.

"Footsteps in the snow suggest where you have been, point where you were going: but where they suddenly vanish, never dismiss the possibility of flight..." - Diane Duane, A Wizard Alone

Moderator: Nano Soundtracks

Going for 75k- FINISHED!

With what you have so far, I'd suggest that they start in Southern California and go north, then cut across at Sacramento over to Tahoe, through Reno, and 80 East all the way to Iowa. Of course, they'd miss Vegas with this route but Chicago would be easy and St. Louis/Mall of America wouldn't be a huge detour. A guy on a plane told me that if you have to pick a cross country highway, though, 70 is the most scenic. South Dakota would be a good scenic state to go through because of the Badlands and other national parks. I can tell you anything you need to know about Iowa, and touristy things such as the Field of Dreams and some of the Mississippi River area towns like Dubuque. Your characters might stop in Chicago if they don't have a ton of money, but if they wanted to keep going through Ohio a logical end point would be Baltimore. I lived there for four years so I can give you ideas but the Inner Harbor and Fells Point are the most touristy. Reno, incidentally, isn't very touristy but there are several casinos that are just as glitzy as Vegas. Also of course Tahoe is big for tourists and beautiful. If you want info on San Fran, Reno, Iowa, Baltimore, New York, Boston, or anywhere in the South (though I think lots of East Coast stuff would take too much time) let me know.

2006 NaNo Winner for Discovering Duchamp
2007 NaNo Winner for The Day Before Tomorrow

Lets see... Santa Cruz, CA.... first stop is Reno so they can make a donation to some casino for the first time. then pair up Vegas and the Grand Canyon. and then on go to San Antonio with a stop someplace in Indian country of Northern Arizona or New Mexico.

Is this going to be the modern day version of "Travels with Charley? by John Steinbeck or "On the Road" with Charles Kuralt?

"Looking for another adventure already?"

2006 - Faire Gypsy, Faire Game - winner
2007 - Immortal Jeopardy -

1) Pick a route you want them to go on, but it's all right for *them* not to have one (depends on what your characters are like). I once drove from Boston to Chicago to South Dakota to Yellowstone to Denver to Southern Utah to the Grand Canyon to Sedona to Tennessee (memphis, nashville, Great Smokies) to North Carolina, to Shanandoah Valley, to D.C., and to Manhattan and finally back to Boston in 6 weeks. It was a whirlwind, but I did have time to stop and see things and hang around places. So you can cover a lot of ground over a summer. It all depends on how *long* you want them to stop in each spot.

2) Without trying to duplicate what others have said, here is some info about places you have posted:

-Disneyworld/Epcot: Very different from the other places on your list in that it's a gigantic tourist-theme park area with an amzing number of actual separate parks (both Disney and Universal and other private attractions) as well as additional activities and destinations. It's also out of the way in a general loop of the country unless you're looking to go down to the Everglades or the Keys as part of your trip. You can find lots and lots of info online, park maps, prices, restaurants, shows, hotels, real life experience, etc.

-Las Vegas: Someone has already posted about this. Depending on the characters, they would probably spend time wandering from casino to casino, getting drinks, watching people, etc. Shows and hotels are expensive here, but it really is a human carnival.

-The Grand Canyon: Immense, immense, immense. Seeing it is hard to describe because photos just don't do it justice. What you would see around the canyon: there are numerous lookout spots, where you can walk up to the edge and sit, or stand, and...well...look out. There are trails that go *steeply* down the side of the canyon in a series of switchbacks, all dirt and sand and rock. The scenery changes a little way down, but then doesn't change significantly again until you get past the 4.5 mile mark. There are water and restroom stations at various points down the trails, and park rangers hanging around to answer questions and make sure everyone is ok. During the summer, it will be HOT. (This goes for Vegas too). Imagine over 100 degrees in the shade, so physical activity is tough (but doable). On the South Rim, there are campsites where you can pull your car in, and woods around. When I was there, I encountered quite a lot of wildlife -- deer, coyote, foxes, it was impressive. Just south, there is a town called...Tusayan, I think...where there are a bunch of hotels in all price ranges, as well as private campgrounds, and restaurants. It's really one main road with stuff on it, but it's not crowded with buildings. There is an internet cafe there with quite good coffee, but I don't remember the name of it. On the North Rim, there is more National Forest, quite beautiful.

-Washington, D.C.: Monuments, monuments, monuments. The White House. Museums. Old documents. Tourists. People in suits and with briefcases hurrying around. Traffic, lots of traffic. Wide streets and sidewalks and walkways. Sitting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on a nice day is a great place to take a break, because the view is fantastic. Arlington National Cemetary is also quite something.

3) Some additional suggestions:
- Memphis, Tennessee: someone mentioned Graceland, which is a spectacle and lots of fun, but there is also Beale St., with lots of bars and bbq joints with live blues (and other) music, complete with barkers on the sidewalk to draw people in. Memphis is a nice city...the downtown area is not terribly crowded, cleaner (I thought) than Boston or Manhattan. Walking along the Mississippi is nice, and there's a little island called Mud Island River Park that has a scale replica of the Mississippi, with water in it and everything.
- Nashville, Tennessee: Music. All around. You've got a pretty downtown, sort of historically restored, Broadway with a row of honky-tonk bars (live country music is fun to watch), the Country Music Hall of Fame, and there are plenty of old plantations with pretty mansions and historical tours you can take.
- If you want to go to the northwest a bit, try Wyoming and South Dakota. Yellowstone is incredible, can't describe it succinctly here, but there are so many atmospheres in the very large park that you will be amazed around every corner. Lots of wildlife, lots of people during the summer, good camping facilities and lodges. The Badlands look sort of like what I would imagine the moon looks like...all cracked and craggy and grey (for the most part). North of the Badlands is Wall Drug in the town of Wall. There are road signs several states away advertising Wall Drug, and the store itself is really a long strip mall of interconnected shops, done up in a Disney-ified rustic look. Also in South Dakota is Mt. Rushmore and, even better, the Crazy Horse Monument. Crazy Horse is under construction still and is massive...they are essentially making a sculpture out of an entire mountain. All of Mt. Rushmore could fit onto Crazy Horse's face, and the sculpture is him in full body on his horse. It's astounding, really. Plus there's a native american cultural center there with interesting exhibits and shops.

That's all for now. Good luck!

NanoWrimo 2006: Green Mountain Getaway - won and up for publication!
NanoWrimo 2007: Sudden Orientation

Graceland, baby!

I'm just going to throw some favorites out here.

Disney World: Afternoon tea at the Grand Floridian hotel lobby; any of the backstage tours of the parks; sushi in the upstairs sushi bar at Japan in Epcot; dinner in the French restaurant in Epcot during the fireworks (best bread in the entire world); don't forget everything else in Orlando -- Universal Studios theme park, other smaller parks, and fantastic restaurants, especially Cafe Tu Tu Tango -- excellent food, with the best for-sale art collection I've ever seen, constantly changing

Las Vegas: Staying in the Luxor, where the rooms are decorated in theme style, but desert colors, so they're actually soothing after a day of light and color

Chicago: The Parthenon, one of the best Greek restaurants ever

Washington, D.C.: The ice cream parlor in the basement of the Smithsonian American History museum

San Antonio: Fiesta, Texas; Sea World; La Villita shops; the Riverwalk with its bars, clubs, hotels, and shops

Others:
Colonial Williamsburg: Best gingerbread men in the bakery; fun handmade crafts of the period; really cute waiters from William & Mary College :>

New York City: Cheesecake at the Stage Delicatessen (Is this place still open?)

Madrid, New Mexico: An old mining town halfway between Santa Fe and Albuquerque, this place is a small but lively collection of artist's storefronts with the most amazing selection of jewellery, art, glassware, clothing, etc. And there's a fantastic old-fashioned soda fountain in one of the stores.

Austin, Texas: 6th Street, refurbished older buildings with a glorious array of clubs mixed with a few shops and restaurants. Very young and lively on the weekends. My favorite time is May when the biker rally occurs and they close off 6th Street. You can wander up and down the street for hours looking at the amazing motorcycles and incredible art on the bikes.

San Francisco: The piers. Sea lions, chocolate, seafood. Oh, yeah.

New Orleans: Beignets, coffee, gumbo, shrimp po'boys, fantastic architecture, the Voodoo Museum, haunted tours.

OK, I've given away enough of my travel secrets.

:>

A lot of the time as you drive back and forth across the country, you're between very famous destinations but are just a glance away from thousands of others -- the more obscure and wonderful things that deserve to be investigated. Here's one: http://skyways.lib.ks.us/towns/Cawker/twine.html
I hope that doesn't sound patronizing of Kansas, or even of Cawker City, Kansas. People are busy, aware, modern, normal, complex just like anywhere else. They just happen to have a huge ball of twine, which I and a friend visited one morning on our way back to Louisville from Tucson. In my mind I can still feel the scratchiness of its enormous oblongness and smell the warm humid twiney smell. Nobody has to stop to see a ball of twine, I just mean that there are things like that coming out of the woodwork everywhere still for your characters to interact with.

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