Oh the Places You'll Go! (US Edition)

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Alright, so I’m currently attempting to put together a few trips within the continental US. Alaska and Hawaii get their own trips. The current plan for the mainland is 4 trips, 4 corners, but may be changed to 6 trips if 4 doesn’t work. The timeline for when they will happen is on the order of years. These will be big trips, so early planning is warranted.

I’m looking for places to visit, and at least one per State.

Here are the states I need something for (updated 4/10/19)
Alabama
Arkansas (this can get checked off the list in June so PRIORITY!)
Connecticut
Delaware
Michigan
Mississippi
New Jersey
Ohio
Oklahoma
Pennsylvania (entertain ideas)
South Carolina
Texas
Virginia
West Virginia
Wisconsin

Here are the current places I plan on visiting:
Niagara Falls, NY
Yellowstone, WY
Golden Gate Bridge, CA
Grand Canyon, AZ
Statue of Liberty, NY
Las Vegas, NV
Pike’s Peak, CO
Desert of Maine, ME
Time’s Square, NY
Sequoia National Park, CA
Boundary Waters (Day Trip)*, MN
Mount Rushmore, SD
Four Corners, UT/CO/AZ/NM
Mt. Rainier, WA
Yosemite, CA
Mississippi Delta, LA

*I know this doesn’t do it justice, just not interested in staying overnight.

Things I’m contemplating:
White Sand Desert, NM
Driving up California Highway 1/US Highway 101, CA/OR
Specific Museum in Vicksburg, MS (have to check for name)
Rockport, MA (Lighthouse and surrounding area)
Mt. Washington, NH
The Breakers, RI (and surrounding area)
Kitty Hawk Beach, NC (and area - maybe Roanoke since it’s close)
Missouri Headwaters, MT
Mississippi Headwaters, MN (maybe, not sure if i’m into leeches)
Craters of the Moon, ID
Salt Flats, UT
Macon, GA (for the Cherry Blossoms)

Here are the places I’ve already visited:
St. Louis Arch, MO
Space Needle, WA
Smoky Mountains, TN
Washington, D.C.
Gettysburg, PA

States that are exempt, as I’ve already visited sufficiently, are:
Iowa
Missouri
Illinois
Indiana
Maryland (yes, I know DC isn’t Maryland, but close enough unless there is something I’m missing)
Kansas
Nebraska
Tennessee

States I have visited and seen, but I think have more to offer:
Kentucky (except maybe this one)
Pennsylvania
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Washington
Mississippi
Virginia

Again, I’m trying for at least one per State. Trip length will be determined when I get a better idea on pathing.

TL:DR - what are good places to visit in the continental US?

Thanks for any help!

International Edition to come later.

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Go to Niagara Falls only in the summer, or at least when it’s really warm outside. (Don’t ever plan on going during a cold winter hoping for it to be frozen. Because likely it won’t be, and you will be cursing under 3 layers of winter coats, wondering why on earth you are there.)

Not far from there is Letchworth State Park (best time to go there though is in the fall/autumn when the leaves are changing colors, definitely worth a visit.)

Vegas is a whole trip by itself. I am not talking about burying yourself in the drinking or the gambling. I spent a week there, just going to the different hotels, looking at the cheap designs and having a grand time. (Although the best experience are the shows, that’s why it will take up so much time, and money.)

Time Square is interesting, but I don’t find it to be too exciting. I would rather spend a day at the Metropolitan Art Museum instead. But it is still good to just go walking around, just to take a couple of photos and say you were there.

It’s super ambitious to do all of those in 4 trips, but I guess I am not sure how many days for each of your trips. But please do keep us updated! :slight_smile:

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Plan is to drive everywhere except for New York, NY. Probably tram that one in and grab Time’s Square and Statue of Liberty in a day.

Quite a few of these are maybe a day (basically a I was there). Vegas might just be a day or two, gamble a bit for S and G and meet up with a friend provided they are still there.

Haven’t thought too much on trip lengths yet as mentioned as I have to figure out waypoints first.

Lastly, these are likely at least two years out. Depends on how fast student loans are paid off.

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Times Square is imho only really interesting for the events held there and for the shops around it and in Midtown in general, as a landmark itself it’s nothing special. If you’re looking for landmarks, consider Central Park and the area around it, there’s some fantastic architecture there, as well as numerous museums if that’s your thing.

Yosemite is worthwhile if you’ve got a day or more to spend hiking, if you’re only there for a few hours and sticking to your car, you won’t get to see much at all.
While you’re going to/from White Sands in NM (probably via I-10), consider also visiting Saguaro National Park in AZ (on I-10 near Tuscon) and/or Organ Pipe National Monument (west of Tuscon, bit of a detour).

Have you visited the Delaware Water Gap (which is not in DE, but on the border of NJ and PA)? It might make a good relaxing stop for a few hours after or before the noise of NYC, has some nice short hikes.

If you visit Florida, consider St. Augustine with its Spanish fortress and general historic character and Big Cypress National Preserve (there’s a mostly-gravel loop road off US 41 that’s full of swamp vistas and alligators).

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Oh i would love to visit USA one day but that would be ridiculously expensive.

You people are very lucky though , central america is relatively near by and that’s where sloths hang out :o

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@eishiya
Was thinking Time’s Square and surrounding area.

As for Yosemite, thanks for the information. Cali is going to be hard to plan as there is a boatload of things there. White Sands I was thinking I-10. I’ll look into what you’ve mentioned.

Have not been to the Delaware Water Gap (I assume it’s referencing the river). Maybe I can put that in for New Jersey.

As for Florida, I guess I forgot to mention I was thinking of driving down to the keys. I’ll have to look into those (not the gators though).

@DontBeSilly
It’s really hard when you’re visiting from abroad. It’s like trying to visit in Europe. You’ve got to make sacrifices on what to see. If I do it right, I will have a buttload of pictures.

One last thing I guess I should mention, if there’s a place that I feel I really should visit for longer, I’m willing to go back. (at a later date)

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i can only think of Missouri, to meet up with a couples of good friend i made while playing rocket league and since then we played together on almost all new games.

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Well I actually live in Misery… Errr… Missouri.

Which reminds me, Missouri is the planned origin for all trips.

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1 word, 1 picture, 1 link:

Massachusetts

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So I did some looking and I have a few more places for the list (will be edited in)

Rockport, MA (Lighthouse and surrounding area)
Mt. Washington, NH
The Breakers, RI (and surrounding area)
Kitty Hawk Beach, NC (and area - maybe Roanoke since it’s close)
Missouri Headwaters, MT
Mississippi Headwaters, MN (maybe, not sure if i’m into leeches)
Craters of the Moon, ID
Salt Flats, UT
Macon, GA (for the Cherry Blossoms)

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When you try and do something from memory and only get it 80% right. (technically passing!)

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I’m working on a spreadsheet so I can post what States I have yet to find something for.

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Oh that one state which is impossible to pronounce for non-native english speakers :smiley:

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What? I’m a non-native English speaker and I’ve been pronouncing it since I was 4. But I’m Brazilian, and we have all those sounds in our language. What part do you have trouble pronouncing? :thinking:

To me, the impossible one, at first glance, was STUPID ARKANSAS.

WHY. THE. HELL. isn’t it the same as Kansas?!!!

I only learned it was pronounced like THAT when I watched True Detective :woman_facepalming:

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Massa ->chusetts<- around here my starts twisting around itself :smiley: it’s even harder in my native languege because you have another added sssccc sound at the ending of the word so im basically sounding like a snake by then :smiley:

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dude, it’s pronounced ma-sa-choo-sets

nothing hard about that at all; u probably made it harder than it is for some reason, thinking it’s pronounced differently in some aspect

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The difficult to pronounce names are city/location names near and in Massachusetts.

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Oh my flip what the actual f?

WHAT ARE THESE NAMES?

Ashburnham, Chelmsford, Ipswich, Mattapoisett, Mashpee, Sturbridge, Tyngsborough, Winchendon, Winthrop, Worcester, Wrentham…

Alright hold my beer imma try to pronounce these. :beer:

EDIT:

@YQMaoski and @M00 did I get any close at all? I forgot the n at the last one but oh well I tried.

Also, @DontBeSilly:

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No need to be rude :slight_smile:

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apologies, certainly not my intention :confused:; trying to help actually, am working and so just tried to quickly throw that in there

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