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I'm a Brit planning to celebrate my 50th birthday later this year by driving Route 66 with my family.
So I'm posting to get the help of US dakkites who could give me some advice.
Apart from the usual tourist trap Americana stuff like the Blue Whale and such are their any particular geeky highlights that I should see on the trip. I'm taking 3 weeks to do it, and extending the journey to drive the Pacific Highway up from LA to Frisco, so I can go a bit away from the track if its worth it.
Any suggestions for must-see stuff, like great game stores and such?
For wargaming, there's Empire Games in Pasadena, about a mile away from the Huntington Library Gardens (which is a great place to spend a day if you like gardens or museums). You will also have the chance to have some fun until the sun comes up over Santa Monica Boulevard.
There is a Creationism museum out near Palm Springs that might be worth a quick visit. Be sure to buy a camouflage shirt first so that you are properly attired for your photo taken next to the cave man and the saddled triceratops. Also, get a date shake at Hadleys.
On the 101, there are a lot of great sights, like the Hearst Castle, some of the Missions, or Gilroy. There's the Monterey Bay aquarium and a string of little beach towns up and down the coast. If you like trains, the Coast Starlight has a breath-taking view for much of its journey.
What do your family like? 3 weeks is a long time to be dragged round geek stuff if they don't like that sort of thing. But at least 3 weeks means you won't be spending a huge amount of time on the road at once, which will help too.
It might be worth having a look to see if there are any big conventions near the route, for the sorts of things you're interested in and try to tie the trip in with that. Adepticon, CES, Comicon, that sort of thing. They'll be a world away from UK conventions.
Where are you starting from? It sounds like you are ending in California (good choice! I second the suggestion of checking out Game Empire in Pasadena, and the Huntington Gardens. Hit Lucky Boy after, it is in the same city as both of those places and offers one of the best breakfast burritos you'll ever have).
New Mexico has some cool stuff like Roswell, and Socorro. Socorro was the site of the Trinity Atomic test and you can tour the site but only on two days a year (1st Saturdays of April and October) so that will be a long shot unless you trip coincides with those specific dates.
I'd say watch the film Paul and recreate that road trip. Nothing went wrong at all...
Now I'll have to try Lucky Boy... Also in the area is the Macho Cafe, which serves fairly average food, but does have an enormous burrito called the Macho Grande. No geek ever gets over Macho Grande.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/01/21 15:46:19
BobtheInquisitor wrote: Now I'll have to try Lucky Boy... Also in the area is the Macho Cafe, which serves fairly average food, but does have an enormous burrito called the Macho Grande. No geek ever gets over Macho Grande.
Hmm... never tried Macho Cafe. I'll have to give that a try!
Get the Lucky Boy burrito with ranch dressing. It sounded gross to me the first time that combination was proposed by a friend, but having had the burrito with and without ranch, it actually is better with ranch. Then just drive across the street to Huntington Memorial Hospital and have them snake your arteries.
I second the suggestion of checking out Game Empire in Pasadena, and the Huntington Gardens. Hit Lucky Boy after, it is in the same city as both of those places and offers one of the best breakfast burritos you'll ever have).
