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How do!

So with the recent unpleasantness mostly behind me, and a significant, life changing* inheritance to follow? I’m gonna return to the USA for another holiday.

I had a great time in New York, and wouldn’t say no to a return visit. But I’m also open to visiting other cities. And so it’s to Dakka I turn for suggestions and recommendations.

What I’m looking for is a bit of Americana. And perhaps a State/County which will allow a visitor to fire some guns down a range. Oh, and fooooood. Being half Labrador, I’m very food driven. I fell in love with Grits in NYC, but I’m aware they probably weren’t a great representation of downhome cooking,

Only down side is being a pasty Scot’s git, I don’t do terribly well in humidity. So if I’m to explore the South, I guess I’d have to pick my season! Definitely want another crack at Dave & Busters, too. Love a good coin pusher, me. Round One is also on I wouldn’t say no to trying.

*I’ll still need to work, but I’ll soon be a mortgage and rent free home owner, hence life changing.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
How do!

So with the recent unpleasantness mostly behind me, and a significant, life changing* inheritance to follow? I’m gonna return to the USA for another holiday.

I had a great time in New York, and wouldn’t say no to a return visit. But I’m also open to visiting other cities. And so it’s to Dakka I turn for suggestions and recommendations.

What I’m looking for is a bit of Americana. And perhaps a State/County which will allow a visitor to fire some guns down a range. Oh, and fooooood. Being half Labrador, I’m very food driven. I fell in love with Grits in NYC, but I’m aware they probably weren’t a great representation of downhome cooking,

Only down side is being a pasty Scot’s git, I don’t do terribly well in humidity. So if I’m to explore the South, I guess I’d have to pick my season! Definitely want another crack at Dave & Busters, too. Love a good coin pusher, me. Round One is also on I wouldn’t say no to trying.

*I’ll still need to work, but I’ll soon be a mortgage and rent free home owner, hence life changing.

I'm a little biased, but New England is pretty good for food. We don't get as much sun as the South, but it can be humid in the summer. And parts of New Hampshire and Maine like to think they're in the South, so you shouldn't have much trouble finding a gun range, either.

I’ve been to Maine, but like….1994.

Was very nice, and reminded me of Scotland in terms of landscape.

Florida.

Can stay Cape Canaveral and see the NASA facilities, and stay on the beach few days.

Orlando - Universal/Disney. Looking back 5 years I enjoyed both, but didn't give enough time to Universal Studios and should have had a second day.

Just not in Summer.
We were there early to Mid December and there were a few cold (12 degrees Celsius max) but most were mid 20s.

You could always come to my neck of the woods in Missouri. Kansas City is a great place to get BBQ food, and our national World War 1 museum is pretty cool too. St. Louis has the Gateway Arch and if you're interested in baseball you could (depending on season) grab tickets to a Cardinals game. To be fair there are probably better places in the US to go though. I live in a pretty boring area myself.

Florida's good. You can also take a tour around the Everglades including going on one of those littke boats with giant fans on top for propulsion. Good fun if a bit noisy.

Stay away from Seaworld though. While I'm generally ambivalent about zoos (I don't like cages, but zoos do good work in both preservation efforts and education), Seaworld's animal enclosures are so small it's animal
abuse, especially for the dolphins and orcas, and doubly especially considering the size of the parking lot.

Alternatively, you could try Texas. Houston has the NASA control center, and you'll definitely be able to fire some guns.
Additionally, Tex-Mex is delicious, Texas BBQ is excellent (though ideally with a couple of cowboys out in the woods somewhere), and if you get close to Louisiana/Mississippi Cajun food is also highly recommended.
And outside the city, the famed Southern hospitality is definitely not a myth.

Cody, Wyoming and then to Yellowstone for a few days, followed by a few days in Jackson and the Grand Tetons, and then travel down into some of the other National Parks in Colorado or Utah or up into Glacier in Montana.

For extra fun, rent an small RV or Camper van and skip hotels and the like completely.

 Easy E wrote:
Cody, Wyoming and then to Yellowstone for a few days, followed by a few days in Jackson and the Grand Tetons, and then travel down into some of the other National Parks in Colorado or Utah or up into Glacier in Montana.

For extra fun, rent an small RV or Camper van and skip hotels and the like completely.

Yellowstone and the Tetons are stunning. There are also some amazing national parks in Utah and Colorado. Also, some great archaeological sites, some with ruins.

If food and atmosphere is what you seek I would say New Orleans.

I've traveled pretty extensively in the US. I'm also from New England and that might be a good destination for you.

Fly into Boston which isn't New York but still has a ton to do. You can get top flight Italian and Chinese food in the North End and Chinatown, fine dining and/or decent seafood elsewhere, an aquarium, museums, comedy clubs etc. Lots of Revolutionary War stuff you might/might not be interested in. There is a 6 Flags amusement park a few hours west of Boston, and there is a Dave and Busters a few miles north of Boston.

From Boston you can drive south to Rhode Island and visit the Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos and see some big name comedians, concerts, or combat sports there in addition to the gambling and food. You might plan your trip around one of those shows. You can also get a ferry from NYC to those places if you went there again.

Heading north, New Hampshire is a short drive and a good place to do some shooting. Sig Sauer Academy has a world class indoor range and you can rent most Sig guns including NFA firearms. This is where I usually go, and I'd be happy to meet up with you so you could potentially shoot my guns as well. The best BBQ in New England and a number of other great seafood/pub grub places are close to the range. The buildings where the original Dakka leagues were played are also in southern NH. Maine has multi day rafting/camping trips along the Saco River with shuttles to take you back to your vehicle at the end of the trip, and that can be a lot of fun with the right group.

Continuing north, Quebec City and Montreal are less than a days drive from Boston. Both are nice cities with QC more historic with better dining/culture and Montreal more comsopolitan with better "adult" entertainment. Both have a noticeably different vibe than US cities. The people there don't like other Canadians and many pretend they don't speak English unless they know you are American, not sure how they feel about the UK.

The New England beaches (and Ocean City below) are mild in the summer with cold water and offer deep sea fishing trips you don't need a license for, whale watching, and delicious fresh seafood. You might rent a beach cottage rather than making a Boston hotel your base. For the most part the beaches in NH and ME are better than the dumpier Revere and Salisbury beaches in MA. Cape Cod is nicer. There is also good skiing and golfing but not as good as other places in the US if those were your main interest.

A few other ideas:

Fly into San Francisco, which has one of the best Chinatowns, good eating, and plenty of tourist attractions. Find some places and stay a few days. Drive north through US wine country and your first National Park to see the Redwoods and probably stop. Continue north into Oregon for a stunning drive through the mountains into Grants Pass then hit the Crater Lake National Park then stop again, probably in Klamath Falls. Continue driving to Reno NV and stay a day or two for the casinos and there are probably some shooting ranges there. Then drive back to SF to finish the trip. The food will be on the bland side up in the mountains. If you like scenic driving and photography, this is a good pick. The drive will be less fun in winter and you will need chains on your tires.

Fly into Washington DC which has the Smithsonian museums, a zoo, and an aviation museum at Dulles with many noteworthy planes in it. Pick some things to do and stay a few days. There is plenty of good eating near the White House including a decent Chinatown and one of those Brazlilian places where they serve near endless plates of meat. There may be some shooting ranges in Virginia to go to, just south of DC. You can drive west and stop in Annapolis which has a nice downtown near the Naval Academy, and continue across the bay to the Ocean City beach resort and stay a bit, then fly back out of DC.

Fly into Las Vegas and either just stay there or go visit the Grand Canyon for a day or two. Like the UK, you can carry open beverages on the LV strip and there is a ton of things to do. Again you might plan your trip around a particular show. The food in general is good rather than great and I imagine there are many shooting ranges. This is probably better as a winter trip for you.

Road trip where you pick a highway and go! I-5, I-95, and Route 66 might be good choices.

Driving holiday does have appeal, but maybe not on my own!

As for northern adventures? Being all goth and spooky and other assorted nonsense? I wouldn’t mind a visit to Salem.

And advice on such a trip? NYC seems a bit too far for a weekend type trip to Salem. So….whats the good like in Boston?

Boston was somewhere I really enjoyed visiting, plenty to do and the food was very good.
As a fellow Scot, I made the mistake of trying to do LV then into Texas. Don't do it! While good on the whole while inside with good AC, going outside was horrible between the outright heat and humidity it doesn't suit our bodies. Too b****y hot! I'm sure it's fine for those used to it, in the same way that tourists here complain it's not warm. I experienced that a few days ago while talking to an Australian couple all wrapped in in warm coats while I'm wandering about in shorts and t-shirt struggling with the heat.
Wherever you go enjoy yourself, my future vote would be preferably back around Boston or areas nearby than further south but that's my own personal preference. I am also planning a trip next year though depending on what happens in November it'll possibly be into Canada instead which is absolutely beautiful and mostly very welcoming. I'm just concerned USA might not be the safest place to visit, which admittedly with their gun laws or lack thereof is always a risk which just now is a calculated risk , just like going anywhere. That risk may increase or not next year hence backup plan for Canada.

I just got back from Clan Kyoto's summer holiday. We had a week in New York but there's need to go on about that. So let me tell you about the first half.

My sister and some family relocated the Madison, Wisconsin a few years back and we had a great time visiting there. It's about 2-3 hours from Chicago, is small city in a rural area. If you go next summer there is a big air show about an hour's drive in Osh Kosh and a Renaissance Faire about an hour away as well. You could also make Chicago your home base with all that city has to offer.

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
I just got back from Clan Kyoto's summer holiday. We had a week in New York but there's need to go on about that. So let me tell you about the first half.

My sister and some family relocated the Madison, Wisconsin a few years back and we had a great time visiting there. It's about 2-3 hours from Chicago, is small city in a rural area. If you go next summer there is a big air show about an hour's drive in Osh Kosh and a Renaissance Faire about an hour away as well. You could also make Chicago your home base with all that city has to offer.

My wife is from Wisconsin, so I spend a lot of time visiting the Midwest. Chicago is a nice city; good food, neat architecture, museums, the waterfront, etc. If you like New York, you should like Chicago. There’s a lot of classic small town America in that area of the country (real Back to the Future style places) with nice independent diners, bars, etc. if you make the effort to find them. Spring and autumn have very similar weather to the UK, but if you go in summer be prepared for awful heat (35C and 80% humidity; yuck!)

Going to raise an honourable mention here for Nashville if you want great atmosphere and Americana dialled up to 11, it's a terrific little place.

Nashville Tennessee?

I do quite fancy trying Nashville Hot Chicken.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Nashville Tennessee?

I do quite fancy trying Nashville Hot Chicken.

I had a belter of a time at Nashville, I really enjoyed it. Nice city and lots to do. I'd gone to Memphis as well but that was a real disappointment.

Don't know if it's worth being there more than a few days mind.

I loved Nashville, would go back in a heartbeat if the budget was there.

This place is worth checking out nearby too: https://www.chihuly.com/

Nashville is definitely worth consideration.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
So….whats the good like in Boston?

Bostons got the USS Constitution, the oldest live naval vessel.
It's also got a few civil war forts, and the duck tours a fun way to spend an hour if you like amphibious armoured vehicles.


As an aside, whilst pricy I'd heartily recommend these guys: https://geeknationtours.com/tours/ who do a lot of really nice group tours of nerd stuff, like Adepticon or Gettysburg. They've usually got access to stuff you wouldn't normally see and all of the logistics are taken care of you which is *awesome*.

What about State Fairs? Are they actually any good, or over hyped?

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
What about State Fairs? Are they actually any good, or over hyped?

In my experience, over-hyped. Still, if you want to see some Americana, you should probably visit one.

Typically, they have lots of fried foods that were never designed to be fried, musicians and magicians and stage acrobats that most people ignore, rides that look exciting until you notice the people who assemble and operate them, lots of alcohol, lots of hot sun, lots of drunk and overheated people, booths upon booths of crap you will buy and then forget, and maybe a 10% chance Weird Al will perform live.

The best State Fair in the Minnesota one.

However, I would not travel overseas to see one unless you really love looking at farm animals and eating things off a stick.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
What about State Fairs? Are they actually any good, or over hyped?

I prefer county fairs myself, but the county I'm from has a really good fair that rivals the state fair. They're not all that good. But if there's one (county or state) going on near where you're visiting, it's probably worth checking out, if you like fairs and festivals.

Another thought.

Sportsball. I’m not at all up on American Handegg or Interesting Action Cricket, but feel that I should catch a game of at least one on my next trip.

Now I’ll have the readies to go see big name teams, though exactly which I’m naturally not terribly fussed for. But is their equivalent of “Sunday League” football, essentially amateur teams in lower leagues, but still part of the formal organisation? And stuff in between?

I’m aware of college football of course, which if loose memory of Stargate serves is on the day before major league?

College sports are definitely a pre-cursor to pro, and depending on the sport/team, as big a deal.

But there are also “minor league” teams. I know in baseball at the very minimum. Which are full of players not ready for the big leagues yet. Cities that don’t have a big team might have a farm team.

I know from personal experience that Louisville has a team in a very nice Slugger Field which is a great place to kill a summer afternoon watching a game. And while it’s been a while, there is a museum in town if you want to learn more about the famous local baseball bats.

Many places do have small regional and minor league teams for less money, and sometimes more fun. They take themselves far less seriously, and do weird things to drive interest.

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:What about State Fairs? Are they actually any good, or over hyped?

Indiana State Fair is pretty good, and if you time it right, they also have concerts.

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:Another thought.

Sportsball. I’m not at all up on American Handegg or Interesting Action Cricket, but feel that I should catch a game of at least one on my next trip.

Now I’ll have the readies to go see big name teams, though exactly which I’m naturally not terribly fussed for. But is their equivalent of “Sunday League” football, essentially amateur teams in lower leagues, but still part of the formal organisation? And stuff in between?

I’m aware of college football of course, which if loose memory of Stargate serves is on the day before major league?

SEVERAL different options here. We have several Big 10 colleges if you swing that way, as well as some pro sports teams.



Added bonus? Land it on the 3rd Sunday of the month and you can squeeze a game of 6th Ed. WFB in with my group. Just sayin'...










Or you could swing the more natural attractions like the national parks that we have. My brother recently went fishing across Montana and ended up in Boseman. Nice option right there.

 Easy E wrote:
Many places do have small regional and minor league teams for less money, and sometimes more fun. They take themselves far less seriously, and do weird things to drive interest.

No bad seats. Closer to the field. Better atmosphere. I'll take in a minor league game over major league every single time.

Well, I’ll soon be in a position to properly arrangement my trip. And I think I’m gonna be “boring” and do New York again. Probably late March, early April. Prices seem pretty decent at that time of year, and hopefully it’ll be less stiflingly hot!

I won’t be bringing any models with me, but if you’d like to meet for a cuppa or summat, I’d be open to that.

On the agenda will be Statue of Liberty (boo boo!), as last time I cancelled due to thunderstorm and not fancying being a boat for that, Chinatown and Little Italy. And definitely another visit to Hook & Ladder Company 8 for more merch, and rinsing Dave & Busters for a second time. But this time on a Wednesday, for 2 for 1 pricing.