Visiting America- Any good places to visit?

[blue roses]

i guess it depends how long you are going to be here, One of the things that would give you a sence of the history of america is a trip on the mississippi, from the north to the city of new orleans. The trip is on an old fashon paddlewheel river boat, and their are historic stops on the way. There are river boat gambling rooms, and shows, and you live on the boat as you travel down the river. You can look them up on a web site called mississippi riverboat cruises. just another idea.

[mainbutter]

I'm sure suggestions will continue to flow, and you should probably take a few things into consideration. I'll give a few suggestions at the end of my post, but I'll start with some inquiries:

1) How long will you stay? Travel time in the US is not like travel time in Europe. Even accomplished world travelers marvel at just how BIG the US is and how long it takes to get from one place to another. Actively try to not underestimate travel time, distances, size, and how long you will want to see all the cool stuff, and you will still underestimate it all. If you only have two weeks, don't try to "See the United States", go see Wyoming (and maybe Montana) and Yellowstone. Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon are separate trips themselves, with a full day required to travel between them depending on method of travel.

2) What is your group's motivation for choosing sites to see? If it's nature, animals, etc (I'm lead to believe from choosing Wyoming, GC, and seeing the eclipse), you're coming to the best continent for variety and unique experiences.. in my opinion at least! If you are coming here to see architecture, experience different cultures, consume unique cuisine, research genealogy, visit old cemetaries, see locations of historical significance - you'll be looking at different locations than National Parks and the like.

3) What are some "must do" activities? The eclipse is a great one. I almost never travel without dedicating one day to sport fishing.

4) Have you budgeted food, travel, and lodging costs? This will either help or hinder any decision making.


As for 'hidden' gems - I don't have much experience with the American West (which Wyoming and Utah definitely are part of) - but you won't be disappointed by dedicating a significant portion of your trip to National Parks. Even state parks in Wyoming, Utah, Montana, and Colorado are to be marveled at, as well as being unique experiences that come with more surprises. Everyone knows that they will see a bunch of geysers at Yellowstone, or may luck out and see a lava flow in Hawaii, but my favorite spot to spend a day crawling on rocks is at Enchanted Rock State Park in Texas.

If you want to see some crazy cool stuff in North America and have more than a few weeks, here are some thoughts:
- California has tropical forests, vast deserts, wine valleys, snow capped mountains, ocean access (equally as vast and varied from near tropical to pretty frigid), and much more. It's about as big as France and Italy combined. I'm planning a future trip there and am beyond overwhelmed with too many options and too little time.

- Alaska - there's nothing like it. True wilderness exists in three places (I exaggerate, but it's pretty close to truth) - NORTHERN North America, Siberia, and Antarctica. Kodiak Island for bear watching, fishing charters in the ocean, and stream fishing anywhere you can pull off the road and park your car will keep anyone busy for a summer. I won't go into details for the rest of the state, because there is TOO much to do, but I always recommend Kodiak to first-timers because of how much more accessible a variety of activities is without hours of driving.. once you are there of course.

- Colorado - Much more accessible than 1 or 2, if you're in the Wyoming and Utah area. The numerous parks around Denver are all amazing. The mountains are gorgeous. If you drive through here, it is more than worth stopping for a day or two. A fun and enjoyable day trip is to go whitewater rafting, another would be canoeing a mountain lake or reservoir. Fishing is certainly an excellent option here.

- Minnesota - The only "gem" I can think of that is in no way hidden except maybe to foreigners is an area known as the "boundary waters". This is the wilderness of northern evergreen forests and lakes that lie between the American Midwest and Southern Ontario. At the height of summer, a long day out camping, canoeing from campsite to campsite, fishing, and "getting away from it all" is often capped off with the best sunset the world has to offer coupled with the calls of loons echoing across whatever lake you happen to be on. The more "outdoors-y" you are and the deeper you go into the boundary waters, the better, for this kind of trip. This is generally a vacation itself, not a day trip. If for some reason you end up anywhere in Northern Minnesota, Gooseberry Falls is a great afternoon stop.

I'll end my rambling here. If you have an itinerary of what state you will be in and for how long, I can probably dig up some good suggestions for partial-day or full-day activities. Any quick google search of 'best day hikes near yellowstone' will give you a week's worth of activities.