Going on a road trip

[Not Kuno]

This summer I'm going on a road trip. I have never done something like this before. Anyway, I'm wondering if anyone had any ideas for some of the "boring parts". These parts include:

Roswell to San Antonio
St Lewis to Chicago
Pittsburgh to Philly

All of those parts look to be exceptionally long and boring. I was wondering if anyone had any good ideas for stuff to do between those spots. Also if anyone had any sort of general road trip advice. Or any suggestions for the places we are visiting. Although we are spending more time in certain places than others (most of the time will be in CA and Texas). We have a lot of ideas for most of these places, but if there is anything cool, we're down for suggestions. Probably won't meet with BG people since I am not going with anyone who is on these forums.

Our path:

Spoiler: show

CA (will be here about a week), Vegas, Grand Canyon, Albuquerque, Roswell, San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Oklahoma City, Wichita, Kansas City, Columbia, St Louis, Chicago, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Philly, NYC

[Wulfgang]

From January to March I spent like 2.5 months driving 7,100 miles around the US after I quit my 90/hr a week job; I'd suggest taking a look through this thread I made before the trip:

http://www.bluegartr.com/threads/108...29-Suggestions

Might not be really helpful, but who knows.

[Brill Weave]

On the trip from Pittsburgh to Philly you can stop in Altoona and catch an Altoona Curve baseball game. The stadium is phenomenal.

[Melena]

I know when my dad drove from Cali to Oklahoma to visit my brother at Fort Sill, he made stops at random national parks and historical places. If your a history buff, especially civil war and earlier i'm sure you could find a lot of places to check out on your drives.

[Ketna]

Roswell to San Antonio = death lol. If you have a day to spend I suggest checking out Carlsbad Caverns. Its in Carlsbad, NM. And if you traveling during the summer, drive at night.

[Wulfgang]

Roswell to San Antonio = death lol. If you have a day to spend I suggest checking out Carlsbad Caverns. Its in Carlsbad, NM. And if you traveling during the summer, drive at night.

I did this, highly recommend it. Was amazing and the walking tour is like $6.

[pogejr]

As per Wulfgang's thread, stop in Dallas. It's one of the greatest cities in the U.S. Houston is shit tier and San Antonio is meh. I'd suggest San Antonio to Austin and then to Dallas instead of Houston; it really is a horrible place to be especially during the summer. Depending on what group of people you're travelling with, Downtown/Uptown/Deep Ellum in Dallas is a great place to go.

If you do decide to stop in Austin, Czech Stop in West(City Name), TX is a must.

[Byrthnoth]

Tour this place between Pittsburgh and Philly: http://www.lamalot.com/

I've never done it, but I don't see how it could possibly disappoint. The name is a bad pun involving llamas for chrissakes.

There is also an old barn with "World of Pigeons" or something written on the side or something along the NJ turnpike, but it has been closed for 20 years apparently.

If you feel like splitting your drive for real, Hershey PA isn't thaaat far out of the way (Hershey Park/tour). If you want to see some really fat people gorge themselves on unhealthy (amounts of) food, I recommend Shady Maple.

[Miroku_Asura]

Depending on where you're gonna be in CA, I'd suggest these places....

If you feel like car camping, these places are awesome and pretty cheap:
Redwood National Park
Mono Lake
Lone Pine
Convict Lake

These are pretty cool if you're going from NorCal to SoCal
Gilroy
Lady Bird Johnson Grove

And, if you don't mind going into Oregon, I'd say hit up Crater Lake for sure.

[Kerberoz]

Pittsburgh to Philly

Seconding Hershey, PA. Could also hit Centralia if you're a fan of creepy shit and take the scenic route.

[tyven]

had never heard of centralia before, sounds like the setting for a horror movie. GUYS LETS GO CHECK OUT THIS GHOST TOWN WITH A MINE FIRE BURNING UNDER IT. OH NO NOW WE ARE ALL DEAD

[Darkslitter]

From St. Louis to Chicago, there is a bunch of water parks along that route, but none of them are like...Disney World tier water parks. However, if it's a hot day and you're tired of driving they aren't bad places to cool off and ride some water slides. Brookfield has a zoo in it that's better imo than the one in Chicago, and it also has http://www.gallopingghostarcade.com/games_list.htm which is kinda neat as it's hard to find authentic arcades any more. However Brookfield to Chicago is like 30min rofl it's probably better to just head into the city.

To break up from Chicago to Columbus you can stop in at Indianapolis. There's a bunch of small breweries where you can taste test the beers they make for free. This came up because Indiana is a dry state (no alcohol is allowed to be sold on Sundays), but there is a loop hole in the law that allows you to sell alcohol on the location it is made (designed for big companies obviously), which caused a bunch of these little places to spring up. Some of them are also restaurants, and you could make a lunch or dinner thing out of it since you basically have to drive through Indianapolis on your way to Columbus anyways. If you're driving through Indianapolis in August you should see if your schedule aligns with you to hit Ribfest or the much better one: http://www.gencon.com/

[Ganondorf]

Most (really the best) of Philly is about the food&beer. On your way through, hit up Nick's Roast Beef in Old City and get some Roast Beef and gravy Fries, or hit some of the hipster bars in Fishtown (Kraftworks [great beer, great snacks], Johnny Brenda's [good selection, good food, great beer] or Sidecar [best food, good beer]). It's horribly Cliche'd, but get a REAL cheesesteak somewhere. There's an old battle between Gino's & Pat's, since they're literally right across the street from eachother, but honestly go for Tony Luke's in South Philly if you're OK with braving South Philly. If you're not looking the stay long, one of the best days I had in Philly was hitting up the Italian Market on 9th street early in the morning. Picked up some Italian Sausage, peppers onions and hoagie rolls and made lunch on a mini gas grill in Rittenhouse Square (it's just a park, but it's some nice color in a very gray/brick colored city). You'd probably catch some street performers there as well. Philly pizza can be pretty amazing, but it's the kind of pizza that is exponentially more amazing if you're drunk. Any little street corner shop will do. Triumph brewery is a little local gem (http://www.triumphbrewing.com/). There's one in Old City, and another in New Hope (if you happen to wander outside the city, also: gay district). If you happen to hit Philly on a weekend night, you'll probably want to check it out. There's always live music, awesome food and beer. There's not much in terms of sight-seeing. Philly Museum of Art is pretty cool if you're into that sort of thing. You can at least run up the Rocky stairs like all the other tourists.

I was actually thinking about doing the same thing this summer (path reversed, skipping NY and starting in Philly), so let us know how it turns out.

[Airenn]

Where at in CA, Kuno? I'd love to see you again! Also, if it's near me, you have a place to stay.

[izembo]

Seconding Hershey, PA. Could also hit Centralia if you're a fan of creepy shit and take the scenic route.

from PA myself, and was going to say hit up hershey as well

[Byrd]

If you have a day to spend I suggest checking out Carlsbad Caverns. Its in Carlsbad, NM.

This. Carlsbad Caverns is amazing, and relatively inexpensive. Obviously, if you're claustrophobic, this is a no go. Assuming not, though,
there's a bunch of tours, some of which are very easy and anyone can do. They keep you on the paved path, wander through a couple of rooms, there's people of all ages. We did the King's Palace Tour in the morning, I believe. It's pretty, but it doesn't feel like you're caving, so much as going on a guided tour of something pretty.

If you have a little more time and can book your dates in advance, you should try one of the smaller tours. These are "off the beaten path" kind of things, they equip you with a hardhat, gloves, etc, and you have to be in decent physical shape. We did the Lower Cave tour and had a blast. It was a group of about 12 adults, and it felt far more like spelunking/exploring/caving than the King's Palace Tour. You also go off the "paved path" into restricted areas of the cave where many things are still in their natural, relatively untouched appearance. At some point, we hope to go back and do a couple more of these tours.

You might be able to walk in, day of, and do one, but they don't recommend it. I know ours was sold out well in advance, but we were there on Labor Day, so generic weekday in month X might be easier to do as a walk up. Even if you don't have the time and money to spend all day there, it's worth a couple of hours to take the walking path down and take the elevator back out.

[Sylphet]

For Roswell to San Antonio you can stop in Las Cruces/Mesilla. It's the place where Billy the Kid was tried. They have a lot of "old west"-type things, also if you like awesome chilies be sure to pick up some Hatch, NM chilies. Andele's (restaurant) is fantastic for breakfast.

[Apelila]

Pretty much anything I'd post here I posted in that other thread.

Also as was said, if you can drive the desert at night. New Mexico is pretty, but after an hour rocks and heat lose their luster.