# United States & Canada Vacations Forums > General Discussion >  >  Best of US (or North America)

## Petri

We have a flight on 28th February to San Francisco and we plan to return to Europe mid-June.  We need to leave the US during the trip as there's a 3 month max for a stay.

Four days left and I haven't booked anything.  Not even packed.  Not even thought about packing (hi MikeR :-).

Any ideas what to do exactly?   Or put it more precisely, *what do you think are the best things to see and experience in the US (or NA in general)?  If you'd come to the US, what are the top 5 or 10 things you'd consider worth it?*

We've been to many of the bigger cities so we're more than happy to go elsewhere.  We want do things and see things, not eat the largest pancake in the world or get 5-star service.  We'd prefer to travel in the warmer climate and we don't travel with plenty of gear, so no week-long rafting or hiking.  More experiences than just laying around.  We'd rather do B&B with guidance from the locals than big resorts and concierge commissions.  

We'll be spending most of March around HI (for some strange reason) before arriving to SF for a salsa festival.

We'll be both driving around and flying longer hops.  250 miles in a car is a lot so I don't consider this a traditional _road trip_ as such but we'll try to improvise an european version of such.

Also advice for "must be in X for Y" during the spring, or "avoid X due to spring break" are welcome.  Also if you have any tips how to find good accommodation en route they're welcome, we had some great B&B guides in South Africa and NZ but I've yet to figure out the equivalent for the US.

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## Rosemary

Petri-love your style.  Will you come east?

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## andynap

For B&Bs you can try this site  http://www.bbonline.com/united-states/. If you want to stay warm go all the way south- California, New Mexico, Arizona. With the parameters you have set, New Mexico fits you to a T. Warm, beautiful countryside, lots of small quaint towns, B&Bs. Nice cities and not too big- Santa Fe, Albuquerque.

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## JEK

I have my son-in-law working on the SF part. You will need to follow the sun and stay West and South for warmth over those 3 months. There are good B & B guides around and we will dig some up.

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## MIke R

Petri....we would do  so well traveling together...LOL...so similar........
anyway

top 5 things in USA...hmmm..tough to pick 5

but seeing you are in SFO....the Pacific Coast Hwy drive south from there with stops in Carmel, Big Sur and Monterrey would be a top five thing for me....Grand Canyon would be up there..Moab, Utah would be up there......a drive through the Colorado Rockies with stops in Breckenridge and Vail would be up there...Yellowstone Park would be up there....Sante Fe New Mexico would be way up there.....

thats a few things I would highly recommend having done them myself and having what I think is a keen understanding of how you travel, seeing it so similar to my way of traveling

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## Petri

Hmmm, I guess we may need to negotiate the warm part a bit :-)

We'll be on the east coast as well, or anywhere in between.  The flights in/out just happen to be from San Fran but it's easy to hop across the continent (read: we don't want to drive across but regionally and fly the longer hops).

We definitely need to see Grand Canyon (I was thinking rafting).  We've been to LV several times and it's a disgrace we haven't seen it yet.  MikeR's route looks pretty good for that corner of the country!

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## MIke R

The biking in Moab, Utah in and around Arches National Park and amongst all that red rock is incredible...also Lake Powell in Arizona.....Bryce Canyon National Park....Zion National Park.....all good ones...we spent a lot of time exploring Utah when we lived in Colorado and it is an amazing state in terms of natural beauty

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## amyb

Mike just beat me to it. Bryce and Zion are in the Grand Canyon zone and they were special stops and awesome sights

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## LindaP

Me too, Amy....what Mike said......and if you want to look up my son in Park City,Utah; PM me....he is doing guiding as well as working for the UDOT; and can give some advice.
    It may be cold rafting the Grand Canyon, depending on time of year you go. 
And, I think you would really enjoy Colorado; so much to do and see there. Have a great time!!!
I have driven cross-country before, and the changes in the different states is incredible .

PS Are you going to Canada to exit the US....when my son first started working in Chile, he had to go to Argentina for 3 days.

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## Reed

Nantucket Island May 15-19 for the Wine Festival.  Major wines from around the world.  This has turned into a major wine event over the last 10 plus years.  PM me for any insider ideas about B&B's etc. Great time to hit the island before the "season" starts. kr

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## Petri

Thanks!  The north-east corner is actually the only part of US we've actually done some travelling around, when I visit NYC the first time outside of the airport, I got fed up with the city in two days, we rent a car and drove towards Boston staying in smaller towns and visiting (briefly) P'town.

Anything equivalent to Colorado on the eastern side of the country?   The national parks look just stunning, weather permitting I think we could spend a few months there alone.

L wants to see the salsa scene in Miami as well so we'll probably do a trip to Key West.  Not planning to squeeze everything into a 3.5 month trip, it's always better to leave appetite for more.

Linda, we haven't yet decided if we'll visit Canada or some place in central America to break the stay.  Costa Rica or Belize might be interesting.  And there's even the option of taking the break to St. Barth!

PS. Seriously this is getting into record territory, first flight at 7:55am on thursday and I haven't booked the friday-saturday night yet :)   Tomorrow, I promise..

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## andynap

If you are talking about Colorado's mountains, then Vermont and New Hampshire have the highest peaks but nothing like Colorado.

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## MIke R

Petri...the mountains of Vermont and NH are nothing at  all like the mountains of Colorado......these are pimples in comparison.....our ski mountain is one of the highest peaks in New England at 4100 feet....what they refer to as the "foothills" in Colorado are 5 thousand foot mountains, and from there they go to 12-14 thousand feet...

no comparison....
but if you come back to PTown ...let me know...

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## andynap

TWIS

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## MIke R

highly recommend Belize...wonderful place

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## MIke R

> TWIS



I know..I said it with more detail for him...

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## andynap

> I know..I said it with more detail for him...



I know. I never mentioned pimples.  :Happy-To-Mad:

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## MIke R

I know

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## Petri

I was thinking about the nature wonders in general or other amazing places, not the pimples/mountains specifically :)

PS. Forgot to mention that the following visits to NYC has been great and I do enjoy the city.  The same happened with Hong Kong, didn't like at first but now I would move there if the housing was affordable.

PPS. The tallest pimple in Finland is 4340 feet -- and the tallest skiing pimple is at 2360 feet.   Not such a surprise that we have more top snowboarders than downhill skiers..

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## MIke R

well in terms of natural beauty we have no lack of that up here.....if you re coming I can give you specifics

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## Goooner

I'm obligated to mention Chicago.

We have some of the best architecture in the world and some of the best restaurants.

For what it is worth -- not a big fan of Costa Rica.

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## Purplejeep

Hi Petri,

I have not posted much lately.....however love this thread.  We too travel fairly loosely, making plans up as we go.  It is a luxury to be able to take some time to explore - we did 6 months in Argentina/Chile a few years ago but it was not nearly enough time!

One place that you may want to add to your itinerary is Monument Valley in Utah - we were there a number of years ago with our children were young and it was a truly magical experience. We hired a Navajo guide for a day and started in the early hours of the morning to experience the sunrise - we were treated to a solo flute concert ( by our guide) in a cave where the acoustics were unbelievable.  We still talk about it .....

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## MIke R

yes I remember that too as being something special...very near to Moab too in the four corners region..but I thought it was Arizona

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## Purplejeep

From what I remeber it extends into both ( Arizona/Utah) but my memory is getting sketchy it seems....

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## Petri

Wow, just managed to book the first four nights of accommodation in Maui.   It's 4pm here and the plane leaves tomorrow morning at 8am.  Not bad planning for a 110 day trip :)   Even the first thought of packing has appeared:

857305_10151492841902891_1054556528_o.jpg

The new camera is now well equipped with a new Lexar 64GB CF and 128GB SDXC cards, priorities!


So far the plan for HI includes Maui, Big Island, quick stop in Oahu / Honolulu and I'm hoping to squeeze in Kauai as well (looks the most interesting) and a quick trip to Lanai (one reason being that it's owned now by Larry Ellison).   We'll figure out the details en route, the nature wonders at each place are for sure, any other suggestions are welcome.

As March is pretty much for HI and San Francisco neighborhood, there's plenty of time for planning rest of the country.  We've done both "where shall we be tonight?" and "we know about tomorrow but not the day after", and the latter makes life a lot easier.  Also helps to have a vague driving direction in mind :)  (done that, too, landed to Queenstown, NZ, without any idea what there was to do in NZ :-)

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## Goooner

In Maui, definitely get a guidebook to the road to Hana telling you where to stop.
And definitely go to Big Beach for at least part of a day and have lunch from the Jawz Tacos truck.

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## MIke R

> It's 4pm here and the plane leaves tomorrow morning at 8am.  Not bad planning for a 110 day trip. Even the first thought of packing has appeared
> 
> We'll figure out the details en route, the nature wonders at each place are for sure
> 
> .  We've done both "where shall we be tonight?" and "we know about tomorrow but not the day after", and the latter makes life a lot easier



we are brothers from different mothers for sure.....:eagerness:

I read about people who want to know where they will be eating, and what they will be doing a year in advance, and it completely blows my mind....I was married to that in a former life and I swear it made my brain crash like a hard drive!

have a great trip.....and if you find yourself in my neck of the woods, give me a call....I will have a ski condo available April 1st if you need a place to stay

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## Petri

Absolutely will be in touch with you and other forumites if we're around.  Washington is pretty high on the list as there's plenty to see (warning JEK!), and it's en route to NYC where we might plan to meet a friend in June.

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## JEK

> Absolutely will be in touch with you and other forumites if we're around.  Washington is pretty high on the list as there's plenty to see (warning JEK!), and it's en route to NYC where we might plan to meet a friend in June.



Duly noted. Veuve Clicquot will be chilled!

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## MIke R

Petri.....from me you get cold beer

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## Petri

Why didn't I think this earlier..   forget the natural sights, free drinks are the route map!  You guys know how to convince a finn!

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## andynap

> Absolutely will be in touch with you and other forumites if we're around.  Washington is pretty high on the list as there's plenty to see (warning JEK!), and it's en route to NYC where we might plan to meet a friend in June.



Would you be driving from DC to NYC- if so you have to go past me to get there. Might be a party in the making.

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## MIke R

> and it's en route to NYC where we might plan to meet a friend in June.



by June I will be mostly on the Cape which would open up a whole different opportunity for you

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## Petri

2539888973.png

Free WiFi @ HEL.   6:37am.   Ready to fly!

As I have chip on the passport, I used one of the automated immigration machines to leave the Schengen area.  Laura got faster through the traditional, human immigration..

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