Originally Posted By RoadTrip What are your top five favorite U.S. cities to vacation in? (I guess no one likes Memphis, because I haven't gotten ONE response to my question about vacationing there!) The presence of a Disney park DOES NOT COUNT. A Disney resort can make a person even want to visit a crummy city like Orlando. ;-) I'm talking about vacation destination cities that are COOL without being Disney dependant. My top five? 1) Las Vegas 2) Washington DC 3) Chicago 4) New York City 5) Duluth, Minnesota P.S. My top three kind of rotate depending on which one I haven’t seen for a while. I LOVE all three of them. But of course there is always something special about VEGAS, baby, LAS VEGAS!!
Originally Posted By quincytoo 1)New Orleans 2)Lincoln City with your best friends 3)San Diago 4)San Fransico 5) Anywhere in Napa Valley
Originally Posted By vbdad55 1/ L.A. area 2/ San Diego 3/ New York 4/ Washington DC 5/ Minneapolis ( put that in for Trippy- plus I do get to Minneapolis every year for a USA Volleyball regional qualifier...always have a good time there. )
Originally Posted By beamerdog 1. New York City 2. San Diego 3. Chicago 4. Las Vegas 5. Montreal (yeh, I know it's in Canada, but I love that city!)
Originally Posted By Mr X gottaluv, lol. Okay, out of all the cities I've been to, I would go with... 1) Vegas 2) Honolulu 3) San Diego 4) New York City 5) Miami
Originally Posted By DAR 1. Playa Del Carmen-Mexico 2. Puerto Vallarta-Mexico 3. Las Vegas 4. Rhinelander Wisconsin 5. Some unknown city I haven't been to.
Originally Posted By Lisann22 Not in any particular order cause I've had so much fun in each: 1. New York City 2. San Francisco/Bay Area 3. Chicago 4. Monterey/Carmel/Pacific Grove 5. Las Vegas
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom 1) Washington DC 2) Quebec City, Canada ( do we have to stick to the US ? ) 3) Highlands, North Carolia 4) Napa Valley, California Area 5) Pensacola, FL Area
Originally Posted By TiggerPooh1973 1) New York City 2) San Francisco/Bay Area 3) Chicago 4)Scranton/Wilkes Barre area of PA (family there, also extends to Philly area) 5)Las Vegas Another city we had a good time in was Bar Harbor, Maine I wouldn't mind visiting that area again.
Originally Posted By trekkeruss I can't choose! Five is too few! I'd have to put Washington D.C. on the list, as well as San Francisco, and Honolulu. Los Angeles too, or San Diego. All those are not only interesting cities in and of themselves, but they are a day trip away from other fantastic places. That's already four... how can I pick just one more? I can't help but think that whatever was fith on my list, I will have left off some other great place.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<as well as San Francisco>> I know many people who love SF and realize it is one of the top tourist destinations in the U.S. Could someone clue me in as to why? I've never spent time in the city, but I drove through it once and was not impressed. I realize that the drive between the airport and the Golden Gate Bridge may not go through the nicest part of town, but the downtown area seemed downright dumpy to me. The bridge of course was beautiful, but when we stopped at the viewing area on the north end of the bridge the experience was cheapened by 60's throwback hippies selling anything and everything out of the back of their VW Microbuses. I actually went out of my way to avoid going through downtown on the way back; taking the 580 and then the 80 across the Bay Bridge. So... tell me what I should have seen!!
Originally Posted By Lisann22 Well, I'm probably biased as I grew up there but I think San Francisco is more of an experience than specific destination type of vacation. I think Chicago and San Francisco are VERY similar and probably why I loved living in Chicago for the short time I did. What I like to take people to do in the City: Golden Gate Park - the museums, aquarium, gardens, Japanese Tea Gardens, the lake. Pier 39 - it's one of my last stops as it and Fisherman's Wharf is the touristy part of town. However, it's still fun and has some great souveniors for a decent price and value. Fisherman's Wharf - you can spent a full day wandering the shops and sites. The Seals, the fishing boats, the art galleries, Ghiradelli Square, catch a cable car from there, the restaurants. Union Square - huge retail area but with lots of interesting architecture and shops. Chinatown - sight to behold, tea, weird shops, sounds and sights. North Beach - this is your kinda area RT, nudies and good food in one swell swoop. Twin Peaks - one of the most breathtaking views in the world to me. Presidio - gorgeous area, powerful grave yard. Nob Hill - the spendlor of the old grand hotels. Haight Ashbury district/Alamo Square - old Victorians, well you said the hippies weren't your thing so may skip this. LOL! The Mission District - the Mission itself, the food and clubs, outstanding murals. PacBell Park (Sorry it'll never be AT&T) - outstanding ball park with statues, tour, just walking the area you can have a good time. Yerba Buena Gardens/SoMo/Metreon - up to date technology, entertainment venue. Man, I could go on and on. Not excluding everything within driving distance: Napa & Sonoma for wine, Berkeley, Santa Cruz, Half Moon Bay, etc.
Originally Posted By hopemax I was thinking, and realized that the places I enjoy going, aren't really in cities, but they various national parks (Zion, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone. Cities I really want to visit 1. Washington DC 2. Honolulu 3. Boston I had a great time the one time I visited San Francisco. It was an 8th grade science trip. We went to Stanford, NASA AMES, Stanford Linear Accelerator, California Academy of Sciences, took pictures of the bridge, Pier 39, and the gift shop at the Hard Rock Cafe (It was 1989). Oh, and we went to Great America in Santa Clara. We weren't allowed to go to Alcatraz when we were at Pier 39, because that would have been interesting. I would have also liked to have visited the other places in Golden Gate Park (the Conservatory of Flowers and the Japanese Tea Garden). Yes, even at 13, I was interested in those types of places. I really enjoyed the Academy.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <So... tell me what I should have seen!! < I'll echo what Lisann has listed as that is pretty complete -- the reason I like SF ( didn't make my top 5 but still like it - woul dbe top 10) - is the food ! It is one of my favorite cities for eating...lots of great restaurants - and any place you can walk around the Pier ( as touristy as it may be) - and buy fresh crab in a cup to walk around and eat, is aces in my book
Originally Posted By Lisann22 Walking the Golden Gate, the Cable Car museum, Coit Tower, Lombard Street, Japantown, the Embarcadero area, Market and Geary for great long running plays. The music clubs from salsa, to blues, to punk to oldies, the gorgeous Civic center and Asian Art museum. And yes the 100's of restaurants to chose from. Come to SF, Road Trip - we'll show you a good time! ;>
Originally Posted By RoadTrip I'll have to give SF another chance. I guess I maybe went in with expectations that were too high to be met by a drive through the downtown area on the way to the Trinidad/Redwood National Park area. Now that area was SPECTACULAR, as was the Monterey Peninsula that I visited about 10 years ago. I guess I expected San Francisco to be at least as beautiful as that and to me it just wasn't.
