I'm doing a roadtrip....

After 18 years of being self-employed I am finally taking a vacation. My driving route will include: Vegas, Phoenix, Abuquerque, San Antonio, Austin, Memphis, Nashville, Key West (you know why!), Orlando, Annapolis, Cleveland (maybe) Philly on the 4th of July...and NYC...from NYC I will fly home. Any stops, tips, etc. are greatly appreciated. This is my Bucket List trip......It's time, I'm not getting any younger. I leave around June 6th and home before July 9th.

from Vegas to Phoenix make sure you see the Grand Canyon and drive through Sedona! Both are places you just can not appreciate till you see them in person

Phoenix/Scottsdale Area: Make sure you check out The Hotel Valley Ho, Trader Vic's, Drift, & The Bikini Bar :)

Brother I wish I was going with you! Wowee, you have to get a copy of Tiki Road Trip, because you are going to be at or near some amazing Tiki temples. Sounds like a great time. Are you going solo?

D

While in San Antonio, TX. check out the Alamo and have a Huricane at Pat O'Briens at the River Walk. Here is the link for Pat O'Briens http://www.patobriens.com/sanantonio.html.

Enjoy!

On 2008-02-07 17:51, Tikitatt wrote:
While in San Antonio, TX. check out the Alamo

While you're at the Alamo check the basement for PeeWee's bike!

nashville has great food and music....check out the car museum and the nashville hall of fame to see elvis' gold caddy.....memphis, check out graceland of course , sun records and spend a night on beale st....(it's like a low rent bourbon street)....fun!!

i would shoot up rt 66 from amarillo (check out car henge) after you leave austin...go through st louis to cleveland.....from cleveland shoot down to orlando via the old dixie highway (lots of vintage motels, tourist traps and such along the way) ...in orland, drive the extra hour west to tampa....check out Ibor city for a night on the town.....head back east about an hour or less out of orlando to cocoa beach and visit wayne at mai tiki studios and gallery...from there...jump on A1A toward the mai kai ...head south to the keys......you know the rest.......enjoy!!

In 2000, Coco Loco and I both quit our jobs, and went on pretty much the exact same road trip. We didn't know exactly where we were going, we just got in the car, headed south to Los Angeles, and made a left. Three months or so later, we ended up in Key West. We mainly focused our journeys on the deep south, on or around I-10, and worked our way back to California on I-40.

There are a couple of books that I highly recommend. One is for restaurants, called "Where The Locals Eat". Every dining recommendation delivered, whether they were hole in the wall dives or upscale restaurants. And it was great to be able to find and support the local independent restaurants instead of just large industrial chains. The other is "Roadside America", which is great for finding the world's largest ball of twine, Carhenge, Meteor Crater, various muffler men, Coral Castle, Big Daddy Don Garlits Drag Racing Museum, etc.

I could go on and on and on about places to visit and check out, but I'll try to make an abbreviated list here.

Arizona - Trader Vic's, Kon Tiki, Grand Canyon, Meteor Crater, Tombstone, Shady Dell Trailer Park in Bisbee, and The Thing - Mystery Of The Desert.

New Mexico - Carlsbad Caverns. Check out the caverns, and beat the heat during the day, check out millions of bats exiting the cave during the bat night flight at dusk. Roswell isn't too far from Carlsbad, but it's UFO Festival is highly over-rated - I wouldn't recommend it unless you were passing through on your way to Albuquerque or something.

Texas - The Alamo, The San Antonio River Walk, The Big Texan, home of the 72 Ounce Steak Challenge in Amarillo, and the Cadillac Ranch. I haven't been to Austin, so I have no recommendations for there.

Tennessee - Memphis is a must, including Graceland, Sun Studios, Beale St. - B.B. King's, Blue City BBQ, Rendezvous, EP's Restaurant for a fried peanut butter and banana sandwich. The Jack Daniels Distillery tour is great, you cah hit that on your way to Nashville.

Key West - Blue Heaven Carribbean Restaurant is a must, Sloppy Joe's Bar, Southern Most Point in the U.S., Hemmingway House, sunset celebration at Mallory Square every evening.

Other Florida Key things to check out are the Dolphin Research Center, and the Turtle Hospital, both in Marathon. Also, on your way into or out of the Keys, check out Coral Castle, and make sure to go to the Everglades Alligator Farm, where you can not only check out the alligators, but you can also go on a killer air boat ride in the everglades - definitely an E ticket ride!!! :D

Ft. Lauderdale - The Mai Kai!!! A must see!!! It's amazing!!! You won't regret going there!

Orlando - tons of theme park stuff to do. Of course I have to recommend Walt Disney World. And as an alternative, Universal Studios Islands Of Adventure is great. I've heard Cypress Gardens is nice, but I haven't been there. Remember, there is so much theme park stuff to do there, you can get burned out, so don't try to do it all, just pick a few favorite things. If you're not so much a theme park guy, you can still check out Walt Disney World's Pleasure Island, especially The Adventurer's Club. Also, Universal Studio's City Walk has some good bars, including a Pat O'Brien's, and for you a Margaritaville. :)

If you have time, go over to Cocoa Beach to the Kennedy Space Center, it's great. Also, you can try to catch a space shuttle launch, but even better than that, you can go to Jetty Park, which is directly across the water channel from the Cape Canaveral rocket launch pads - they are constantly launching Titan and Delta rockets from there, carrying satellites and such into space - you'll be less than a mile from the launch pad, so go out onto the pier, watch the rockets launch, and feel the whole earth tremble and shake!!! It's amazing!!!

Also, if you are heading up I-95 to New York, I would recommend stopping at St. Augustine, Fl, since it's the country's oldest city (older than Jamestown). Savannah, GA, was great too, and for one of the best southern style meals you'll ever have go to Mrs. Wilke's Boarding House, where they will bring out huge plates of fried chicken, okra, mac salad, etc, and you sit down family style with a bunch of strangers and start passing plates like it was Thanksgiving. That's as far north as I made it on the east coast.

Anyways, it's great that you can take this trip. What you will discover is that there is a whole lot to see and do across this vast country. I wouldn't be surprised if you extended your vacation longer, and I would highly recommend that you do extend your time out on the road if possible. With all of lifes complexities and obligations, these kind of trips are hard to do - I know that Coco Loco and I have talked about going on another grand journey for the past 8 years, and have not been able to pull it off. So go for it while you can!!! And have fun!!! Cheers,
-Mai Tai

"It's Mai Tai. It's out of this world." - Victor Jules Bergeron Jr.

[ Edited by: Mai Tai 2008-02-08 17:58 ]

Hey everyone,
I really appreciate all the advice and input. You know you store some of these places in the back of your mind but just can't remember them all. I am travelling alone for the most part but have friends who want to fly into cities and do a leg of the trip with me. My wife Beth may fly in for a weekend. In December she took the trip she had been dreaming of for quite sometime. She went to India. She had an incredible journey, but I had no desire to go. I didn't even plan this trip til a couple of loved passed away way too young. I have a video about my plans on youtube ( search moondog426). there's also a video showing some of my tiki room and public service announcement about drunk driving (this is not meant to be funny!)

Nashville: Go to Lower Broad and check out the Bluegrass Inn. Bring tipping money. No cover down there, but they expect you to tip the band. Head south about 20 minutes and get to the Omni Hut in Smyrna. Really great food and tell Polly I sent ya. You might travel north into Kentucky and hit Mammoth Cave and sleep in a wigwam. WigWam Village is just worth it. And Mammth Cave is pretty cool (pun!).

You should go through Atlanta heading south and visit Trader Vics. Many people put it at the top of the North AMerican Vic's. If you are into living the dark and crazy side of a David Lynch movie, visit the Clairmont Lounge while there. Explore Little 5 Points.

If the Civil War is your thing, there are some battlefields in Chattanooga that'll stir ya.

I can recommend things here in East TN if you want to see the GReat Smoky's and the tackiest places on earth, Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge.

If you do stop in Cleveland and you're a fan you can check out the house from "A Christmas Story." http://www.achristmasstoryhouse.com/

Someone already suggested Roadside America, which is a great site. We drove from NY to Memphis last year and got lots of great ideas there.

Have a great trip!

Looking forward to your YouTubes Ken...what a neat thing to do...you will have a blast. Besides the don't drink and drive ethic...try to hang to the speed limit (especially in little towns) as the highway patrol love the revenue of tourists. And we all know the plight of Dave about not leaving your belongings in your car when parked in a hotel parking lot...stay safe!!!

Great post from Bill. I have only been to a couple of those places, so definitely agree with: Carlsbad Cavern (take a tour-it is awesome), Grand Canyon (don't get too near the edge), The Alamo. I am jealous of your Florida plan...I have always wanted to visit Miami. LUCKY DAWG!!!

We want lots of pics of the trip and your friends. Sandy & I will plan a girlie weekend in Beth's honor and we will teach her how to play the Hand & Foot card game...watch out. :lol:

I enjoyed The Hula Hut restaurant in Austin, especially if you can get outside seating.

here's a link:
http://www.hulahut.com/about_us.html

If you have time when you're in Nashville, take the hour trip north to Bowling Green and visit the Corvette plant/museum.

Eat at the Omni hut in Nashvill of course.