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[Pigmy Pony]

You're very lucky to have that on your doorstep, a holiday over there would be pretty expensive though for us Brits.

It would be easy to think your entire country would be easily accessible for you, but I suppose the reality is that the vastness of the place would make seeing it all virtually as difficult as it would be for us. In fact touring Europe would only be a fraction of the mileage.

Mrs. P's dream holiday has always been to do the old "Route 66" thing on Harleys, though I had heard that with the way the major routes have developed, many of the places on the old route are quite run-down and neglected. Shame if it's true.

Bit like what happened with the A9 in Scotland, but on a much smaller scale. When the road was updated to make it quicker and more efficient, many of the small towns and villages were bypassed, meaning you had to "come off" the road to visit them. Not good for local economies. I guess the upside is no more endless streams of lorries shaking the old buildings to bits.

[alphaGT]

You're very lucky to have that on your doorstep, a holiday over there would be pretty expensive though for us Brits.

It would be easy to think your entire country would be easily accessible for you, but I suppose the reality is that the vastness of the place would make seeing it all virtually as difficult as it would be for us. In fact touring Europe would only be a fraction of the mileage.

Mrs. P's dream holiday has always been to do the old "Route 66" thing on Harleys, though I had heard that with the way the major routes have developed, many of the places on the old route are quite run-down and neglected. Shame if it's true.

Bit like what happened with the A9 in Scotland, but on a much smaller scale. When the road was updated to make it quicker and more efficient, many of the small towns and villages were bypassed, meaning you had to "come off" the road to visit them. Not good for local economies. I guess the upside is no more endless streams of lorries shaking the old buildings to bits.

It’s true, the US is a BIG place. And once you cross the Mississippi River, there are some vast distances between towns, between trees in Kansas and Neighboring states. My Dad took the family on a Western vacation when I was a teenager, to Colorado and it’s neighboring states. The Rockies are awesome, breathtakingly huge. Like the Alps in Europe I would imagine. At that time in the late 70’s there were still remnants of the old West to be seen. Cowboys herding cattle, on horseback with big hats and 6 shooters, old ghost towns, covered wagons abandoned on the Prairie. Old abandoned gold mines where we picked real gold up off the ground. West of the Rockies we saw ancient Indian ruins, stone castles built into the rock cliffs, and the doors were tiny. Painted deserts and giant bluffs, things that have stayed with me a lifetime.

And you are correct about Route 66. The new highways have caused the old towns to dry up, entire towns of empty buildings and cracked up roads. The nostalgia has caused some old places to reopen, or remain open, for the tourists. The deserts out west are massive, a thousand miles in any direction of nothing, they tested nuclear bombs out there and no one missed it. A million square miles fenced off and no one even cares. If you ever want to get lost, drive as fast as you can go in a straight line, that’s the place to do it. But much of it is breathtakingly beautiful, red buttes and random cactus and tumble weeds.

Personally I dream about traveling Europe! Some of those river cruises look amazing! I’d love to see Italy, Rome, and the Italian Alps. The old towns in England and Ireland, the castles of Germany, that Black Forest castle especially. I saw a Harley bike tour in Poland that was most interesting, winding old roads between old villages. Lots to do in Europe! But the cost to see it from here would be prohibitive. If I win the lotto it’s on my to do list!

Russell

[Pigmy Pony]

Although the flights to the UK would probably be quite expensive, staying here may be quite cheap, especially considering the way exchange rates have been going. You would be a welcome guest here at Pony Castle, and I've no doubt other AOS members would gladly extend the same welcome.

Britain would make a good "base camp" for a touring holiday. Where I live is barely more than an hours drive from the Lake District, Yorkshire, Wales and the Derbyshire Peak District. and Scotland about 2 or 3 hours. If you were in the southeast, you're only about 25 wet miles from mainland Europe.

Last year me and Mrs. Pony talked about a "once in a lifetime" holiday in the States as I turned 60 this year and she'll be 50 in December. On my wish list were Memphis and New Orleans, and for her it was everywhere else, including New York, Washington DC, Grand Canyon, San Francisco and the Pacific Coast Highway (that lot would cover a few miles!). Anyway, life got in the way, and the small matter of no money.

Still, never say never eh, I know she is ferreting money away for a good holiday, so I'll see how that pans out. Hopefully it's not a secret "goodbye Steve you Old Fart" fund.

[Macca]

Although the flights to the UK would probably be quite expensive, staying here may be quite cheap, especially considering the way exchange rates have been going. You would be a welcome guest here at Pony Castle, and I've no doubt other AOS members would gladly extend the same welcome.

Flights would be maybe £600?

You could stop at mine for a few days no problem. It's a dump but I've got guitars and everything. Foods more expensive here as are clothes. You can't get a Maccy D for a buck like you can in the States. But you could live on baked potatoes and cheese on toast, save money that way. You can rent a small car pretty cheap here though, drive all over the country in it and see everything.

[alphaGT]

Flights would be maybe £600?

You could stop at mine for a few days no problem. It's a dump but I've got guitars and everything. Foods more expensive here as are clothes. You can't get a Maccy D for a buck like you can in the States. But you could live on baked potatoes and cheese on toast, save money that way. You can rent a small car pretty cheap here though, drive all over the country in it and see everything.

A trip to Europe wouldn’t be complete without driving a fast car on the Autobahn, wherever that is! I see them driving exotic sports cars on Top Gear on the BBC channel doing 200kph and over. Looks like fun!

I am truly touched by the offer to stay over with you guys! We’ve got a spare room here too, if any of you found your way here. As evidenced by all the fat people in the US, good food is plentiful. I recently took my girl to a nice restaurant and had a steak and potato, salad, and bowl of chili, while she had Salmon and all the same extras, beer, and the total was $38 US. I did leave a nice tip, but was surprised how affordable it was. A Big Mac is around $3, but a double Cheeseburger is only $1.

I got a mailer selling long boat river cruises and the prices varied, a couple could ride on the boat for $2000, but a nice cabin with a view was closer to $4000. And plane fair was about $1000, (£600 is about right?) of course that is for rich folks. I’m sure it would be far better to find your own fun and see the spots you like instead of only what the boat offers. My niece and her new husband went to Ireland for their honeymoon, kissed the Blarney Stone, and looked for classic neighborhood pubs, toured a brewery, etc, brought me back a T shirt! I’m not sure what they spent.

Russ

[alphaGT]

Although the flights to the UK would probably be quite expensive, staying here may be quite cheap, especially considering the way exchange rates have been going. You would be a welcome guest here at Pony Castle, and I've no doubt other AOS members would gladly extend the same welcome.

Britain would make a good "base camp" for a touring holiday. Where I live is barely more than an hours drive from the Lake District, Yorkshire, Wales and the Derbyshire Peak District. and Scotland about 2 or 3 hours. If you were in the southeast, you're only about 25 wet miles from mainland Europe.

Last year me and Mrs. Pony talked about a "once in a lifetime" holiday in the States as I turned 60 this year and she'll be 50 in December. On my wish list were Memphis and New Orleans, and for her it was everywhere else, including New York, Washington DC, Grand Canyon, San Francisco and the Pacific Coast Highway (that lot would cover a few miles!). Anyway, life got in the way, and the small matter of no money.

Still, never say never eh, I know she is ferreting money away for a good holiday, so I'll see how that pans out. Hopefully it's not a secret "goodbye Steve you Old Fart" fund.

Your wife sounds like she has a very specific list of places to see! New York is a great place for tourists to see what a huge city looks like, “The Big Apple”, is world famous, with lots to do and see, if you’ve got the money. Like any big city, the poor section is not all that great. Personally, I didn’t loose anything in NY. But if you like fancy shopping and Broadway Shows, museums and culture, they’ve got plenty.

DC is good for a few days, the Smithsonian Museum is fantastic! And can take days to see it all, the capital buildings and monuments you can see in an afternoon, they look much bigger on TV.

Nashville is a music city! If you want to see big nightclubs and all kinds of music that is the place to go. Austin Texas is also a huge music city, with any kind of music you can imagine. New Orleans is disappointing to most. Bourbon Street is decked out antique style, like you see on tv and in movies, where you can carry alcohol in the street and visit a few dozen bars. Great on Fat Tuesday, but beyond that, the French Quarter is a dangerous place you don’t want to be after dark. There is the few places where voodoo was practiced, the old cemetery and other tourist stuff, and if you look further there are old plantation mansions to tour, the ones that haven’t been washed away by hurricanes.

The Grand Canyon is something to witness! The biggest hole in the ground you will ever see! But there is much more in that area. Other large parks there, Bryce Canyon National Park, the Petrified Forest, Aztec Ruins, Arches National Park, and many others! And even more interesting than the Grand Canyon. Plan at least a week to see some of it. Some nice cities in that area too, and if you like Mexican food, plenty of it in that part of the world.

California is a vacation all to itself. Hollywood and Burbank in the LA area are full of tourist things to do and see, lots of weird people walking the street. North of there in San Fransisco you’ll see the Golden Gate Bridge, my niece recently went to Napa Valley to see all the wineries and sample some of the great wine, and it is an expensive place to be. Of course north of there you find the Sequoia National Park, and no photographs can relay the sheer size of these giant trees, 600 feet tall! And the one with a road cut through the bottom, a drive up the Coastal Highway is one of the most beautiful things to see in the whole state, you’ve got plenty of rocky coast in England, but here, it’s something to see.

So, you’d better plan on spending about 3 or 4 months to see all the things on your wife’s list! Or you’ll wind up jetting from one point to another and only seeing a few major points before jetting to the next sight. It’s nice that you can travel from coast to coast with no passport, nothing but a sign telling you when you pass over to a new state. And if you stay out of problem areas it’s fairly safe, the roads are in pretty good shape, and English is the main language all over. So yes, touring the US is fairly trouble free, trains are expensive, and only get you to main cities, everyone drives or flies. And you can rent a full dresser Harley for about $400 a week.

Russell

[Pigmy Pony]

With fuel in Europe costing around 1.5 euros per litre, and those Top Gear sports cars doing about 3 miles per litre that certainly wouldn't be cheap.

And those riverboat cruises are definitely on the pricey side. But here's a suggestion: buy a rubber dinghy and stick it on the Leeds-Liverpool canal (only half a mile from my house). Scenery not quite up there with the best that northern Europe has to offer, but we do have a building near the canal called Botany Bay which has pretend turrets with flags atop them. If you squint as you pass by, it could look like the real thing!

And I could lend you our Honda Civic to visit other places. Not exactly a Ferrari, but a gallon of fuel will take you 50 miles, and if you switch the speedo to read kph, you could pretend you're doing 160mph instead of just 100.

We really don't have anything to offer, and you're welcome to all of it.

One important point - Northern cuisine is better than southern, you can't even get gravy on your chips down there.

[Pigmy Pony]

Most of what we "know" of the US is what we see on TV, so it's good to hear from someone who actually lives there. It would definitely be cheaper if I just go on my own and send Mrs. P a post card. The information you give about the music cities is particularly interesting. But the one thing I already knew was that the place is huge, and short of a lottery win, you would have to be very selective.

I worked with an American guy a few years ago, who came from Utah, and yes he was a Mormon, although the constant black coffee, chain smoking and permanent hangover made him a bit of a black sheep with his family. But I used to enjoy his stories about his life "back home", even though most of his stories were probably crap! Maybe being round me drove him to drink, as he always slurred his words a lot (he would call it a drawl), but I heard him on a talk-in on BBC Radio 2 a few months ago, and the slurring was gone, and he properly wiped the floor with the guy he was arguing with.

[alphaGT]

I’ve been out west a few times, and been from Florida to Canada along the East Coast. My parents have been out west a few times, and I flew to a few destinations on business, farthest away was Spokane Washington. Which is a small logging town that boomed into a tech town. Hewlett-Packard is located there, among others.

My cousin was in the Air Force stationed near Austin Texas. Home of Gilly’s Bar! The biggest bar in the world! Or so they claim. It has 5 stages hosting 5 bands on any given night. My cousin said the place was full of stereotypical beautiful buxom American women! And that you had to be retarded to not score! Sounds like he had a good time while stationed there. ZZ Top is from Austin, and there is a serious music scene there, most any kind of music you fancy from country/bluegrass to heavy metal, jazz, you name it, it’s were bands go to be discovered. Home of Stevie Ray Vaughan, too. There is a LOT to see in Texas, beautiful beaches on the Gulf of Mexico, lakes and rivers for outdoors adventures, several major cities, and up towards the Panhandle it’s cowboy country, with rodeos and horse back riding and the likes.

But if you really like the Old West, north to Wyoming is still full of real cowboys herding cattle, Indians living out there. Cheyenne is a great place to see old west art museums, the home of Western Outfitters and Stetson’s home store. And a gun museum that has every gun ever made! From the first Chinese thunder sticks to present day machine guns, and everything in between, a real must see. Estes Park, and Yellowstone, those are the places to see the big American outdoors, with giant Moose, buffalo, elk and caribou, and big horn rams. God’s county, you can’t open your eyes without seeing something breathtakingly awesome. And the volcanic parts of Yellowstone are like being on another planet! Bubbling cauldrons and geysers, Steam rising, crazy.

If music is what you’re looking for, besides Nashville, and Austin, out in LA there is still a big music scene there. Where Guns and Roses and all those hair metal bands of the 80’s were discovered at the Whiskey a Go Go, The Roxy, and the Viper Room, are still great places to see new bands. Of course there’s a music scene in New York, CBGB’s where all the punk rock bands were discovered, KISS is from NY, in a city that big, it has to have a music scene and lots of famous bands came from NY. And still do. And the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is located in Cincinnati Ohio! A most unlikely place to find a thriving music scene.

Heck, for that matter there is a good music scene in Richmond VA, just 20 minutes from where I live. A few famous people came from here, Joan Jett, Bruce Hornsby, and a few others. My friend I play music with played with a Danish band called Shotz. They came all the way from Northern Europe to Richmond to get famous? I’m not sure why they chose here instead of Nashville or LA? But their bass player got deported and they hired my friend. Who is an amazing bassist with 35 years of experience, I’m off subject here, but had to brag on my friend and teacher.

I remember being in Canada, directly north of New York, we were in Arrowhead Park, rented a canoe and the water was so clear you could see the bottom 25 feet deep, and big fish, long as your leg! Were so thick they were bumping into each other! Walleye or steel heads or something. And you could beat them with bait and they wouldn’t bite. Apparently it was mating season? Strange that in New York everyone had that American Yankee accent, and we drove over the line and suddenly everyone had a British accent, big woods! Huge trees and beautiful lakes, very spacious.

If I ever get to Europe I’ll will definitely look you up! I’m sure just as here, a local can show me the better sights and steer me clear of the tourist traps. And of course show me where all the good food is! I once happened to set by an airplane pilot on his return flight, and all he did was fly from NY to Rome! What a gravy job! But he was telling me how he knew all the locals, and got an airport car and showed the stewardesses around town, lucky dog! And could get into local restaurants without reservations. But had a wife and family back in Richmond, VA. Sly dog!

Personally, I’ve been wanting to go back to Colorado again since they’ve legalized weed there. Not that I would endorse such things! I understand the stores there are luxury shops, with the best product in the world, even giving away free samples. That alone may not be reason enough to go, but I know there is plenty of amazing things to do and see in Colorado. One of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen.

Russell

[Pigmy Pony]

I think Boulder, Colorado was where 'Mork and Mindy' was set. Place looked beautiful, and with the added bonus of hassle-free weed shopping! What's not to like.

If you're ever over here and good food is on the agenda, Marco is probably the AoS resident 'foodie'. As long as you can tolerate all the farting.