Vacation Help Needed

[Jim Young]

I am in the early stages of planning a trip for next summer with my Dad. He is getting older and I would like to spend some one on one time with him. We decided to take two weeks and drive to the western states and visit some of the nations "must see" monuments and landmarks. I plan on driving about 4-5000 miles during that time. The states below are the ones I am interested in. Once I have a list of things to see I will make the route, will try so see as many things as possible. Question – can you tell me what the "must see" things are in your state?

Michigan – UP
Wisconsin
Minnesota
N Dakota
Montana
Idaho
Washington
Oregon
Wyoming
Nevada
Utah
Arizona
New Mexico
Colorado
Nebraska
Kansas
Missouri
Illinois

[Steve Ash]

Michigan...come and see me Jim....

In the U.P there is a lot to see, some suggestions. Fayette State Park old iron smelting village that has been restored. Fort Michilimackinac,Quinnesec Iron mines.

Lower Peninsula...me! Greenfield Village comes to mind.

[Joe Pelonio]

Here in WA unless he's into people throwing fish you can skip downtown Seattle and the Pike's Place Market. It's overrated and most everyone has seen it on TV. Better to take the ferry across to Bainbridge Island and on to the Port Angeles area, and in the Olympic National Park go see Hurricane Ridge, and possibly drive through the rainforest. After that there's a place called Deception Pass on the northeast end of Whidbey Island where you can stand on a tall bridge and watch the current in the tide that's amazing. Mount Rainier is also a good one, since it's expected to blow again one day and possibly wipe out several cities.

[Matt Warfield]

Hmm, I noticed you didn't list Iowa but did list six of our neighboring states which means you're in the neighborhood.

Hoover Presidential Library
http://www.nps.gov/heho

Big baseball fan? Field of Dreams Not a big baseball fan? skip it.

Frank Lloyd Wright
www.wrightiniowa.com

Depending on the time of year, RAGBRAI may be going on. Nothing like seeing 15k+ people getting crazy.

Lewis and Clark State Park
http://www.iowadnr.com/parks/state_p...wis_clark.html

And, we do have corn.

[Jim Hinze]

Michigan – UP

Copper Harbor and the old copper mines... very beautifull area.

[larry merlau]

jim: gould city has a large spring in a state park. called kitchikippi spring. steve knows of it as well. also i need to see your father as well.. he needs to be congratulatyed on raisin such a fine B.S'r

[Steve Ash]

jim: gould city has a large spring in a state park. called kitchikippi spring. steve knows of it as well. also i need to see your father as well.. he needs to be congratulatyed on raisin such a fine B.S'r

I'll agree with meeting up with your dad, he must be a wonderful man...but he's got some splaining to do

The spring Larry is talking about is 42' deep and crystal clear with some big resident trout in it. I used to have the opportunity to dive in it when I was on the Sherrif's search and rescue dive team. It feeds Indian Lake near Manistique, which is near the Fayette State Park.

Although I agree with visiting Iowa, I like Corn, it matches my John Deere tractors .

[Matt Warfield]

Oh yeah, forgots about JD. If you want a tour of one of their plants, let me know. I know enough people that those strings can probably be pulled. You just have to pick a place - Waterloo, Dubuque, or Moline, IL. The one in Moline is probably the most tour friendly.

There's also Rockwell Collins but I'm not sure if they give tours or not. They deal with a great deal of classified information so I'm thinking not.

Insurance companies? We have insurance companies!! And hog lots too. Do they fall into the same paragraph?

[Art Mulder]

Jim, I think it is great that you are planning a trip with your dad. I'd love to do that with my kids someday, see all these big sights.

But I got to ask... 5000 miles in two weeks? That is 360 miles a day, or 6hrs a day driving (at a steady 60mph). I think that would be a VERY tiring two weeks.

...art

[Dave Richards]

Minnesota:

Itasca--Head of the Mississippi
Mayo Clinic-Rochester
Lake City--birthplace of waterskiing
Spam museum--Austin
Fort Ridgely S.P. outpost to protect settlers during the mid 1800s. A number of other sites related to settlers days are found around Minnesota including Fort Snelling near the Mpls airport.
Jeffers Petroglyphs near Jeffers


Wisconsin
John Miliunas-Near Spring Green
EAA Museum--Oshkosh
Door County on Lake Michigan

Some of the current cheeseheads will have more. I moved away too long ago to remember.

[Doug Shepard]

For the U.P. I'd also have to add Taquomenon (sp?) Falls. For Oregon (ex-resident) there's Crater Lake N.P. which is pretty breathtaking, but sort of out in the middle of nowhere. The drive Oregon coast drive and the area around Astoria is worth seeing. Sounds like a fun road-trip.

[Jim Young]

But I got to ask... 5000 miles in two weeks? That is 360 miles a day, or 6hrs a day driving (at a steady 60mph). I think that would be a VERY tiring two weeks.

That's pretty much how I calculated the trip. That would put us in the vehicle in the morning and sight seeing in the afternoon and evening. Some places we will spend a little more time at and some a little less. As for being in the car that long it shouldn't be a problem since my Dad and I are both yappers and we get along great.

[Jim Young]

Thanks for the suggestions so far, keep them coming. I am marking them all down. I plan on plotting out a big map with all the items and then I can plot out a trip path.

[Rick Schubert]

In Minn I would add Duluth and its harbor. And come on up to the Boundary Water Canoe Area if you like that. The best canoeing in the entire world. Wildlife and incredibly beautiful and peaceful.

In North Dakota it would be the Teddy Roosevelt Nat'l Park and just the wide open range land. Not a long list there from what I've seen.

Rick

[Frank Fusco]

Scratch Kansas. First mile and you've seen all it has to offer.
Visit Arkansas. Beautiful. Take dad on a river float fishing trip.