Things to do in America?

[SilverHorsey]

Hey all!

Next year, one of my dreams is coming true: I will be travelling to America to attend Breyerfest! But one can't take up such a long journey for just one event! We are planning to stay for several weeks and go outside Kentucky also. But it's a big country and there are a lot of great places. At this point I am asking for your advice: what would be some of the greatest places you'd recommend me to visit there? On my bucket list is also going to see something of my favourite artist Michael Jackson, are there any museums of him? Or his final resting place?

Horsey locations, museums and everything are also very appreciated

[Taxel]

Visit any National Parks you can!!! America has some absolutely beautiful parks to visit. There's a lot of gorgeous ones all over but I'm most familiar with parks in the West.

Grand Canyon National Park might be up your alley, since you can take mule tours in the park or do horse riding near it. I've seen some really cool photos of it and I'd love to go. I'd also recommend Joshua Tree National Park if you like the desert or joshua trees, since they can only be found in a section of California, Nevada, and Arizona. Joshua Tree National Park is in Southern California so its close-ish to other cool places like Los Angeles, Yosemite, San Diego, etc. If you're in that area I highly recommend checking out Griffith Park, especially the carousel! Its from 1926 and has some amazing horses. The LA Zoo, San Diego Zoo, and El Capitan Theatre are all awesome as well.

My biggest (and most biased ) suggestion of all would be to visit Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. Grand Teton is amazing, but often overlooked since its right next to Yellowstone. I don't think Yellowstone needs any introductions, haha. You can do horseback riding in both parks and see tons of animals. Jackson, Wyoming is nearby and its a very popular tourist destination. We haven't spent a ton of time there but it has a lot of cool stores, restaurants, and an elk refuge, although I don't know how many elk are there in summer/fall. I'd recommend visiting closer to the end of your trip if you'll be traveling after Breyerfest to try and avoid peak tourist season in the summer. Yellowstone is doable during tourist season but it can be really difficult to see or get to certain places when its packed.

[HelloGoodbye]

First of all, Breyerfest is absolutely wonderful!  I'll be there again in 2018 so hopefully we run into each other!

I highly, highly recommend Mammoth Caves National Park!  It's about two or so hours outside of Lexington.  I went there before Breyerfest this summer and it was seriously cool.  It is the longest cave in the World, and you can take tours inside of it.  It totally blew my mind and was absolutely well worth the drive. 

I'd also recommend taking a racehorse farm tour while you're in Kentucky.  They're really fascinating and it's amazing to see such beautiful racehorses up close and personal.  On a similar note, going and watching the morning workouts at Keeneland has been a highlight for me each time I've gone to Kentucky.  It's the best!

I may be a little biased since it's my hometown, but if you're looking for places to go in other states, Boston is a great city!  There's a ton of history and lots of amazing museums and cool things to do.  It also has the advantage of being a very walk-able city since it's not super giant (the public transportation system is good also, though). 

[Breyer600]

There's always the Kentucky Derby Museum in Louisville.

Outside of Kentucky, Chicago has lots of great museums my favorites being the Field Museum of Natural History and the Museum of Science and Industry, but there are plenty of other great places to visit there as well.  There's also a Medieval Times in the area.  It's not terribly far to visit the Tempel Lipizzans either.

I'll second the National Parks, particularly Mammoth Cave - I've been on one tour there and hope to get back for another in a different part of the cave.   

[lovefromsirius]

If you're going to be down south, you gotta have some real deal american barbeque. Seriously. Southern soul food is A+++ I'm a northerner and I gotta' say if the south did anything right, it was cooking.

[aquamarinemolly]

I don't know Kentucky well and I am an Northerner so I'm obviously biased but if you're coming to a few weeks, take a bus/train/flight up to New York City. It really is the most energetic exciting truly excellent place I've ever been...which is why I've made it my home.  ^_^

[SilverHorsey]

Wow thanks everyone for the great ides! National parks will definitely be on my visiting list!

I don't know Kentucky well and I am an Northerner so I'm obviously biased but if you're coming to a few weeks, take a bus/train/flight up to New York City. It really is the most energetic exciting truly excellent place I've ever been...which is why I've made it my home.  ^_^

Big Apple is on my list already, one can't go to America without visiting the famous statue of liberty! ^^ What other places would you recommend visiting? And is Lion King still playing on broadway?

[goddessofpeep]

There is *a lot* to do in this country, and I'm sure you'll be getting tons of suggestions.  Just keep in mind, this is a BIG place, and it works best if you figure out where things are in relation to each other, and make a plan accordingly.  It's *days* of driving to get from one coast to the other.  We drove from Seattle to Los Angeles recently, and it took more than two solid days of driving.  That's literally all we did - drive and take the odd lunch/bathroom break.

What you can see will depend on how long you're here, and how you want to travel.  Driving around the  USA has some serious benefits - this country is pretty much built around the concept of a "road trip", and you'll get to see a lot of things that you'd never get to see otherwise.  There are a *ton* of "roadside attractions" big and small all over this country in addition to the all the world famous stuff you probably already know about. However, the distances can be considerable, and if you want to hit a lot of the big cities/attractions(Disney World, New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, etc), you'll probably have to fly between them unless you're here for a good month.  Flying takes less time(technically - it's not fun to fly here anymore and every time you get on a plane expect to waste a full day no matter how short the flight), but you'll be missing out on the small things, and possibly some of the large ones if there's no airport nearby.  You can do a combination of flying and driving around.  Every airport I've been to has had a car rental attached to it somewhere.  Public transportation outside of planes is terrible here, so renting a car is not a bad idea.  Except in New York.  Don't drive in New York.  Ever. EVER.  Driving in Los Angeles is no picnic either, but you don't have much of a choice:/

If you want to do the National Parks, many of the nearby large cities have tours you can book to get you there and back again without a car.  Las Vegas is one of the main places you can pick up a tour of the Grand Canyon, and several other parks as well.  If you want to check out the rain forests in Washington State, Seattle has a lot of tours that'll get you there.  Los Angeles has some tours to Yosemite and even the Grand Canyon.  You'll need to do some research, but if you're not comfortable driving around, tours are probably the way to go. 


If you're interested in some of the smaller, wacky attractions the USA has to offer, check out this site:
https://www.roadsideamerica.com/

They also have an app for you smart phone that you can buy.  It's totally worth it if you like weird little museums and just plain weird and wonderful stuff! 

My advice is to map out what you want to do, and figure out the distances involved as best you can.  Unless you have unlimited time to spend here, you'll probably have to cross some things off the list just due to the travel involved.  If you can find a cluster of things you'd like to see within a small area, that's a really good place to start your trip planning!

Good luck!

[Mewtwofan1]

Oh how exciting! I live north of the border, so I can’t really help in this department. But congrats on going! The only real thing I can offer is choose to spend and budget your time wisely. America is about the same size of Canada, and it takes days to travel from coast to coast here. Remember to plan and be flexible. And follow American laws. Not sure how different they are, but if you’re like me and only know metric, might be a good idea to figure out some conversions to help you on your way. 

[sangeeth]

Lion King is still on Broadway, I watched it this May. They also have Aladdin, which is supposed to be magical.

If you are timing this around Michael Jackson's birthday, you should head over to Mandalay Bay, Vegas to catch the MJ ONE show. There's a museum there and his estate is planning something special for the birthday.

[SilverHorsey]

There is *a lot* to do in this country, and I'm sure you'll be getting tons of suggestions.  Just keep in mind, this is a BIG place, and it works best if you figure out where things are in relation to each other, and make a plan accordingly.  It's *days* of driving to get from one coast to the other.  We drove from Seattle to Los Angeles recently, and it took more than two solid days of driving.  That's literally all we did - drive and take the odd lunch/bathroom break.

What you can see will depend on how long you're here, and how you want to travel.  Driving around the  USA has some serious benefits - this country is pretty much built around the concept of a "road trip", and you'll get to see a lot of things that you'd never get to see otherwise.  There are a *ton* of "roadside attractions" big and small all over this country in addition to the all the world famous stuff you probably already know about. However, the distances can be considerable, and if you want to hit a lot of the big cities/attractions(Disney World, New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, etc), you'll probably have to fly between them unless you're here for a good month.  Flying takes less time(technically - it's not fun to fly here anymore and every time you get on a plane expect to waste a full day no matter how short the flight), but you'll be missing out on the small things, and possibly some of the large ones if there's no airport nearby.  You can do a combination of flying and driving around.  Every airport I've been to has had a car rental attached to it somewhere.  Public transportation outside of planes is terrible here, so renting a car is not a bad idea.  Except in New York.  Don't drive in New York.  Ever. EVER.  Driving in Los Angeles is no picnic either, but you don't have much of a choice:/

If you want to do the National Parks, many of the nearby large cities have tours you can book to get you there and back again without a car.  Las Vegas is one of the main places you can pick up a tour of the Grand Canyon, and several other parks as well.  If you want to check out the rain forests in Washington State, Seattle has a lot of tours that'll get you there.  Los Angeles has some tours to Yosemite and even the Grand Canyon.  You'll need to do some research, but if you're not comfortable driving around, tours are probably the way to go. 


If you're interested in some of the smaller, wacky attractions the USA has to offer, check out this site:
https://www.roadsideamerica.com/

They also have an app for you smart phone that you can buy.  It's totally worth it if you like weird little museums and just plain weird and wonderful stuff! 

My advice is to map out what you want to do, and figure out the distances involved as best you can.  Unless you have unlimited time to spend here, you'll probably have to cross some things off the list just due to the travel involved.  If you can find a cluster of things you'd like to see within a small area, that's a really good place to start your trip planning!

Good luck!

Thank you for the big input! Big distances is definitely going to be a new thing for me because Estonia is so small you can like drive through it with just two hours and for us, a two hour drive is already pretty tiresome We are certainly planning on using planes on the longer distances and cars while on shorter distances, is it okay to drive around Lexington, in Kentucky? Traffic actually is the scariest part for us, after all, our country only has like 1,3 million people while you have like a few million living in one city, so that changes the traffic conditions radically also.

Lion King is still on Broadway, I watched it this May. They also have Aladdin, which is supposed to be magical.

If you are timing this around Michael Jackson's birthday, you should head over to Mandalay Bay, Vegas to catch the MJ ONE show. There's a museum there and his estate is planning something special for the birthday.

We are going to go around July, but it may fluctuate either to the end of June or until up to the start of August, so we are not sure yet. But I would love to see MJs show! Thanks for your input!

[goddessofpeep]

I haven't been to Lexington, so I can't comment on the driving conditions there.  I can tell you that in general, most cities have at least two weekday "rush hour" busy times a day - in the morning between 7am and 10am, and in the evening between 4pm and 6pm.  The bigger the city, the bigger the rush hour window.  I live in Los Angeles, and it feels like it's rush hour all the time:p  There's also smaller rush hour around noon as most working people have a lunch break, and they go out to get food or run quick errands.  That one isn't as bad, but you will have a longer wait at most restaurants at that time.   If you can avoid driving during the rush hour times, you'll have a lot easier time driving around in any city. 

I'd say check googlemaps for directions before you book anything.  It should give you a decent idea of what to expect distance and time-wise.  Also, it does have live traffic reports, so it can tell you on the day how bad the traffic is. 

Also be warned - the summer months are usually construction season for most of the country.  That can add some serious snarls to your plans if the roads you need to go on are under construction.  Not every road is under construction at all times of course, but there's a good chance a few will be somewhere in your trip.  Just factor that in to the possible driving time, and don't make too tight a schedule.  Los Angeles doesn't have a construction season - it's year round misery:p  Googlemaps can often let you know if there's construction on your route.

[kamakazee82]

MICHIGAN! lol totally a biased michagander tho lol Mackinaw city/island and traverse city have a lot of things to do, soooooooooooooooooooooooo many interior lakes to compliment the great lakes, we even have a Paradise MI and an amazingly awesome HELL MI lol Gay MI is a lot of fun too (best bar ever!!!!!!!!) state parks out the wazoo, theaters, museums (motown museum in detroit has Michael jackson's glove from thriller), just sooooooooooooooooooo much stuff lol

tripadvisor.com has a LOT of information and links to things and can be your best friend while traveling ... i love their easy access to hotels/things to do/restaurants/rentals/etc for wherever you are

[Vertefae]

Driving in Lexington is fine. It's not such a "big" city. Traffic is bad in the bigger cities like: New York, LA, Atlanta, New Orleans and Chicago. You can always use uber or lyft inside and around the cities.

[invaderhorizongreen]

If you like amusement parks go check out seabreeze in Rochester NY it has one of the oldest wooden coasters in the world, and one of the oldest parks in the country. They even have an antique carousel, if you are into Carousels go chick out the Hershel Carousel museum in NY as well.