I have one day to spend in your city. What must I see and do?

In My Humble Opinion
21

Shit, if they’d had that when I left, I might not of left.
Nah, I’d a left anyway. Couldn’t stand the weather. But it’s good to see folks from my hometown here at the dope.

As for my adopted hometown of Los Angeles, Ca:

Dodger Stadium
The beaches
The smog
The traffic
Staples Center (Lakers, Clippers, Kings)
South Central (don’t stop, keep the windows rolled up)
Universal Studios Hollywood
Toi on Sunset (Thai-Chinese food with a punk rock decor, open till 4AM everyday)
Roscoes Chicken and Waffles (yep, chicken AND waffles, on the same plate)
The LA Zoo (motto: “Where Animals do Hard Time”)
The Museum of Tolerence (everybody should see it once)
Amoeba Music (greatest record store ever)
Memorial Coliseum, home of the USC Trojans (don’t stop, keep the window rolled up)
Sunset Blvd
La Brea Tar Pit
The Hollywood Bowl
The Getty Museum

22

Dorkland.

Most importantly find the motorway headed South (why should you be different??)

If you are stuck here why not jump off something. The harbour bridge and the Sky tower welcome your urge to jump.

Visit an extinct volcano. So many to choose from. One Tree Hill (or as it as now known, NO tree Hill…a nasty moment with a Maori activist saw the end of the tree) is my favourite.

Visit the Hauraki gulf. Waiheke is full of vineyards. Rangitoto is Mars-like.

Drop by the viaduct. Ex-home of the Americas cup.

Shit just find the Southern motorway and then tell everyone how crap Auckland is, that will make you reeeaaaally special :smiley:

23

Nashville, TN:

-In the morning, visit Centennial Park and the Parthenon. There’s a small museum inside the Parthenon.
-Climb Telegraph Hill. The view from up there is great.
-I would recommend Fido for lunch. There’s also a place nearby called “The Pancake Factory” or something like that, but I’ve never gone there because the lines are too long. It’s supposed to be really good.
-Go hiking at Radnor Lake State natural area, which is technically within the city limits.
-At dinner, go downtown and get one of the dinner & music deals. Contrary to popular belief, it is not all just country music; there is something for every taste.

If anybody here is from Anchorage, please post in this thread because I will actually be spending one day in Anchorage on the way to my summer job.

24

You can visit the oldest surviviing timber frame house in America , right here in my town.

25

What a beautiful house. I love the living room with all the rugs. Thanks for the link. :slight_smile:

26

Boston’s Freedom Trail really is fun to walk. Kind of a compact array of historical sites. And right at the end you can go and visit the USS Constitution - which has the added fun of a security screening because it’s a military area. But it’s really worth seeing, in my opinion.

Any free time after that I’d be tempted to spend in the North End sampling from the array of Italian bakeries.

27

Carson City, Nevada

We always take visitors to Moundhouse to see the brothels. They are three of them down a little road off Rt. 50 next to the “Red Light,” junkyard. They used to be tacky beyond belief but a couple of years ago the owners fixed them up to where they are just tacky.

Lake Tahoe. Okay, not in Carson, but only 30 minutes away. The ranch house used in the filming of Bonanza is there, its kind of cool if you grew up watching the show.

We have, shock of shocks, casinos.

Come late next week and I’ll show you my new Softail Deluxe.

28

I saw that on a news show (the “Today” show, maybe?) when the Olympics were in Sydney a few years ago, and have wanted to do it ever since. It looks like a lot of fun.

29

In Ocean Ridge itself, there’s really only one tourist attraction: the beach. There’s no commercial development in town, so you can’t even go out for a meal. However, there’s lots to do in surrounding communities. If you only had one day, I’d recommend the beach, the Everglades and a scenic drive up Rt. AIA to Palm Beach, to see the shops on Worth Avenue. If those don’t sound good, or you add a second day, I’d take you to the Japanese gardens or maybe a day trip to Miami Beach or the Keys. I think those are still consider part of our “local area.”

30

Dallas, TX

I guess we’d start at the 6th floor museum and see the whole JFK assassination area. That would lead us to the West End. After that, perhaps off to Deep Ellum. Then, if you’re a sports fan perhaps a tour of Texas Stadium. The Ballpark in Arlington (I’m ignoring the corporate name) is also nice.

Kinda hard to say. There aren’t many ‘Must see’ attractions in Dallas, but I’m sure a decent day could be made of it. Shoppers will probably head to the flagship Neiman Marcus or the Galleria.

31

Baltimore:
The Edgar Allen Poe Museum and the Babe Ruth Museum are both kinda neat. Small, and not much to either of them. They’re both little row houses converted to museums, but if you’re a fan of either one, you wouldn’t want to miss them.

If you have kids, you need to hit the Science Center at the harbor. A hands-on kind of place, with exhibits that change frequently.

The National Aquarium if pretty neat, too, if you don’t mind standing in line for hours and spending a small fortune to get in.

The USS Constellation has been restored and sits in Baltimore’s harbor and is an interesting tour.

If you want Italian food, then skip on over to Little Italy and find a wide variety of places to eat.

32

I’d certainly be doing that…but only thanks to Bill Hicks :wink:

33

Your post cracked me the hell up, very funny. I’ve driven through Farmington several times and it seems like a very pleasant place. Is the brewpub any good? I’ve been tempted to stop several times but we are always in a rush to get to Sugarloaf (or to get home from Sugarloaf).

34

Houston, TX.

  • Johnson Space Center (The Houston in “Houston We have a Problem.”)
  • The Galleria (used to be the biggest Mall in North America, now in the top five)
  • A game (depending on Season) in one of our three brand new, publicly financed sports arenas.
  • We have a fairly large Holocaust Museum here (I hear it is on par with the one in DC).
  • Six Flags Astroworld
  • The largest US Theater District outside of NY
  • Gallery Furniture (heh)
  • A pretty decent Musuem District
  • The Houston Zoo (It’s not San Diego or anything)
35

Edinburgh -
visit the castle, Holyrood, see the Royal Mile, go into the “haunted” dungeons (or whatever they’re called).

Wigan -
Wigan Pier (one for Orwell fans), see one of the (if not the) worlds largest operational steam engines, visit Haigh Hall (old stately home).

36

I live in Antelope Acres, California.

Don’t come here, your time is better spent in LA. Unless it’s springtime. Then we’re close to the Poppy Reserve, and you can see, uh, poppies. Not opium poppies, so sorry.

I guess if you went into Palmdale you could see Blackbird Park. There are SR-71’s there. Woohoo.

On a clear day, you can see the Tehachapi Windmills from my place. Double woohoo.

Used to, the HAZMAT would be out here about once a year. Ever seen a meth lab?

I actually kinda like where I live, all kidding aside. It’s gotten too ritzy for the metheads since the housing boom.

37

It’s certainly well worth doing, although a bit pricey. You get great views from the top of the Bridge.

38

Yeah, my uncle and aunt (from UK) did that last year. Often when I’m driving across the Bridge, I can see the little band of people in their grey jumpsuits climbing along up there…

Re *Sydney, I’d also add: Go to the Art Gallery of NSW, the Australian Museum, the Rocks (have a drink at the Hero of Waterloo pub, which is pretty “vintage” (as are the old dudes at the bar - they’re so old that, when I met my parents there for lunch one Sunday, they all turned and leered at my Mum, but ignored me - I must have been too foetus-like, agewise, to ogle). Also go to the Blue Mountains if time permits - very clean-air, picturesque, antique-shoppy, etc. And I recommend the bars at Circular Quay.

39

I think we’ve got one of your transplants up here at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival! (I love all of the cross-pollination that goes on in regional theater.) Do you know a Miss Tyler Layton?

40

To add some to what watsonwil posted for Houston:

A nice day trip, for someone of my mindset, might be to head out early and either go to NASA (Johnson) or alternatively, go to the Memorial at the San Jacinto Battlefield. That’ll bring you up to speed on Texas’ War of Independance quickly enough, and you can go to the top of the monument for a great view of the city. That all won’t take too long, and you can round out the morning across the road touring BB-35, the Battleship Texas.

From there it’s a quick zip down 146 to either stop and peruse the Boardwalk in Kemah, or continue on down to Galveston, where you can catch a few rays on the beaches, take a (free) ferry ride to the Bolivar Penninsula, visit Seawolf Park, or the Moody Gardens or, as I’m prone to, go next door and visit the Lone Star Flight Museum. For a completely privately funded effort, it’s pretty impressive. They have ~40 planes, mostly WWII era, and one thing you’ll notice is that most of them have oil drip pans below their engines. They fly these things!

They had an airshow down there a week ago and I believe the annual air show at Ellington Field (formerly Ellington AFB) was this weekend. Which brings to mind that we have various festivals throughout the year (Westheimer Arts Festival, Dickens on the Strand, Mardi Gras, Houston International Festival, etc.) that can be fun if you’re here when they’re happening.

And you can soon spend an afternoon at the Schlitterbahn Water Park.

If you’re like me, the LSFM can absorb some time, but the casual visitor could wrap it up with time to head back towards downtown via Highway 6 and get over to Brazos Bend State Park for a quick visit with the ‘gators. You’ll see a bunch and afternoon, when they’re snoozin’ in the sun, is the best time to visit because there’s nothing between you and them. If you want to stay until it’s dark, there’s also an observatory there.

Then back into town with time to change and head downtown for the evening. Go a little early, so you have time to look around. A staple of my tours for out of town visitors is a look at some of the incredible architecture in downtown Houston.

Then it’s off to the Theater District for dinner at any one of many great restaurants, finishing up in time to perhaps see a play at Jones Hall or see the Houston Grand Opera or the Houston Symphony. They all tend towards great. The one I attend most often is the Symphony, and that lets out at 10:00. A great time to amble on over to the State Bar of Texas, in the old Rice Hotel, or any of the other great bars within walking distance. If you’d rather ride, hire a horse carriage. It’s really amazing what a transformation has taken place in downtown Houston in the last decade. If you’re there during the day, the Downtown Aquarium is worth a visit.

watsonwil listed quite a few of Houston’s assets, and I must say that a “pretty decent Musuem District” is a modest description. I live on the border of the Museum District and the Montrose and visit the museums probably more than most. There’s no way one could do the Museum of Fine Arts Houston justice in two full days. The Menil, which sits about 50 yards from me right now, has one of the most extensive surrealist collections in existence. It’s a bit of a trip to see some surrealist Man Ray, Salvador Dali or whatever icon that you’ve seen reproduced elsewhere right in front of you, in the original. The Contemporary Arts Museum and the Museum of Natural Science bear mention as well. There’re 18 or 19 museums overall in the district.

While there’s nothing touristy to do there that I know of, if you’re in the Museum District/Hermann Park area, you can contemplate from there the Emerald City that is the Houston Medical Center. From the outside it appears as its own metropolis - I believe it’s the largest medical facility in the world.

While I’ve never done it (hmmm…, idea here?), you can book a waterborne tour of the Port of Houston, which is the second largest port in the country and the first in international shipping. Cool to see the big boats.

Other minor attractions might include The Orange Show and the Art Car Museum (which seems to stay rather small as the collection seems to move around - well, you know how cars are).

There’s more, but that’s it. I’m spent.