A Geek's Tour Of North America? 1335
PlanetThoughtful writes "Later this year I'm taking advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to backpack around the U.S. and Canada (Sept 2003 to whenever I have to come home again). Being a lifelong Australian geek (think of Steve Irwin and then stop, because I'm nothing like that and neither is anyone else, Steve Irwin included) I'm desperately curious: what would make it to the travel itinerary of Slashdot's all-time geek-tour of North America? Think electronics, architecture, astronomy, enlightenment! Think gadgets, bookstores, software, comics, The Library Of Congress, The Smithsonian, Wanting To See Really Amazing Things! Think travelling on a budget, then forget about that if it's a 'You Must See This Before You Die' sort of suggestion. And then stop thinking about these things, and actually tell me!"
Graceland (Score:5, Informative)
NRAO - National Radio Astronomy Observatory (Score:4, Interesting)
It has several HUGE antennas for radio astronomy, and they give the tour in an old 1950s diesel bus. Modern cars can only come within a certain distance, as they have too many electronics, and mess up the observations.
Very cool, although short, tour.
Re:NRAO - National Radio Astronomy Observatory (Score:3, Informative)
You might also want to see NRAO's Very Large Array between Datil and Socorro New Mexico. It is also out in the middle of nowhere, great for hiking.
Well... great for driving, maybe. From Socorro, you've got 30 miles of serious desert before the Village of Magdalena, then close to thirty more before you hit the VLA.
People do die out here, folks, from walking in the desert without enough water.
Remember, Trinity Site and the VLA are only open to the public during certain times of the year, mostly pretty ho
Re:NRAO - National Radio Astronomy Observatory (Score:3, Interesting)
Also, in Fort Myers: Edison Museum. Nevermind what kind of guy TAE really was, the s
Re:NRAO - National Radio Astronomy Observatory (Score:5, Informative)
More importantly, go to Silicon Valley and check out Halted Specialties (surplus electronics), Weird Stuff Warehouse, Fry's, the old HQ of Atari, Rooster T. Feathers on El Camino (today a comedy club, but formerly the site of Andy Capp's tavern, where the first PONG machine was rolled out), etc.
Burning Man (Score:5, Interesting)
you will not be disappointed
Burning Man at Home (Score:4, Funny)
Pay an escort of your affectional preference subset to not bathe for five days, cover themselves in glitter, dust, and sunscreen, wear a skanky neon wig, dance close naked, then say they have a lover back home at the end of the night.
Tear down your house. Put it in a truck. Drive 10 hours in any direction. Put the house back together. Invite everyone you meet to come over and party. When everyone leaves, follow them back to their homes, drink all their booze, and break things.
Buy a new set of expensive camping gear. Break it.
Stack all your fans in one corner of your living room. Put on your most fabulous outfit. Turn the fans on full blast. Dump a vacuum cleaner bag in front of them.
Pitch your tent next to the wall of speakers in a crowded, noisy club. Go to sleep. Wake up 2 hours later in a 110+ degree tent.
Only use the toilet in a house that is at least 3 blocks away. Drain all the water from the toilet. Only flush it every 4 days. Hide all the toilet paper.
Visit a restaurant and pay them to let you alternate lying in the walk-in freezer and sitting in the oven.
Don't sleep for 5 days. Take a wide variety of hallucinogenic/emotion altering drugs. Pick a fight with your boyfriend/girlfriend.
Cut, burn, electrocute, bruise, and sunburn various parts of your body. Forget how you did it. Don't go to a doctor.
Buy a new pair of favorite shoes. Throw one shoe away.
Spend a whole year rummaging through thrift stores for the perfect, most outrageous costume. Forget to pack it.
Listen to music you hate for 168 hours straight, or until you think you are going to scream. Scream. Realize you'll love the music for the rest of your life.
Get so drunk you can't recognize your own house. Walk slowly around the block for 5 hours.
Sprinkle dirty sand in all your food.
Mail $200 to the Reno casino of your choice.
Go to a museum. Find one of Salvador Dali's more disturbing but beautiful paintings. Climb inside it.
Spend thousands of dollars on a deeply personal art work. Hide it in a funhouse on the edge of the city. Blow it up.
Set up a DJ system downwind of a three alarm fire. Play a short loop of drum'n'bass until the embers are cold.
Have a 3 a.m. soul baring conversation with a drag nun in platforms, a crocodile, and Bugs Bunny. Be unable to tell if you're hallucinating.
Re:Burning Man at Home (Score:5, Interesting)
http://www.marxidad.com/BurningMan/Humor/Burnin
Re:Burning Man (Score:5, Informative)
That reminds me of something else:
The Blue Man Group
http://www.blueman.com/
Basically, it's a group of really cool percussion, all orchestrated in amazingly unique and inventive ways. There's a lot of science in their music, which is quite fantastic - especially if you're into percussion at all.
As far as other things to not miss: the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum is a perrenial favorite of mine. If you're in NYC, I really enjoy the Museum of New York City (which chronicles the history of the place as it grew - interesting if you're into futuristic city building schemes such as archologies, etc.).
It's hard to tell what you're after, really. Cool architecture? I really enjoy going through the various tunnels connecting Jersey and Manhattan. I find it fascinating to see the train yards of Detroit from the air, which are right near the airport. There are also sights such as Mount Rushmore, which are traditional tourist sights, but are fairly marvelous in their creation, too.
Needles Highway, in the Black Hills of South Dakota is also an amazing place to drive about.
Then there's Vegas, for the Ricer in you: florescence.
The Golden Gate in San Franscisco is nifty.
Large buildings such as teh Empire State Building might also be nice, who knows.
At Burning Man you get to *be* the Blue Man Group (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm not kidding about being the BMG: there are camps that'll airbrush you blue, or any other color you want. There are percussive sculpture for you to play. You can animate yourself with el-wire (what they used for that animated desert). You can dance under strobelights.
But beyond that you can be the "Blue Women with Flamethrowers" group. You can be "the entirely blue Tiki bar towed by a lobster" group. Like another poster said, Burning Man is whatever you want it to be. Sure, you can be boring and do the drugs and drunk thing, but I think this is less common that others have said- you'd miss out on so much.
Re:Burning Man (Score:4, Informative)
It also has it's downside:
- The desert is as harsh as any Austrailian Outback. Be sure to read the website about survival thoroughly.
- Many of the events are dangerous. This is part of the excitement, but people get hurt every year. There's usually a stupid/drunk/high person who dies every event. That said, it's a miracle that more people haven't died, or that their hasn't been a catastrophe killing a dozen people. Once again, part of the excitement.
- Don't go alone, or you're going to be really lonely. Go with a group. Despite the seemingly easy nature of BM, most people are pretentious as hell. They're also stoned off their gourd. Hard to make real friends that way.
- Bring props, tents, costumes, and stuff to dress up with. If you dress in 'normal' clothes, the pretentious people will pick on you.
- Be very aware of the sex, drugs and rock & roll nature of the event. 90% of the attendees are drunk or stoned half the time. Sex is rampant. Be VERY careful if you have a partner/spouse. I know more then one couple who got divorced after BM.
Re:Burning Man (Score:3, Interesting)
I fly rockets at Blackrock [aeropac.org], have been going there 3-4 times a year for longer than BM has been going there (I also burn) - common sense counts for a lot, so does planning ahead - other than what you normally take for camping you need extra sunscreen, water and shade and you have to make sure your tent wont be blown away. (the following don't really apply to BM ...) Don't go in the hot springs - some ar
Re:can someone explain what Burning man is? (Score:5, Informative)
However I have found one statement to be true for almost everyone you speak with in the community.
Burningman IS what you make it.
Is it a music festival? Maybe, there are a lot of neat bands out there and some really interesting musicians.
Is it a Crazy art festival with lots of nekkid people? Maybe, if you wish to be clothing optional yourself and see lots of neat art you can do that too!
It's much easier to answer what Burning Man is NOT.
Burning Man is NOT a festival where you go to see nekkid people, that's what Marty Gra is for.
Burning Man is NOT about buying and selling trinkits. Gifts have no price.
Burning Man is NOT a place where you can just show up and hope to pay X number of dollars to get a bed, some food and watch the whole thing. We WILL laugh and make fun of you at the gate if you try this, and we have.
Participate )'(
don't come here! (Score:4, Funny)
Re:don't come here! (Score:5, Funny)
Cape Canaveral, Florida! (Score:5, Insightful)
Geek Bus tour at the Kennedy Space Center (Score:5, Informative)
- The "regular" bus tour which rides around some launch pads, gets you within a mile of the Shuttle launch facility. 45-60 minutes long
- The "space geek" premium bus tour. My wife and I took this April of last year, and I recommend it. Costs an extra $25 each per person, but you get a couple out in the launch area, drive within 1/4 mile of the Shuttle launch pad, and several hundred feet from the giant Shuttle housing building (if you're lucky, you might see part of one of the shuttles itself). Those things are HUGE!
The people who take the premium tour are very geeky. When we saw the left rocket and the giant fuel canister of one of the shuttles, people were hooting and hollering and clawing all over the bus to get a glance. Like birders who saw the super endangered blue-tufft penguin for the first time. Very funny
The premium tour doesn't happen during times of heightened security, and only runs a few times a day, so plan ahead. It was closed from Sept 11 - Mid April 2002. My wife and I were on one of the first dozen tours of 2002.
If the tour is running that day, consider yourself lucky, and jump at the opportunity. It's worth it.
Re:Geek Bus tour at the Kennedy Space Center (Score:3, Informative)
As fo
Re:Cape Canaveral, Florida! (Score:3, Interesting)
I'd recommend Palomar Observatory. Not only is it one of the nicer observatories in the country, it's in beautiful southern California.
I can second this one. I used to actually live on Palomar Mountain near the scope. Parties for mountain residents were held at the observatory rec center. When we'd get snowed in on the mountain we'd go door to door checking on everyone. The astronomers and such were the nicest bunch of folks. They were always offering a 'real' tour of the scope but I always put it off.
Re:Cape Canaveral, Florida! (Score:3, Informative)
Or if your more into history, go to the Lowell Observitory on Mars Hill in flagstaff, where Percival Lowell discovered pluto, and where he mapped the 'canals' of mars. Also a small m
Re:Cape Canaveral, Florida! (Score:3, Informative)
The shuttle has never landed at Vandenberg. They had a shuttle launch facility once, but Florida was cheaper. And no earthquakes to damage your nice buildings.
Vandenberg is located on the California Central Coast (North of Santa Barbara). They have a zillion rocket pads. I thi
Bay Area! (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Bay Area! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Bay Area! (Score:3, Informative)
The top also has some hidden views that are quite spectacular in their own right.
If the geek in question is at all interested in military history, the Marin headlands were use
Re:Bay Area! (Score:3, Informative)
My partner and I lucked into the Nike missile base being manned. It's really cool. We even got to go up on the missile lift. :)
There are also a variety of gun emplacements and bunkers that you can wander around on. You can also get inside them, but they're mostly barricaded and I have no idea how safe or unsafe they are.
Over in the East Bay, there's the Lawrence Hall of Science [berkeley.edu], which is an okay hands-on science museum, but is immediately recognizable as the home of Colossus from Colossus: The Forbi [imdb.com]
Geek Tour links in the Bay Area (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Bay Area! (Score:3, Informative)
Why not visit Egg Troll's apartment?! (Score:5, Funny)
Book your reservation now [mailto], before its too late!!
Re:Bay Area! (Score:3)
The Muir Woods (Score:3, Interesting)
Something to see- (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Something to see- (Score:5, Insightful)
Washington D.C. (Score:5, Informative)
Forget the big sights, Fry's is where it's at (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Forget the big sights, Fry's is where it's at (Score:5, Interesting)
http://www.diefenbunker.ca/
See the only Cold War, atomic bomb proof, command centre completely open to the public.
By far the coolest thing I've ever seen!
I'd put it number one on the geek tour! A key part of NORAD... mainframes and all....
Re:Forget the big sights, Fry's is where it's at (Score:5, Funny)
Wait until you have to return something to them... You'll really shed some tears.
I quess lots of others [google.com] think so as well.
Re:Forget the big sights, Fry's is where it's at (Score:3, Funny)
Damn...
So let me get this straight, soft_guy was at Fry's looking for XXX. Were you trying to upgrade your nick to hard_guy?
Please accept my apologies for a complete lack of self control.
Smithsonian Air & Space Museum (Score:5, Informative)
My law firm had a dinner there one evening last year in the great foyer hall, under all the oribters and rockets and planes, and we got hours of uninterrupted time in the museum. I've never been happier with my job, not ever.
Re:Smithsonian Air & Space Museum (Score:5, Informative)
Check it out: http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/.
Dayton is a nice city too. I should know, I live there. Besides, all of the world's greatest inventions come from here: powered flight, electric starter, Teflon, those insulated heat bags that Domino's pizza uses, home of LexisNexis (the world's best search engine. Hey, it's got twice the docs as the internet, or so I'm told by those higher up in the company), even the pop-top can.
Steve Irwin (Score:3, Funny)
Many Americans like his show (myself included), but that doesn't mean that we think of Steve Irwin as the prototypical Australian, no more than Paul Hogan, or Russel Crowe, etc.
I would hate for other to judge all Americans by, say, George W. Bush.
Re:Steve Irwin (Score:4, Funny)
A guy I know was standing in line at immigration control in Sydney after a delayed flight from Hong Kong. The guy in front of him was British business man and handed the customs person his passport. The Brit was giving terse, unfriendly answers to the questions he was being asked. When asked if he had ever been convicted of a crime, the British businessman was pushed over his limit of bureaucratic annoyance and replied "I didn't think it was a requirement anymore." He was refused entry!
Anyway, if you had to live with Irwin, Newton-John, et al, you'd be pissy, too!
In rural Ohio (Score:5, Informative)
Re:In rural Ohio (Score:5, Informative)
If you go near the end of the season, which if you are going in September it gets affordable because the weather is cold in that area around that time of the year.
Usually they are only open on the weekends in September so plan accordingly. Hotels get cheaper the further you stay away from cedar point, and September gets into the off months so rates are affordable. I know there are some camp grouds around too if you are into that.
Also if you are in neighboring cities before going to Cedar Point, keep your eyes peeled for coupons, you can usually save a couple of bucks by buying a can of Pepsi with a coupon printed on it...
No I don't work for Cedar point, i'm just a huge fan of Roller Coasters!
Re:In rural Ohio (Score:3, Informative)
I don't know if I would clasify it as a "once in a lifetime" experience, but if you are at all interested
DON'T FORGET!! (Score:5, Funny)
...
a towel!
Marconi wireless station on Cape Cod.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Plus nice beaches on the Cape, although it is kind of crowded sometimes. Whale watching is fun too.
-- ac at work
Powells (Score:3, Informative)
Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry... (Score:2, Interesting)
Oh and on the techie side, don't forget NASA in Houston.
Re:Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry... (Score:5, Informative)
Who needs technology, we have beer and deep dish pizza!
Portland OR (Score:5, Interesting)
computer museum, Bozeman MT (Score:2)
There's also a dinosaur museum there.
Also, Drummheller, Alberta has a big dinosaur museum, which I have been to and enjoyed. They find a lot of dinosaurs out there.
Computer Museum in Boston. (Score:2)
But the Computer Museum is pretty high-quality. And Boston's an easy city to get around by mass transit, as opposed to much of the rest of this country. Resign yourself to the fact that you may have to rent a car a few times.
Re:Computer Museum in Boston. (Score:4, Informative)
The facility itself closed in 1999, and the adjacent Children's Museum expanded into at least some of the space. It's pretty cool, too, however. And the Museum of Science is terrific.
Up here on the North Shore where I live, there's a pretty neat exhibit at the Peabody Essex Museum [pem.org] up in Salem. A Chinese house from the provinces was dismantled and re-assembled inside the museum as an tourable exhibit. There's all kinds of stuff about construction techniques used, the design and the simple utility of the building that's documented as part of the whole exhibit. Not technology-related (except vaguely by 16th century standards), but tremendously geeky.
Shuttle launch (Score:2)
I don't think there's anything more amazing than seeing a space craft take off.
I'm planning to go back and take my wife and son to florida just to see another launch - it's an experience of a life time, and well worth it, whatever the cost in time an money.
Clearly, for the budget-limited geek, (Score:3, Funny)
His own.
Oh, with a year's supply of microwave meals.
Actually, here are some serious suggestions. (Score:3, Informative)
(2) Like caves? Not really into spelunking? Find out some local walk-in natural caves in your area. I know in Virginia, there are lots. You need to get permission from whatever farmer owns the land, and you need a Nat. Geological Survey map [try the nearest university library], and you need a friend.
That's it.
(3) Here's something really cool, one-in-a-world. If you like it, fine. If you don't, then skip it. But it's Tide Spring. There's a
Silicon Valley... (Score:3, Interesting)
Intel has a museum in Santa Clara, The Tech museum in San Jose is a must-visit, and the Apple Store in Cupertino is a place people who aren't Apple staff can visit to pay respects to the first true success story of the area.
Mod this post -1 Obvious. ^_~
The Big Tire (Score:3, Interesting)
Alamo Drafthouse (Score:4, Informative)
The Secret Stash (Score:5, Insightful)
35 Broad St
Red Bank, NJ
There be fun in Nevada! (Score:5, Funny)
Very geek friendly.
The Exploratorium in San Francisco (Score:3, Informative)
Re:The Exploratorium in San Francisco (Score:3, Informative)
Two in New Mexico (Score:5, Interesting)
The Very Large Array [nrao.edu] - Gigantic Radio Astronomy installation
The Trinity Test Site [army.mil]. Only open a few times a year, your chance to see where the first atomic bomb was tested.
Re:Two in New Mexico (Score:3, Funny)
Bring _strong_ sunscreen.
Well (Score:3, Interesting)
Plus you might learn something new about Native Americans.
Walt Disney World (Score:5, Interesting)
Also, check out Downtown Disney, they have an excellent arcade there, where you pay ~$15 and you can play until it closes. Plus you can design and ride this cool virtual rollercoaster that rivals the real coasters there, if you make a point of making a very extreme virtual coaster. The guys manning the area can give you some pointers. Make sure you hit Epcot and MGM, you can speed through the Magic Kingdom (too much little kid stuff).
Re:Walt Disney World (Score:3, Informative)
National Cryptologic Museum (Score:4, Informative)
Our National Parks (Score:4, Insightful)
See also http://www.nps.gov/. Looks like they have a good interactive map at http://data2.itc.nps.gov/parksearch/state/usamap.
The coasts (Score:5, Funny)
At least, this is what my friends in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco tell me. It must be true, because they're the elite of America.
DC Area suggestions (Score:4, Informative)
I would highly recomend taking a day (or even a week) to work your way through all the smithsonian museums you are interested in. My favorite is the air and space museum which has such things as the Spirit of St. Louis and one of the planes that dropped an A-Bomb on Japan
Also, while in the dc area you could drive ~ 10 miles out to college park and see if you could sneak in to see D.root-servers.net (I think it is either in the Computer and Space Sciences building or the A. V. Williams Building) I went there for 4 years and never could get a straight answer as to where it is.
hmmm, maybe visiting all the DNS root servers would provide for an interesting place to start planning your trip
Computers, books, comics, beer (Score:3, Informative)
Then hop across the country to New York and check out the best of the Barne's and Nobles [tinyurl.com], the one in downtown Manhattan. Not what you are thinking. This isn't just some big bookstore like every other big bookstore. This is the one that caters to the university students, and they have every textbook imaginable through the annexes. A very geeky way to spend your afternoon.
Then wander down to 13th and Broadway to see Forbidden Planet comics shop, or really any of these comic shops in New York [ny.com] to get your comic jones. While in New York, you might as well check out all the tourist things anyway, cuz you know you will. And when you do, being Aussie and all, you'll want to hit the bar scene at night. Lots of good bar-hopping in Manhattan in the East 70s on 2nd and 1st Avenues.
Computers, books, comics, beer -- what more could a geek ask for. Have fun, mate!
LA Geek Spots! (Score:5, Informative)
Palamar [caltech.edu] Telescope.
Then again there is Cal Tech [caltech.edu] in Pasadena.
Next you can stop at JPL [nasa.gov].
There is also Mt. Wilson above Los Angeles. [mtwilson.edu]
Of course you could also goto Griffith Observatory [griffithobs.org] but it's closed for a renovation.
All these are in the San Diego/Los Angeles area.
Heck, if you are into art/old books/old stuff there is the Getty [getty.edu].
And of course the Huntington [huntington.org] with their copy of the Guttenburg bible.
We also have Edwards Airforce Base [af.mil] which is where the shuttle use to land, but they put on a heck of an air show.
And when traveling to the LA area you need to fly into the Burbank airport [burbankairport.com]. They built the SR-71, the F117 and several other toys right there...
When you are done with Los Angeles area head on up to the San Fransisco area and check out the Valley. I'm sure a couple more people here can fill you in on those spots.
MAn I think I'm going to love looking at this thread!
Cray Supercomputer exhibit (Score:4, Informative)
I haven't been there in a while, but if you find yourself in the Midwest (which has some beautiful places, so long as you avoid winter!), the $3 admission is definitely worth the stop. It's located in Chippewa Falls, WI. [chippewacounty.com]
New York City. (Score:3, Informative)
Canal Street: the closest thing New York has to a technological flea market. All sorts of weird tech stores there -- but they're heavily industrial, not consumer-oriented. Motors, rotors, 4'x8' sheets of lexan, ancient keyboards for obsolete mainframe terminals, you name it. And, the Trader! Possibly one of the coolest army/navy stores ever. I once saw the heads up display and targeting system from a Huey Cobra on sale there for 1500.00. Foot-and-a-half wide IR spotlight and all, ready to mount to your VW!
Any of a number of museums around NYC, but some really good ones are:
* The metropolitan museum of art
* the museum of natural history and Hayden planetarium
* the museum of modern art
* (way, way uptown -- get a cab) The cloisters, which are an absolute MUST SEE. The man who built this museum actually acquired a number of real monasteries from Europe and flew them to New York stone by stone, rebuilding them into a huge complex which houses a collection of medaeval art that just has to be seen to be believed. During the summer, the cloisters for which this museum is named are in bloom, and you can hang out in them (cloisters are small meditation gardens that were maintained by monks, usually with an arrangement of pillars around a central clearing).
Check out the subways, but stick to the downtown and midtown areas. If you get off at West 4th station, you can hang out in the village! Lotsa fun. Great bars on Bleecker street. I mean GREAT.
I don't remember the exact location, but I think Sony maintains a technology visitor's center with all sorts of interesting displays. It should be in the phone book, I think it's in midtown.
Definitely check out a few cybercafes, and you'll want to see the huge recreation center they built on the West side, on 12th Avenue.
You should check out the statue of liberty if you can, and Ellis Island as well; the ferry rides are wonderful.
And, just to see what it's like, take the Staten Island Ferry. It's huge, weirdly colored, and a nice ride. Don't wander around Staten Island, though. It's, ah, what's the word I'm looking for? SEEDY. And, there's a chance you'll get mugged, especially later on in the day. Hang out on the dock until the Ferry goes back to Manhattan.
My favorite obscure geek spot (Score:3, Informative)
Re:My favorite obscure geek spot (Score:3, Informative)
I don't - it's right outside my window :-)
265 Massachusetts Ave Cambridge, MA
http://web.mit.edu/museum/
And while you're at it, come walk around the MIT [mit.edu] campus. I hear tell there's also some kind of finishing school [harvard.edu] farther up Massachusetts Ave, but it's not really worth visiting.
Boston (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Boston (Score:3, Interesting)
And, if you do manage to get here by September, you might be able to get on a Big Dig Tour [bigdig.com], and see the tunnel and bridge close up before they let the cars on the southbound portion. It's a lot of fun - I just did one. Bring a camera and some high-speed film.
And, while you're in Boston, you can see America's First Subwa
Montreal (Score:3, Funny)
oklahoma, texas, louisianna, california (Score:3, Interesting)
Oklahoma - Route 66 (old dusty cross country road that holds mystique for car buffs who love gas gussling classics) runs through Oklahoma City, home of the Shopping Cart, and the Parking Meter. Also, AWACS, Seagate (CHEAP HUGE HARDDRIVES!!!), fossils GALORE in the eastern mountain ranges, and more astronauts come from Oklahoma, so I suppose you could go see their graves or something..
Texas - If you can just transport yourself to Austin Texas, somehow, it is well worth it. There you will find plenty of cyber cafes, vineyards, water sports (either variety), climbing, great food, wi-fi hot spots galore, a surviving tech industry, independent arts, the first known photograph and a gutenburg bible (univ. texas), live music, a large hacker community, and 6th street. I don't think there's much else in the rest of Texas.
Louisiana - Skip the rest of it and go straight to New Orleans. There you find beer. I can't remember much else of wh.. oh yes, history, jazz, culture, archaic rules and venues, colorful plants, smelly smells and.. wow.. just about a bit of everything. One can truly escape in New Orleans. Beware, as equipment tends to get wet and pots tend to get dirty in NO. Also, check out Grand Isle State Park.. it looks and smells like the garden of eden. its just an hour or so south of new orleans. The beach is beautful, you can camp there, and there's even lots of porpoise swimming about.
California - Skip everything and go straight to San Diego. Hit the 5 north or south to the 8.. head west to the beaches.. follow it into Ocean Beach via the Sunset cliffs blvd exit. Ocean Beach is the only place in san diego that time forgot. There is a mixed demographic makeup, rich in home owning ex and current hippies, along with every other facet of live available, including street life. There's even a wi-fi star bucks a block from the beach. just beware, ob'ceans HATE starbucks. You might get dirty looks on your way to the surf. Try the Hoodads for burger and a beer, and then head downtown to the San Diego Computer History museum. After that get some cheap wine (it's california) and settle into a fireworks show from Sea World.
-p
take a vacation from geek stuff (Score:4, Insightful)
Chuck that stuff and cut loose. TAKE A VACATION FROM BEING A GEEK!
Sure the Smithsonian etc. wouuld be great, but I would suggest a non geek vacation... who knows, maybe you'll find something more enjoyable than a 20 hour codeing marathon or a weekend of watching SciFi network.
Go to Yellowstone National Park in September when all the school kids and boy scout troops are gone.
Spend some time biking in Moab (Southern Utah). While you're their check out Zion, Bryce and Arches National Park then jaunt over to Colorado and check out Mesa Verde NP.
Check out local festivals in the midwest. I know in my state ever other town seems to have a "Strawberry/Corn/Dairy/Watermellon days" frestival.
Find out if you like fly fishing, hikeing, rowing, swimming, running, boating, water skiing, or basket weaving. GO CLIMB A TREE!
Read some Thoreau at Walden Pond.
Go to Canada and visit their national parks (Banff is an INTERNATIONAL treasure). Go to some the the AWESOME festivals in Edmonton.
But please... turn off you cell phone. If I hear it ring while I'm watching a wolf pack in near Yellowstone this fall I'll be very upset.
~Z
Geocaching (Score:3, Interesting)
You go to the website, enter a ZIP code, or city, or similar, and you'll get a list of hidden "geocaches." You put some coordinates into your GPSr, print out a map (and sometimes some hints) from the website, and see if you can find one. From experience, I can tell you that it's pretty easy to get within 10 feet of the cache . . . it's those last 10 feet that are tough.
It's incredibly fun, and here in my hometown of Los Angeles there is a geocache at Cal Tech, so you can take out two geeky birds with one stone. (It's easy to spot the geeky birds -- they have tape on their beaks.)
Things in Washington DC (Score:3, Insightful)
DC, Boston, Chicago, and the Bay Area (Score:5, Informative)
In Boston, check out the Computer History Museum [computerhistory.org]
In Chicago
In the Bay Area there is
Tyrell Museum of Paleontology, Drumheller, AB (Score:3, Interesting)
While you're out there, check out the Banff-Jasper corridor of the Rocky Mountains [canadianrockies.net], particularly the Columbia Icefields and Johnston Canyon. Spectacular geographic features of North America can be found there, and the glaciers date back to the last ice age!
Schenectady, NY (Score:3, Informative)
The same streets were also walked by Geo. Washington and LaFeyette. Stories such as The Last of the Mohicans and Drums Along the Mohawk took place here. It's smack dab in the middle of old colonial America.
And I guess thats part of the point too. Don't forget to see America while you're here. NY State isn't NY City. Get out into the millions of acres that are still forest inhabited by lions, bobcats and bears. Places where the American equivilent of Steve Irwin ( and Red Green) actually exist "in the wild."
See the country, not just the cities and bars.
KFG
Cape Breton, Nova Scotia (Score:3, Informative)
Down with the computer museum (Score:3, Insightful)
My advice? Ditch the nerd stuff and do something outside.
Learn to kayak in Colorado. [coloradokayak.com]
Hike in one of the last beautiful places on Earth. [nps.gov]
Play in the water at a beautiful beach in Florida. [usatoday.com]
Or go to one of the best beaches in Mexico. [frommers.com]
Slide around on snow on purpose. [snow.com]
Go to one of the last truly wild places. [state.ak.us]
There is so much to see in North America. Please don't spend your whole trip at Frys.
some Canada Sites...:D (Score:3, Interesting)
http://www.town.vulcan.ab.ca/
The Worlds First UFO landing pad
http://members.mcsnet.ca/chamber/ufolanding.
Particle Accelerator in Vancouver B.C.
http://www.triumf.ca/
the CN Tower
http://www.cntower.ca/
thats all for now
A note about the Library Of Congress (Score:3, Informative)
Geek things to see and do in Canada. (Score:5, Informative)
Let me be the first to welcome you to Canada (considering you're not here yet, I _assume_ I'm the first at least :) ).
First things first. Canada is a REALLY BIG PLACE. You do not backpack across Canada. I know that Australia is a big place (a whole continent in fact...), and the US has a decent size, but Canada is in a whole different ballpark. Think of Australia. Now think of another 1/5 of Australia. Stick them together, and you get a bit closer to Canada's size. Canada is nearly 10 /million/ square kilometres of land, sprawling across 7 seperate time zones. It's a big place to walk across :).
As such, a good geek travel system to your trip would probably to take the train from coast to coast, getting off in major cities of interest.
Once you've figured out how to get around, where to go? Some good suggestions include (in no particular order, and probably leaving out all sorts of funky places in between...):
Well, that's what I can think of off
Re:Geek things to see and do in Canada. (Score:3, Insightful)
Naturally, the size of Canada dwindles roughly to that of a medium pizza if you discount all the uninhabated/under ice portions.
Yeah, but you still can't readily backpack across it, which was really my point (and no, I didn't miss your attempt at humour :) ). Unless, of course, you really enjoy hiking through uninhabited and iced-over areas (which some people quite enjoy). Personally, I prefer to live in a country that is dominated by wide-open spaces, as opposed to one that is dominated by other human
Sights to see in Canada (Score:3, Informative)
Sorry. Not too many geek-related suggestions here. But, here are a few suggestions of nice things to see in Canada while you're there (off the top of my head):
- Vancouver, Victoria ==> many touristy things to see/do (nothing that specifically stands out as "geeky", but they're two cities well worth investigating)
- Banff and Jasper, British Columbia ==> very beautiful, be sure to ride up Sulphur Mountain in Banff, and between Banff & Jasper, visit the Columbia Ice Fields
- Niagara Falls, Ontario ==> A little touristy, but nice if it's your first time
- Drumheller, Alberta ==> Royal Tyrell museum, if you're into dinosaurs/paleontology
- Toronto, Ontario ==> CN Tower, Royal Ontario Museum, science centre (though the latter is geared more to younger audiences)
- Ottawa, Ontario ==> Parliament buildings, National Art Gallery
- Quebec city and Montreal ==> lots of interesting old architecture (especially Notre Dame Basilica, etc)
- a number of East-coast Canadian sites (la Roche Percee, for example, in Percee, Quebec), or Peggy's Cove, Newfoundland
There are many other places across Canada, without a doubt. These are just a few that came to me briefly.
Lots of geeks here (Score:3, Funny)
United States Courthouse
Room 3035
280 South First Street
San Jose, CA 95113-3099
This is the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California, formerly known as Silicon Valley. Spend a day here and learn all about the new economy the hard way.
Re:Our national geek treasures! (Score:2)
Re:The US is not made for back-packing (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:three words (Score:3, Informative)
Blah.
The Sundowner in Niagara Falls, Ontario!
Re:Canada, places to visit (Score:3, Informative)