East Coast Destinations
KillaWhale
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I'm planning on forcing the east coast (of the United States) to endure my presence for about two or three weeks this year. The trip will likely occur late May through early June. So far I've got one, possibly two travelers going with me on the trip and we plan on hitting Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and DC before making our return trip back to California.
I was hoping that the all-knowing collective conscious of PA could help guide me to some awesome spots and destinations. Just to give you an idea of what we'd like to see, we plan on going to the U.N. Headquarters, the Empire State Building, Boston Market, times square, the Smithsonian, the Nintendo store, and of course a Broadway performance of some kind.
For your perusal, we won't be renting a car we'll be using public transportation and walking to most destinations.
Thanks in advance.
I was hoping that the all-knowing collective conscious of PA could help guide me to some awesome spots and destinations. Just to give you an idea of what we'd like to see, we plan on going to the U.N. Headquarters, the Empire State Building, Boston Market, times square, the Smithsonian, the Nintendo store, and of course a Broadway performance of some kind.
For your perusal, we won't be renting a car we'll be using public transportation and walking to most destinations.
Thanks in advance.
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(It's Quincy Market.)
Also, with a two week trip you're looking at only 3 days in each city roughly and you're looking at 3-4 hours bus trips between those cities. If you're flying it will cost you almost the same amount of time but a hell of a lot more money. You're going to have to really limit the number of sites you see in each city or blow through some things. How much money do you have put aside for travel, lodging, food and entertainment?
Lodging should be pretty well covered. I know some people in the area I plan on staying with (as I mentioned earlier in this post). Assume that I've got an acting budget of about seven hundred dollars towards entertainment expenses, with travel, lodgings, and food taken care of. I'd like to save money where possible, but my budget is pretty flexible.
My biggest concern is the time frame since I'll be squeezing this in between my class semesters. I'm quite agreeable to keeping it to three or fewer cities to get a better feel of each city.
What do you think is reasonable for two or three weeks?
- the Freedrom Trail - this will essentially take you to most of the city's historical sites
- Duck Tour - slightly less sights than the trail but much faster without the walking, and you can visit places of particular interest afterwards
- The North End and Mike's Pastry - Italian food and the best cannolis I have ever had
- Fenway Park (where the Red Sox play, in case you're not into baseball)
- Cambridge and Harvard
Liberty Bell
Independence Mall
Art Museum (if only for the steps)
those are the obvious ones, there's the Philadelphia Zoo, the first Zoo in the country and old childhood stomping grounds of mine. Museum of natural history (animatronic Dinosaurs!!!!), franklin Institute (amazing Planetarium, and a Rube Goldberg.
Baltimore:
Inner harbor has great shopping.
Poe House and Museum
Babe Ruth House
Oriole park at Camden Yards
Ravens stadium
I have a personal reason for suggesting the Poe House, as they're currently having some financial troubles and may end up being closed by the City of Baltimore next year if the museum does not become 'self-sustaining'. So, I am more than happy to promote Poe House to just about anybody.
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TMLMTBGB
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TMLMTBGB
Freaking. Brilliant.
The baltimore aquarium is really the only selling point to baltimore to me.
I'd honestly cut Baltimore out and continue to Portland, Maine after Boston (train goes between the two) and stay in the old port. Great little city with amazing eats/sites etc., as well as the option to rent a car and hit acadia for a day or two (highly recommended)
Good news is that our travel window has broadened a bit so we'll probably stay three weeks either late may/early june or late july/early september. The general consensus is that we'll save DC for another trip.
My friends and I have some pretty broad interests. We've spent a lot of time just casually roaming the streets of San Francisco in our native California, and plan on doing so again. Any kind of awesome museums, art exhibits, plays, historical sites, restaurants, or shops would be awesome. I remember hearing about some form of Ninja restaurant in New York?
TMLMTBGB looks and sounds amazing. Rolling dice for ticket prices? XD
From the sounds of it, base a lot of your Boston excursions around Cambridge, as there will be cooler stuff there if you like funky things. I also think Portland would be a great trip, especially if July, as it will be hopping and beautiful then.
I will never tire of selling Philadelphia to anybody, ever. I love my homecity.
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If so, I heartily recommend AT LEAST spending a day or two in Bar Harbor, ME/Acadia National Park. It's really beautiful. The White Mountain National Forest in NH is also fantastic - in particular I'd do Flume/Lost River/hike a 4000+ footer (if you're in decent shape)
If sticking to MA, Cape Cod is neat, just go midweek. Peaks Island, ME (ferry from Portland) is also a neat way to spend an afternoon.
If you can't get away from the cities, the Boston Harbor islands are neat.
And hopefully by which this guy means completely avoid the shores of central Jersey and don't go to the beach until you hit Cape May County.
Honestly, the more fun outdoors thing about Jersey is in North Jersey/Southern NY you can hike the Appalachians. Also, you can go canoeing in the Pine Barrens and that's very pretty.
In Boston, I would check out redbones if you like BBQ. I personally find Quincy Market to be overrated, but I live in MA so I might just be jaded on it. But never go to Cheers.
The Cape is nice, but very touristy in (imo) a negative way. You might as well as spend the day at Martha's Vineyard. But, you can slum in a place like newport and have a way better time. If you do end up in RI, Thayer St. is an interesting place. People (well, hipsters and college kids, mostly) walk up and down the street as if they're 14yr olds at the mall, except bikers and stuff hang out there for some reason, too. It's not a place I'd spend the entire night (unless you went to Avon Cinema or one of the Hooka places), but it's an interesting way to spend a few hours.
Also if you end up in Providence, go to Iron Wok. The best Chinese food I've ever had.
Do spend a day at a square just people watching. Whether you do this in Mass or NY or wherever doesn't really matter (just which accent you can stand for a longer period of time). People watching is by far the best thing I've ever done in NY. I once witnessed an hour long argument between some young bible thumpers (some of whom were very fit and wearing Jesus inspired MMA T-shirts) and a large group of rollerbladers. It only ended because the cops came.
And even though I live in Boston now, I second the suggestion to check out Cambridge thoroughly. Do your people-watching in Harvard square. Cambridge is just unique -- I'm not sure there's a nerdier city anywhere. At least I doubt any other cities have ads for lab equipment on public transportation.
are you evil? sending a man to the tourist traps like that in the height of the season. yes, Bar Harbor is delightful and Acadia is gorgeous, but in like early june/ late may. No later than like 2nd week of June, cause then you get the black flies and the tourists.
horrible. Just horrible. :P
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