Holiday to America

Hey guys!

My old man and I are off to the great US of A for 2 weeks end of Feb/March. We are doing the east coast mostly, with stops in Chicago, Atlanta, New York, Milwaukee and possibly a quick visit to San Fran. Catching a few NBA games, motocross events ETC.

Anyway, I was wondering if any of you kind folk are from those areas and could possibly share some hidden gems, or nice spots to visit that most tourists don't know about? A restaurant, museum, cheese factory, beer factory, anything! Any tips of suggestions are greatly appreciated.

New York to San Fran? That's a hell of a journey

Chicago, go to a pizza place called Lou Malnatti's!

The Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta is cool. Buy tickets online before you go. Where do you intend to stay while in Atlanta?

@WhiteKnight77: Im not too sure just yet (dad has all the info, but I'd be guessing it would be somewhere central)

Thanks for the tip! We plan on catching Miami vs Atlanta. Any suggestions on cheapest sites for tickets?

@R3FURBISHED: Yeah kind of sucks. But its all fun I suppose!

@FireEmblem_Man: Love pizza, cheers man!

Our pizza is kind of different, Deep Dish is great! Recommend it with spinach and pepperoni

Is there something I should try? Like every American who comes down under has to try Vegemite, do Americans have something similar?

Taco Bell. It's a US tradition.

I can't wait. I hear Burger King is pretty good too? Its called Hungry Jacks here. Wendys in AUS is just a milkshake and icecream place, so looking forward to the differences there too

Skip Burger King. It's terrible.

@n64dd: Cheers for the heads up

I'll note that if you want to visit a musuem in NYC. A number of them have what's called a "suggested price". So say admission is $15 for one ticket. Well tourists usually miss out on the fine print. That they actually could pay $1 for two tickets and be fine. As NYC museums get a ton of donations. That they are obligated to offer low admission tickets. Personally paid $10 for two tickets and was fine.

As for food, give Katz Pastrami sandwiches a try. But certainly google for NYC Pizza hotspots. Many of which are in lower Manhattan or Brooklyn. And like I said in another thread. Stay away from "The Halal Guys". There's much better halal food options elsewhere. Google is your friend.

@jak42: Cheers man! Appreciate the heads up

holy shit guys, you're recommending fast food joints to him?

'Murica...

in NYC check out crif dogs down in the East village. it's a decent hot dog joint. the interesting part is the speakeasy, PDT (please don't tell), attached to it that patrons have to enter via the phone booth..

if you're looking for much more high end (read $$) check out caviar russe around 55th and madison

You're like 10 years old...

We have burger king in Australia, go to an airport sometime.

Well, since you are going to be in New York, you might as well stop by Baltimore and check out the Inner Harbor, National Aquarium, Fort McHenry and Little Italy, they are all pretty much in the same location.

@popgotcha:

I guess you aren't going to Philadelphia, we got great cheesesteaks here.

I would guess Live Nation for tickets. Failing that, the Philips Arena website would be just as good. As far as food in Atlanta, no trip to Atlanta would be complete without a trip to The Varsity on North Ave. What ya have? What ya have? What ya have?

There is also The World of Coca-Cola to visit as well as Centennial Olympic Park all there near the aquarium.

Chicago and Milwaukee in February are going to be brutally cold. They're cool cities, but much more goes on in summer.

You could spend whole time in NYC and still not have enough time to do everything. Museums there are fairly good, especially lesser known ones like Cloisters, etc. DC is a great town to visit - all the monuments and museums.

The museum campus in Chicago is awesome, but the best is the Field Museum of Natural History. It's world class.

The last time I went with the boy I decided to dedicate an entire weekend to it, and we STILL didn't see everything. They usually have a traveling exhibit as well, so you can look that up before you go.

There aren't many gems along the tourist traps.

I prefer those not normally in the itinerary. In case you drive around, here are three of my favorites. Obviously, I like the outdoors:

Meteor Crater along I-40 not far from the Grand Canyons, Crater Lake in Oregon, and Lake Tahoe at the California-Nevada border:

It's better if they recommended the ethnic food trucks at Manhattan. ;) I actually enjoyed those during our numerous trips to NYC. It's like a world-wide food festival.

My favorite are the halal trucks.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/top-lists/nycs-6-best-halal-food-carts/

You'll never want to go back TC.

@GTR12: Are you always negative? I travel to various cities more than often, Melbourne Sydney Brisbane and I've never seen a burger king. If you don't have anything to add, again, don't comment

Everyone else thank you very much for your opinions and suggestions, looking forward to some nice wings and beautiful spots! Will share what we do when I get back for sure

Make sure to visit the Trump Tower Grill for the best taco bowls.

No DC?

Although it's a 6-7 hour drive from NYC, I think Alexandria Bay is worth a visit although it's probably still snowing up there by March. I loved the Alexandria Bay-Lake Ontario area. I wished we stayed up there instead of moving back here to Arizona. But, the wife n kids got tired of the harsh winters.

@bmanva: Nah unfortunately not. Pretty flat out hitting other areas

@jun_aka_pekto: Thanks heaps for the input man!

Keep in mind that March is still snow season in Upstate New York. If you don't like cold weather, you're better off vacationing at say, Southern California (San Diego, Los Angeles) and maybe the California Central Coast. At the middle-tier states like Maryland, it's a coin toss between sunny skies and bad weather. March is a transition month between snow and rain. Snow will be the clingy, slushy type while the rainy weather is cold and gloomy.

There's reason for the term March Madness and it's not because of NCAA basketball. ;)

Most foreigners I know say corn dogs are an experience. Since I'm American they are an everyday thing to me.

In Chicago, you should give either the Museum of Science & Industry or the Field Museum a try-both are a great time. ?

Prefer Roscoe's myself, i never cared for refried beans.

Have a feeling the Science one will get a visit, Dad loves that stuff