Stuff to see on the east coast of America

[offspring86]

Morning all,

I'm flying out to New York on 14th July to spend 3 weeks driving down the east coast with a friend, we fly back from Miami on 3rd August. We plan on staying in the following cities:

New York
Philadelphia
Washington
Charlotte
Atlanta
New Orleans
Jacksonville
Orlando
Miami

We're booking a hotel for the first 3 nights in New York and the final 3 nights in Miami but with all other nights we'll either call ahead when we leave a destination and book a motel for the night, or just see where we end up and then find a place to sleep. Aside from the obvious sights in New York, Miami and Orlando, does anyone have any suggestions for other bits we shouldn't miss out on? Are there any destinations along the way that people would advise stopping off at?

We plan on catching some Baseball at some point, do mid-week games usually sell out in advance or would we be able to buy tickets on the night? Is it the same with basketball and ice hockey?

[offspring86]

davepoth said:

I'd think about your route again IMO. That's 2300 miles of driving, and something over 1000 miles of it is to make the trip to New Orleans. It'll be easier with two sharing but you'll still spend two full days of your holiday getting there and back.

Yes we're fully aware of that. It's about 7 hours from Atlanta to New Orleans and about 8 hours from New Orleans to Jacksonville, given that we're spending 3 weeks there 2 days driving is a small chunk of the holiday, especially if we find stuff to see along the route. We both want to visit there so have no problems with driving.

[offspring86]

Matt Harper said:

OK - New Orleans, I kind of get, if you've never been before, despite it being a filthy, neglected and in part, highly dangerous city. But why on earth would you want to visit Jacksonville?

Well I've had a few friends visit there in the last year who have all come back raving about the food, music, bars and atmosphere so we're both keen to go and experience it. Jacksonville's appeal is the museums and beaches, which are much quieter than the crowded ones in Miami.

Steve Campbell said:

Philadelphia = Liberty bell and running up the steps (Rocky)..that's about it.

I would definitely try and take in a US sport..if sport is your thing. I've been to baseball (in Philli) and ice hockey (Raleigh) and enjoyed them both. Definitely want to go and see an American football game if I get the chance.

Football is the sport I most wanted to catch but unfortunately we're leaving a week or so before pre-season starts. After that baseball is the other sport we definitely aren't going to miss. If we can catch some basketball and ice hockey along the way it'll be a bonus!

Pirated said:

I am wicked jealous of your trip... If it were me I'd drive some and fly the rest, but I don't see a problem with you wanting to drive the whole way - ROOOOOOOAD TRIIIIIIP is all part of the fun!

Whatever you budget for NYC, budget some more... Seriously... !!!

If you do want to fly some, check out the deals on www.mightytravels.com - some crazy-cheap flights

Thanks, we are debating catching a flight to Vegas for a couple of days so I'll keep that in mind. When budgeting the trip I've based it all on NYC prices in the hope it will prevent any major financial scares!

Matt.. said:

I would say that it's a shame you're seeing a trip as purely one city to the next though (and some interesting choices, Jacksonville?!). You're basically driving straight past the Blue Ridge Parkway, Shenandoah National Park, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I would strongly suggest you try and visit a few of those.

Baseball will be your only major sport option at that time, and tickets are usually easy to come by, especially for the Marlins/Rays, as they have some of the worst attendance in the league! It's a bit of a shame there's no Nascar at that time though, as that would have been fun!

We are by no means treating as purely one city to the next, hence me creating this thread! They're just points we would definitely like to stop at! Thanks for the suggestions, I'll add them to the list!

danzltiu said:

Recommend St Augustine Florida. Oldest City in the USA. Great B&B`s on the seafront. Just a really nice place.

Excellent, thanks!

Brilliant suggestions guys, keep them coming!

[offspring86]

So a quick update, we arrived on Monday and spent 3 days in NYC. What a city! The size is quite amazing, we did the usual Statue of Liberty, Central Park, Times Square, Rockefeller Plaza and Empire State Building. We walked most of Manhattan, ate ridiculous pizza and burgers and sampled a lot of beer (excellent IPAs). A last minute decision change meant we have headed to Atlantic City for the night which is where we are now. Philadelphia tomorrow for the day and then on to Washington after that. We also managed to find a deal on a rental car with National which means we're doing to trip in a Chrysler 300C, what noise! Even if it's 'only' the V6! I'll stick pictures up along the way when I get a chance, but tonight calls for some gambling first.

[offspring86]

h0b0 said:

Not to be pedantic but you have a Chrysler 300. The "C" only comes with a V8 as is the trim level and not the model. I know this is different in the UK.

I'm a big fan of Boston but that's going in the wrong direction. When you go to Washington make sure you do the tours. Otherwise you are missing out on the city

Odd, ours definitely says 300C on the boot lid, it's AWD too. Looks like I'll have to look under the bonnet to check as the guy at the desk was adamant it was a V6.

[offspring86]

Well it's taken me the best part of 5 months but I've finally got round to sorting through all the photos. I'll try not to bore too much by only showing the main parts of each stop!

Firstly a few notes about the trip, overall it was amazing! The best 3 weeks of my life. Our original list of cities to visit was:

New York
Philadelphia
Washington
Charlotte
Atlanta
New Orleans
Jacksonville
Orlando
Miami

Throughout the course of the trip we made various changes because of recommendations from people we met along the way. As a result by the end the route we took looked like this:

New York
Atlantic City
Philadelphia
Washington
Charlotte
Atlanta
Nashville
New Orleans
Orlando
Miami

We booked the flight to New York, the flight back from Miami, the hotel in New York and the car for 3 weeks. The rest of it we decided to do when we were actually in the country. This turned out to be a great idea as our plans changed both in terms of which cities we visited and how long we were in each city for.

As someone who enjoys photography I decided to take along both my snap happy compact and my DSLR. As we were out from morning until night I didn't once take my SLR as I preferred to not lug my rucksack around for 10 hours each day. Thankfully my compact was more than up to the job.

So, New York:

Looking back at our hotel an hour after we landed. We stayed on the north west corner of Central Park


Inside Central Park


Fire engine


Looking up at One World Trade Center


National September 11 Memorial




Looking back at the city on the boat to The Statue of Liberty


The Statue of Liberty




Sam was determined to not smile in any photo for the 3 weeks we were there


In the city, Wall Street


Cop car


Times Square


The Late Show


Inside Grand Central Station


The view from The Empire State Building




Underneath the Brooklyn Bridge




Sam not smiling on the subway


The most ridiculously large pizza I've ever eaten


Sam failing at remaining serious


Pizza


After 3 days it was time to get to National Car Rental, get our car and hit the road! Next on the list was Atlantic City!

[offspring86]

So Atlantic City. A last minute change of plan as we fancied a night of beer and gambling (instead of just beer in New York!). Not a whole lot to see, away from the beach front it's a s**t hole. On the beach front isn't much better to be honest. But its entertaining!







The car for the next 2 and a half weeks




Invisible building




Our next stop was Philadelphia!

Edited by offspring86 on Tuesday 2nd December 18:47

[offspring86]

What to say about Philadelphia? Well the first thing that struck me was the space, there's loads of it! It's also a very clean city and the architecture is fantastic! We arrived late morning, and spent the day wandering around.

The drive in


The fountain in LOVE Park (JFK Plaza)












Those steps






Came across one of these in every city