The Gipper's Guide to America

[The Gipper]

More "Best of Categories". These come from my own experiences. Feel free to add your own.:

Best Art Museum: I am going with the Guggenheim in NYC. It may not have the best collection, but it was the one place that was most fun to visit. (These categories are strictly US...or at least North America. I have been to the Louvre, which would take the cake)

Best Natural History Museum: The Field Museum, Chicago

Best Hall of Fame not in Northeast Ohio: the Baseball HOF, Cooperstown NY. Honorable mention: Horse Racing HOF in Saratoga NY.

Best Movie Movie specific Related Attraction: The Field of Dreams, Dyersville Iowa. Honorable Mention: The Christmas Story House, Cleveland USA

Best Ethnic Neighborhood: Little Italy, NYC. Honorable Mention: Chinatown, San Francisco

a bit of a copout sure. But there is a reason these places are popular.

Best Boat Tour: Chicago River Tour. Honorable Mention: Manhattan Circle Tour NYC

Best Ferry Ride/Tour: Whittier, Alaska to Valdez. Runnerup: Victoria BC to Vancouver

Best Historic Recreation: Williamsburg. That is pretty clear. Next is Tombstone AZ.

Best Presidential Home Tour: Eisenhower Farm, Gettysburg PA. Honorable mentions: FDR home, Hyde Park, NY and The Hermitage, Andrew Jackson's farm outside of Nashville (note: I have not been to Mt. Vernon or Monticello)

Best Botanical Gardens: Longwood, outside of Philadelphia. Honorable Mention: Boyce Thompson Arboretum outside Phoenix (focusing on desert plants). Hawaii Tropical Botanic Gardens

Best Religious Site: Temple Square, Salt Lake City Utah (by best, I mean "most interesting...ignoring theology). Honorable Mention: San Xavier del Bac, outside Tuscon AZ.

Best Theme Park: Disney World, Orlando. Honorable Mention: Universal Studios, Orlando, Disneyland, Anaheim

Best Amusement Park: Cedar Point.

Best Architecture, Home Residence: Taliesin West, Scottsdale AZ (Frank Lloyd Wright), Winchester Mystery House, San Jose CA

Best Native American Preservation site: Mesa Verde, Colorado

Best Outdoor Concert Venue: The Hollywood Bowl. Honorable Mention: Blossom Music Center

Best Volcano: Mt. St Helen's, Washington. Honorable Mentions: Lassen Peak Cal., Capulin Volcano, New Mexico.

Best "Floating Museum": The USS Lexington: Corpus Christie TX. Honorable Mention: The Mayflower (recreation), Plymouth Mass.

Best Farmer's Market: Columbia SC.

Best Observatory: Palomar Observatory, Calif. Honorable Mention: Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff AZ

Best Aerial Tramway Ride: Whistler, British Columbia. Honorable Mention: Snowbird, Utah; Palm Springs Tramway, CA

Best Bridge: Golden Gate Bridge. Honorable Mention: Mackinac Bridge.

Best Pedestrian Bridge: Bridge of Flowers, Shelburn Falls, Mass.

Best Hispanic Mission: San Juan Capistrano. Honorable Mention: Taos NM

Best Canyon: The Grand Canyon. Honorable Mentions: Black Canyon of the Gunnison, CO; The Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania.

Best Sand Dunes: Great Sand Dunes NP, Colorado. Honorable Mention: Death Valley CA, Imperial Dunes CA.

Best Maritime attraction: Mystic Seaport, Conn. Honorable Mention: San Francisco Maritime NHP.

Best Washington DC Memorial: Lincoln Memorial. Honorable Mention: Jefferson Memorial, WWII Memorial

Best Aviation museum/attraction: Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Honorable Mention: Wright US Air Force Museum, Dayton. Pensacola National Naval Aviation Museum.

Best Factory/Commercial Tour: World of Coca Cola, Atlanta. Anheuser Busch Brewery Tour, St. Louis

Best Fort: Fort Jefferson, Dry Tortugas Florida. Honorable Mention: Ft Laramie, Wyoming. Ft. William Henry, Lake George NY

Best Waterfalls: Niagra Falls. Honorable Mention: Bridal Veil Falls, Yosemite NP; Akaka Falls, Hawaii

Scariest Road: Going to the Sun Road, Glacier NP. Berthoud Pass, Colo.

Best Children's Museum: Children's Museum of Indianapolis. Honorable Mention: The Exploratorim, San Francisco.

Best Speedway: Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Best Caves: Tie: Carlsbad Caverns, New Mex., Mammoth Caves Kentucky

Best Auto Museum: The Corvette Museum, Bowling Green KY. Runnerup: Used to be an Auto Museum in the Imperial Palace Casino in Las Vegas. I think both the Imperial Palace and the Auto Museum are gone.

Best Equine attraction (horses): Kentucky Horse Park, Lexington KY. Royal Canadian Mounted Police Farm, Ottawa Canada

Most "Miraculous" site: Loretto Chapel Stairway, Santa Fe New Mex.

Best Zoo: San Diego Wild Animal Park, CA. Animal Kingdom, Disney World

Best Antebellum Home: Oak Alley Plantation, outside New Orleans.

Best Battlefield: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; Honorable Mentions: Antietum, Maryland; Saratoga, NY, Little Big Horn, Mont.

Best Seashore: Cape Cod National Seashore. Honorable mentions: Cumberland Island GA, South Beach, Newport, Oregon; Papahoku Beach, Molokai

Best Lakeshore: Pictured Rocks, Michigan (Lake Superior); Honorable Mention: Indiana Dunes(Lake Michigan)

Best Mall: West Edmonton Mall, Edmonton Canada. Honorable Mention: Mall of America, Minn.

I guess if we are getting down to malls, that is enough.

[The Cysko Kid]

Best battlefield is easily sharpsburg, Maryland, aka Antietam creek

[The Gipper]

@the-cysko-kid said:

Best battlefield is easily sharpsburg, Maryland, aka Antietam creek

I have been to a lot of Battlefields, Revolutionary War/Civil War/War of 1812/even French and Indian War. It is quite hard to rank them.

And sometimes it is difficult to even determine what a battle field is. Example: is a Fort where a skirmish took place considered a "battlefield". Just take the French/Indian War. I have been to Fort Ticonderoga, Fort William Henry, Fort Necessity, and the town/fort or Louisbourg. Are these "battlefields"?

In the following posts, I am going to list all the "battle sites" of the various wars that I have visited, as much for my own edification as anything else.

[The Gipper]

French and Indian War Battlefields I have visited:

Braddock Expedition, Wester PA

Fort Necessity

Fort Carillon/Fort Ticonderoga (Carillon was the French name for the same fort)

Ft. William Henry

Lake George Battlefield

Louisbourg (Nova Scotia)

The Plains of Abraham (Quebec)

Mexican-American War Battlefields I have visited:

Palo Alto (outside Brownsville TX)

[The Gipper]

Revolutionary War Battlefields I have visited:

Lexington and Concord

Ft. Stanwix/Oriskany

Brandywine

Saratoga

Kings Mountain

The Cowpens

Guilford Courthouse

The Siege of 96

Germantown (Philadelphia)

Yorktown

Valley Forge (not strictly a battle)

[The Gipper]

War of 1812 Battlesites I have been to:

Lake Erie//Put-In-Bay

Ft. McHenry

Mackinaw Island

Washington DC and environs

[The Gipper]

Civil War Battlefields I have visited:

Ft. Sumter

Bull Run/Manassas I and II

Wilson Creek

Ft. Donelson

Yorktown (yes, a Civil War battle was fought at Yorktown)

Shiloh

Ft. Pulaski

Corinth

Murfreesboro/Stone's River

Harper's Ferry

Antietem/Sharpsburg

Arkansas Post

Chancellorsville

Fredericksburg

Vicksburg

Gettysburg

Morgan's Surrender/Salineville

Charleston Harbor

The Wilderness

Spotsylvania

Brice Crossroad's

Tupelo

Monocacy

Siege of Columbia SC.

I am going to be visiting Richmond/Petersburg/Appamattox/Cedar Creek in June

When I was a little kid I may have visited Chattanooga, but I was so young I barely remember it, so I don't count it.

[The Cysko Kid]

I stick by Antietam. Its extremely moving, epic skirmishes occured there in places like the corn field, the sunken road, and burnside's bridge, and there's photographic evidence of the carnage that occured in those places so you really get the feeling of what it must have been like, defending the sunken road when the union boys started pouring over the ridge only yards in front of you and what must have been going through their minds.

Antietam is the site of the bloodiest single day in American history. It stopped Lee's first invasion of the north, and mostly sealed the south's loss by discouraging foriegn intervention. So the importance is definately there, and what makes it a great destination is that its compact compared to a place like gettysburg, and its lesser known. I had the chance to hike it one drizzly spring morning last year, and we were nearly alone. Oh, and the land it occured on is simply beautiful. Just the solemn feeling of walking burnside bridge in the rain was enough to justify taking a civil war vacation over the traditional beach scene.

If you're into battlefields and American history Antietam is just awesome.

[The Cysko Kid]

How about this one: best cemetery.

Winner: Arlington - for the history-

1st runner up: Lake view cemetary, Cleveland Oh. President Garfield (assassinated) John Rockefeller. Absolutely beautiful landscaping and the haserot angel.

Second runner up greenwood cemetary, Brooklyn NY.

[The Gipper]

Those stain glass windows in the Garfield Mausoleum were made by Tiffany.

[The Cysko Kid]

Yes, I believe they were.

[The Gipper]

@the-gipper said:

War of 1812 Battlesites I have been to:

Lake Erie//Put-In-Bay

Ft. McHenry

Mackinaw Island

Washington DC and environs

Add: River Raisin, in Michigan, just last month

[The Gipper]

@the-gipper said:

Civil War Battlefields I have visited:

Ft. Sumter

Bull Run/Manassas I and II

Wilson Creek

Ft. Donelson

Yorktown (yes, a Civil War battle was fought at Yorktown)

Shiloh

Ft. Pulaski

Corinth

Murfreesboro/Stone's River

Harper's Ferry

Antietem/Sharpsburg

Arkansas Post

Chancellorsville

Fredericksburg

Vicksburg

Gettysburg

Morgan's Surrender/Salineville

Charleston Harbor

The Wilderness

Spotsylvania

Brice Crossroad's

Tupelo

Monocacy

Siege of Columbia SC.

I am going to be visiting Richmond/Petersburg/Appamattox/Cedar Creek in June

When I was a little kid I may have visited Chattanooga, but I was so young I barely remember it, so I don't count it.

Yes, add Cedar Creek, Richmond, Petersburg, Appamattox where I was in early June.

[koalabazooka]

@the-gipper said:

Here is some food for thought as you plan your summer vacations. Some hints for your travels, all USA (incl. possessions):

Best Sunset: Cape Flattery, Washington

Best Sunrise: On top of Mt. Haleakala, Maui. (honorable mention: Quoddy Head, Maine)

Best Beaches: St. John, US Virgin Islands

Best Patriotic site: Fort McHenry, Baltimore

Best Trees: California: Redwoods/Sequoias/Ancient Bristlecone pine/Joshua Trees

Best Single Vista: Inspiration Point, Yosemite NP (Multiple vistas: Grand Canyon)

Most Fun Town: New Orleans. (Honorable mention: Chicago)

Best Small Town: Woodstock, Vermont. (honorable mentions: Chatham, Mass. Seaside Fla.)

Best Consistent Architecture: Santa Fe, NM

Campiest Attraction: House on the Rock, Spring Green, Wisconsin

Nicest College Campus that is not Kenyon: Duke (honorable mention: Notre Dame)

Nicest State Capitol building: Olympia, Washington (more for it setting than the building itself)

Best Tall Building: Empire State Building

Best Statue not called Liberty: Mt. Rushmore

Best Scenic Town Setting: Sedona, Arizona

Best City Park System: Savannah, Georgia

Gawdiest Display of Wealth: Newport, Rhode Island

Best Stadium: Wrigley Field

Best preserved Western Town: Tombstone, Ariz. (honorable mention: Lincoln NM)

Best hiking for the average person: Cuyahoga Valley National Park

Best Lake: Crater Lake

Best Mountain Range: The Grand Tetons

Best Casino: Lakeside Inn and Casino, Stateline Nevada (Tahoe)

Best Aquariam: National Aquariam, Baltimore

Best Breakfast/Dinner combination: Camellia Grill and Commander's Palace, New Orleans

Feel free to add your own

Damn, you've really gotten around! Do you travel for your job?

[The Gipper]

@koalabazooka said:

Damn, you've really gotten around! Do you travel for your job?

NO

[The Gipper]

@the-gipper said:

Revolutionary War Battlefields I have visited:

Lexington and Concord

Ft. Stanwix/Oriskany

Brandywine

Saratoga

Kings Mountain

The Cowpens

Guilford Courthouse

The Siege of 96

Germantown (Philadelphia)

Yorktown

Valley Forge (not strictly a battle)

I am hoping to go to Morristown next week, if the damn thing is open....at least let the road be open.

[The Cysko Kid]

Hey Gip I like the cut of your jib. Any guy that visits all those battlefields is alright by me.

[The Gipper]

@the-cysko-kid said:

Hey Gip I like the cut of your jib. Any guy that visits all those battlefields is alright by me.

I went to Morristown....but also was at the sight of a very much unknown Revolutionary War battle called the Battle of Minnisink. It was in upstate NY, just above the Delaware River. 200 Patriots lost their lives to a group of Tories and Indians.

Also was at the sight where Washington crossed the Delaware on Christmas Eve before the Battle of Trenton.

[The Gipper]

Revolutionary War Battle Sites I have visited:

Lexington and Concord

Boston

Gunpowder Incident (Williamsburg)

Ft. Ticonderoga

Machias (Maine)

96

Quebec

Savannah

Trenton (including Washington Crossing)

Ft. Stanwix

Oriskany

Brandywine

Saratoga

Germantown

Chillicothe

Charleston

Kings Mountain

Cowpens

Guildford Courthouse

Yorktown

Blue Licks Ky.

Arkansas Post

Minnisink

[gftChris]

People criticise americans for never leaving america. While I can understand that to a degree, not seeing all the different cultures etc, it's just incredible to see the vast range of nature and culture that exists within the country - you could not leave and still have 50 very unique holidays.