The Gipper's Guide to America

[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.

[The Gipper]

@gftchris said:

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.

I have never heard anyone criticize Americans for never leaving America. Who the fuck does that? And why?

How about this gft: apply the categories I have used and apply them to the UK....or wtf, apply them to the entirety of Europe.

Bust sunsets, sunrises, stadiums, mountain ranges etc. etc. etc.

I mean, why go to the Alps when I can go to the Rockies.

[gftChris]

@the-gipper said:

I have never heard anyone criticize Americans for never leaving America. Who the fuck does that? And why?

How about this gft: apply the categories I have used and apply them to the UK....or wtf, apply them to the entirety of Europe.

Bust sunsets, sunrises, stadiums, mountain ranges etc. etc. etc.

I mean, why go to the Alps when I can go to the Rockies.

People outside America, clearly! And no, that's not a dig. But people do, it's a real thing that happens. I guess you'll have to take my word for it.

Not been to enough places around europe to comment on all of that, but it'd probably go something like:

Best Sunset: Canary Islands

Best Sunrise: Don't recall ever being awake for sunrise (for good reasons at least)

Best Beaches: south of France/northwest italy

Best Patriotic site: differs country to country obviously, but for a few countries it might be Ypres

Best Single Vista: Pick your favourite point in the alps, there are loads with views of mountains, lakes, trees, snow and wildlife.

Most Fun Town: Honestly, London's up there, with Barcelona and Amsterdam

Best Consistent Architecture: Paris, without a single doubt in my mind.

Campiest Attraction: ? Most like a camp? Not much of a camper.

Nicest College Campus that is not Kenyon: My alma mata, University of Birmingham is pretty nice. But winner is probably Cambridge/Oxford, although not strictly speaking a campus

Best Tall Building: The Shard is striking, if not 'nice'

Best Statue not called Liberty: Probably the colossus at Rhodes or Zeus at Olympia, if they were still around

Best Scenic Town Setting: Any of hundreds in and around southern/central europe, through france, italy, switzerland, pick your poison.

Gawdiest Display of Wealth: Monte Carlo - yachts absolutely everywhere and not a poor person in sight. Closely followed by Cannes.

Best Stadium: Nou Camp

Best hiking for the average person: Swiss Alps

Best Lake: Geneva?

Best Mountain Range: Alps

[The Gipper]

Campiest Attraction: ? Most like a camp? Not much of a camper

Campy in this sense means kitchsy, low brow, or weird/bizarre, odd, quirky

Here is a better definition:

"camp: providing sophisticated amusement by virtue of having artificially (and vulgarly) mannered or banal or sentimental qualities; "they played up the silliness of their roles for camp effect";

[The Gipper]

here is a "campy" attraction: 40 foot tall beer cans:

[The Gipper]

Cadillac Ranch

[The Gipper]

[The Gipper]

I don't know about Europe, but here is one I found in Australia. Try to put this shrimp on the barbie:

[gftChris]

Ok, we don't really have those! They're quite american. Nearest I can think of is probably the horse or angel of the north:

[The Gipper]

@gftchris said:

Ok, we don't really have those! They're quite american. Nearest I can think of is probably the horse or angel of the north:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westbury_White_Horse

Is this the "Westbury White Horse? If so, it is not what I would call "Campy". I read The Pale Horseman by Bernard Cornwell, and this white horse is supposedly a commemoration of The Battle of Ethandun between the Saxons and the Danes. In fact this horse has supposedly been there since the days of Alfred the Great. Apparently one of the leaders of the Danes was a fellow named Svein, who rode a white horse and whose sigil was a white horse, so they constructed this "design" on the nearby hillside.