The Gipper's Guide to America

[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.

[Bob806]

Wow, somehow I missed this thread. My family loves to travel, camping in particular as we've been camping in 38 states.

@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: Union Bay, on Lake Superior in Michigan's UP

Best Sunrise: Acadia National Park, Maine

Best Beaches: Long Beach, NC

Best Patriotic site: Gettysburg

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

Best Single Vista: Dead Horse Point State Park, Utah, or Half Dome in Yosemite

Most Fun Town: Las Vegas

Best Small Town: Deadwood, SD

Best Consistent Architecture:

Campiest Attraction:

Nicest College Campus that is not Kenyon: Penn State

Nicest State Capitol building: Montpelier, VT

Best Tall Building: Empire State Building

Best Statue not called Liberty: Mt. Rushmore

Best Scenic Town Setting: Kalispell, MT

Best City Park System: Cleveland

Gawdiest Display of Wealth: Charlevoix, MI

Best Stadium: Ohio Stadium

Best preserved Western Town: Moab, UT

Best hiking for the average person: Dolly Sods Wilderness, WV

Best Lake: Mono Lake, near Yosemite NP ( never been to Crater Lake, yet)

Best Mountain Range: The Grand Tetons

Best Casino:

Best Aquariam:

Best Breakfast/Dinner combination:

Feel free to add your own Bryce Canyon & Arches National Parks..."must sees" if you can

[The Gipper]

@bob806 said:

Wow, somehow I missed this thread. My family loves to travel, camping in particular as we've been camping in 38 states.

A lot of good choices Bob. A couple of things;

I have been around Whitefish Bay and Keeweenaw Bay in the UP, but I don't know where Union Bay is.

I have not been to Long Beach NC, Kalispell, Dolly Sods, or the Capital in Montpelier. Since I am going to Vermont this summer I will try to pop in there.

You also get a big check mark from me on your choices of Acadia....I suspect the sunset/sunrise on Cadillac Mtn. would be awesome. Also on Dead Horse Pt, Mono Lake and Bryce and Arches.

[Bob806]

@the-gipper said:

A lot of good choices Bob. A couple of things;

I have been around Whitefish Bay and Keeweenaw Bay in the UP, but I don't know where Union Bay is.

I have not been to Long Beach NC, Kalispell, Dolly Sods, or the Capital in Montpelier. Since I am going to Vermont this summer I will try to pop in there.

You also get a big check mark from me on your choices of Acadia....I suspect the sunset/sunrise on Cadillac Mtn. would be awesome. Also on Dead Horse Pt, Mono Lake and Bryce and Arches.

I saw you were at Quoddy Head, and I've been there too its amazing (I think it's the most eastern point in the USA).

Union Bay is the name of a campground ( suppose the nearest city would be Ontonagon, MI). It's also funny to me that the best gnocchi I ever ate was in the U.P. Another cool spot in the U.P. is the ski jump at Copper Head- you can climb to the top and see just how high those ski jumpers take off from, it is amazing.

So many beautiful things to see in the USA, but not enough time or money I suppose to see it all (mega millions would cure that lol). I really want to see the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon/Washington someday, along with Big Bend National Park.

[The Gipper]

@bob806 said:

I saw you were at Quoddy Head, and I've been there too its amazing (I think it's the most eastern point in the USA).

It is.

Union Bay is the name of a campground ( suppose the nearest city would be Ontonagon, MI). It's also funny to me that the best gnocchi I ever ate was in the U.P. Another cool spot in the U.P. is the ski jump at Copper Head- you can climb to the top and see just how high those ski jumpers take off from, it is amazing.

The one night I stayed in the UP I stayed in Paradise on Whitefish Bay, more toward the Sault.

I only got as far up the Keewenaw as far as Calumet City. For time reasons I couldn't get all the way up.

But that small peninsula once put out over 50% of the world's copper production.

So many beautiful things to see in the USA, but not enough time or money I suppose to see it all (mega millions would cure that lol). I really want to see the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon/Washington someday, along with Big Bend National Park.

I have not been to the Columbia River Gorge though I have been in Portland a couple of times.

I took my son to a 3 day trip to Big Bend. Winter is the best time to go there. Temperatures are more tolerable. Summer would be unbearable.

[ballpeen]

As far as a sunrise or sunset, they are all pretty much the same.....be it high on a mountain where you might see rise or set a hundered miles away or at sea level where the horizon might be 3 miles away....they are all the same....conditions dictate....the best I have seen all hand some cloud cover. It's a time, moment, and place thing.

[The Gipper]

@ballpeen said:

As far as a sunrise or sunset, they are all pretty much the same.....be it high on a mountain where you might see rise or set a hundered miles away or at sea level where the horizon might be 3 miles away....they are all the same....conditions dictate....the best I have seen all hand some cloud cover. It's a time, moment, and place thing.

While that is true, I think the thing that can set them apart is the setting. In my choice it was really all about the setting. I was on the tip of a peninsula, fairly high above cliffs below me, and with an Island with a lighthouse on it just adjacent to where the sun set.

(Cape Flattery, Wash. with Tatoosh Island just offshore)

[gftChris]

@the-gipper said:

While that is true, I think the thing that can set them apart is the setting. In my choice it was really all about the setting. I was on the tip of a peninsula, fairly high above cliffs below me, and with an Island with a lighthouse on it just adjacent to where the sun set.

(Cape Flattery, Wash. with Tatoosh Island just offshore)

Atmospheric conditions as well - you can get some truly spectacular sunsets if the conditions are right like:

[The Gipper]

Yea, pollution helps with some great sunsets It really does.

[calfoxwc]

The most dramatic one is Mount Haleakula on Maui, Hawaii. You get up way early, start driving

about 3:30- am, and an hour to two hrs later, you get to the top.

The crater is amazing to see when the sun gets high enough. It's pretty chilly, but an amazing place to see,

as well as many, many places in Hawaii. Take at least two weeks...::

https://www.google.com/search?q=sunrise+mount+haleakala&rlz=1C2CHNU_enUS353&biw=1024&bih=677&tbm=isch&imgil=I73FIMI5Ji4DiM%253A%253Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fencrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com%252Fimages%253Fq%253Dtbn%253AANd9GcS359IFxFnoRjPhbQY6RwoNsB5Q-J4o4N7yUZnepy5sODjdGWjv%253B2274%253B1557%253B1tCtxldx-3HWFM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fgordonkessler.com%25252Fabout-2%25252Fphotos%25252F&source=iu&usg=__Y1lgW0_zXQxrXf2pe7qwqjOB93w%3D&sa=X&ei=CBEmU47SHsicrAG0wYHYCQ&ved=0CEYQ9QEwAg#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=I73FIMI5Ji4DiM%253A%3B1tCtxldx-3HWFM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fgordonkessler.files.wordpress.com%252F2012%252F02%252Fsunrise-from-mt-haleakala-centered.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fgordonkessler.com%252Fabout-2%252Fphotos%252F%3B2274%3B1557

[The Gipper]

@calfoxwc said:

The most dramatic one is Mount Haleakula on Maui, Hawaii. You get up way early, start driving

about 3:30- am, and an hour to two hrs later, you get to the top.

The crater is amazing to see when the sun gets high enough. It's pretty chilly, but an amazing place to see,

as well as many, many places in Hawaii. Take at least two weeks...::

https://www.google.com/search?q=sunrise+mount+haleakala&rlz=1C2CHNU_enUS353&biw=1024&bih=677&tbm=isch&imgil=I73FIMI5Ji4DiM%253A%253Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fencrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com%252Fimages%253Fq%253Dtbn%253AANd9GcS359IFxFnoRjPhbQY6RwoNsB5Q-J4o4N7yUZnepy5sODjdGWjv%253B2274%253B1557%253B1tCtxldx-3HWFM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fgordonkessler.com%25252Fabout-2%25252Fphotos%25252F&source=iu&usg=__Y1lgW0_zXQxrXf2pe7qwqjOB93w%3D&sa=X&ei=CBEmU47SHsicrAG0wYHYCQ&ved=0CEYQ9QEwAg#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=I73FIMI5Ji4DiM%253A%3B1tCtxldx-3HWFM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fgordonkessler.files.wordpress.com%252F2012%252F02%252Fsunrise-from-mt-haleakala-centered.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fgordonkessler.com%252Fabout-2%252Fphotos%252F%3B2274%3B1557

Yes. See my list. I put Haleakala as my favorite sunrise.

[The Gipper]

Here was a line from my original list:

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

I spent my 30th anniversary trip with my wife in Vermont this summer....and we stayed not too far from Woodstock...and I can confirm my original vote whole heartedly that this is my choice for best small town in America.

Top 5 in that category are: Woodstock VT, Chagrin Falls, OH, Seaside Fla., Wellsboro PA, Cooperstown NY. (Chatham falls off, I was there fairly recently and it didn't have that "it" for me that the others did.

[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

I have since been also to the River Raisin Battlefield in Monroe, Mich. Sackett's Harbor in New York state.

[The Gipper]

@the-gipper said:

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)

I have since been to Fort Niagra at the mouth of the Niagra River, and saw a reenactment of the siege of that fort by the British that was being held by the French.

Also, I have been to Ogdensburg NY, site of either a French/Indian battle, or War of 1812, perhaps the latter.

Mexican-American War Battlefields I have visited:

Palo Alto (outside Brownsville TX)

[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)

Also have been to the Battle of Bennington site. Plus Morristown

[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.

Now add the Chickamauga/Chattanooga Battlefield, plus Kennesaw Mountain