GalaxyRanger's Excellent Adventure

GWC Meetups and Events
#61

In DC, the Museum of the American Indian is a must. It’s fabulous. When we took my in-laws to DC for a day, we basically just bummed around the Mall, there’s tons to do and see, what with the monuments and the Smithsonian museums.

And then you’ll get on 64 to 81, or are you going to keep going on the Blue Ridge Parkway for a bit? If you do, The Humpback Rocks are neat (it’s very pretty plus there’s a visitor’s center about farming and daily life in the mountains). Or, if you want a taste of small town Virginia, Staunton has a cute downtown.

#62

Thanks so much! Great to get some insider information. I think we’ll park at Fort McHenry and then take the water taxi to the USS Constellation. I just need to purchase a cheap GPS at the first Walmart I can find.

And for Washington, we’ll go see those museums and Staunton!

#63

You’re welcome sir. It seemed appropriate.

#64

Oh, the Constellation was going to be my recommendation. There’s some other ships there as well: a Coast Guard Cutter (survivor of Pearl Harbor), a Lighthouse Ship, and a WWII submarine. You can get passes to various ships online here. (Also, there’s the occasional visiting tall ship, etc.)

I may be able to meet you down at the Constellation. It’s a fun ship to visit.

What made you think of The Book Thing? Interesting choice, but a bit away from everything else.

#65

It is! Rock on, dude!

That would be cool, it will probably be late afternoon/early evening by the time we get to Baltimore.

What made you think of The Book Thing? Interesting choice, but a bit away from everything else.
It just sounded cool to me, I love books.

By the way, I’ll get a US phone number for the cell phone to facilitate communication.

Oh and the planned trip to downtown Washington has been cut short by my GF’s discovery of Potomac Mills Shopping Mall. So that’s where we’ll spend the second half of that particular day…

#66

Still in the process of planning the details of this trip.

Since nobody from the Philly/Pennsylvania area has proposed to meet, we’re thinking about skipping Philadelphia and going straight to Baltimore and spending more time in Baltimore then on that particular day. This is in large part because I feel more attracted to the sights Baltimore has to offer and I kind of fell in love with the pictures I’ve seen of the Inner Harbo(u?)r area. And the idea of a water taxi, I wanna go ride the water taxi!

If anyone from the Philly area would want to meet up, however, let me know and we’ll try to work in Philly after all.

#67

Well there really isn’t a whole lot to see in Philly other then the Liberty Bell, much more to see down in the Baltimore/DC area.

I am likely going to be in Baltimore about that time anyway…

#68

Have you seen the Pirate Ship?

#69

Yes, I checked out the website, it looks cool if you’re into stuff like that, but I can promise the GF wouldn’t wanna do that and they way things look we won’t have time for that anyway.

But… call me crazy, but I’m already kind of planning next year’s trip. I have totally succumbed to road trip fever without actually having gone on a road trip. Is that weird?

Well, here’s a rough outline for Excellent Adventure, The Sequel.

Miami - Savannah - Charleston - Great Lakes (Cleveland, Chicago etc) - Kansas City - Denver (I hear I-70 is a beautiful road in that area) - Salt Lake City - Yellowstone - Yosemite - San Francisco - Highway 1 - Los Angeles - Las Vegas

Time frame: 4 weeks. The way things look now, if I don’t have to get a new car, I’ll probably have the money for such a trip next year (the girlfriend’s finances might be a problem, though) and then nothing in the world would stop me from doing it. It’s really grown into a dream. Except of course if this year’s trip goes wrong. But I highly doubt that.

I feel like a putz for not including New England in my plans since I know Topgun and TFG will feel left out - again. I feel bad about that. Be aware that there IS a plan B that describes a trip from Boston to Seattle via Yellowstone and the Great Lake area, but I think the Sunshine State will get the vote in the end. But the word’s still out on that.

#70

What??? How did we miss this? :eek:

As self-appointed Pennsylvanian ambassador, allow me to extend a warm welcome to our friends from the Fatherland. :slight_smile:

What about the Franklin Institute? The Star Trek exhibit will be there throughout the summer.

(Of course, I don’t recall GR ever mentioning any interest in Trek, but it’s definitely a major geek attraction.)

#71

GR is my Star Trek hero. You know why? Because he’s the only person I know know who read the whole ST TOS series in book form before he ever watched the show. Now, that’s an interesting perspective I’d say.

#72

Thanks! And thank god you spared me the New Jersey jokes. I appreciate that. Even though I realized that since we’ll be picking up the rental car in Newark, we’ll make the trip with Jersey plates…

What about the Franklin Institute? The Star Trek exhibit will be there throughout the summer.

(Of course, I don’t recall GR ever mentioning any interest in Trek, but it’s definitely a major geek attraction.)

Uff! Wow. First I heard about that… re-planning that leg will involve serious backlash from non-geek girlfriend. I’ll try… don’t get your hopes up, though.

Well, it’s true, we just didn’t have a satellite dish until I was 10 or 11 or so and I was stuck with three programs. So I read the books.

#73

You need to take a close up picture of yourself and that plate. Brilliant! :smiley:

#74

This seems fitting. :stuck_out_tongue:

Uff! Wow. First I heard about that…

Here’s the link for the meetup thread. We were actually still trying to pin down a date, so coinciding with your visit might be a deciding factor. And a large contingent of Northeasterners were planning to come, as well, so you wouldn’t have to disappoint a lot of the New Englanders.

re-planning that leg will involve serious backlash from non-geek girlfriend. I’ll try… don’t get your hopes up, though.

I’m sure there would be a lot of non-geek spouses and significant others who will also be bored silly, so at least she’d have someone to talk to. :rolleyes:

#75

And don’t forget that the Franklin Institute is more then just the Trek Exhibit, so it won’t be all about Trek.

#76

Quite right, you might run into Bones! Or Agent Booth!..

#77

I’ve rented from National many times. It’s fine, they’re easy to work with.
Sounds like a great vacation GR !

#78

Folks, bad news about the Star Trek exhibition, there’s no persuading the GF. We might be able to join people in Philly for a second breakfast/early lunch, though.

Anyway, I just called North Carolina and we’re going river rafting there! Woot! I’m excited. (I’m always excited when somebody’s getting wet)

About all these meet-ups: since we’ll be leaving in two weeks, if you’re still interested in doing this, we should start talking seriously about these meet-ups

#79

Just let me know when ya get to the Big Apple, so we can throw back some Jagermeister.

#80

Awesome. August 21st, late-afternoon/early evening. I’ll give you our cell number before we leave.

Do you happen to like German beer?