Please post your ideas here; I'm leaving soon!
How to see/post a comment: Click on the words Click to Comment at the bottom of this posting; this will open a window that allows you to see other people's comments and/or post your own.
You can now vote on where I go in the earliest days of my trip. Beginning Aug. 20, each day you'll be able to vote on my itinerary for the following day. To vote, click here.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Keep those ideas coming!
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10 comments:
Hello Jane: Why wasn't I asked to tag along as navigator? Who will take care of Stetson during this road trip? I could give you lots of thoughts (e.g.: Vulcan in Birmingham - Union Station in St. Louis) but others will give you those obvious ones. Pay a visit to Tuskegee Institute founded by Booker T. Washington and where the African-American Tuskegee Airmen of WWII fame trained. How about a rack of bar-b-que ribs at the Rendezvous in Memphis. Another stop outside of Kansas City would be Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The home of Gen. George Custer and the 7th Cavalry. They marched out the gate never to return. His home still stands there. (The prison is also an impressive site/sight.) You should always enjoy a picnic lunch on the "Road to the Sun" in Glacier. While you are heading west through Washington state - Leavenworth (German/Bavarian) and Winthrop (western - home of the "Virginian") are two towns worth the detour. To end your journey on a high note, relax at Salish Lodge & Spa on the crest of the Snoqualmie Waterfalls - Jeannett and I found that to be a wonderful environment. There are plenty of other thoughts, but you will probably get too many. Don Slesnick (P.S.: Coral Gables is proud to have one of its residents "on the road" - just like Lewis and Clark.)
Don: I'll be displaying the Coral Gables banner at every opportunity! Great suggestions, and thank you.
Hi Jane,
The old route 66 is a must. Sections of it are being restored, such as an old gas station in Mt. Olive, IL. The route ran from Chicago to San Diego, passing through St. Louis. For some jazz in St. Louis, I recommend Muddy Waters, named after a great jazz musician of old. Always wear your seat belt, and don't drive in the passing lane like so many South Floridians do.
Jane, Birmingham has great food, spent 6 months there as it is Regions' headquarters. Try Prairie Fire Grill,Ocean,Highland Park Grill, Hot'n Hot (my favorite). Other names to follow as I don't have my list here. Obvious tourist site is the Vulcan statue but I would recommend the Civil Rights Park.
Attended school in Nashville and was just back to see that Lovelaces Motel (don't stay there) is still an institution for southern style family meals...great fried chicken and the homemade peach preserves and biscuits are great. The old Opry house is still worth visiting from a historic perspective and the new Opry only if there is a decent concert or you can go when they are broadcasting. Vanderbilt's campus is lovely and if you like enjoying pretty residential areas check out Belle Meade which is the Coral Gables of Nashville. Will check in soon with other suggestions. I'm jealous.
Great suggestions folks! You'll see them on the voting options as the days go by. Sara, don't be jealous; the good parts are really great, but the others parts...well, it sounds self-serving, so I don't talk about that much. Let's just say that with all jobs, there's a reason they pay you...
Recommendations for Jane;
Best wishes on your adventure:
General: Clean medium priced lodging;
Hampton Inn, get HiltonHHonors points toward free stays
Motel 6, newly built only
Kansas City: top, don't miss. I take my out of town guests to as many of these as they wish.
Nelson Art Gallery, Rozelle Court, lunch, dinner Friday
45th and Warwick The most elegant cafeteria in the world, setting a Renasssance covered couryard in a major all eras art gallery.KCMo
Andres Suisse Confiserie; lunch T-S, gorgeous pastries and candies, table d'hote lunch including drink and dessert about $12.
51st and Main, KCMO
Room 39 Restarant, 39th and State line, Br and Lunch M-sat; dinner m - Th, closed Sunday, moderate price, owners/chef from former #1 Zagat Cafe Allegro (gone)
BBQ plus: Jack Stack BBQ, Freight House District, 21st and Baltimore approx, a bit hard to find, Zagat says best BBQ in America KCMO
Down Home BBQ; Oklahoma Joes, in gas station 43th and Mission Road, KCKS/Johnson County KS line road; Folks that won American Royal BBQ contenst many times, owners/chefs.
GeoKC
Hi Jane,
I heard of your travels from my aunt in Miami, Barbara Voight. It looks like your travels may bring you up through my hometown of Cape Girardeau, Missouri. It is located just off I-55 between Memphis and St. Louis on the Mississippi River.
Would love to hear from you - my e-mail address is: jesicar@charter.net (home)
Happy Trails,
Janet Esicar
Jane: I can't get the Vote here option to work - so will make my suggestions here. Just east of Kansas city on I-70, you simply must exit on Noland Road and come to Independence. Heading up noland road at 1333 S. is Leila's Hair Museum, recently picked by SATW as one of the 10 best quirky sites along the interstate and Fodors.com as one of the best 7 wierd museums in America. While here, also visit the historic Square with its charming shops, restaurants and antique stores. Take a covered wagon ride with Pioneer Adventures for a narrated history tour (catch on the corner of Truman Road and Main Street on the Square) then visit the 1859 Jail and Marshal's Home, where you can see the cell which housed infamous bank robber Frank James and others of Jesse's gang, the Truman Home National HIstoric Site, the fabulous Vaile Mansion, Truman Presidential Museum & Library with a replica Oval Office, lots of interactive displays and theaters and the graves of Harry and Bess. There's a wealth of Mormon heritage sites, including the newly remodeled Mormon Visitors Center and Community of Christ Temple and Auditorium with the unique Children's Peave Pavilion, a hands on interactive place for kids to explore. Don't forget the Puppetry Arts Institute, where kids can paint a puppet head, clothe it and stage an impromptu show for friends and family. The story of the frontier and trek west is told at the National Frontier Trails Museum, as the Santa Fe, Oregon and California trails all headed out of town from Independence and the adjacent restored Chicago and Alton Depot. They drove past the historic Bingham-Waggoner Estate, home of famous Civil War artist George Caleb Bingham, which today is open for touring. See the 1827 Log Courthouse as well. You can stay in one of several delightful bed and breakfasts near the Square and then head into Kansas City, only twenty minutes away, in the morning.
What a wonderful idea for a trip-you should have called me to go with you-I am good company. I will be with you in spirit anyway and follow your travels on the web. This country has so many amazing places to see and so much to take in that no one ever needs to leave it. Be safe and enjoy. P.S. You must have a fabulous husband to not pitch a fit over you being gone so long.
Hi, Jane. If you're going anywhere near St. Louis, as your map shows you are, a place that's really a gas is Bonne Terre Mine in Missouri. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the old lead mine played out, they turned the pumps off, and the mine filled with air-clear water. It was left that way for decades before an enterprising scuba diver (who originally was hired to try to salvage some of the equipment) developed this into one of the most amazing dive sites most of us have ever visited. As you go down through the incredibly clear water, you see ore carts, ladders, railways, work huts, mining equipment, old newspapers (fragile but still readable), lunch boxes, all sorts of things that were left there the day the miners left. It's NOT cave diving; it's all open water diving, because when you're floating on the surface the top of the cave is high above you. If you want to dive, they will rent you a "banana suit," a thick bright yellow wetsuit that keeps you plenty warm in the constant 57-degree water. Even if you're not a scuba diver, the owners have a lovely B and B on the site where you can stay, dine and take a look at this fascinating place. You can walk down into the mine and see the divers getting suited up and starting their dives, then you can watch them underwater, it is so clear. Lots of good photo ops. National Geographic called it "one of America's top 10 greatest adventures." I've dived and stayed there a couple of times and done articles on it for dive publications. Google/jux2 it and you'll get an eyeful. Their web page is at www.2dive.com. Cheers! And happy trails! Connie Crowther/Coral Gables
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