Cross-America trip in June; will appreciate advice

[tomfuller]

The SLC station is not a place you want to sleep. Take a taxi to Denny's http://locations.dennys.com/UT/SALT-LAKE-CITY/247484/

I hope you don't have too much luggage. Only carry as much in SLC as you need for the day and check the rest to your next stop. (Maybe Reno?)

You can use New Jersey Transit to get from Newark into NYC without using any of your segments of your 30 day pass.

There are several hotels near the EWR airport that have shuttles.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Can't speak for Denver or SLC?? but there are Excellent Hostels International in Seattle and Chicago close to King Street Station and Union Station! Prices Includes Breakfast and there are Private Rooms for around $65 a Night but a shared Dorm Room (people from Allover the world and all Ages use them)is about $30+ a Night which is an Excellent Deal for Popular Tourist Cities like Seattle and Chicago! Google is your friend, Check them out!

Your Reservations Should Be Guaranteed if Paid for with a Credit Card so wont matter what time You Arrive! You can ask for Late Arrival when you Book! Spending the night in ANY Station or Dennys is Not the Way to Go!!

 

[the_traveler]

I can only think of 4 train stations in the country (without racking my brain too hard) that are open 24 hours. They are NYP, PGH, WAS and LAX. All others will have you leave the station at closing time. Yes, there may be some open all night at train time (say 11 pm to 7 am), but they are closed during the day.

 

[sunchaser]

Hello and welcome to the board! I would highly recommend a stop in Glenwood Springs, Co (GSC), instead of Salt Lake City. Much more fun, more reasonable arrival and departure times. Salt Lake is okay, but we sure enjoyed our visit to Glenwood. Across the street from the station is a nice little Micro Brewery that has some good food, and beer if you like. The station is older, and kind of cute, with a little museum in it.

http://glenwoodcanyon.com/

http://glenwoodcolorado.com

http://www.hotspringspool.com/

 

[VentureForth]

If you get time to check in, please post your progress. We'd be very interested to hear any stories you may encounter during your journey!

 

[meursault]

Please post a trip report. We are always eager to know how one's trip went. With your desire to experience America, it will be a neat way for us to share in your adventure while we're couped up behind this desk at work. Dreaming. Planning.

Certainly.

Left SF on 2nd. Arrived in Seattle late on 3rd (thanks to delay). Stayed overnight in hostel - stayed in hostels everywhere except in DC, where I had paid for hotel accommodation - visited Space Needle, etc. Left to Chicago.

Arrived in Chicago on 6th, departed on 8th. Took the boat tours, Sean Hancock observatory, the national art museum, etc.

One day in Pittsburgh. Visited friend there. Run down sort of place, wouldn't want to live there.

Conference in DC. Didn't do much touristy stuff because I had already been there before. Besides, the visit there was business related.

Left for NY on 13th, stayed for almost a week to 19th. Had to take a day out to get back to DC to meet an important contact who'd popped up (so it was good to have had a couple of train segments left in reserve) midway through my stay in NY. Did the touristy stuff there, bar crawl, museum of natural history, Chicago show, etc. Unfortunately Statue of Liberty is still shut down after Sandy. Started feeling under the weather towards end of the stay, so had to slow down and ended up not visiting some places I'd wanted to visit - most prominently and unforgivably the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but also the United Nations, Brick Lane curry house (world's hottest curry), not to mention virtually all the non-Manhattan areas of interest like Brighton Beach.

Unfortunately the illness turned into a fever during the day I had allotted to Boston (20th), so I was cooped up in my bed during that time, and was unable to do virtually any of the touristy stuff there. Fortunately the fever didn't last and was gone the next morning when it was time to leave and head back all the way to the west coast. Traveling with a fever on a crowded Amtrak train would have been hell. Had it lasted I'd have probably just said screw that and bought airline tickets instead.

Arrived back in SF several hours ago.

Boston is much more than just museums - and I have never seen anyone in an 18th century costume there.

I saw several. Two Redcoats, and a guy in "ordinary" 18th clothing.

 

[cirdan]

Okay, thanks for the advice all.
@Jean,

I used to like history museums and stuff like that several years ago, but now it feels more like I'm just ticking off boxes. So I now gravitate more towards stuff that you can't read about in books or Wikipedia.

So not really interested in Boston if it's mostly just the museums and 18th century costumes. The expensive hotels (via benjibear) are another minus. I'm now searching for experiences: Good food, districts to explore, natural wonders, and so forth.

Now driving around Yellowstone, seeing the geysers and stuff really interests me. A pity it might be booked out, though; I'll have to hurry up and check, just to make sure.

@Shanghai,

Very useful stuff, thanks! Ouch, yes, that's early indeed. Hope I manage to get some sleep before being woken in the middle of the night...

Only planning to be in Pittsburgh for one day - to meet my acquaintance, plus visit that Church Brewery.

I know exactly what you mean.

i'm like that myself.

I do enjoy art museums and such but find that I don't really enjoy the A-type museums that overwhelm you with all their top famous works of art as the atmosphere there is very much that of people ticking boxes and its all rather dry and artificial.

So when visiting cities I tend to avoid these A-museum and go more for the smaller B-museum that have more local history stuff and that are run by and visited by people who are genuinely interested rather than just seeking to snobbishly tick the boxes of how many of the world's 100 most famous works of art they have actually seen with their own eyes. I also go into churches, public buildings etc to see the architecture and have almost almost been positively received when asking for permission to do so.

 

[VentureForth]

Sounds like you had quite the adventure. At least you didn't come back cursing never to ride Amtrak again! Sorry you got sick during your trip. That always bites. All-in-all, it seems to be a well executed plan - even using some of the contingencies!

 

[trainman74]

Too bad that's the impression you got of Pittsburgh. I lived there for about a year and a half, after moving there without knowing much about the place (the first time I'd been there was when I went for the job interview), and I ended up enjoying it quite a bit.