2025 Travel Plans

I don't know, haven't looked yet. My "rule" very loosely defined is I need to visit at least two places or do something significant in the state or spend a significant amount of time to mark the state off my map. I've not researched IA yet and other than Toppling Goliath Brewing not sure what might appeal (the Brewery is a bit out of the way). Capital Cities are usually interesting -at a minimum I can visit the Capitol or State museum; I realized on last year's trip, I've hit many so might try to incorporate more going forward but they are not a priority. Do you have any suggestions?

I often seek out unique geography, kitch/roadside oddities, interesting small specialty museums in tiny towns, regional specialties or festivals/fairs if the timing works out.... and love breakfast in small town diners where the working folk go and I can overhear small talk. I sometimes have a "must" do but usually have a list of 3-10 things at a place I am stopping to explore and decide on the fly based off my mood and weather forecast. My favorite things usually are not things I knew about when planning my trip and are things that stumbled into or found on Google maps when close.
Any idea on time of year? Thanks.
 
That is good timing, usually. We have some nice breweries with patios. I would recommend our downtown area and East Village. Good bike trail system for walking and biking. Gray’s Lake, a beautiful city park. Western suburbs have a lot of shopping. Overall, I think Des Moines has very good restaurants for our size. You can find all that information on the Internet. Depending on what kind of food you like. let me know if you have any special areas you might be interested in. We also have good entertainment and live music and a Civic Center downtown. That usually has some pretty good shows going on.
 
I don't know, haven't looked yet. My "rule" very loosely defined is I need to visit at least two places or do something significant in the state or spend a significant amount of time to mark the state off my map. I've not researched IA yet and other than Toppling Goliath Brewing not sure what might appeal (the Brewery is a bit out of the way). Capital Cities are usually interesting -at a minimum I can visit the Capitol or State museum; I realized on last year's trip, I've hit many so might try to incorporate more going forward but they are not a priority. Do you have any suggestions?

I often seek out unique geography, kitch/roadside oddities, interesting small specialty museums in tiny towns, regional specialties or festivals/fairs if the timing works out.... and love breakfast in small town diners where the working folk go and I can overhear small talk. I sometimes have a "must" do but usually have a list of 3-10 things at a place I am stopping to explore and decide on the fly based off my mood and weather forecast. My favorite things usually are not things I knew about when planning my trip and are things that stumbled into or found on Google maps when close.
Having lived in the Madison metro area for over 40 years, I would definitely make a stop in Madison between Milwaukee and the Twin Cities. The isthmus and lakes are beautiful, and the breweries might help you forget Toppling Goliath. Both my parents and grandparents lived in Cedar Rapids, and I would probably skip that town unless you are hankering for the smell of Captain Crunch cereal (Quaker Oats plant). The National Czech and Slovak Museum might be worth a stop if you do go.
 
Thanks for the suggestions! I'm linking your responses to my working itinerary in Google Sheets so I can refer back quickly as I plan and while on the road!
 
I'm pleased that you will visit Milwaukee. Lots of great stuff here, especially at the time of year you will be visiting. I will be happy to meet up!
 
My grandson, son and DIL just spent 3 weeks with us. We took them to Everglades National Park, Disney World and Kennedy Space Center.

We visited KSC twice when our children were young, It has been completely renovated since then and now is a fantastic place to visit. My grandson got to hang out with an astronaut for an hour and asked all kinds of questions. Best of all, we got to watch a Falcon 9 rocket launch!

We also enjoyed many South Florida dishes, such as conch fritters, alligator fritters, stone crab claws, and key lime pie. We also had some Venezuelan Christmas foods, such as hallacas and pan de jamón, along with tequeños, which are Venezuelas greatest gift to humanity.
 
Having lived in the Madison metro area for over 40 years, I would definitely make a stop in Madison between Milwaukee and the Twin Cities. The isthmus and lakes are beautiful, and the breweries might help you forget Toppling Goliath. Both my parents and grandparents lived in Cedar Rapids, and I would probably skip that town unless you are hankering for the smell of Captain Crunch cereal (Quaker Oats plant). The National Czech and Slovak Museum might be worth a stop if you do go.
We did a girls trip to Madison, Wisconsin last October and really enjoyed it.
 
Just added 2 more short trips to our plans. Looks like both sons will be graduating college this spring. So a long weekend to Berkeley in May and a long weekend to San Luis Obispo in June. Hotels are booked, but prices are about triple the normal rate for graduation weekend.
 
Just added 2 more short trips to our plans. Looks like both sons will be graduating college this spring. So a long weekend to Berkeley in May and a long weekend to San Luis Obispo in June. Hotels are booked, but prices are about triple the normal rate for graduation weekend.
Oh well, BTD! Lifetime occasion.
 
I was checking my "miles" on Virgin Atlantic last weekend. After looking at them I punched in a date RT to London. Hmmm....pretty sweet.

But we have closets being done soon. And a little prep work to get ready for them. And my CC would be a bit higher than i'd like. It's nice to dream too
 
Looks like they will have ceasefire in Israel, time to search for cheap flight tickets.
 
I don't know, haven't looked yet. My "rule" very loosely defined is I need to visit at least two places or do something significant in the state or spend a significant amount of time to mark the state off my map. I've not researched IA yet and other than Toppling Goliath Brewing not sure what might appeal (the Brewery is a bit out of the way). Capital Cities are usually interesting -at a minimum I can visit the Capitol or State museum; I realized on last year's trip, I've hit many so might try to incorporate more going forward but they are not a priority. Do you have any suggestions?

I often seek out unique geography, kitch/roadside oddities, interesting small specialty museums in tiny towns, regional specialties or festivals/fairs if the timing works out.... and love breakfast in small town diners where the working folk go and I can overhear small talk. I sometimes have a "must" do but usually have a list of 3-10 things at a place I am stopping to explore and decide on the fly based off my mood and weather forecast. My favorite things usually are not things I knew about when planning my trip and are things that stumbled into or found on Google maps when close.

Do you like ice cream?

This isn't Des Moines, but in the northwest corner of the state (you might be going relatively nearby depending on the route from MN and if you go to Omaha).

Le Mars, Iowa, is the Ice Cream Capital of the World. More ice cream produced there by a single company, Wells, than anywhere else. Higher end brand is Blue Bunny, and they are also a Walmart supplier.

Visitor center and ice cream parlor.

If you're headed down to Omaha, the Sergeant Floyd memorial is near Sioux City, IA. Only fatality of Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery. We did a road trip from the midwest further west one year and kinda sorta followed their path and visited a number of sites related to Lewis and Clark.
 
We are thinking on taking a road trip from Boston to Montreal and then over to Bar Harbor and down the coast back to Boston. From Boston we will fly back home. I've been using ChatGPT to suggest some intermediate destinations along the way. Like maybe Stowe and/or Woodstock. I don't think we will spend any time in Boston.

We have not been on the east coast in many years. Pretty much our vacations have been no farther from the west coast then out to Utah. Hoping to get some historical sites in and hiking too. Acadia Natl. Park would be one hiking destination. Concord would give us some history. Montreal has some big city attractions. Still learning about these areas.
 
We are thinking on taking a road trip from Boston to Montreal and then over to Bar Harbor and down the coast back to Boston. From Boston we will fly back home. I've been using ChatGPT to suggest some intermediate destinations along the way. Like maybe Stowe and/or Woodstock. I don't think we will spend any time in Boston.

We have not been on the east coast in many years. Pretty much our vacations have been no farther from the west coast then out to Utah. Hoping to get some historical sites in and hiking too. Acadia Natl. Park would be one hiking destination. Concord would give us some history. Montreal has some big city attractions. Still learning about these areas.
Former South Floridians who moved to the Inland Northwest eight years ago. We visited Boston for the first time in August for five nights and had a great time. Plenty to see and do. I wouldn't rule it out if you've never been. The downtown area is very walkable.
 
OldConch, what did you like specifically about Boston?
I'm Wiz, not OC.
But Boston has the Freedom Trail, the Common and Public Garden, the T, the Red Sox (if you time it right), and lots of Irish pubs. And a good Chinatown.
And there's stuff to see across the rivah in Cambridge also...
 
Recently returned from a cruise to Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao (ABC Islands). I'm in FL and do cruises fairly often but haven't done a Caribbean one in five years. Was nice to get out of the 40's into the 80's (even in the water.). Also planned a couple small getaways to see the Beach Boys (for about the 15th time) and Paul Anka.

Not that many concerts out there anymore in my genre. But I'm heading to Prague in the summer to see Bruce Springsteen again. Saw him at the beginning of this tour and he's still great! Saw him first in 74.

Going to a wedding in Scotland a few weeks after that so will need to figure out where to go between those.
 
We are thinking on taking a road trip from Boston to Montreal and then over to Bar Harbor and down the coast back to Boston. From Boston we will fly back home. I've been using ChatGPT to suggest some intermediate destinations along the way. Like maybe Stowe and/or Woodstock. I don't think we will spend any time in Boston.

We have not been on the east coast in many years. Pretty much our vacations have been no farther from the west coast then out to Utah. Hoping to get some historical sites in and hiking too. Acadia Natl. Park would be one hiking destination. Concord would give us some history. Montreal has some big city attractions. Still learning about these areas.
We're doing a similar road trip this May/June: First stop Manchester VT 1 night, then 3 nights in Quebec City, then 3 nights Bar Harbor then 1 night Woodstock VT before heading home. Really looking forward to this trip and the combination of mountain/old city/National Park/Ocean scenery. Also looking forward to sampling the lobster rolls and blueberry pie in multiple locations. Taking a BTD approach on the hotels to maximize the experience. Then in the Fall we have a Canada/New England cruise that stops in Boston, Maine and a couple Eastern Canada ports.
 
OldConch, what did you like specifically about Boston?
The Big Dig created a remarkably walkable city free of excessive traffic. We stayed at the InterContinental (on points) with great views of Boston Harbor and took long walks through the adjacent Boston Commons/Beacon Hill/Quincy Market area every day. The weather in late August BTW was absolutely lovely. We love organized tour/trips to get a feel for an area and did a day trip to Salem, a walking tour of the Freedom Trail, a food tour, and a bike tour, and enjoyed all of them. Each guide put their own spin on the incredible history of the city and it was great fun seeing the actual places that you learned about in grade school. DW and I took a walk to the local market here in Camara de Lobos on Madeira yesterday and had the soup of the day - it was about 10 Euros for both of us - and we started talking about some our favorite meals. She specifically mentioned the lobster roll we had in Boston. I just looked it up and it was at James Hook & Co. just down the street from our hotel. Reminiscing a bit about the trip she asked if I remembered learning about the Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919 that we learned about on our Freedom Trail tour. I did indeed and remarked that it's funny what jogs your memory and what sticks. We burned up a Delta companion ticket on that short 5 night trip and it turned out to be one of our favorites of 2024.

Edited to add that we didn't need a rental car. There's a bus from the airport directly to the downtown area and we walked to the hotel.
 
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In about a week, we are spending 9 days in Paris, taking advantage of some really cheap airfares ($400 round trip per person). At the same time, our favorite hotel is offering 15% off, though at 9 nights it will be more than the airfare. Not a trip we had on the radar, but an easy mini-BTD. And it makes the wife very happy.

Then later in the summer we are going back to Croatia and Slovenia for the third year in a row. Mostly because it is a fun group that we go with. But I do have other destinations that I need to go to, so I need to make some solid plans for either this fall or next year for someplace other than Europe.
 
Just book a trip for the first week of May.

5/4 EWR>PHX
5/5 NY Mets @ AZ Diamond Backs
5/6 Sedona
5/7 Drive through Grand Canyon to Kayenta
5/8 Monument Valley and drive to Santa Fe, NM
5/9 Drive to Denver to see daughter
5/10 Another game at Coors Field (we've been 2 or 3 times now)
5/11 DEN>EWR

Lots of miles but we'll see some beautiful scenery.
 
We are going to Japan in March.
Grand Canyon in June.
Australia( Sydney mainly) in August.

Never been to the Grand Canyon or Australia before. Excited to begin planning for Australia.
 
I was checking my "miles" on Virgin Atlantic last weekend. After looking at them I punched in a date RT to London. Hmmm....pretty sweet.

But we have closets being done soon. And a little prep work to get ready for them. And my CC would be a bit higher than i'd like. It's nice to dream too
I can rationalize a lot of things. One of those is travel. I help with a Rick Steve's travel group in our area. It's just a loose collection of people to talk about travel......where'd you go, how'd you get there, what'd you do, etc. After our meeting Saturday I had to go somewhere.

Rick Steve's is hawking his new book (On the Hippie Trail) He is talking & signing in a few places around the country. I first looked at Minneapolis. Delta controls that market & it's not cheap to get there from Portland. we were just in SoCal & going to San Diego in May. So then I looked at NYC. Bingo Bango bongo. Mrs Scrapr donated her Alaska air miles, I bought the book signing tix & we are off to the big Apple in a couple weeks. We have been a couple times and there is still much to see
 
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