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Left hand half of America


David M

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Admiral Puff and I are coming over for the IPMS US Nationals next July and then touring for six weeks or so.

The plan is to start at Omaha then by road to Chicago, Oshkosh, Detroit, Indianapolis and Nashville then jump west to Tucson then by road to Phoenix, San Diego, LA and San Francisco before we leap on the Big Tin Bird back to Oz.

Our collective interests are (in no particular order) old aeroplanes, old cars, beer, books, music in various forms, Mustangs (both kinds), French cars, models, architecture, race cars, float planes and flying boats, food.

We have figured out the big things we want to see along the way but are interested in any suggestions any of you 'locals' may have for stuff to do or see along the way...ballgames? jazz? blues? classical? obscure events?

Any and all suggestions will be much appreciated...

David M

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Dayton and the USAF Museum are about a 2 hour drive east of Indianapolis. It is a must-see. Of course, if you stop in Indy itself then you need to go to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, site of the Indy 500. A few hours north of Indy is Kalamazoo, Michigan, home of the Kalamazoo Air Zoo. If you want to see a baseball game, then there is no better place to go than Wrigley Field to see the Chicago Cubs. If the scheduling doesn't work out, the Chicago also has the White Sox and Milwaukee has the Brewers.

Edited by VMA131Marine
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Never been there, but in the Tuscon area someplace is the Pima Air Museum and Davis Monthan AFB, Area 51(the tourist side). Make sure you eat at the local mom and pop eateries, don't bother with fast food joints. To bad you weren't going north of the border. Like i said, I've never been there, just recommendations.

Edited by busnproplinerfan
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On 12/31/2016 at 0:17 AM, busnproplinerfan said:

Never been there, but in the Tuscon area someplace is the Pima Air Museum and Davis Monthan AFB, Area 51(the tourist side). Make sure you eat at the local mom and pop eateries, don't bother with fast food joints.

If you visit Pima, the tour of AMARG starts/ends there. 

When driving from Tuscon towards Phoenix you will pass a Minuteman missile silo/museum, which might be a good side tour?

 

Certainly catch a big game of some sort while in the US. American football or baseball would be recommended, simply for the atmosphere!

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2 hours ago, hairystick said:

If you visit Pima, the tour of AMARG starts/ends there. 

When driving from Tuscon towards Phoenix you will pass a Minuteman missile silo/museum, which might be a good side tour?

 

Certainly catch a big game of some sort while in the US. American football or baseball would be recommended, simply for the atmosphere!

someday, I'd like to see the area.

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When you goto LA.

 

Make sure you visit:-

 

Griffith Observatory, views of the Hollywood sign are great from up there.

Santa Monica Pier & Beach (for obvious reasons), a great corn dog stall /w iced lemonade shop by the pier.

 

Paramount Studios, I stood next to a lifesize standing up bumblebee from the Transformers films, he had to be 25ft tall.

 

Hollywood Boulevard.

 

Whilst your in Santa Monica, have a butchers at Evett's Model Shop, not the biggest shop in the world, but he has a array of model kits, rare 1960's kits all the way up to todays releases.

 

Have a great time.

 

Wayne.

Edited by Deadman Disciple
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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks all.

 

Pima and Davis Monthan were always on the list - there's an L-049 I hope to photograph to death (like, counting the rivets AND measuring the spaces between them ...). Evett's was also a definite. We'll have a bit of time in the LA/SF region, and hope to get to most of the biggies, like the Petersen. DM has done the place before, but it's my first time anywhere in the Americas - should be a blast!

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As the good Admiral says: it should be a blast.

We have swapped the Detroit > Nashville route from 'via Indy' to 'via Dayton' as I think he will enjoy the USAF Museum more than the Indy Museum.  

I will probably grab a beer and sit in the shade to watch The Admiral go mental in Pima and Dayton...that is going to be entertaining and fun to see.

 

This will be my 5th to the US and thanks to all the great suggestions here (and via PM, for which many thanks to you all) I am already thinking about the 6th in 2019...probably a long amble up the right hand coast as I have only seen a couple of bits in Florida and Philli.

So any and all suggestions are still welcome...

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I was in San Francisco a few years ago - loved it.

 

Food - go to Scoma's http://scomas.com/

Seafood as fresh as it gets.

 

It may sound obvious but do Alcatraz. There is an excellent audio tour given by both former guards and inmates. Try going into one of the isolation cells - it's dark and creepy.

 

If heading south of there for a day or two then stopover at Cambria. Small town USA on the coast just off Highway 1. It even has a model shop too! There are a couple of decent restaurants on the seafront as well.

 

Enjoy your trip :)

 

Trevor 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Do any of the small Californian beach towns, we went last year & mooched, Huntington Beach, Seal Beach, Costa Mesa, Manhattan Beach were all great as was Santa Monica. If I was to go again, then I would avoid the whole  Venice beach area as it was just a horrible tourist trap & the downtown core of LA, around the Chinese theatre was just a huge unpleasant experience. 

Having said that, sunset at the Griffith Observatory was great, but get there early for car parking. I would recommend Disney, but you have to be that sort of people. 

Hope you have a great trip!

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  • 5 months later...

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