Anonymous wrote:Best city in the world: Chicago.

I'm biased of course

And do what there?

Best city in the world: Chicago.

I'm biased of course

Smokey Mountains

Charleston and Isle of Palms

Sea Island, GA

Cape Hatteras and Ocracoke Island

Lake Placid

Toronto Area with a stop to see Niagara Falls

Maine; Bar Harbor and Acadia

For the summer, do not go south unless you are going to the beach. Go north to Maine or Vermont, go West to Utah or California or Washington state, but save your southernly travels for Oct-April.

Anonymous wrote:for civil rights tour, Montgomery AL is the best place to be based out of with the spectacular EJI sites. You can day trip to Birmingham.

Wow, I did not expect so many useful replies on this topic.

You’ve all helped me remember good people are out there.

Thank you.

OP

for civil rights tour, Montgomery AL is the best place to be based out of with the spectacular EJI sites. You can day trip to Birmingham.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just spent a two days in Philadelphia and was really pleasantly surprised with the few areas I was able to explore so far. Mostly in the old city which is is charming and interesting and was not crowded in the cooler weather. Can't speak for how crowded it might be in the summer.

The Constitution center did have fairly in-depth interesting exhibits about slavery and the Constitution and the suffragette movement and the Constitution. There were school groups going through so I think it is appropriate for kids. It is in theory, a nonpartisan private institution. I thought the exhibits were well done and the people working there seemed very knowledgeable.

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Re: train. I like that idea, but I wouldn't start in Chicago, the first half of it seems pretty boring. Fly to Denver and start there

Thank you. Good to know.

OP

PP here- have a watched a few Youtube videos about this route. Basically by starting out in Denver, you cut out one of the 2 overnight portions, so it's just one night sleeping on the train. And it leaves Denver around 9 AM, so you get the crossing of the Rockies during the day on the first day. The overnight portion is Utah and most of Nevada (I drove that once, the flat Nevada portion has a starkness that is beautiful in it's way), and then the second day is crossing the Sierra Nevada and the descent into the central valley and then the Bay Area. So you get all the best parts (Rockies and Sierra Nevada) and lose very little (mostly flat farmland through Illinois/Iowa/Nebraska). Personally I would assume I would sleep poorly on a rocking train (even with one of the individual rooms), so I could probably handle one night of bad sleep, but 2 in a row would be brutal.

The other one I want to do is the northern route across Montana/Idaho/Washington.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just spent a two days in Philadelphia and was really pleasantly surprised with the few areas I was able to explore so far. Mostly in the old city which is is charming and interesting and was not crowded in the cooler weather. Can't speak for how crowded it might be in the summer.

The Constitution center did have fairly in-depth interesting exhibits about slavery and the Constitution and the suffragette movement and the Constitution. There were school groups going through so I think it is appropriate for kids. It is in theory, a nonpartisan private institution. I thought the exhibits were well done and the people working there seemed very knowledgeable.

I love Philly but wonder if it will be especially crowded this year due the 250th?

No one really cares about that except MAGA and they aren't running to Philly, they think its too dangerous. lol

I'm wondering if it's not so much that nobody cares, it's that people who care know that the 250th is totally being coopted by MAGA and deciding not to take part in it.

I was in kindergarten 1975-76 and remember the whole spring was bicentennial themed. I'm not seeing anything like that this year in the schools for the 250th.

I think you're on to something. I mean they just voted to put Donald Trump on a gold coin to celebrate our liberation from the British crown.

It's all "sus" like the Army anniversary parade on DJT's birthday.

I'm your age. My mom had my school picture taken in a Martha Washington costume complete with mobcap. This is still one of the funniest things about my early life.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love you. I would do Birmingham via Greensboro and Atlanta to add other Civil Rights sites. I have been to Alabama but not Birmingham. It's high on my list.

Have you been to Providence, RI, or St. Louis? St. Louis has a lot for kids. I also really want to go to Detroit.

Aw, thank you. I’ve not been to Providence before.

Thank you for these suggestions. We visited Greensboro but the lunch counter museum was sadly not open. I like the idea of combining the different cities.

OP

Bummer, maybe you can get there sometime when it's open. I took my kids to the Greensboro lunch counter museum and Atlanta and both were very meaningful.

This is a different era but this exhibit is also really well done: https://virginiahistory.org/exhibitions/unbound-free-black-virginians-1619-1865

Anonymous wrote:I'd go up to Michigan, around Traverse City and see the dunes and go wine tasting. But my family is very Michigan.

So cool. We did some of this last year. 😀 Torch Lake is gorgeous.

OP

Anonymous wrote:I love you. I would do Birmingham via Greensboro and Atlanta to add other Civil Rights sites. I have been to Alabama but not Birmingham. It's high on my list.

Have you been to Providence, RI, or St. Louis? St. Louis has a lot for kids. I also really want to go to Detroit.

Aw, thank you. I’ve not been to Providence before.

Thank you for these suggestions. We visited Greensboro but the lunch counter museum was sadly not open. I like the idea of combining the different cities.

OP

Anonymous wrote:Alabama -- The space center in Huntsville is interesting, if that's your thing.
Wisconsin -- Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin is interesting, if that's your thing. (On route to Taliesin you could visit Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob in Pennsylvania and all kinds of FLW stuff in Chicago area.)

We have similar interests. We did FW last year and Kentuck Knob is on the list for the future!

OP

Anonymous wrote:Re: train. I like that idea, but I wouldn't start in Chicago, the first half of it seems pretty boring. Fly to Denver and start there

Thank you. Good to know.

OP

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just spent a two days in Philadelphia and was really pleasantly surprised with the few areas I was able to explore so far. Mostly in the old city which is is charming and interesting and was not crowded in the cooler weather. Can't speak for how crowded it might be in the summer.

The Constitution center did have fairly in-depth interesting exhibits about slavery and the Constitution and the suffragette movement and the Constitution. There were school groups going through so I think it is appropriate for kids. It is in theory, a nonpartisan private institution. I thought the exhibits were well done and the people working there seemed very knowledgeable.

I love Philly but wonder if it will be especially crowded this year due the 250th?

No one really cares about that except MAGA and they aren't running to Philly, they think its too dangerous. lol

I'm wondering if it's not so much that nobody cares, it's that people who care know that the 250th is totally being coopted by MAGA and deciding not to take part in it.

I was in kindergarten 1975-76 and remember the whole spring was bicentennial themed. I'm not seeing anything like that this year in the schools for the 250th.