Travel & Recommendations

Favorite things to do/see/eat in Montreal? Headed there in two weeks.

loose thc laws = partake

Anybody have any quick-n-dirty budgeting tips for a month-long road trip? We'll probably be doing a lot of camping and staying at national parks. Also looking for any quirky off-the-wall stops.

Current itinerary is looking like:

Shenandoah Valley, VA
Bonnaroo
Kansas City
Denver
Zion National Park
Sedona
Las Vegas
San Diego
Los Angeles
Yosemite
San Francisco
Redwood National Park
Crater Lake
Portland
Seattle
Vancouver
Banff, Alberta
Bozeman, Montana
Badlands National Park
Minneapolis
Chicago
Niagara Falls
Home (Philly)

New Orleans and Austin were on the list but got cut to save time - probably not going to do L.A. either. Any other must-see places that are more or less on the way? We're not crazy about the Grand Canyon.

If you're hitting up the Falls, the Canadian side is the better option. Stopping in Buffalo or Toronto are both really convenient from there.

If you're hitting up Buffalo in the summer, there are typically free shows on Thursday nights. The lineup is usually decent. Last summer featured Charles Bradley, Frank Turner, Public Enemy, Dweezil Zappa, Shakey Graves. The Arcs, TI, and Claypool Lennon Delirium.

Highly considering going to Costa Rica in January. Anyone have any good experiences and recommendations?

My response got a little long so I bolded the start of each new area.

That's a badass itinerary. Get a National Park pass the month of your first NP visit. They're $80 and good for a year. It will pay for itself if you're hitting up that many National Parks. Sleep at rest stops. They're safe, free, and a good place to get cleaned up at in the morning. I have a big word document full of ideas for some of the places you're going if you want me to send it to ya. It's my research for a trip I did this summer. It's probably only semi-coherent to someone other than me but covers a lot of the major attractions in these places.

Make sure to get your NP camping booked well in advance. My experience this summer with popular National Parks was that many campgrounds were completely booked out before summer even hit.

Look into camping at National Forests. There is a lot of free camping available in them, albeit mostly primitive. If you do happen to hit up the Grand Canyon I can tell you about a free National Forest campground connected to the park.

You might want to investigate Joshua Tree if you're going to be in the SD/La area. It's worth spending a day there and the stars are very bright at night. The camping setup there is really neat (you camp next to these giant ass rocks that look like you've been dropped into The Flinstones).

Deep Creek Hot Springs is a natural springs on the PCT and only a couple hours away. It's more or less en route to the coast/Yosemite from Joshua Tree. There's optional nudity and open drinking if that's something you're into. When I was there it was like half naked, half swimsuits. Old guy dicks are the only thing that make me horny and let's just say that I was extremely turned on while there. It's nestled in foothills and you have to hike in a few miles so it's not very crowded/has a cool secluded feeling. It's on a warm river that you can swim in and has something like five separate hot pools.

Sedona is very beautiful and has lots of awesome hikes around (some of which your NP pass will cover!) There was a natural hot springs a few hours away that I tried going to but the road was way too rough for my car. If you're driving something with 4WD then you could probably swing it. Based off my research the place sounded incredible and you can camp out there for free:
hikearizona.com/decoder.php?ZTN=136

Yosemite: Camp at Camp 4! It's walk-up camping and only $6 a night. The regular campgrounds are around $30, get booked out instantly, and have way less room than you get in Camp 4. You share a picnic table/fire pit with other people but each space is quite large. The way that camping works is as follows: In the evening they post a list on the Camp 4 ranger station with the number of available spots for the next day. People then line up overnight to get camping for the next morning. I lined up around 4:30 AM and was well within the margin. I wouldn't get there any later than six, especially if the number of spots are limited. When I went to check the list at 10PM there was already a guy in line so you could conceivably just camp in line for your first night, then grab camping the next morning for the rest of your stay.

Try get a permit in the Half Dome lottery. If you know your exact Yosemite dates you can apply whenever they give out the initial permits (like six months in advance? I could be wrong on that). With the lottery you apply two days in advance of when you want to do Half Dome. I was lucky enough to win a permit. You should try for it because it was unquestionably one of the most incredible experiences of my life. I spent four days at Yosemite and could have easily added on another week. There's lots to do so give yourself time if you can.

Crater Lake: The campgrounds are really nice but book out early. This past May, early in the month, I was looking for June camping and the closest I found was mid July. You could just stay one night and have a pretty full experience, but two gives you a little more time to explore. The rim drive and stops/hikes along the way is essential but there is beautiful hiking/camping that's separate from the lake. Crater Lake is the most beautiful place I've ever been so don't fucking skip it.

Cannon Beach on the Oregon coast is my favorite beach (it's featured in Goonies!) in case you're looking to make an ocean stop. All of Oregon's beaches are public/free so really anywhere along there is good for a day trip. Follow the PCH up the coast until you need to turn inland to hit Portland. Also, the Oregon Coast Trail links together the entire coast via beach/city/hiking trails in case if you're looking for an extra activity out there.

I'd personally skip LA and hit up Big Sur instead. It's famous for a reason. The beaches there are so nice and the drive along the PCH is scenic the entire way. This summer I camped at this beautiful, free ocean overlook called Prewitt Ridge. You're above the clouds and when they clear you have a wonderful view of the ocean. Big Sur was all on fire this August so Prewitt Ridge could be shut down for all I know. Get your gas/groceries before you hit up the Big Sur region because everything there is insanely expensive. Garrapata Beach is free and fucking beautiful.

Portland: I lived there for over two years and still go there all the time. It's my favorite city in the country. This is my standard list of recommendations for the city/area:

The Columbia Gorge is one of the prettiest places I've ever seen. It has lots of easy hiking, lush forests, and waterfalls. I would def recommend going out to the Gorge for at least a drive even if you don't hike it. You can get to it just by hopping on 84 East and before long you're out of town and seeing all kinds of beautiful stuff.

Eagle's Creek is a popular trail and not too far away from town. There's a waterfall there called Punchbowl Falls that is okay and if you go a few more miles on the trail you come to Tunnel Falls which is huge and fucking awesome. You get to walk through a little tunnel behind the waterfall and come out getting misted on the other side. Multnomah Falls is also another popular hike/waterfall here. Bridge of the Gods is in the next town up from Eagle Creek and is cool but you have to pay to cross it. I have no idea if you're interested in hikes at all but those are some. If you just google Gorge hikes Portland you'll see all the options.

In town there is an amazing overlook of the city and one of the big mountains at this place called Pittock Mansion that you can drive to. You can also hike to it if you're interested in doing a really nice little hike along a stream in the forest without having to leave town:
www.portlandhikersfieldguide.org/wiki/Pittock_Mansion_Hike

Mt. Tabor is probably the prettiest park here and when you go to the top you get to look over downtown. It has little trails, water reservoirs, and is great for a sunny afternoon picnic or booze at sunset while overlooking the city. It's probably my favorite place in Portland.

On Monday evenings there's an informal thing in Colonel Summers Park called Monday Funday. People get together to play dodgeball, play music, practice gymnastics, drink some beers, and just in general hang out with their dogs and be hippies. Not sure about now but in the summer there's usually a hundred people there (this summer it kinda died out though). That park is on 20th and Belmont and Isaac Brock lives right behind it.

Just in general the Southeast neighborhood is really cool, especially along Belmont and Hawthorne from 20th-50th or so. Lots of little shops, places to eat, record shops, food carts, bars, people walking around, etc.

Pied Cow on Belmont is a coffee/hookah/snack place with an incredible outdoor area. It's essentially just a backyard strung up with Christmas lights, little tables, and they always have good music on. Go there at night. Anyone I've ever brought there has instantly fallen in love with it.

If you need to get cheap groceries then this place is your god:
Everyday Deals
600 Southeast 146th Avenue, Portland, OR 97233
It's the giant cement place painted green behind the even bigger porn store. It's seriously cheap as fuck and I get most of my food there. They have 5L boxes of wine for $7.79. If you're looking for a cheapish grocery store that doesn't give you diarrhea and isn't a warehouse behind a porn store then Grocery Outlet is the next best option. They have a few stores around town.

Laurelhurst Theater has cheap second run movies with beer and pizza. It's another of my all-time fave places to go.
laurelhursttheater.com/

Downtown I usually just walk around and look at the hoboes but it's always very alive there and there's lots of food carts and record shops and things to check out. Walking down Burnside you'll see lots of stuff and that's kind of our main road in town.
Walking along the Waterfront (river) is cool and on the weekend they have a farmer's market that's really popular though I don't think it's anything too great. Pioneer Square sometimes has stuff going on and is a nice place to sit and rest while hanging downtown.

Three fun weekend places to dance are The Goodfoot, Holocene, and Crystal/Lola's. The Goodfoot is especially cool. It's the basement of some bar with low ceilings and packed crowds. They play old funk music and have mirrors on the wall so it feels like the 70s down there haha. At Crystal Ballroom/Lola's they have 80s music every weekend and it's sort of a Portland institution. White Owl is an outdoor bar that has DJs on the weekend. They project movies on the wall as ya dance and it usually has a great vibe. All those places are around $5.

I don't give a shit about strip clubs but Sassy's is free and considered the best in town. It's right across from Holocene so I go there after dancing sometimes and it's fun for a bit. Mary's downtown is scuzzy but another famous spot. If you want to take your girl to see some HUGE DICK then Silverado downtown is da place to go.

Powell's Books is a giant downtown bookstore that's fun to browse/get lost in and they host author readings a few times a week. Check their event listings. I've seen people like Patton Oswalt and Chuck Klosterman there. It also has a coffee shop for chilling and BSing.

This place also has a coffee shop and is connected to a hotel lobby with cool old couches to sit on and read the paper:
www.acehotel.com/portland
I don't know how to make it sound cool but it is.

I doubt you want to spend this kind of money but Portland City Grill is a restaurant 30 floors up that has one of the best overlooks in the city and a piano player. Their happy hour is decent prices. Don't go at night. Way too fucking expensive. Anyway if ya google pics you'll see what the view is like.

Ground Kontrol is a bar/arcade downtown that has different themes throughout the week and many times a DJ. They have a ton of old games and pinball machines if that's your thing. I don't even like video games and still think it's fun:
groundkontrol.com/

Bagby Hot Springs is an oasis out in the mountains but is like 90 minutes from Portland and the road is sometimes fucked in winter so you'd have to check on it before going. But it's a natural hot springs out in the forest/mountains at the end of a mile long trail with comfy tubs and you can soak naked if you want to. It's amazing and I try go a couple times a year. The drive is worth it. It's $5 a person now and if you go during the week it's never crowded.
www.bagbyhotsprings.org/

If you're passing through western North Dakota en route to Minneapolis then Teddy Roosevelt National Park is worth a day trip. The landscape is incredible and you get to see lots of bison roaming around.


Minneapolis: The Uptown area has lakes (Calhoun is the most popular), and lots of shops/restaurants/bars/walkability. On thursday evenings the Walker Art Center is free. They usually have interesting exhibits such as one on the 60s and another curated by John Waters. I'm not an art guy at all but always make it a point to go there.

First Avenue is obviously the most famous music club in town. It's in the heart of downtown and they have shows there at least a few nights a week. It really is a wonderful place to catch a show.

The Stone Arch Bridge walks over the Mississippi from downtown. Walking there at night can be really beautiful.

Just in general most McDonald's and Wal Mart's have free wi-fi if you need to use it during your trip. Same goes for libraries in the cities you'll be passing through. I like to hit up libraries to recharge my devices and have some chill downtime before heading to the next place. No one ever bothers you at them, even if you're all fucking dirty from camping.

I'm half planning my own month long NP/fest/hiking/etc trip for next summer and your list definitely gave me a boost of excitement. Good luck.

Anyone been to India? Thinking of doing the southern region soon.

I have nothing to offer about communication but you might enjoy the book "Lost in Planet China" by J Maarten Troost. His travel writing tends to be a bit more outside the box than is regular.

Going to D.C. and NYC for 9 days in December/January. Recommendations?

I've only done New Orleans in winter. I've always had a good time and I suspect that it's less crowded. The weather is certainly more my speed!

I enjoyed Founding Farmers in D.C.

I've only been to New Orleans once in October and it was still very hot and swampy. I imagine winter would be a perfect time to visit, weather-wise. 

Not sure if either of you feel like getting your redneck on, but I had the best guided fishing trip through the bayou with Griffin Fishing Charters. I don't know what kind of fish they can catch in the winter, but Redfish are fun to catch and super delicious.

If museums are more your speed, The Presbytere is one of the coolest I've ever been to. They have a floor dedicated to Hurricane Katrina and it's impact on the city and it is extremely moving.

Personally I advise against Founding Farmers, given the price and the wait time. The Right Proper Brew Pub is similar but with better beer/food/service/prices.

You'd really dig Flash night club. U Street Music Hall may have someone you're into as well.

Restaurants I like that aren't too pricey: Maketto (Thai, Cambodian), Toki Underground (ramen), Jaleo (spanish), 2Amys (Pizza).

Bars I like: Little Miss Whiskeys, American Ice, Showtime, The Passenger, Copycat.

There's also a bunch of fancy cocktail bars that are pretty good if that's your thing (bar mini in particular), and a surprisingly decent brewery and distillery collection in the North East warehouse neighborhood.

And, you know, museums and shit. They just reopened the modern wing of the National Gallery and did a very nice job.

Mother freaking Burial. Their brewery is catty-corner from Wicked Weed's Funkatorium which is another must. Green Man is on that intersection too and is also solid.