RPGWW

So for the summer, my friends and I are trying to get out of this town we live in and go somewhere, preferably out of state, and see the sights while we can. And without a single destination or activity in our collective minds, I thought that since I know people in far away places, I could ask people in far away places if there's anything I should see in/around their town.

So RPGWW, where do you live around? What is there to do for a bunch of guys with a free summer? Anything we should leave the Eastern Coast for immediately and crash? Concerts and other once in a lifetime experiences are welcome! We're all gamers and some of us are anime nerds so if you can even tailor into that, it would be swell but no idea is a bad idea, don'tcha know.

Come to New Jersey!

I know, I know, I'm kidding.

If you do find somewhere fun to go to see RPGWWers, swing by Monmouth County and come pick me up, dude.

Come to Sweden.

We have many interesting things. Like moose. And umlauts.

Umlauts are the bestest.

There's really not much in the Baltimore area. There is Otakon, and our apartment is a reasonable driving distance from the convention center, IIRC, but I don't know how many "guys" we're talking here--cuz while we have a spacious living room, that's from the point of view of a couple. Also we have a cat who likes to sleep on faces. This can be a problem for those who are allergic.

Closer to our home is the National Cryptologic Museum, which while underwhelmingly presented, is definitely worth a stop for the computer and history geeks. And for those into cryptology and spying and all (this is really neat). You can also buy posters of famous propaganda pieces at the gift shop! (Gee!! I wish I were a MAN! I'd join the Navy!)

Norther KY/Cincinnati, OH has neat stuff from time to time. There's a huge fireworks production on Labor Day weekend, synched to music from a local radio station, and a jazz festival (creatively called the Jazz Festival) in the summer. You could also go watch the Cincinnati Reds/Bengals/Cyclones lose at their respective sports games.

England! Home of the fish-slapping dance!

Seriously though, London is awesome. Sights, culture, theatre, night-life, pubs, restaurants, parks, royalty, history, and everything, it's rocking!

I realise, however, that you'll be unlikely to be able to hop over here. The only place in America that I can say I've lived in is Durham, NC. And I wouldn't recommend it for a trip. Not much to see there. The Outer Banks in NC however were lovely.

Westchester, OH, on the other hand, has...okay, so it has restaurants.

...that's about all it does have.

Kings Island Amusement Park Has the World's largest wooden rollercoaster and only looping wooden roller coaster.
Chris Rock at the Aronoff Center in July
http://www.youtube.com/v/juLQBeZXmPU&hl=en
Wierd Al on Tour in July
http://www.youtube.com/v/XbVtbc_XzrI&hl
Coney Island Waterpark

Horse racing can be viewed in both OH and KY. There are three casinos, Argosy, Belterra, and Grand Victoria.

Images below:
http://www.blueash.com/images/Cincinnat ... Square.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... rminal.jpg
http://www.eng.buffalo.edu/~hulme/Graph ... /beast.jpg

Come to Alaska and I'll take you spearhunting for grizzlies.

What, no tazers?

I am in fact here, and reading and very interested!

Spleen: Har dee har har! Although, I have never been around to your side of things. You live practically all the way on the other side of the state from my good ol' Warren County here. Maybe one day I'll be forced to drive down to Monmouth and see how things are.

Christian: Mmmm... Moose. And Umlauts. How do you pronounce that? I'm having fun yelling Umlaut here in the way I think it works. Oom-Laowt!

Dia: Otakon is already on the menu for this summer! As it was last summer for my friends and I, and the summer previous to that! It's our most enjoyable four days of hardcore geeking out. I have a sinking sensation this may be our last year though. Also: Cryptology is awesome. Not sure how interested we are in Local sports... or... Local-For-You-Guys sports.

SS: If we had the monies for plane tickets, you could bet your sweet arse that we would get out of the country and be in... somewhere. Probably Asia actually, but Europe has its own charm that I hope to see with a different group of friends. As for Durham, NC... I shall take your advice and not go there! Huzzah!

Nama: Restaurants eeeeh...? Any good restaurants? Or just... big corporate type restaurants?

Amanda: Weird Al tour in July...? That has a certain appeal to it that I think we all may be able to enjoy. Fantastic! Also: Chris Rock... that's a good point. I didn't even think of looking up stand-up comedians for things to do. Good call, madam.

The Deth: I love me some spears. And I could always give hunting a try. Are these some sissy spear guns or are we goin' at them like men?

I should also like to share that Oreskaband is playing in Chicago at the Wizard World Something-Or-Other at some time in July, if anyone is interested in that sort of thing.

Thank you for your input and keep 'em comin!

Umm-laut (like loud, that's how I pronounce it; don't know WHAT we call them here though; we use them in Ä and Ö)

You wanna come here though, seriously. I know a lot of USAnians and Canadians who come here and love the country...

Pretty expensive though, but right now we're having some unnaturally good weather; I expect a tornado'll come along and kill half of Southern Asia to even things out. :(

Christian wrote:Umm-laut (like loud, that's how I pronounce it; don't know WHAT we call them here though; we use them in Ä and Ö)

I don't know Swedish, so I can't say for sure, but from what I understand there might be no special term for them in that language since those are separate letters in the Swedish alphabet, like Å. In German, where the word umlaut comes from, it refers to a mark you put on vowels specifically to change the sound without considering it as actually modifying the letter; words beginning with Ä in German are sorted mixed in with words beginning with A, for example, not put at the end of the alphabet. Though according to wikipedia (yay), you do occasionally use Ü as an actually umlauted letter for German loan-words.


Also, Oregon! Not much to do here in the Eastern side of the state, but it's some beautiful country here. If you like mountains and lots and lots of trees, you should come here somewhere! There's great camping, and if you like hunting, there's elk here. Never went myself, so I can't say anything about it in more detail than that, but it'd be an option for you.

That's true, I've always referred to them dots as umlauts though, but Å, Ä and Ö are all letters in their own right.

We do have the ü, and use it for example in müsli (muesli), but Ü isn't a swedish character.

As far as sound goes, explaining the Å, Ä and Ö is VERY difficult; Å is kinda of like the All in all right, just drop the pronounciation of the l's completely and you kind of have it. Ä is like the british At, which is I believe pronounced with somewhat more stretched corners of the mouth; Ö is the Uhhh, or the exaggerated A in British Received Pronounciation, although generally stretched out a bit longer.

But enough of that.

After seeing the first episode of Jericho, I fell in love with the Colorado(?) mountains that the train goes by (runs just next to the river/sea/thing)

I've made a promise to go on a cross-country trip in the US with my dad once I hit 40. Still a long way to go, but I'll save some info from here for when it's time to go.

Taiar wrote:Dia: Otakon is already on the menu for this summer! As it was last summer for my friends and I, and the summer previous to that! It's our most enjoyable four days of hardcore geeking out. I have a sinking sensation this may be our last year though. Also: Cryptology is awesome. Not sure how interested we are in Local sports... or... Local-For-You-Guys sports.

No longer local for me! But other folks is in the Cincinnati area, as I recall.

Mike reminds me that just about everything that is in D.C. is also accessible from here, cuz we gots the <s>monorail</s> MTA.

Taiar wrote:Nama: Restaurants eeeeh...? Any good restaurants? Or just... big corporate type restaurants?

There are some chain restaurants you'll only find in the KY/OH/midwest area. I really miss Skyline Chili & Goldstar Chili, which both feature (surprise!) Cincinnati-style chili (I prefer Skyline, which starts you off with a bowl of oyster crackers to nibble on and offers baked potatoes). Frisch's Big Boy is a sit-you-down fast food place--as in, you're supposed to get seated and served in under 7 minutes (NB: supposed to). Frisch's titular sandwich (the Big Boy) has their own brand tartar sauce on it and is fucking delicious. They have seasonal desserts, including a fruit pie of some sort (cherry pie is great) and very good pumpkin pie (they have their hot fudge cake, which my mom loves, all year round),

There are also Steak 'n Shakes in the area. I'll be honset, the SnS's in Georgia had fan-fucking-tastic service, but it can be very lackluster in NKY/Cincinnati. However, their shakes are really great (if you like shakes! ::canned laughter:: ). Their burgers aren't so bad, either.

Should your wanderings take you down south, there is a fantastic Spanish cuisine restaurant called Columbia Restaurant near Tampa, FL. Expensive, but holy shit, their seafood paella is the bestest. I never knew one meal could hold so many dead critters (try to identify them all)! There are other locations, as well, but the one near Tampa (Ybor City) has Flamenco dancing shows (cool stuff) and they're all pretty much near each other in Florida.

Louisville, KY, has a huge number of unique restaurants, and my dad has probably eaten at all of them. If you plan on heading there, I could get a list from my dad. I can also see what he recommends in Cincinnati. Got any type of food you're craving or want to try out?

Well, speaking from the outsider's point of view, I approached my own trip across the US in terms of things and people to see. So I'd suggest thinking of any major landmarks you haven't yet seen that you might want to check out along the way. The Grand Canyon, Niagra Falls, Yellowstone, that kind of thing.

Lots of fast-food places, but there's a few new restaurants that've come up. Nothing uber-famous, mind you, and I wouldn't be surprised if most or all of them were in some sort of chain.


...yeah. Westchester sucks. I still wish I didn't have to grow up there.

Taiar wrote:The Deth: I love me some spears. And I could always give hunting a try. Are these some sissy spear guns or are we goin' at them like men?

Pfff, spear guns are for ninnies!

I'm not actually sure of the legalities of going after grizzlies, I've only hunted black bears. :(

Hey FD, if I'm in Whittier, AK, how the hell do I get to an airplane hut? Is it a road trip to Anchorage or what?

Come to Sonora, Mexico! where the sun really burns and the mafiosos are starting to gather up!

But seriously, San Carlos it's a pretty popular spot among the turirsts, tho it's more of a spring break place.