What Would You Recommend Visitors See In Your Town

[Nomad V]

I like visiting museums and historical places when I go to an area. My wife likes the beach. If you come to Western PA I'd suggest you visit the Horseshoe Curve, Fort Ligonier, the Johnstown Flood Museum and the South Fork Dam. My wife would suggest the PA state parks with Lakes and the museums in Pittsburgh which are really cool too.
So, what would you suggest in your area? Maybe you can give us some ideas for places to visit this summer.

 

[Bears Discover Fire]

If you ever find yourself in Los Angeles, there's LACMA and The Getty, but if you wanted a more quirky experience, I would recommend Peterson's Automotive Museum and the Museum of Jurassic Technology.

Charmlee Park in Topanga Canyon is uncrowded and offers spectacular views of the coast and Channel Islands.

 

[nevermore]

I'm from Baltimore. Standard touristy spots I generally recommend would be the National Aquarium (dolphin show! shark tank!), Ft. McHenry (Star Spangled Banner!), Federal Hill (cannons!), the American Visionary Arts Museum (whirlygigs!), the Edgar Allen Poe house and gravesite (quoth the Raven!), the USS Constellation (big boat!), Lexington Market (crabcakes at Faidley's!), the Eubie Blake National Jazz Museum, the Baltimore Museum of Art (Cone collection!), Geppi's Entertainment Museum (comics!), and maybe take one of the ghost tours and ride the water taxi around the harbor.

For food, well, we have a very diverse pool of places, so I would tailor my recommendations based on where they're from and what we might have that they don't have there, but some standards would be crabs at Nick's Fish house, Woodberry Kitchen, brunch on the deck at Little Havana, Annabell Lee Tavern and the Helmand (Afghani restaurant owned by a brother of Afghan Prez. Hamid Karzai, who also owns several other restaurants in the city). For drinks, go to the Brewer's Art (Esquire's "best Bar in America") and get a couple Resurrections and some rosemary fries, or for variety, hit Max's Taphouse in Fells Point which has the East Coast's largest fresh beer collection (about 300, on tap and bottles).

For a more "authentic" experience, I would encourage someone to get to Hampden, home of John Waters and the most stereotypically "Bawlmore" neighborhood, Fells Point for barhopping, Mt. Vernon for the architecture and the Walters Art museum. I'd also say that they should check out some of the more alternative side of the local art and music scene in the Station North Arts District, take in an outdoor screening of a movie in Little Italy or Federal Hill or one of the 100's of street festivals that go on in the summer, hit an O's game (tickets are generally easy to get unless the Red Sox or the Yankees are in town; also check out the Babe Ruth and Sports museums) and track down Kooper's Chowhound Burger Wagon.

For a day trip, I highly recommend Annapolis and a drive over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. There are beaches on the other side, I guess...

 

[Trippy]

What Would You Recommend Visitors See In Your Town

The highway as they speed on by

 

[pookha]

parthenon, cheekwood, the frist, the country music hall of fame, the symphony hall.
and so many restaurants serving almost every type of food.
plus the parks, the lakes and the zoo.

and find a place to sit and people watch on second ave on a saturday night in downtown nashville.

oh and all the music venues that have many different types of music.. a lot of it original stuff.

 

[Amaris]

What Would You Recommend Visitors See In Your Town

The highway as they speed on by

My response as well. Our town's a blip on the map. Downtown has one stoplight. After that, you're heading out.

 

[iguana_tonante]

Well, if you will find yourself in Milan, I think there are quite a few things I can suggest.

First of all, the wonderful Gothic Milan Cathedral (Duomo di Milano), with the related Cathedral Square (Piazza del Duomo) and the glass-covered Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II.

If you like religious architecture, there is also the Romanesque St. Ambrose Basilica and the church and convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, where The Last Supper painting by Leonardo da Vinci is located. Also, if you feel like it, the Cimitero Monumentale.

There is also the beautiful and imposing Sforza Castle (Castello Sforzesco), that houses several museums and art collections, and the Sempione Park (Parco Sempione. sorry, only in Italian).

If you like Italian opera, you cannot lose the opportunity to see the La Scala Theatre (Teatro alla Scala), home of the leading opera house in Italy. A focus for visual arts is the Brera Academy and Pinacotheque (and of course the Brera Astronomical Museum and Observatory ).

Last, for the shopping addicts, there is the Via Montenapoleone fashion district (in Italian often called the Quadrilatero della Moda), but really I can't imagine a reason for paying a pair of shoes more than 500 euro.

 

[nevermore]

^I was in Milan for a week last year for a conference. Unfortunately, as I was running the conference, I only got away from the University once. I did see the Duomo and Sforza Castle, but that's pretty much it.

 

[B.J.]

That's easy - the Space & Rocket Center! Seeing the Saturn V in person is impressive, and the vertical replica can be seen for miles. Plus, it's playing host to the Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination exhibit this summer!

 

[iguana_tonante]

^I was in Milan for a week last year for a conference. Unfortunately, as I was running the conference, I only got away from the University once. I did see the Duomo and Sforza Castle, but that's pretty much it.

Damn, you should have dropped me a line. I would have show you the wicked places in town.

 

[Nomad V]

That's easy - the Space & Rocket Center! Seeing the Saturn V in person is impressive, and the vertical replica can be seen for miles. Plus, it's playing host to the Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination exhibit this summer!

You know I've been down to Redstone and to see the Corps at least once a year, but I never have the time to drop in to the space center. I usually stay along University up by the mall. I need to plan in some extra time next visit.

 

[mari]

I'd like to recommend that visitors see their way out... my hometown is a "summer" town that triples in population once school lets out, and I am a particularly cranky townie. I figure if it's Tourist Season, I get to shoot 'em. However, if someone's coming to visit me, it's a different story and I'll show you the good stuff, not the tourist crap.

 

[Canadave]

What Would You Recommend Visitors See In Your Town

The highway as they speed on by

I have to ask: where in Ontario are you from?

Anyway, being the national capital, it's pretty easy to find stuff to do in Ottawa.

First of all, there's Parliament Hill, of course, which is always impressive. And then right nearby is the Château Laurier, Supreme Court of Canada and the National War Memorial, all of which are neat to see—and are pretty much musts when visiting Ottawa.

After that, it would depend on what people want to do. If a visitor liked museums, we've got a ton. The Canadian War Museum is my personal favourite, being a sombre reflection on Canadian military history with an impressive collection of artifacts (including a giant room of tanks!). Also interesting is the Canada Aviation Museum if you like planes, the Canadian Museum of Civilization for those interested in history and culture, the National Gallery of Canada for art lovers, and the Canadian Museum of Nature if you like dinosaur bones.

If your the outdoorsy sort, then there's tons of trails for walking and cycling, and we have a bike rental system that should be expanded to a decent scale by this summer (50 stations, I'm told, but the company has nothing official up yet). There's also Gatineau Park, a huge natural area with tons of hiking, rock climbing, mountain biking, etc. just to the north of the city. And if you're here in the winter, I'd suggest going for a skate on the Rideau Canal.

And lastly, if you like to shop, Ottawa's not the most interesting place around, but there are a few neighborhoods with interesting shops. The ByWard Market is the most famous, but The Glebe and Westboro are both interesting as well.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

Come during Tulip Time and get yourself some poffertjes and dutch tacos. Otherwise, keep the hell away for your own good.

 

[RandyS]

About the only thing to see here in Sacramento is the state capital.

Unless you want to come to my house and look at me. It's not often people get a look at perfection.

 

[USS Triumphant]

I'm watching 'V' as I saw this thread, so my first thought was "the business end of my rifle".

 

[backstept]

Green Lakes State Park and Clark Reservation both have lakes formed by glacial waterfalls, and are remarkably deep for their surface area, and as a result they are meromictic . . . the layers of water don't mix. As a result the deepest layers of water are highly anoxic and have a high mineral content, most notably sulfur.
Green Lake has a modest beach area where I spent many summers growing up
many memories there
Clark Reservation has several excellent hiking trails and a long stairway down to the lake, offering great views of the landscape as well as aching legs on the trip back up

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The College World Series.

 

[auntiehill]

If any visitors come to my town, I highly recommend that they go see somewhere else.

Houston is one ugly ass town. Seriously.


But...if one is determined to stay, I usually take people down to the museum district; there's a lot of great museums here, oddly enough, especially if you're into modern art and history.

However, AGAIN, the really fun things are out of the city limits: Kemah, Galveston, NASA, the Ren Faire, the state parks---all well outside Houston.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Houston is one ugly ass town. Seriously.


But...if one is determined to stay, I usually take people down to the museum district; there's a lot of great museums here, oddly enough, especially if you're into modern art and history.

Not an Astros fan, I take it?

seriously though...Minute Maid Park's been there for 10 years now. Haven't you been there at least once? Gotta be a lot better than that freaking Astrodome.