Slashdot Mirror
A Geek's Tour Of North America?
PlanetThoughtful writes "Later this year I'm taking advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to backpack around the U.S. and Canada (Sept 2003 to whenever I have to come home again). Being a lifelong Australian geek (think of Steve Irwin and then stop, because I'm nothing like that and neither is anyone else, Steve Irwin included) I'm desperately curious: what would make it to the travel itinerary of Slashdot's all-time geek-tour of North America? Think electronics, architecture, astronomy, enlightenment! Think gadgets, bookstores, software, comics, The Library Of Congress, The Smithsonian, Wanting To See Really Amazing Things! Think travelling on a budget, then forget about that if it's a 'You Must See This Before You Die' sort of suggestion. And then stop thinking about these things, and actually tell me!"
http://www.burningman.com
you will not be disappointed
That is always a favorite of mine. But if you just look for what you are talking about, you will be missing most of America's real treasures. The Grand Canyon, Yosemite park (however you spell it). Niagra Falls, Blue Ridge mountains etc. So many places and so little time!
Oh and on the techie side, don't forget NASA in Houston.
-- Many men would appreciate a woman's mind more if they could fondle it
In Portland, you need to visit Powell's Bookstore. It is huge (a couple of city blocks in downtown) and has all kinds of cheap used books to read on your travels. Portland is also generally a cool place to visit, and if you're in the Northwest anyway it would be a good time.
A must-go. Even though now it is a shadow of its former self and a lot of abandoned buildings mark its high-water mark during the dot-com boom.
Intel has a museum in Santa Clara, The Tech museum in San Jose is a must-visit, and the Apple Store in Cupertino is a place people who aren't Apple staff can visit to pay respects to the first true success story of the area.
Mod this post -1 Obvious. ^_~
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
on I-94 in Detroit. 'nuff said.
creation science book
Two definitely geeky things to check out in New Mexico.
The Very Large Array - Gigantic Radio Astronomy installation
The Trinity Test Site. Only open a few times a year, your chance to see where the first atomic bomb was tested.
'ARRGH! Pirate Designers of the Internet, we be!'
Although you don't have to visit there, make sure you give the people at Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump a call while you're going through Alberta. The area is neat in a National Park kinda way, but it's great to have someone answer the phone with "Head smashed in, how may I help you?".
Plus you might learn something new about Native Americans.
I read the internet for the articles.
There's a small but very cool technology museum at MIT that even most people in Boston don't seem to know about. It has all kinds of very neat things, like an exhibit about MIT's research into robotic walking, an amazing collection of moving sculptures by Arthur Ganson, a very good hologram exhibit, and a lot more.
I don't know if you're looking for this sort of thing, but it was personally for me one of the best museum visits ever.
It's one of the most technologically packed areas in the USA. The whole park's monitored and run very efficiently. It's also a whole lot of fun. But last time I went, I was more interested in how much effort goes into making sure that paying customers are set up for the best time that is possible in a family-friendly environment. (Bring your own drugs, sadly they don't supply EVERYTHING!) The Disney Corporation owns such a vast amount of land that you're on their property before you even realize that you've entered Disney World.
Also, check out Downtown Disney, they have an excellent arcade there, where you pay ~$15 and you can play until it closes. Plus you can design and ride this cool virtual rollercoaster that rivals the real coasters there, if you make a point of making a very extreme virtual coaster. The guys manning the area can give you some pointers. Make sure you hit Epcot and MGM, you can speed through the Magic Kingdom (too much little kid stuff).
The Deifenbunker!
http://www.diefenbunker.ca/
See the only Cold War, atomic bomb proof, command centre completely open to the public.
By far the coolest thing I've ever seen!
I'd put it number one on the geek tour! A key part of NORAD... mainframes and all....
___Abuse of power comes as no surprise___
Fry's has gadgets galore, and it is indeed a geek's paradise... but that's at the expense of all the "normal" people out there. Great place to buy a computer if you know exactly what you want, but don't even bother asking the sales people any questions.
True story: we're moving to a new place and needed a refrigerator. Salesman "A" said yeah, we can put things in "will call" so that you can pick it up later. I was suspicious, so I talked to Salesman "C". It took about 5 minutes before he realized I was talking about a refrigerator and not a CD or DVD... then, he pointed out that "will call" is actually the big cage in the checkout area, and that they weren't likely to put a refrigerator in the cage. Where was salesman "B"? He literally turned and ran when he saw me approaching -- I'd heard about it, but had never seen it firsthand.
The punch line is that we bought the fridge there anyway... it was $100 or so less than anywhere else. Maybe the sales staff are all volunteers, or something? That would explain a lot.
It should also be pointed out that Fry's has a full selection of snacks, multiple pop machines, and a shampoo aisle. Go figure.
Since this is way offtopic by now, I'll give myself a -1 right off the bat.
Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
I'd recommend Palomar Observatory. Not only is it one of the nicer observatories in the country, it's in beautiful southern California.
You want to come here anyway, right? LA, Hollywood, San Diego? It's between LA and SD, and worth the trip.
--
Use Vobbo for Video Blogs
The NRAO in Greenbank, WV is an interesting visit if you're in the area. (I'm thinking about the Hiking part, and there is some great hiking in that area).
It has several HUGE antennas for radio astronomy, and they give the tour in an old 1950s diesel bus. Modern cars can only come within a certain distance, as they have too many electronics, and mess up the observations.
Very cool, although short, tour.
Also remember Portland is one of the most un-wired cities around. Check out PersonalTelCo for info and hotspots.
Definately check out Powells as the parent post mentioned. But make sure you check Powell's Technical Bookstore located 8 blocks or so away. Computer stuff, math stuf, history of science stuff, just crazy fun nerdy stuff. Must see.
Take a look at Wacky Willys too. Just plain nerdy weird stuff. Like McGyver's play house.
Check out Hawthorne street for some good hostels and also interesting and typical portland life. Fun shops, good eats, interesting people.
And if you're here in the summer time, a little secret- the women around here are extremely easy to look at.
Above all, if you're backpacking around Oregon, welcome to one of the coolest outdoor states around. Take your pick, and within 2-3 hours (drive) you got mountains, ocean, forests, desert, and just some fun adventure potential.
And since I'm here, let me mention that if you're interested at all in white water kayaking, check out pdxkayaker.org. An incrediblely fun groups of alcoholics with a kayaking problem.
Jason
...is located at 2066 Crist Avenue, Los Altos, CA
Boston, Massachusetts and its environs are filled with incredibly geeky things. Boston is the home of the Free Software Foundation, Ximian, and OSDN. Just across the river, Cambridge is the home of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, undeniably a geek Mecca. Next door to MIT is Harvard University (as the MIT t-shirts say, "Harvard: Because not everybody can get in to MIT"). Plus we've got the Big Dig, which despite its infamy for budget overruns, corruption, and defacement of the city landscape, is also home to some incredibly geeky marvels of engineering! And of course, many other geeks of note live and work in and around Boston.
okay here's the skinny on a few southern towns from an American who travels city to city a few years at a time:
;)
Oklahoma - Route 66 (old dusty cross country road that holds mystique for car buffs who love gas gussling classics) runs through Oklahoma City, home of the Shopping Cart, and the Parking Meter. Also, AWACS, Seagate (CHEAP HUGE HARDDRIVES!!!), fossils GALORE in the eastern mountain ranges, and more astronauts come from Oklahoma, so I suppose you could go see their graves or something..
Texas - If you can just transport yourself to Austin Texas, somehow, it is well worth it. There you will find plenty of cyber cafes, vineyards, water sports (either variety), climbing, great food, wi-fi hot spots galore, a surviving tech industry, independent arts, the first known photograph and a gutenburg bible (univ. texas), live music, a large hacker community, and 6th street. I don't think there's much else in the rest of Texas.
Louisiana - Skip the rest of it and go straight to New Orleans. There you find beer. I can't remember much else of wh.. oh yes, history, jazz, culture, archaic rules and venues, colorful plants, smelly smells and.. wow.. just about a bit of everything. One can truly escape in New Orleans. Beware, as equipment tends to get wet and pots tend to get dirty in NO. Also, check out Grand Isle State Park.. it looks and smells like the garden of eden. its just an hour or so south of new orleans. The beach is beautful, you can camp there, and there's even lots of porpoise swimming about.
California - Skip everything and go straight to San Diego. Hit the 5 north or south to the 8.. head west to the beaches.. follow it into Ocean Beach via the Sunset cliffs blvd exit. Ocean Beach is the only place in san diego that time forgot. There is a mixed demographic makeup, rich in home owning ex and current hippies, along with every other facet of live available, including street life. There's even a wi-fi star bucks a block from the beach. just beware, ob'ceans HATE starbucks. You might get dirty looks on your way to the surf. Try the Hoodads for burger and a beer, and then head downtown to the San Diego Computer History museum. After that get some cheap wine (it's california) and settle into a fireworks show from Sea World.
-p
** "It's not my job to stand between the people talking to me, and the ones listening to me." -- Pego the Jerk
The greatest thing a geek who likes the outdoors can do is go Geocaching!
:-)
You go to the website, enter a ZIP code, or city, or similar, and you'll get a list of hidden "geocaches." You put some coordinates into your GPSr, print out a map (and sometimes some hints) from the website, and see if you can find one. From experience, I can tell you that it's pretty easy to get within 10 feet of the cache . . . it's those last 10 feet that are tough.
It's incredibly fun, and here in my hometown of Los Angeles there is a geocache at Cal Tech, so you can take out two geeky birds with one stone. (It's easy to spot the geeky birds -- they have tape on their beaks.)
I'd recommend Palomar Observatory. Not only is it one of the nicer observatories in the country, it's in beautiful southern California.
I can second this one. I used to actually live on Palomar Mountain near the scope. Parties for mountain residents were held at the observatory rec center. When we'd get snowed in on the mountain we'd go door to door checking on everyone. The astronomers and such were the nicest bunch of folks. They were always offering a 'real' tour of the scope but I always put it off. Once I moved I wished I had. Lurk around at night and act interested, they might give you a tour.
The view from some of the turnouts on the road up are also amazing. The same view I had off my back deck. I could see from San Clemente down to Tijuana. With binoculars you could pick out individual buildings in downtown San Diego 50 miles away.
Punkin' Chunkin' festival in delware around Halloween every year. Get to see pneumatic cannons launch pumpkins close to a mile and marvel at the physics behind the Centrifugal devices. Gives new meaning to BFG!
Rice University Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology- "Engineering the freaks of tomorrow"
The Royal Tyrell Museum of Paleontology in Drumheller, Alberta, Canada is one of the most exceptional museums I have ever been to. It truly feels like you are stepping back millions of years, and is a world-class facility.
While you're out there, check out the Banff-Jasper corridor of the Rocky Mountains, particularly the Columbia Icefields and Johnston Canyon. Spectacular geographic features of North America can be found there, and the glaciers date back to the last ice age!
Make sure to stop at the Halton County Radial Railway Museum -- this place is rather amazing. They have a private track loop and operate electric rail cars (ex TTC and ex Inter Urban Transit) as well as the restoration shops and the most amazing collection of partially complete cars for parts. You're free to wander around, take a few rides on some vintage technology, and marvel at the fact that Ontario had a commuter rail system that was just as expansive as the current diesel one almost a hundred years ago that ran from clean, renewable hydro electric power from Niagara Falls. Well worth the drive to Rockwood (don't stop in Acton, the leather is cheap and shoddy and the people are creepy). Since you're backpacking, there is decent camping about 5kms from the site (look on the website's map for Rockwood Conservation Area) and there is a commuter bus that runs along Hwy 7 from Toronto to Guelph stopping fairly often at the conservation area entrance.
Vulcan Alberta
h tm
http://www.town.vulcan.ab.ca/
The Worlds First UFO landing pad
http://members.mcsnet.ca/chamber/ufolanding.
Particle Accelerator in Vancouver B.C.
http://www.triumf.ca/
the CN Tower
http://www.cntower.ca/
thats all for now
--meh--
The Chicago Museum of Science and Industry is the largest science museum in the nation with over 350,000 square feet of exhibit space. Definitely check it out.
While in Arizona you can check the Titan missile museum, which has the Titan intercontinantal missiles of the cold war, and in Oracle you can visit the biosphere 2 lab. Just for real nerds.
What I think would be pretty cool is to stay with slashdotters along the way and document the heck out of your trip and let us all know how it went and who you met when you get back home.
if you ever stop by milwaukee for oh, I dunno, a tour of miller brewery or any one of about a bazillon other breweries here, you can stay with me! and you'll be about an hour and a half from the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry which I consider to be a must-see!
cheers!
Both these places are close to each other, bout 2-3 hour drive.
Devils Tower is that crazy mountain from Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind, that is in Wyoming, then you got MT Rushmore which is really larger than life in South Dakota, then you keep driving east till you get to the "Bad Lands" its pretty much nothing the great thing about this place is that you can stop your car in the side of the raod and look up and see so many stars since your so far away from any major city.
Dayton USAF museum is cool!!
h tml
The Air museum in Seattle is pretty cool also and you can get a tour of the Boeing Plant.
The Virgina Air and Space museum in Hampton, Va http://www.vasc.org/
The Corvette Plant is a nice tour. http://www.corvettemuseum.com/plant_tours/index.s
Near the Corevtte (relatively) there is the Jack Daniels distilery.
The Carnegie Science Centre (http://www.carnegiesciencecenter.org/) has a WWII disiel sub you can tour.
I also put my vote in for Cedar Point if it is still open. The coasters there are awesome!!!
I'm not kidding about being the BMG: there are camps that'll airbrush you blue, or any other color you want. There are percussive sculpture for you to play. You can animate yourself with el-wire (what they used for that animated desert). You can dance under strobelights.
But beyond that you can be the "Blue Women with Flamethrowers" group. You can be "the entirely blue Tiki bar towed by a lobster" group. Like another poster said, Burning Man is whatever you want it to be. Sure, you can be boring and do the drugs and drunk thing, but I think this is less common that others have said- you'd miss out on so much.
You should attribute properly:
g Ma nAtHome
http://www.marxidad.com/BurningMan/Humor/Burnin
Have you seen my stapler?
A beautiful redwood forest 30 minutes north of the Golden Gate Bridge. Easily one of the most beautiful spots on earth.
The difference between Canada and the USA is that in Canada healthcare is a right and gun ownership is a privilege.
Strand Books in New York City is really huge, which is impressive being in the middle of of a big city. It's a used bookstore with decend prices and a gigantic selection, including old books and a nice supply of art picture books.
City Lights in San Francisco is a great bookstore with a lot of history during the Beat Poet era.
If you're heading all over, I'd recommend both, as I'd recommend both San Francisco and New York to anyone visiting the United States.
I toured WWVH years back... big fun looking at the GIANT tubes that provide transmission power as well as the HUGE monopole antennas for the lower frequencies. I presume that WWV in Colorado Springs, CO has a similar tour.
"You might as well get your son a ticket to hell as give him a five string banjo." -unknown minister