Driving from California to the Great Lakes

Hello. Shame of me. I've been going to casinos very frequently and then realize that have lost some money, so this year I can not go to Europe.
And I decided to take a trip to the Great Lakes, an area I always wanted to visit.
I am leaving this Thursday night, going in my car, via Vegas, Denver, Omaha, Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit, (maybe Toronto), ST Louis, Dallas, Albuquerque, Phoenix, and home in Riverside, California, all in 18 Days. Well I like to drive.
wonder if there will be any socials in the area, what to visit after the tourist attractions.
(and if there are casinos on the road).

Since this is a Spain message board you might want to take a detour up to Santa Fe from Albuquerque. It has a Spanish colonial flavor. Or, you might want to drop south on I-25 to ElPaso and visit Ciudad Juarez, the largest city on the U.S. - Mexican border.

I think every Indian reservation in AZ has a casino...down here you also get some SPANISH (note my attempt to connect to the message board here!) language and architecture ( ok,pseudo architecture!)

Rafael, as someone who grew up in the Great Lakes area, I recommend the western coast of Michigan along the lake (lake Michigan). From the Mackinac Bridge down to Saugatuck, (especially the Traverse City area and the peninsula near Traverese City) it is beautiful. Sleeping Bear dunes national park is my favorite getaway from Chicago. There are casinos in that area but I've never been to them. If you are looking for a social scene, however, I would stick to Chicago & Toronto. Not a lot of trendy places up there in Northern Michigan but that is exactly why I go! Good scenery, good camping and maybe a dive bar.

If you are really ambitious and want some fantastic scenery, you can drive along the northern coast of Lake Superior through Canada. Well, you said you like to drive...

Erhm- Everyone- he DID post on the NON-SPAIN Discussion thread!

Oh yes driving around the Great Lakes is what I want to do, and posibly going to Canada. Want to go around Michigan, then go to Green Bay Packers headquarters, and some other places.
and the temperature will be very nice, here in Riverside we are at 105 degrees every day.
Thanks for remind me, I have forgotten about Santa Fe, and I must go there, I've heard it is the oldest city in the US.
About the casinos I would like to know more because they offer cheap rooms. I stayed in a casino close to Memphis Tennessee last April, the hotel was excellent, and the room, big, comfortable, and also the bathroom has a TV. Now I've got an invitation to stay again in that casino for 20 dollars per night.
Well I posted in a non hispanic discussion but as all of us have Spain in our minds it is natural that we can not stop talking about Spain.

Rafael, I believe that Santa Fe is the oldest US capital city, whereas St. Augustine in Florida is the oldest city in the US.

I like your idea of driving around the Great Lakes. I think it the best way to get to know the area you're visiting.

Ever drive up the California coast on Hwy 1? It is truely breathtaking!

Chicagoan, wasn't there/isn't there some sort of casino that was on a boat of some kind? I don't remember if it was on a lake or a river...and it is possible it was a seasonal thing. Somehow I got the idea it was at Arlington Park...but I can't imagine that unless they flooded an area of the backstretch! The rationale was that casinos couldn't be located on any LAND in Illinois (or maybe just Cook County)but that WATER was perfectly fine.

Arlington has a racetrack. There are a few big floating casinos here near Chicago, I think it may be on the Indiana border. You are right, they have to be over water. However, unless you are really, really into gambling I would see other things here instead - museums, restaurants and bars for example. (I know of a few good spanish ones!) The casinos are not, how do I say it, the hippest places to hang out around here. I don't think it's like Las Vegas or anything like that. In Wisconsin there are casinos on Indian reservations and there is a huge casino in Michigan near Traverse City called Kewadin. Aside from Casinos, if you have any other questions about this part of the country you can send me an e-mail. I am partial to Michigan over Wisconsin having grown up there but they are both beautiful! If you want to go to Canada I highly recommend highway 17 north of Lake Superior.

You could stop by my fair, native city of St. Louis, on the way through. Park and take a little stroll through the underground national expansion museum under the Gateway to the West, the world reknown St. Louis Arch. Walk along the levee, through old town Laclede's Landing. There's a riverboat, the Admiral, where you could get some gambling in.

Enjoy.

The Lake Michigan Circe tour (driving all the way around the lake) is a wonderful drive, we did it in 1989. Western Michigan has some good wineries (well, maybe not so interesting for a Californian) and Chicago and Milwaukee are great cities. In Milwaukee go to the Sprecher Brewery tour, skip Miller.

Western Michigan is pretty cool. Ludington, Traverse, and Petoskey (get a stone- you'll see what I mean) are my favorites. Camping is the thing to do around there if your into that sort of thing, they all have great parks if you can get in. The U.P. (upper peninsula)is my favorite though. Lake superior is more senic though, but only if you like rocks and gray water. Anyway, you'll have to drive through the U.P. so take this warning- Keep your eyes open and dont get too lost, all kinds of crazy things happen UP here!

Be sure to get off of the highways now and then and cruise the small roads to explore the hinterlands, some of your best memories will come from spending time in dinky restaurants and diners in small towns. And stay out of the casinos to save up for your next jaunt through Spain!

Eddie had a good idea, I like to add that Taos is close by , also Carlsbad Caverns south of Roswell, close to El Paso.

Carslbad Caverns are magnificent, almost in the same class as Cuevas de Nerja.

I lived close to 20 years in Toronto, 5 years in Buffalo so I can recommend Great Lakes area, much to do , much to see, both sides of the border.

Niagara Falls is a must, Toronto is a large metropolitan city with sizeable portugese, spanish ethnic groups, let alone chinese, greek, italian and so many more.

I just want to warn about Toronto traffic, at best slow, usually not moving at all , five hours of rushour morning and night.

Time your visit to Carlsbad for late afternoon, the sight of the resident bats emerging from the mouth of the cavern in a huge wheeling black cloud is incredible... and if you go through Texas, look for "los Tanques", where there is a park with a vast collection of house sized boulders piled up like kid's toys that you can explore.

Well I am back after my trip to the Great Lakes,
from July 25th till August 11th. My nephew was using my computer and when I came back my computer was with one of those viruses. So I had to format the hard drive and install everything again.
I left my house the 25th and spend the night in Vegas, there I won 400 dollars, good starting. then drive 12 hours to Denver, desert, mountains, then Denver, beautiful city, then drove 8 hours to Mount Rashmore, on the way visited Cheyenne Wyoming. then 8 hours to Minneapolis, what amazing city with all those sky bridges at downtown, and had to visit the Mall of America that appears to be the only place Californians know about Minnessota. My ex brother in Law lives there so he took me around and also to a big casino south of the city, I lost 80 dollars and said to me no more casinos. then I went to Duluth, drove around almost close to Cananda, then pass to Wisconsin was planning in driving around the lake and to Green Bay but it started to rain and after 2 hours of driving and more and more rain I got tired and drove all the way to Chicago with the rain following me. Chicago is beautiful, downtown neat, and right in the corner the lake with the beaches and a lot of people having fun. so clean. the Navy pier, I also drove around the residential areas, and visited relatives. then go to Michigan planning in driving around the state but the rain again so I went to Detroit, did not like it, and at the other side in Canada Windsor is a small town but have more life. I saw a casino, went to take a look, very nice, big, and decided to stay the night there, so I had to play and I won 700 dollars, the next morning to Toronto, big city, interesting, the neighboors around downtown reminds me Boston. food was delicious, but hotels expensive so I drove 2 nights to Niagara Falls( an hour away) to find cheap hotels then the next day drive back to Toronto, then start driving back, from Niagara Falls, drove to Cleveland, then Columbus, then Indianapolis, then ST Louis, drove and walked around, walking along the river I saw a ship that was a casino, and then I decided to try again, and then the first machine gave me 120 dollars, I cashed it and run out of that place, bought souvenirs, then drove to Oklahoma, Albuquerque, Santa Fe. SF is beautiful, and so many stores, restaurants, museums. Then Laughling, during my trip around the states the temperature was in the 80s and then in Laughling it was 120, you go out and you feel the heat like when you are taking the turkey out of the oven. In Laughling I lost the money I had left but it does not matter it was the end of the trip and had a lot of fun.
7000 miles and now I am thinking where to drive next.

I'm curious to know how you manage the time to do all this. Quite an adventure by the way.