You have three blue-sky days...

We invaded just after lunch.

You didn't get the memo?

 

Any city, three nights in three different 5-star hotels--a Ritz, a Four Seasons, a Peninsula (or whatever)....bring your wife. Use all the amenities, in-room massage, room service....you could probably do that for $1000 a day. Stay in bed, have lots of aerobic sex, eat everythng in the minibar, order all the movies you haven't seen. Only stipulation is you can't leave the hotel, until it's time to change hotels.

 

Oh. Shit.

Let me think a minute.

 

White-water rafting in the Rockies somewhere.

 

Three days in Seattle during the spring. Maybe a day trip to Olympic National Park and a hike through the rain forest. Among the options, a stroll through Elliott Bay Books, fish-tossing at Pike Place, a Mariners game at Safeco, and a jaunt of some kind through the San Juan Islands.

I've never had better spring/summer weather than in the Pacific Northwest.

 

A day exploring Canyonlands National Park, a day at Zion National Park and a day mountain-biking in Moab (be sure to visit Dead Horse Point State Park, which is basically across the street from Arches National Park). Plenty of good food and beer in Moab.

I did it three times in college and loved every minute of it. And feel free to throw in a visit to Bryce Canyon while you're in the area.

Who would have thought I'd pick a bunch of places in Utah for this kind of thing?

 

There's a 5k here on Tuesday.

 

A day at Crater Lake and two at Yosemite. Camping all the way.

Two of the best and closest national parks. Zion and Arches would run a close second.

 

I'd go to Juneau. Never been, want to see. But that does you no good because since I've never been, I have nothing to say about it.

I've driven coast-to-coast a couple times, but my wife never has. I'd like to do that with her. We've had shorter long road trips. Sometimes we plan where we stay, sometimes we wing it. New CDs -- new to us, not necessarily new to the world, but an eclectic mix, bought on reputation rather than sampled, if it sucks it sucks, oh well. No chain restaurants, even for lunch, locals places, no tourist places. Try for no chain hotels, hopefully big older ones downtown, but this is not always possible. Used-book store in every large-city stop. Discover at least one midsize city that's not on most people's tourism list -- Mobile, Beaumont, Scranton, Rochester, Akron, Bangor, Roanoke, Bakersfield, Des Moines, Little Rock, someplace like that.

 

This will take longer than three days, but serious boat guys will put their house boat in on the Tennessee River around Knoxville, go down into Alabama, go back past Muscle Shoals and then north in Tennessee. The Tennessee River is one of just a couple that flow north. Hit the Ohio River, follow it down until you hit the Mississippi and keep going until you get to the gulf. Or stop in Memphis, whatever.
The hardcore boat people, they have this entire culture. It is kind of a secret, but one I think worth exploring

 

I guess you'd have to wait a year for this, but hit Boston the third weekend of October. Ideally, the Sox are in the playoffs, the Head of the Charles is underway, the air is crisp and the leaves are red. Spend Saturday in Boston, on the river, watching the Sox, etc. Then Sunday take a slow drive up through the New Hampshire and Coast of Maine, stopping for lobster rolls, Shipyard Ale, etc. Get to Acadia in time to watch sun set over the ocean from the Coast Guard station there. Then get up in the morning and hike the most underrated national park we have. Beauty this time of year, just bring a coat.

 

Jonesy,

Chances are, you're going to be combining a lot of these suggestions to make three-day trips suitable for your story. If you're looking for one full day's worth of stuff to add on to another trip, here's a great way to kill 16 hours or so:

Start the day in Austin. Depending on your interests, you can spend the morning jogging or cycling around Town Lake (http://www.texasoutside.com/townlake.htm), playing golf at Barton Creek Country Club (http://www.bartoncreek.com/golf/), or, if you're feeling especially adventurous, skinny-dipping at Hippie Hollow, the only clothing-optional public park in Texas (http://www.co.travis.tx.us/tnr/parks/hippie_hollow.asp).

At lunchtime, drive a half-hour south into the edge of the Hill Country to eat some authentic Texas barbecue at the Salt Lick (http://www.saltlickbbq.com/). While you're digesting, drive another half-hour to New Braunfels, where you can stock up on beer, dump it into an ice chest, and rent a bunch of inner tubes from one of the dozen or so Guadalupe River outfitters (for example, http://www.rockinr.com/). They'll drive you, your friends and your tubes up the river road a few miles, let you out of the truck, and then leave it up to you to take your sweet time floating down the river with your beer and your sunscreen for the next three or four hours. Be sure not to let the ice chest tump over in the rapids.

By the time you get out of the water, you'll be right next to historic Gruene Hall (http://www.gruenehall.com), the oldest dance hall in Texas. Admire all the pictures of Willie Nelson, Robert Earl Keen, Jerry Lee Lewis and Townes Van Zandt on the walls by the bar. Sit on the long wooden benches and watch the eclectic mix of aging hippies and college sorority girls and Stetson-wearing cowboys tap their toes to whoever's playing that evening.

Then, if you're not completely worn out, you still have time to drive back up to Austin and hit the bars on 4th or 6th Streets for some spirits and live music before closing time. After that, enjoy one of the best night's sleep you'll ever have.