The U.S. of A.

I was planning to visit the great New York City at the end of the year, however the temptation of cheap flights got the upper hand. I will be spending around 5 weeks in America, from the end of October until the end of November. This is kind of a similar trip as when I went to Europe last year, and again I am going with my mother. 5 weeks is both a long time and no time at all, America is a huge country and there is a lot of stuff I want to see. New York has always been a place I felt I need to visit, and will be the centre of my trip. There are still a bunch of other places I want to see and a bunch of other things I want to do. I have made a map, this is kind of my planned route.



The West Coast
I'm flying into LAX and spending a few nights in LA (Santa Monica / Venice Beach, aka Dogtown) before getting a train down to San Diego for a few nights, this gives me quite a strange oppurtunity, I can walk from a tram stop in San Diego over the Mexican border to Tijuana, I think this will be a really cool thing to do.

After Southern California I will be flying to San Francisco for a few more nights. I'm quite excited about San Fran for a number of reasons, I think it's quite a cool city as far as modern history/culture is concerned and I am a huge Jawbreaker fan (on that note I will be across the bay from Oakland). From SF I fly to New York City...

The East Coast
I will be spending most of my time on the East Coast. My plans are kind of rough, but I will be spending the longest in New York. I also plan to do some driving. I want to go to Philadelphia and Boston (as well as Maine). On top of that I want to drive out to Chicago, which is around a 12-14 hour trip. There are a lot of cool places along the way that I want to see, Scranton PA is the home of Tigers Jaw, Defiance Ohio is also an obvious destination. I will probably spend a night or two in Cleveland to break up the drive. As for Chicago there is a lot of cool stuff and I will spend a few nights there before flying back to NY.

I am really excited. I'll probably post more about this before I go.
If anyone has any recommendations about anything let me know! Someone sort me a fake ID.