We are going to Spring Green, WI; St. Louis, MO; French Quarter, New Orleans, LA; San Antonio, TX; Chaco Culture National Park, NM; Mesa Verde National Park, Cortez, CO; Salton Sea/Salton City, CA; Medford, OR; Portland, OR.

Here are the main attractions! There are other things we're doing, like fun places we're staying, but we're going to keep those to ourselves. Just believe me when I tell you they're going to be awesome and have interesting histories.

Spring Green, Wisconsin
House on the Rock
Andy and I went to House on the Rock a few years ago and we absolutely loved it. "The House on the Rock is the grand vision of Alex Jordan, who believed that sights and sounds were the most effective means of stimulating the senses. He wanted guests to question his creation, to come to their own conclusions and to turn his world of dreams into their own. The Attraction has room after room of some of the world's most unique and eclectic collections which has amazed thousands of visitors each year." This guy was extremely rich. Instead of collecting things himself, he would buy other peoples' completed collections, most often because they were destitute and needed the money. His own contributions to his museum includes the worlds largest carousel which has 269 animals hand-crafted by his artisans (though not a single horse is among them,) 20,000 lights, and 182 chandeliers. No one is currently aloud to ride it, however. He also invented self-playing instruments that are spaced throughout the museum. My favorite rooms are the indoor street known as "The Streets of Yesterday" (an 1800s/early 1900s replica with street fronts and a cobblestone street,) the giant carousel, and the organ room. Andy's favorite exhibits include The Heritage of the Sea, all of the self-playing instruments, and the "Tribute to Nostalgia" exhibit. <a href="http://www.thehouseontherock.com/HOTR_AttractionMain.htm">House on the Rock</a>


French Quarter, New Orleans, Louisiana
There is so much to see and do in the French Quarter of New Orleans. There's history, romance, culture, and entertainment. The most exciting and enticing thing for me is the rumors of haunted locations and buildings/sites of historical significance. Andy is most interested in trying the local cuisine. Personally, I'd like to try a beignet while I'm down there! <a href="http://frenchquarter.com/index.php">French Quarter</a>


San Antonio, Texas
Natural Bridge Caverns What can I say? Caves are old, mysterious, and hold a sense of history and primal energy. Caves are cool. We like caves. So we're going to spend a few hours in one on a guided tour. <a href="http://www.naturalbridgecaverns.com/">Natural Bridge Caverns</a>

The Alamo "Originally named Mission San Antonio de Valero, the Alamo served as home to missionaries and their Indian converts for nearly seventy years. Construction began on the present site in 1724. In 1793, Spanish officials secularized San Antonio's five missions and distributed their lands to remaining Indian residents. These men and women continued to farm the fields, once the mission's but now their own, and participated in the growing community of San Antonio." Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado are full of American Indian archaeological finds and culture. We've seen the upper Midwest American Indian history, now it's time to see the southwest. <a href="http://www.thealamo.org/main/index.php">The Alamo</a>


Chaco Cultural National Park, NM
My interest in Chaco Canyon stems from my last archaeology class. I hadn't heard of it before I'd taken that class, even though I'd been to it's "sister city" (for lack of a better term) North of New Mexico, in Cortez, Colorado. So of course, we have to visit it since we're down south!
Chaco Canyon was a large social and political network between 950 and 850 years ago. Huge cites, including the Great Houses like Pueblo Bonito and Hungo Pavi, were surrounded by numerous, smaller pueblo sites, forming a large community. In 1970, archaeologist R. Gwinn Vivan began mapping out what he thought were a series of ancient canals in the Chaco Canyon. Very long story short, he and his partner, Thomes Lyons, had actually identified more than 300 kms (186 miles) of a prehistoric road system. The total distance of the Chacoan Road system is over 250,000 kms (155,343 miles.) These roads aren't just flat - the pueblo peoples carved steps into hills where straight paths were impossible to create. They didn't have wheeled carts or vehicles, nor did they have beasts of burden such as horses, asses, or cattle but it was highly likely that these road networks were used to transport goods between cites. However, it is also a possibility that they had some form of symbolic significance as well. This road network stretches from Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, all the way up to Mesa Verde in Colorado, which is our next destination. We plan on taking a self-guided tour of the Canyon Loop Drive. It's a 9-mile long loop that has 6 major Native American cites: Una Vida, Hungo Pavi, Pueblo Bonito, Chetro Ketl, Pueblo del Arroyo, and Casa Rinconada. This "attraction" and Mesa Verde hold particular interest to me personally, connecting both my past (I went to Mesa Verde as a young child) and my present/future in the form of my eventual PhD in Archaeology. <a href="http://www.nps.gov/chcu/index.htm">Chaco Cultural National Park</a>


Mesa Verde National Park, Cortez, Colorado
Essentially, this is a series of cliff-dwellings and rock art. Mesa Verde was discovered in 1888 by two ranchers, Richard Wetherill and Charlie Mason. My (Missy's )family and I traveled to Mesa Verde when my sister and I were younger. I believe that it was at Mesa Verde that I really became aware of the past and the cultures involved in it. I think this is where I first became interested in archaeology. We're staying in Mesa Verde for two nights and plan on cramming as much activity into it as possible. Some day I'd like to be a part of the excavations in both Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon. <a href="http://www.nps.gov/meve/index.htm">Mesa Verde</a>

Salton Sea, Salton City, California
Here is where we get into one of Andy's most-interested-in-seeing cites. This is Andy's ultimate choice in stops along our US sojourn. "Post-apocalyptic-esque." That's how I would describe the Salton Sea. Andy is fascinated by bleak landscapes and the Salton Sea definitely qualifies as one. It's in Death Valley but don't worry! We'll be sure to bring extra gas and a lot of water! Watch this video - "The Accidental Sea" by Ransom Riggs - to learn more about the Salton Sea. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otIU6Py4K_A">The Accidental Sea</a>


Portland, Oregon
The last city we're stopping at on our trip is Portland. We're going to two events and one restaurant specifically here.
Beyond Bizarre Over-18 Tour In a nutshell, this is a ghost-hunting guided small-group tour! Have you seen "Ghosthunters" on SyFy? Yeah, it's just like that! We can bring whatever equipment we want and they also provide equipment, too. Andy wants to make an EMF detector and bring it with us all over our trip. We are both interested in ghosthunting so this is going to be awesome!!! <a href="http://www.portlandwalkingtours.com/tours/beyond_bizarre.php">Beyond Bizarre 18+ Tour</a>

Portland Underground Tour A 2.5 hour tour that is made up of all of the neat historical happenings and goings on that resulted in what is known as modern-day Portland. Naughty and Nice. Included in this tour is the "Portland Shanghei Tunnels", which is viewed via flashlights. <a href="http://www.portlandwalkingtours.com/tours/underground_portland.php">Portland Underground Tour</a>

Alameda Brewhouse Andy is a home-brewer and loves beer. So, for lunch on our final day of our trip, we're going to eat at the Alameda Brewhouse, a microbrewery and eatery. <a href="http://alamedabrewing.com/index.php">Alameda Brewhouse</a>