Where to spend my last vacation before I get hitched?

July 3, 2007 8:57 PM

I’ve traveled solo several times. Before I get married at the end of September, I’d like to take another trip on my own. The only question is: where should I go?

Tentative dates for this would around Labor Day weekend, and I’m looking to go for three-four nights. I just want a few days to think my own thoughts and do my own thing before the craziness of the wedding and honeymoon.

I live in L.A. and will be in Vegas for a trade show the last week of August, so I could leave from either place (and I’m not interested in extending my stay in Vegas, as I’m getting married there and I visit a few times a year for business). I'm into museums of all kinds, historical sites, bookstores, and shopping. I'd prefer a place where driving isn't necessary, though I'm open to it. Nightlife doesn’t matter. Price does matter, sadly, or I'd have already booked a ticket to NYC.

So...Seattle? San Francisco? A small town I've never heard of? What place would you recommend for my last solo trip as an unmarried woman, and what should I do/see/eat there?

posted by serialcomma to Travel & Transportation (16 answers total)

Have you ever been to Chicago? I think it's the coolest city in the country (*ducks objects flung by New Yorkers*). Great museums (Art Institute, the Field Museum, Museum of Science and Industry, etc.), architecture (take the river tour of downtown, and/or go to the Frank Lloyd Wright house in Oak Park), parks (including the vast lakefront), and cool neighborhoods with fantastic galleries, shops, and bars and restaurants on every corner. (I haven't lived in Chi for 7 years now, so I'll let current residents recommend the best places to eat.)
posted by scody at 9:07 PM on July 3, 2007 [2 favorites]

The best vacation I ever took was a train ride from Toronto to Vancouver on Via Rail. I paid for a cabin, which meant I had a bed and my own private toilet. It's three nights.

I should state that this was 25 years ago and I don't have any idea what Via Rail is like now.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 9:10 PM on July 3, 2007

[I should also warn you that a train is the world's best place to drink -- and the world's worst place to have a hangover. Be careful.]
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 9:11 PM on July 3, 2007

Burning Man is near there and happening at that time. It's not exactly a quiet, contemplative experience (at least, not the whole time) but a good dose of surreality (with or without chemical assistance) might help you get some perspective. The ticket's a couple hundred bucks and you'll need to get some camping gear together, but you don't need to spend much otherwise.
posted by contraption at 9:13 PM on July 3, 2007

Looks like Alaska and US Air fly nonstop from Vegas to Portland. Compact downtown, great public transit system, fantastic restaurants, pretty parks, and the world-famous Powell's Bookstore.

Go! Nosh! Browse! Enjoy already!
posted by rob511 at 9:14 PM on July 3, 2007

I live in Orange County. Chicago was really, really cool when I visited, but if you've never been, I'd say head to Washington, DC - experiencing it as an adult for the first time was really, really cool (but I'm a bit of a politics wonk). Both would be great for a longish weekend.

I do wonder if DC would be shut down because of the long weekend (I'm not a local, so I don't really know), and it might be disgustingly humid, but really, there's so much to see and do, and finding a reasonable flight over there won't be torturous.
posted by mdonley at 9:17 PM on July 3, 2007

How about New Mexico?
posted by solongxenon at 9:18 PM on July 3, 2007

Labor day is chaotic for US travel--go up to Vancouver; you will need a car, but there's the Museum of Anthropology on the UBC campus and the Sun Yat-Sen memorial garden to collect your thoughts.
posted by brujita at 9:33 PM on July 3, 2007

DC is full force on 3 day holiday weekends. People don't take time off here.
posted by Ironmouth at 9:36 PM on July 3, 2007

Not so good for bookstores unless you are bilingual, but otherwise Mexico City and Guadalajara both have what you are looking for (museums, art, nice cafes, etc). Cheap tickets can be found out of both LA and Las Vegas; both cities have modestly priced but safe and comfortable hotels in the historical centers. The nice thing about traveling to another country is that you are both very alone -- everyone around you is speaking another language, giving you the space to think your own thoughts -- and at the same time you can be as connected to other people as you want, just by talking to them. If you aren't so into the big city thing, spend your vacation in one of the smaller colonial hill towns (Guanajuato, Zacatecas, or somewhere smaller like Puebla or S.M. de Allende) or any of a hundred beach towns.
posted by Forktine at 9:43 PM on July 3, 2007

Durango CO is a pretty cool little town. Or Globe AZ.

I just went to Alpine, TX and LOVED it. West Texas is an incredible place. There's some other askmes about it. Marfa has some beautiful hotels to pamper yourself in (Thunderbird and . So does Marathon (The Gage). Or for $35 you can stay in your own cottage with a kitchenette at the Antelope lodge. There's amazing art, great bookstores, quirky West lore, and even the unexplainable. Labor Day Weekend there's a Marfa Lights Festival that could be really fun. Really amazing part of the country. With your time limit you might fly to El Paso then rent a car to drive about 2.5 hours into what feels like the end of the earth. If you like driving - driving around this part of the country is not to be missed.

Have a great time whatever you decide to do!
posted by dog food sugar at 9:51 PM on July 3, 2007 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks, everyone, for the great suggestions so far. Chicago and Portland, which I've long wanted to visit, seem especially tempting. (And who knew it was so cheap to fly to Portland?) I've been to DC, and I'd love to return and work my way through a few more of the museums, but apparently Labor Day weekend isn't the time to do that.

Forktine, I hadn't even considered leaving the country for such a short trip. Your point about being alone is intriguing--I'm definitely going to explore Mexico as an option.

And Dog Food Sugar, I can't tear myself away from Marfa's website. It's totally not the kind of destination I would normally go for, and yet...
posted by serialcomma at 10:12 PM on July 3, 2007

Go to Montreal. Hang on Blvd St Laurent at night up until even 3am, for all the nightlife. Montreal is notoriously fun and edgy and alive at night because of its history. Use the language barrier to your advantage ;)

And during the day, after you sleep it all off, go to St Catherine St to shop, and downtown for some interesting historical perspective. Eat some escargot. And maybe try the gorgeous Bascillica to atone for last night's sins ;); then again, if you never want to look up at the Big Dude again, there's always the Underground City.

Once you're married, go back with him and show him what you did from the safety of your horse-drawn calèche. C'est romantique.
posted by RobotHeart at 5:18 AM on July 4, 2007

Someplace JetBlue goes.
Flying out of Long Beach Airport is weirdly stress-free -- it's practically a drive-thru.
posted by Methylviolet at 10:51 AM on July 4, 2007

Someone named 'serialcomma' simply MUST visit Chicago.
posted by caitlinb at 5:40 PM on July 4, 2007

Chicago! Labor Day Weekend this year is the tail end of Chicago Jazz Fest and the Taste of Polonia. Jazz AND pierogis! Museums! Little neighborhood coffee houses and pubs! The lakefront and a bicycle! (I could go on, but I need to go to bed now.)
posted by jeanmari at 10:09 PM on July 4, 2007