Well, Alaska's already been covered in a previous post: Destination Daydreams: Alaska.
So, let's take a look at the lower 48 (or the Contiguous United States, as Wikipedia informs me I should be calling them...)
First stop will be Seattle, simply because it makes some sort of sense to start at the top and I can get flights there from Anchorage. I'll admit, I'm not in the least bit interested in the cities, but I could spare a couple of days in Seattle just to wander round.
From there the first thing I really want to see is Yellowstone National Park. Which turns out to be a bit more difficult to get to than I expected. It looks like I'll need to get a bus to Salt Lake City and then another to Jackson, which is the main gateway town for the park. Accommodation there is expensive (but what isn't in the States?) but I think I've found somewhere on the cheaper end of the scale. I could take a bus tour into the park, not having my own transport and maybe take a shuttle service into the Grand Teton National Park which adjoins it and go for a hike.
At this point, this leg of my trip is already approaching the "more-expensive-than-I'd-really-like-it-to-be" range. Which is why I'm trying to spend as little time as possible in the USA. Not because I don't think I'd enjoy it, but I simply can't afford to stay long.
Moving on. Next major must-see for me is the Grand Canyon. This seems to be a little less expensive than Yellowstone, but I still need to get there. Which means getting back on the bus to Salt Lake City and then onto the Greyhound network to Flagstaff, AZ. Flagstaff, thankfully, has some cheaper accommodation options and I've found at least one that offers a day tour to the Grand Canyon for half the price I'd be paying for Yellowstone. Obviously, it might be a rubbish tour, but I've still got a while to do my research on this.
Plus, Flagstaff's only a small place, so I wouldn't mind sticking around a few days to get over spending so much time on long distance busses.
Even more interesting, I've just discovered that the awesome Meteor Crater isn't that far from Flagstaff... Wonder if I could do a trip there as well... I'll have to see how it fits into the budget.
Then my final must-see is Monterey Bay on the west coast. Again, I'll have to hop on a bus which will take a day (or more) and accommodation in Monterey is expensive, so I'll have to take a look at whether I could stay somewhere nearby to get round it. But I have to see the Bay. I'd like to go whale watching and I will find a way to fit this into my budget because Monterey is famous for its whales and sealife in general. Nice walking along the coast by the look of it too...
And then another bus to Los Angeles to catch a flight to Peru for the next leg. Los Angeles holds absolutely no appeal for me, save from maybe seeing the Hollywood Sign, just to say I've seen it.
I think this post has made it clear that I'm much more interested in the natural beauty of the USA than I am in its cities. No change there - I'm just not a city-lover.
What other places would you recommend for the USA? Are there little natural beauty spots that I should search out? Maybe a hidden gem? Let me know in the comments below.
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