Charles: With travel being all but forbidden, at the very least frowned upon, we here at DCG are reminiscing about some of our favorite places in America that we enjoy traveling to.  We’re taking, kind of a virtual trip, if you will.  So, here are each of our top three places to visit in the good old U.S.A (add Canada, Kyle, if you must!), and places we hope to get back to very soon. 

Kyle: Yes, the good old North America that is… I am so looking forward to getting out and logging some miles when this pandemic starts to loosen up. I imagine we will have a world full of stir crazy people chomping at the bit. I’ll tell you all that I am simply excited to get myself to a restaurant and to be able to walk through a grocery store without it feeling weird. Well, if I’m being honest it has always felt a little weird…

Charles: Grocery stores are weird, all that soft rock and organized shelves to lull you into buying more stuff. Let’s also add one place each we haven’t been to, but want to as soon as the pandemic ends.  Kyle, you go first.

Kyle: My favorite destination, so far, on this beautiful continent, has been the Southwest. I think I was about 14 years old or so when my folks took us on a family trip down to the beautiful red deserts of Arizona and New Mexico. Seeing parks like Arches, Zion, and Bryce Canyon left a magic in me that persists to this day. I want go back!

Charles: Oh, heck yeah! Those places were on my short list. I did a west coast road trip a few years ago and southern Utah and northern Arizona were the best part. For my top pick, I absolutely dig New Orleans, because there is flavor everywhere.  Flavor for the palette, the food is incredible!  You would have to go out of your way to find bad grub there.  Muffuletta from Central Grocery, Beignets from Cafe du Monde and Gumbo Ya Ya from Mr. B’s and that’s just in the quarter. The flavor for your ears: drop into a club and groove some great jazz or blues, or, find a seemingly random second line parading down the street.  So many great bars and people down there. I’ve been to New Orleans several times, before and after Katrina, and always loved every minute of it.  Do the touristy stuff, too, because it’s worth it. Maybe not so much on the flavor of the air after a weekend night.

Kyle: Oh man New Orleans is on my list of places I want to see, soon. I think I would be singing her praises like you Charles. All the Cajun grub I have tried has been amaze-sauce. And the interesting cultural mashups are unique to this world! Another favorite are the tree-walks in British Columbia (that’s in Canada if you didn’t know). Walking through the canopies of old growth forest here in our beautiful Cascadia is an experience you cannot forget. The perspective is humbling. Here we are thinking we are all that and a bag of chips while the trees are like “we were here before you buddy’.

Charles: I so very much love B.C. Great cities, great wilderness, great people. My second pick is easy, Hawaii. Anywhere, any island, just Hawaii. Give me the beach, give me the laid back spirt, give my some Dole Whip, I am good to go. The sunsets, the water, the sand, the warmth in weather and the people. The Mai Tais! Even the booze is pretty. All day long. Can’t wait to get back there.

Kyle: Ah beaches and brightly colored drinks and constantly getting laid. Hard to beat that as a destination. I remember getting my ass kicked my waves on the north shore when I was a kid. Good times indeed. Lastly, I have to give it up to the wild nature of the Rockies and the Upper Selway River in Northern Idaho and Eastern Montana. It is a true wilderness and as you move through this land you can’t help but feel part of the food chain. This is how our ancestors experienced this land and camping by the river, three days into the wild, is an experience I will never forget. Oh, and going off that waterfall… Thank goodness kayaks have a rip-cord… We truly live in an amazing part of the world and there is so much more I want to see. Except Florida, sorry Florida.

Charles: Dammit! Florida is my third pick! Just kidding, although I love Miami and Tampa/St. Petersburg, both, but yeah, Florida… For real, I’m picking someplace close and easy. I’ve been up and down Highway 101 in California all the way up through Oregon and Washington. Oregon has some of the best beaches ever, especially Cannon Beach and Seaside. Great quick family trip and there is so much to do: surfing, hiking, kayaking, beachcombing, bonfire on the beach, and…well, I’m sure you get it.

Kyle: Cascadia (Northern California through British Columbia, we have a flag you know) is such a beautiful place to call home. So much to do and explore… and now the parks are back open! Woot Woot! I am excited to get back out in the woods and court a new love of hiking I have developed. Who knows… a big ass backpack and enough supplies to last a few days out there might be next for me. I’d say that’s my wish destination at the moment, to get out in the woods for like four or five days. I might even see a bear I could befriend and work on my new life dream of being Bear King, Kyle McCurdy.

Charles: Backpacking is the best. Nourish that dream, Bear King, nourish that dream. One place I haven’t been, but absolutely positively need to go is New York City. Too much to list here, but it takes care of so many bucket list items: music venues, Broadway show, and, for me, two baseball stadiums. I’m working on getting a game at each MLB stadium. I’m up to nine or ten thus far.

Charles: Well, we hope we were able to take you on a little North American journey as you are, were hopeful, safely stuck at home doing the quarantine boogie.

Kyle: Let us know where you want to go when this is over. If we’ve been there we can give you the skinny. Stay safe!

All together now: “All our bags are packed, we’re ready to go…We’re leaving, on a jet plane, don’t know when we’ll be back again…”

Charles: Stay sane!

Kyle: Wash your hands!

Charles: And, as always, play more games!