RLA

USA Today online travel section has city guides. Recommendations on what to do, where to eat, where to stay, and more when you are visting a city on business ? and considering spending an extra day enjoying it. Whether business traveler or leisure traveler, I was really impressed with the Dallas section. I found it to be very thorough and accurate. There are a couple of small new areas that are not mentioned and Fort Worth (a wonderful place to visit) is only touched on lightly, but where does it end?

If anyone checks it out for their city or another that they know well, I would appreciate knowing if it's guide is as good.

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/extraday/index.htm

rjw_lgb_ca

The LA guide is VERY superficial. But that's to be expected. I imagine the NYC one is the same. But then again, there's just SO much more to do in these cities....

Jibboo

Way too broad. I can think of at least 15 other cities that should have been added to that list

Suzie

Wow, I didn't see San Jose on the list!

rjw_lgb_ca

Hey Suzie-- check out a current thread on "what to do in CA". I think I'm baiting the San José booster person (who naturally suggested a northern CA trip centered on SJ but skipping San Francisco entirely)-- and I'm waiting for his/her head to spin or explode or something. Come over and play!!

Suzie

Oh I've been watching that. I had to laugh at the persistence. "I gotta be right!" Many new names/same person on Fodors lately. I don't get involved anymore. If travelers don't heed the one or two warnings they get each time the "fight" breaks out then they can't be helped! Hey I like the town I live in and there are things to do but I would never tell/insist a visitor with limited vacation time to come here. jeez.

rjw_lgb_ca

I'm with you. Still, I'm just waiting for the REAL shouting match to begin. Cheap laughs on a Tuesday...!!

Suzie

rjw,

Lived in CA all my life, so much to see so I haven't seen it all. I think it's pretty mean to make a non-tourist spot seem like it is. Pretty much every medium-sized city has night life and theater and comedy clubs.

rjw_lgb_ca

Suzie: And the same three recommendations, in the same order, in the same terms: the "Tech Museum, Winchester Mystery House, and Rosicrucian Egytian Museum" (the first one is not being referred to by its real name, the Technology Museum of Innovation or some other BS title). That Egyptian Museum is a bit cheesy, isn't it, to be recommended as an "interesting site"?

But forgetting that: Back to the "USA Today" thing. Granted, they're talking about a "one-day" visit (which, frankly, is perfect for Dallas or Houston)-- but they can dig a bit deeper than they did here. Fodors has a better idea with their "3-day itinerary" suggestions. But it's "USA Today"-- "We dumb it down so you can get to Wal-Mart faster."

Suzie

LOL rjw. Good point about the 3 day itinerary. There's a great SF site that has a week's itinerary. Very good ideas there.

Speaking of Wal-mart one is opening up nearby tomorrow. It's all downhill from here......

rjw_lgb_ca

Ahh, Wal-Mart. They put one in downtown Long Beach-- and put a bunch of local vendors out of business. Some tidbits that I heard recently:

-- For every one job a Wal-Mart creates in a given community, it eliminates 3 existing retail jobs.

-- The median annual salary for a full-time Wal-Mart employee is $15,000. That is partly due to Wal-Mart defining full-time as 28 hours per week. Health coverage and pension benefits are unknown to a very large portion of Wal-Mart employees.

Makes you want to run out and start shopping at one, doesn't it?

J_Correa

I live in San Jose, and although I like living here, with so many other wonderful things to see in this area, I wouldn't recommend tourists spend too much time here. There are definitely things to see here, but not enough to warrant tourists going out of their way to visit. I think the Tech is great and have taken family there who come to visit me. There are other fun things here too, but when you compare SJ to SF, Santa Cruz, Monterey, and all the other great places around here, SJ just doesn't compare as a destination.

rjw_lgb_ca

I think SJ could be a very pleasant "get out of SF" day trip for the museums and what-not (although the Exploratorium would be my first choice-- I'm so mad I missed the "Mathematica" revival!!)-- on your second or third trip to the Bay Area. But I'll take the Metropolitan in NYC over the Egyptian thingie any time...!

RLA

Remember, the article is an offering for an extended day. In Dallas, the suggestions are far more than a day's worth. Dumbed down? The recommendations for Dallas are more sophisticated than not with a few less sophisticated but fun (like Six-Flags and sporting events) places thrown in. I can't vouch for other cities, and of course they didn't list every city in the U.S. I did notice a different writer for different cities. The Dallas writer did her homework well.