alggag

I believe the classic is Lubbock after it was made famous by one of the AA people when he said that WN is great... as long you're headed to Lubbock.

My suggestions would be New York or Boston. Also, I love Austin and go back frequently. However, I did go to school there and as such have a more personal connection to the city than a complete "foreigner" might.

ftnoob

Haven't looked it up, but I'm pretty sure Mardi Gras '11 is after 06-Jan-2011.

Some more details about yourself could help narrow things down. Age group? You don't like country music but what about other music genres? Does dislike of sports include participant activities like skiing? Hiking/biking or walking trails? You've had enough of Grand Canyon and Yellowstone specifically, or National Parks in general? You don't want to go back to places like LAS and SLC because you've done the city, or you've done everything that can be done from there, like Bryce and Zion National Parks, Valley of Fire State Park, fall foliage viewing in the Wasatch range, etc? Do you want to go somewhere and do things (if so, indoor or outdoor? if outdoor do you like beaches? mountains? slot canyons?); or do you want to go somewhere and just relax? How long do you want to visit?

tusphotog rags on Amarillo, but it is close to Palo Duro State Park. That may be too reminiscent of the Grand Canyon for you, but it is also known for an excellent musical drama about the unique history of Texas. For something more techy, Fiesta Texas near San Antonio has an excellent outdoor laser light show (projected on a limestone cliff wall) about Texas history, and of course while in that area you could visit The Alamo. Also in the historical vein, because you asked about Philly, you could see Independence Hall, The Liberty Bell, etc., but lodging would not be cheap.

Does "aviation" include air shows? Ever been to the big one in Oshkosh? But don't expect cheap lodging during an event like that.

As far as places with low cost lodging, Dallas and Houston tend to have extremely cheap weekend lodging rates. Outlying areas of San Antonio can have great bargains. Perhaps others could chime in with local knowledge about cities with budget lodging prices. And which is more important, the lodging cost or the reasons to go?

So, no shortage of options, but someone else's number one could be a total dud for you. Apart from aviation and technology, what piques your interest?

cwerdna

Heh, this is now almost sounding like a personals ad... I'm a 35-year old single Asian male. I tend to like top 40, pop, some alternative, some new age, stuff from the 80s and 90s, some classical and sci-fi music theme songs.

That's a pretty good guess regarding skiing and the like. I've been skiing only once and suck. I'm not really an outdoorsy person and don't go hiking. Since I'd been to Grand Canyon and Yellowstone (both long ago), I just didn't figure it'd be worth going to again vs. some place new. SLC was part of the Yellowstone trip since we had to fly there. I don't think I'd go out of my way to revisit SLC. As for Vegas, I go there every year for CES, have seen all the major casinos, seen a few shows and am not into gambling anyway.

Beaches? They weren't far for me when I lived in CA, so no point me flying somewhere to see some other beach in the continental US, IMHO. If it's there, it'd be plus, I guess.

I'm more interested in sightseeing than just plain relaxing. If I wanted relax, I'd just stay home, take a cruise or go to Hawaii.

As for airshows, I'm not a buff, but I wouldn't normally fly somewhere just for an airshow. Thus, don't see myself flying to WI just for an airshow unless I have some other good reason to be there. I really enjoyed the Air & Space Museum in DC along w/the new Udvar-Hazy Center in VA.

I like sci-fi (esp. Star Trek, BSG and now V), TiVo, cars (mainly Japanese) and investing. I've already taken studio tours of Sony, Paramount and Warner Bros in So Cal. I've taken a tour of the Tokyo Stock Exchange and toured Toyota, Honda, and Nissan plants in Japan along w/Ford Rouge and NUMMI (now closed) in the US. I've gone to a # of auto shows including LA once, Detroit (briefly), and Tokyo Motor Show 3x.

I'd probably spend a week, maybe 1.5 weeks at most. Have been too busy at work.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far! I think I have my work cut out for me to look up some of them.

LoneStarMike

A good place to find out more about the cities Southwest serves would be the Travel Guide at southwest.com.

You can run your cursor over any of the orange dots on the map to get the city name, then click on that dot and that city's page will come up. For each city you can find info on:

*Overview
* Hotels
* Restaurants
* Bars & Nightlife
* Things to Do
* Shopping
* Events
* Airport Information
* Weather

I'm down in AUS, and I always thought it would be kind of cool to fly to Albany, NY and then rent a car and drive through the Adirondacks, cross over into Canada and visit Montreal.

Google Maps says it's 215 miles from ALB to downtown Monteal and takes about 3 hours 33 minutes (not including time at the border) Most of that drive (173 miles) is on Interstate 87 and I'm thinking it would be scenic (at least to someone like me from Texas.)

Good luck in your search and I'll be interested to know what city you finally decide to visit.

SST

I'll second the concept of Montreal via Albany or Manchester. But how about simply New England? There's a lot of places to see there in the fall, and finding reasonable lodging OUTSIDE CENTRAL BOSTON is pretty easy. I've visited, on alternate trips, Hartford (Mark Twain's house), Newport (a dozen gorgeous mansions you can tour), Burlington (Vermont is full of stuff to see), Portland (ditto Maine), and coastal New Hampshire. We visited Dartmouth, drove from Burlington up to Montreal, did the Manchester-to-Quebec trip, drove around the White Mountains, and ate a ton of great seafood. The Catskills are close to ALB. How about Tupper Lake and the Adirondacks? Lake Champlain?

Another idea: We had a great time on an architecture tour of Wisconsin and Illinois. Flew into MIL, out of MDW. Spent a night in Milwaukee, went to the Pabst mansion and another place there; left for Madison and went to Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin. Spent the night there after touring UW, then went to Racine for a tour of Wright's Johnson Wax bldg, and Wingspread. Overnight in Chicago suburbs, followed by a day walking around Oak Park, IL, going thru Wright's workshop and walking around a bunch of houses there. Finished off with a superb dinner in Chicago, and home the next night.

My tastes may not be yours, but my point is: just about anywhere you've never been has plenty to see if you're a little less particular. Do some research! And have a great time....

cwerdna

Ahh! Thanks for the tip!

As for Montreal, I probably won't go. I've been there for about a week before as I used to have to relatives there. They (Quebecers and relatives) speak French and all the signs are in French. I also did go to Quebec City on that trip. I've also been to Toronto (briefly) and the Canadian side of Niagara Falls.

SWABrian

Actually as ftnoob notes, Amarillo has some attractions like the huge Palo Duro Canyon and some amazing sunsets. The Amish country in Pennsylvania is interesting, and you didn't say if you are a baseball or football fan. If so, Albany is close to Cooperstown and Cleveland is close to the football HOF in Canton, not to mention it's own Rock and Roll HOF. Oh and Niagara Falls in BUF.

CMK10

I'm going to vote with Boston, it's a really wonderful city and you can take day trips out to Cape Code or up to Maine.

cwerdna

Ahhh... Amish country might be actually be interesting, considering the anti-technology aspect. As for baseball and football fan, no, not at all. I couldn't care less about those sports, or most sports for that matter.

I've seen Niagara Falls from the Canadian side, but not the US side.

Mr. July

What about flying into BWI and out of PHL (or the reverse)? Probably enough to keep you entertained for a day around the Inner Harbor. You'd already said you might be interested in Philly.

You'd have to add the 1hr 20 min train ride between the two, but with advance planning it's only $31.

Public transit options in both places mean you wouldn't have to have a car, but if you get one, there are some nice day trip possibilities - like Annapolis down on this end.

pinniped

If you've only been to Toronto briefly, then I'd certainly recommend spending some more time there - it's a great city.

The whole New England idea contains many possibilities. So does DC area - tons of good daytrips even if the actual city doesn't have much appeal to you.

lwan33

NYC, Boston, Denver...

Are you a skiier? You can always go for a ski trip in Colorado.

6Strong

Based on all you've written, I'd +1 for Boston Only problem with Boston is that it's expensive lodging anywhere near the city.

Cheaper option, imho, is Austin. Fun, fun, fun or totally chillled out relaxing by the pool. Plus home to many tech companies so there are programming/algorithm geeks on every other bar stool. You could easily strike up a cloud computing conversation in any locale.

Sofakingcane

Boston is an obvious good choice. Also, Denver can serve as a gateway to several great areas like Estes Park, Breckenridge, Vail, Colorado Springs, etc. There is more than just skiing in CO.

Whatever you choose, enjoy.

Rock72

PHL is ok but I think BOS is better. I went to school at Penn and although it's a fun city, it's mostly a few historical sites and the Delaware River.

BOS is much more alive and cool in terms of being a college town.

Personally, I like NYC the best though.