I used priceline.com today for the first time and boy oh boy, what a neat contraption! I 'named my own price' on a hotel room in the French Quarter for October, punched in "$95" per night and WA LA I'm staying at the 4-Star Marriott - New Orleans. Man, I wish I had tried this service out before. Shoot, I'm just mad at myself for not punching in $5 a night.
Who wants to help me plan my honeymoon? I cashed in frequent flier miles and got two one way tickets to New Orleans for October. From there, we are renting a car and heading back up to Oregon, hitting as many National Parks and must see attractions as we can along the way.
So far, we're staying in New Orleans for 2 nights, then up to Baton Rouge for a wedding, then up to Jackson, MS to see my alm mater and to eat at my favorite two restaurants in Jackson, then we are on our way to Dallas to catch up with old friends. From there...well. I'm not sure, exactly, but a quick look has us going to Carlsbad Carverns, then Truth Or Consequences, NM for some Hot Springs Hotel action, then Petrified Forest, then Flagstaff for a night or two where we will check out the Sun Crater Volcano and Wupatki Ruins. Then, I think we're going to do some wine tasting in the Santa Barbara area (where they filmed Sideways - Shootah > hi!) and are looking for a place to stay there. Then up to San Francisco to stay with friends, but we absolutely want to do some wine tasting in the Napa/Sonoma area as well, so any tips here would be greatly apprecaited.
Then....I have no idea what. Ideas for the northern part of the state would be awesome. Should I go up 101? Should we target Shasta? You tell me. If I'm missing some stops in New Mexico or Arizona (I think we're going to bypass the Grand Canyon. I've rafted through it and would need more than a day to enjoy it, IMO), let me know. If there are areas in California that I'm leaving out, sell me on them.
My wife is a photographer, so we'll update the trip with many pics and narrated stories along the way if you guys are interested. Should be fun.