Places/Events/Festivals/Things/etc that are worth doing atleast once

[Dadswell]

So as I'm getting older I'm thinking there are so many cool, interesting and fun things out there that I've yet to see/experience and am thinking about taking a bunch of time off to try to do a massive road trip before I get too many commitments/responsibilities that it can't happen.

So list some stuff that you've done or want to do that you think was worthwhile. I can be touristy stuff or more of a niche either is fine.


If you're into electronic music

Winter Music Conference held yearly in Miami. Basically a week long party with all the big DJs/Producers held at various clubs around South Beach. It's pretty expensive if you want to party the whole week but it's definitely worthwhile.

[jackflashdrive]

1) Seattle or Portland International Beer festival.

2) Alaska (but get out of anchorage quick that town is a [censored]hole.)

3) Burning Man: I've never gone but people tell me it is fun and unique

[rutang]

Have Done, Worth it:

Mardi Gras, New Orleans
Halloween on Franklin Street, Chapel Hill NC

Want to do one day:
La Tomatina in Valencia
Carnivale in Rio
Memphis in May
Oktoberfest
Cannabis Cup

La Tomatina is tops on my list, way higher than the running of the bulls. a city wide food fight is just a thrilling idea. Songkran in Thailand seems similiar (gigantic water fight) but not quite as thrilling.

[MicroBob]

rutange - IMO Memphis in May is pretty overrated.
Something like Bonaroo or even New Orleans Jazz Fest might be better.

Mardi Gras in New Orleans is definitely worth it imo. More than just a day or two hopefully.

Have been to maybe 6 or 7 Mardi Gras before and it's always fun and awesome.
Halloween in New Orleans can be pretty fun too.

Definitely want to do Carnival in Rio and a few other things like that sometime.
Friend of mine would fly to Germany to do Oktoberfest pretty much every year. That definitely sounds like a good one to try sometime.

The Festival of the Sun in Cusco, Peru on June 21 or 22 looks pretty interesting and the partying in the town during that time with all the tourists is supposed to be somewhat awesome as well.

Probably not supposed to include sports-related ones here but to me some of the longer sports gatherings kind of run together with some of those other concert/festival type things in terms of general atmosphere and fun I guess.

One that is taking place right now is the Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA.
For any baseball fan I recommend you do this one at least once in your lifetime.

Another sports-related one that I really want to do sometime is Wimbledon.

[tolbiny]

Not an event, but visiting a game reserve in africa is a must.

['Chair]

ibiza - long weekend (pref. before you're 35)...its pretty unreal.

skydive

[Badger]

[ QUOTE ]
Have Done, Worth it:

Mardi Gras, New Orleans
Halloween on Franklin Street, Chapel Hill NC

Want to do one day:
La Tomatina in Valencia
Carnivale in Rio
Memphis in May
Oktoberfest
Cannabis Cup

La Tomatina is tops on my list, way higher than the running of the bulls. a city wide food fight is just a thrilling idea. Songkran in Thailand seems similiar (gigantic water fight) but not quite as thrilling.

[/ QUOTE ]
I lived in Valencia for half a year and was there for Fallas, which was an amazing festival. There's lots of fireworks and partying building up til the last day. Throughout all the neighborhoods are these intricate paper mache statues. The final night they light them all on fire, the last one to be lit is a giant one in the center of the city. I can't say for sure, but I think it was over 80 feet tall the year I was there. It was a crazy week without much sleep. The partying goes all night, and then the kids wake everyone up with fireworks in the morning. I suggest adding this one to your list of Spanish Festivals to hit.

And La Tomatina is in the city of Buñol, which is a city in the province of Valencia, in case anyone was confused.

Also, I've heard the Halloween celebration in Madison, WI used to rival that of the one in NC. I no longer live in Madison, but I've heard that it's gone down hill in the past couple years due to increased restrictions that were necessary because of the multiple years of rioting.

[MicroBob]

They had a bunch of broken windows downtown on State Street in Madison at various shops.
So it's not surprising that they cracked-down on it.
Lots of negative publicity of the broken-windows and rioting about 4-6 yrs ago IIRC.

Halloween in Athens, Ohio at Ohio University was supposed to be really fantastic also but that was several years ago. No idea how it is now. But lots of people would drive in from far and wide to parttake in the zanyness.

[NaturalSelection]

http://www.atpfestival.com/events/portishead/

also, Jazz fest in New Orleans is a lot of fun, not quite as wild as Mardi Gras, but LOTS of great music.

another one I'm obviously partial to is The Detroit Electronic Music Festival. Now called the Movement Festival

www.demf.com

[beermankirk]

Merritt Mountain Music Fest - #1 rated by playboy
Burning Man in Nevada
Halloween in Key West
Mardi Gras in New Orleans
Carnival in Rio
Hedonism 3 resort in Jamaica
Play a WSOP event
Goto the SuperBowl