California / Oregon / Colorado / Maybe Utah
Well, I’ve lived in most of those places, actually.
Portland is awfully gloomy in the winter, you’re asking for perpetually gray skies, but then again that means copious amounts of snow at Hood, and the city is now hipster central. Great beer, very good restaurants, and it’s apparently now quite the scene. I remember it from the time when it was another one of those burnt-out NW cities and kind of miss that slightly seedy aspect of it. If the weather’s good, you’re able to see 5 of the Cascade volcanoes. The coast is IMHO nicer than California’s coast, and I would also try to make it to Bend, OR for some amazing volcanic scenery, and the Columbia River gorge for nifty waterfalls.
SF- lived there too. Do the usual tourist stuff once. I prefer heading to the Mission and eating my favorite burritos, and walking or biking across the Golden Gate Bridge. Of course, take in the views, there are the usual ones from the hills downtown (Coit Tower, Lombard St., etc.), but you need to wander to some of the central neighborhoods to get the pulse of the city. A good walk would be Market St. from the water to Castro St., it’s SF in a nutshell, consumerism to the down-and-out to the gay.
LA- you need a car, the scene is the ‘old’ downtown, especially Spring and Main St. It was skid row until a couple years ago, now it’s pretty spruced up and nice. The Disney concert hall is great architecture, and I personally prefer just cruising the boulevards, Sunset and Hollywood Blvd. is a fun drive. The best part of the city is that it is vast, and there are many many nationalities and ethnic enclaves in unexpected places, it is by far my favorite US city. I usually stay by the beach south of LAX, and just drive around. Get tacos in East LA, eat in Koreatown, try out the taco trucks and the Korean taco trucks, cruise the Sunset Strip and Mulholland Drive, and ask me if you want more info.
I reckon Oregon is a cool idea. I’ve seen some amazing pics of places like Bend and I like the idea of it because it is not one of the usual suspects. I think though, it would be better to do that in the spring (round when they have the summer riding) - cos I’d suspect (as world tripper has confirmed) that its pretty grey and gross in dec/jan and probably a lot of feb. I think those mountains are open til the 4th July weekend.
I’m hoping to go to the states next year on my way to sweden and visit a friend who lives in Washington D.C….would love to figure out how I can go via Oregon and get some summer shredding in! haha
Cool, thanks for the info there worldtripper. It would appear you sure do like taco’s. Sooo LA without a car is a pain… Hmm.
Cords - Thats a mighty trip D.C to OR 
Yeah, I should have mentioned how hard LA would be without a car. I’ve always been fortunate enough to have my cousins take us around. It really would be a huge hassle without your own transport.
Cool, thanks for the info there worldtripper. It would appear you sure do like taco’s. Sooo LA without a car is a pain… Hmm.
Cords - Thats a mighty trip D.C to OR
Yeah i know…but I figure if i’m going to the states “on the way to sweden” then I may as well try and go where I actually want to go in the states…I dunno no idea if I can do any of it yet but that is the dream at this stage! Hopefully I could get some cheap internal flights somehow.
Good luck with the planning, jason! Will be a sick trip wherever you go!
Try AU——> Portland——> DC——-> Sweden. It’s probably doable, though expensive. If you have the miles, maybe a RTW trip with Star Alliance?
I would caution against visiting DC in the summer, it’s among my least favorite places, hot and sticky, malarial, very crowded with tourists. If you want to see DC, go when the cherry blossoms are going off in late March. The weather’s much better, the crowds are a bit less, and you don’t have to wait in interminably long lines at the attractions, or wilt in the humidity.
Oh, and about those tacos. Go to http://www.greattacohunt.com.
Okay, bit of an update.
LA/SF - I’ve found a company that has a hostel in LA and SF with a free shuttle between. So that solves that problem. They also have tours and shuttles around LA and SF. Plus i know a girl (i met snowboarding in Japan) in LA which will be cool. So to cut a long story short, LA and SF isnt going to be a problem.
Portland / Mt Hood - EDIT: Emailed Sea to Summit (Mt Hood shuttlebus) and he reccomended to stay at NW Portland Hostel ($25~ a night - http://nwportlandhostel.com/main/location/) He does pickup every day a few blocks away to the mountain. Busride + pass for $100 to Hood or Timberline. I think thats the go!
SLC - Found a hostel (e-mailed them for availability / flexability) in SLC that has free transfers to and from airport + free shuttle to the mountains (breakfast included).