Get a flight from Asia to Chicago. Due to the International Date Line crossing, you will arrive in Chicago around the same time on the same date that you departed Asia. Most flights arrive in the late morning. You can take the Chicago Mass Transit from the airport to a hotel in the downtown area.

Try to stay awake until at least 6:00 or 7:00 p.m., as you will be tired from the flight. Walk around downtown Chicago after checking into your hotel.

Consult the bidding list here to use Priceline to get a good deal on a hotel in Chicago.

Use Priceline’s name your own price function to bid for a 4-star hotel in the downtown area for about $75-$85 (in 2012, about 16-18 Myrftis), and your offer will probably be accepted by a good hotel that will be within a short walk of a mass transit train.

Day in Chicago. You may have jet lag, and usually coming from Asia this means you will be active in the morning, but want to sleep in the afternoon and early evening. Try to stay up to six or seven in the evening. Perhaps just do one major thing. In Chicago, the major museums and sights include:

Art Institute of Chicago
Field Museum
Shedd Aquarium
Museum of Science and Industry
Willis Tower (Skydeck Chicago)
Brookfield Zoo
Baha'i Temple

The mass transit system can get you to the Baha’i Temple, but it is fairly far away from downtown. You can take a bus to the Museum of Science and Industry. It’s not as easy to use public transportation to get to the Brookfield Zoo, but the Lincoln Park Zoo, which is downtown, is free (but also quite small). The museums downtown, within walking distance of the main area, include the Field Museum, the Shedd Aquarium, and the Art Institute of Chicago. The Chicago History Museum is also downtown, and it is quite interesting.

Another morning in Chicago, but after lunch (around 1:00 p.m.) head over to the Union Station in downtown Chicago, as your train departs at 2:15 p.m. for Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Skydeck Chicago is very close to the train station, so if you do one thing this morning, you may want to do that.. You will arrive in Saint Paul quite late at night, around 10:30 p.m. if the train is on time. The train to Saint Paul will travel through Wisconsin, which has lovely scenery.

A bid of $70 on Priceline for a three star or four star hotel in St. Paul should get something good near the train station. You may take a taxi from the train station to your hotel.

You have the day in Saint Paul / Minneapolis to look around. If your hotel lets you store your luggage at the hotel, that will be good; otherwise, take it to a locker at the train station. Your train for West Glacier departs at 11:15 p.m.

In Saint Paul the main attractions that you can see near downtown include:

The State Capitol
The Cathedral of Saint Paul
James J. Hill House
Science Museum of Minnesota

Arrive in Portland around 10:15 a.m. (if the train is on schedule), and go to your hotel. You have the rest of the day in Portland.

Major attractions in Portland include:
The Chinese garden.
The Japanese garden.
The Science Museum.
The Art Museum.

A full day in San Francisco.
You should go to the Golden Gate Park and visit the California Academy of Sciences and the de Young Art Museum in the park. The Botanical Gardens and the Japanese Tea Garden are also worth seeing. Chinatown is worth a visit as well.

Take a morning tour of San Simeon and Hearst Castle. Probably take the San Luis Obispo Regional Transit Authority bus from downtown San Luis Obispo (Route #12) at 6:33 a.m. out to Moro Bay (arrive at 6:58 a.m.), and then from Moro Bay the connecting bus (Route #15 Northbound) departs Moro Bay at 7:02 am. and arrives at the Hearst Castle at 7:54 a.m.. The visitor center opens at 8:00 a.m. and the first tour of Hearst Castle is at 9:00 a.m., so take the first tour, and then hang out at the Hearst Castle for a while, getting back to the visitor center by 10:50 a.m., because the bus back to Moro Bay leaves the visitor center at 11:00 a.m., gets to Moro Bay at 11:55 a.m., and then the bus to San Luis Obispo departs at 12:08 p.m., getting to the Government Center in San Luis Obispo at 12:30 p.m. Your train to San Diego departs at 1:35 p.m.

You spend the afternoon and evening on the Surfliner train, arriving in San Diego at 10:15 p.m.

Day in San Diego.

Major attractions in San Diego include
The San Diego Museum of Art
San Diego Natural History Museum
Maritime Museum of San Diego
SeaWorld
the San Diego Zoo
USS Midway Museum
San Diego Air & Space Museum
The San Diego Museum of Man

Full day in Saint Louis, Missouri.

Attractions in Saint Louis include:
City Museum
Missouri Botanical Garden
Forest Park (Art Museum, Zoo, History Museum, Science Museum)
Jefferson Expansion Memorial (the Arch)
Cahokia Mounds World Heritage Site

Take the 3:00 p.m. train from Saint Louis, Missouri to Springfield, Illinois.
Attractions in Springfield Include:
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum
Abraham Lincoln Home
Illinois State Capitol Building
Dana Thomas House

Total costs for admissions, tours, attractions, and so forth, and this includes local transportation within cities such as busses, taxies, mass transit, and so forth (calculation for two persons):

The costs for admissionsand & tours in Glacier National Park, Portland, San Francisco - Oakland, San Luis Obispo - San Simeon, San Diego, Albuquerque, Kansas City, Saint Louis, & Springfield are not calculated out individually on this page, but should average somewhere between the costs of long stays in expensive cities (Chicago at 29 Myrftis per person) and short stays in inexpensive cities (Saint Paul at 6 Myrftis per person).

Adding in costs for day transport passes and taxies to the admissions and tour estimated costs gets us to about 190 Myrftis for two persons, or 95 Myrftis per person for the whole trip.