List of places to visit, recommendations?

[drillagent]

The other day, DW decided to create a folder in her favorites to start saving websites of places we wanted to go when we start fulltiming. She then added folders for each state. Then she asked me what kind of places I wanted to visit. This has now snowballed into a list of general places to visit and she is researching state by state and adding the websites to her folders. We have about three years before we retire, so there's plenty of time for research. We've already discussed taking trips to Alaska and driving the length of the Trans Canadian Highway. Below is our list of places to see so far. If you can add another general topic, please do. Looking for more ideas. Thanks.

National Parks
National Memorials
Zoos
State Fairs
Whale Watching (DW's idea)
Scottish Highland Festivals (my idea)
Air Shows
Museums
Battlefields
Aquariums

[trailertraveler]

2gypsies wrote:
...Another idea is...as you're reading about specific things you want to do...go to the atlas immediately and highlight the town. Then you can see at a glance that you have something important about that town in your folder. It'll save you a lot of time...

If you use a mapping program like MS Streets and Trips you can create your own data set of the places you find interesting and they will show on the map as you plan your trip. You can include things like the name of the attraction, street address, phone number, etc., to give you an idea of what the attraction is.

[profdant139]

If you like to hike, many of the Canadian Provincial Parks would be national parks if they were in the USA. For example, this was the view from the door of our trailer at our campsite in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park:

[2gypsies1]

Ahhh Parrothead...that's how you get your good information... 🙂

[Parrothead_Mike]

I'd like to add something else that I do when compiling travel info, especially comments made here on RV.net. I create separate Word documents with specific headings like Rocky Mountains, New England, Smokey Mountains, Southwest US, US-2 to NW USA, Texas, etc. Whenever there is a thread going on regarding one of the areas of the U.S. we'd like to travel I do a copy & paste of many of the comments made by other forum members when they offer good info regarding their travel experiences. I don't copy every word, but try to keep it specific to campgrounds, routes, good restaurants, sights to see, and other interesting things that I may want to incorporate into a future trip. We've used some of these documents (some as long as 12 pages) to help plot our trip and what campgrounds are good (in addition to RV Park Reviews.com).

This beats trying to maintain just web sites since you can read the hard copy anytime you want.

[2gypsies1]

Be careful...you're heading for information overload! You'll get too much in those folders and will eventually find it to be too much of chore to plod through them. Take it from me...I know. 🙂

Sometimes it's best just to get a good atlas book and if you're traveling in the West, purchase the 'Benchmark' series of individual atlases for each state. Benchmark is much better than Delorme's, by the way.

Then scour a state you'll be heading for and highlight things you're interested in seeing. The 'Benchmark' books list many attractions on the maps themselves and zeros in so close you can even see the unpaved roads easily.

Another idea is...as you're reading about specific things you want to do...go to the atlas immediately and highlight the town. Then you can see at a glance that you have something important about that town in your folder. It'll save you a lot of time.

Of course, this won't work for some things. Try some of both ways - your folders and the atlases. See which is easiest for you to find information fast. Maybe a combination of both. Have fun!!

[drillagent]

Wow, thanks for the great ideas. Knew we could count on you guys. The DW is looking more stuff up now. Never thought about Ghost Towns. And we lumped State parks together with the National parks. We're also planning on hitting as many baseball and hockey games as we can. DW is a big Cardinals fan. As far as seeing stuff through the windshield, for us that is half the fun. You'd be surprised what you can find just driving down the road. The interstate across South Dakota has some cool scenery. Then there's that awesome Amish meat and cheese store we found along the highway years ago. Thanks again for all the great responses.

[spacedoutbob]

I don't know if you are into Baseball like I am, You could go see Major and Minor League games all over the country. I also like to visit libraries in different areas to get ideas of other things to see that most people except those who live there know about. Have fun!

Bob in Calif.

[trailertraveler]

Mote wrote:
Awesome links, many thanks

Your Welcome!! Hope others find them as useful as we do.

[Mote]

trailertraveler wrote:
Ghost Towns,
Slot Canyons,
Pow Wows,
Flea Markets,
Scenic Byways,
National Wildlife Rufuges,
Rock Art,
Native American Ruins,
Factory Tours.
Waterfalls

Awesome links, many thanks

[Parrothead_Mike]

A couple of times per year we end up camping at a music festival. I'm not talking on the scale of Woodstock, but smaller ones. Of course, depending upon the type of music you might like, there is a wide variety of these festivals.

Bluegrass festivals are generally smaller and many offer camping, although it's often without FHU's. These types of festivals are generally attended by families and a wider range of age groups and it's usually not rowdy either. Here are a couple of suggestions.

http://www.beanblossom.us/

http://www.bluegrass.com/telluride/

http://www.bluegrass.com/rockygrass/

http://www.bluegrassmidwest.com/festivals.php

http://www.blueridgemusic.org/SearchResultDetail.asp?EditRecord=1094&Region=

[CandG]

One I didn't see addressed would be Festivals.

Cliff

[bukhrn]

Dick_B wrote:
Unless you REALLY like to see the world behind the windshield I would scratch off the Trans Canada highway UNLESS there are places along the way that you want to visit. Just driving for driving sake, with an RV, doesn't make sense.

X-2, I've never done the TC highway, but I have to agree that just driving for the sake of driving it's self doesn't sound like fun to me.
In fact, if I could get Scotty to beam me & my MH, I wouldn't drive at all.:B

[More_To_See]

Dick_B wrote:
Unless you REALLY like to see the world behind the windshield I would scratch off the Trans Canada highway UNLESS there are places along the way that you want to visit. Just driving for driving sake, with an RV, doesn't make sense.

Respectfully have to not agree with you on this. Some of us head out JUST for the Journey and "sites" don't matter at all to us.

[Jim_Shoe]

I created a "States" folder on my computer and then did a search on "(state name) tourism" and created a sub-folder for each. I've found that most states like visitors (read:tourist dollars), so they have a pretty good list of things to see and do. I supplement the info with a visit to the first rest area as I enter a state. I can take a bathroom break, stretch my legs, ask questions of the counter folks about road work, and browse the wall of pamphlets for lesser known things to see in that state, and sometimes, free coffee. 🙂
More than once, I've spent more time in a state than I had planned.