Top 5

[Kailua]

Hello all.
Being that I am new to RVing, I was wondering what would be the top 5 destinations or sites to see?
My wife and I have some places we would like to see and we have family to visit.
Just an opinion type question but what would would be your (whom ever is reading this) top 5 places?
Thank you.
K

[tatest]

Depends on your interests. For bucket list purposes, or measured by number of visitors, most of a top 5 for the West would be attractions like Disneyland, Universal Studios, Sea World in San Diego, and cities of San Fracusco and Las Vegas.

But if you are collecting National Parks, most of the heavily visited parks are in the West, NPS has the statistics. I'm guessing Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Glacier and the Mt Rushmore National Monument. At some time I've been to four out of five of those, and would put only two on a personal "top five" bucket list. My cities list would also be quite different from a most visited top five, because for me, most visited works against their attractiveness.

Personal favorites among the western parks, for me, are Arches, Canyonlands, Glacier, Big Bend, and the Missions Trail in Texas.

Take "The West" out the the question and my answer is totally different. For RVing it would be mostly places in the Midwest and South, what everybody flies over or speeds past to get to The West. My top 5 for visiting or seeing in the U.S. are places I would not take a RV, or probably even a car, because they are either big cities or car-free areas (like Isle Royale and Mackinac Island).

[Allworth]

In order:

Yellowstone
Gettysburg
Yosemite
Grand Canyon
Kings Canyon/Sequoia

There are at least twenty more without getting out of the National Parks System.

100 years of wonders!

[dwayneb236]

I would say Yosemite but it's crazy crowded in the Summer. Go in early spring and late fall. It's an incredible place though.

[2gypsies1]

Along with those already mentioned we enjoy Big Bend Nat'l Park and Sleeping Bear Dunes Nat'l Lakeshore.

There are many state parks that are up there with the national parks. Borrego Springs, CA is one that we love to explore. The Oregon coast and the Olympic Peninsula of Washington are gorgeous. Even in metro Phoenix the Maricopa County parks are beautiful - nice hiking, big lush sites and terrific scenery.

Every state has something to offer.

[fla-gypsy]

The Florida Keys, panhandle beaches and springs, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, the giant Redwoods, the Great Smoky Mountains.

[2chiefsRus]

We are up over 30 National Parks Visited now, not even counting the National Forests, National Monuments, etc.

Glacier (Summer), Grand Tetons (Summer), Capital Reef (Fall), Yosemite (Spring), Sequoia, Carlsbad. I give up - it is too hard to choose just five 🙂

[NYCgrrl]

Watch The PBS series "The National Parks: America's Best Idea"
and decide for yourself:):

http://www.pbs.org/nationalparks/

[braindead0]

Personally I can't stand touristy places, Yosemite, Yellowstone and the like. In your travels make sure to consider the path least traveled.

[Fizz]

We plan more on exploring regions like mountains, sea side, south west, deep south etc. Then we visit the high lights within that region. Next year we do a different region.

[Kailua]

Thank you all for your input.

[Matt_Colie]

After you have been traveling for a very little while, you will find out that 5 is just a number that doesn't matter.
You don't say what your RV is, and that does make a difference. When we tent camped and had kids in tow, we had to make camp at a very early hour. Now we have a motorhome. Setting up for the night means hitting the leveling controls and turning the engine off.

Most of all, learn how to use your RV. Literally, plan a first night, maybe more - In Your Own Driveway. You can run on shore power, but use the water system and try to stay in the RV for what you need. Look at what you loaded that you now know was a waste. We all had to learn these things. Some were hard lessons.

You want to travel and see things, make a list. Mine list started 60+ years ago watching the Mickey Mouse Club on my grandmother's TV. I've now actually gotten to some of those places. We've gotten to other places too. Like Mt. Haleakala, College Fiord, Mt. Washington, The Blue Ridge Parkway, Devil's Tower - just to name a few.

My advice:
Start with very reasonable plans. When you get more comfortable, longer ranges will be more easily planned and executed. If it is a stop that you have always wanted to see, read everything about it first and when you find a recommended time, double it.....

Most of all, make the excursion fun.

Matt

[Marine_By_Choic]

Bahia de Los Angeles, Baja Sur, Mexico
Bryce Canyon National Park
Grand Teton National Park
Scotty Lake, Talkeetna, Alaska with view of Denali National Park
Steens Mountains, SE Oregon

[RoyB]

I have visited most of those places mentioned here in my travels over the years.

Don't really have the urge to spend a bunch of monies to pull my RV into those areas at all... RV 'traveling' is not my cup of tea so it seems...

We do almost all of our RV 'camping' around our local state and up and down the Blue Ridge Parkway... The Smoky Mtns in TN/NC is considered a long trip for us haha...

I just can't think of any good reason to travel 12-days on the road in a 2-week vacation just to spend a couple of days at somewhere like Yellowstone NP... We can wake up a bunch of mornings creekside watching the fish jump around here within 2-3 hundred miles of home base and only have maybe one day of RV travel all considered..

It all depends what you all want to do and can afford I guess...

Roy Ken

[2oldman]

Redwoods, GC, Grand Coulee Dam, Hoover Dam, Las Vegas