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Surprised about Zion in October, especially in regards to there being so many kids. Was this on a weekend?
Utah schools were having a vacation week. OTOH, except for the kids, I rarely heard english spoken on the shuttle buses!
Reminds me of the Canadian Rockies, especially Lake Louise. In the late 1990's the place was very popular with Japanese because a hit Japanese show had scenes from there.
The entire state of Florida? Newsflash, north Florida is kind of cold during winter. I lived by the beaches in the Jacksonville area and it was not crowded at all in the winter. The water was not warm enough, the pools were not warm enough, and it got to be pretty cool. They didn’t charge for parking until it got to be about May in the more popular areas, when you could actually go in the water.
Yep. All of Florida.
Newsflash, those that are cold in New England that cannot afford expensive South Florida and SW Florida head to the panhandle and Daytona north to escape the tundra.
Try renting a car in Jacksonville between Christmas and New Years.
I'm in Asheville two or three times a month most months, though it is mostly on weekends. I-26W coming from Hendersonville can be bad. There can be occasional hang-ups around Biltmore. Beyond that, it is fairly smooth sailing.
I lived in Indianapolis for three years and Asheville's traffic is laughable compared to a weekday on 465. Asheville's traffic is nowhere nearly as bad at the whole Gatlinburg to Sevierville debacle, especially at the holidays.
I-40 is not too bad in Asheville , but, the I-26 stretch from Hendersonville to Asheville is pretty bad, mostly due to it (with US-25) being THE route from SC and the exits are antiquted. Once you get to where I-26 and I-40 meet, it fans out pretty quick.
Now the Blue Ridge Parkway on a nice weekend......eeek!
Skagway, Alaska, pop. 750 counting dogs, typically has 3-4 cruise ships visit daily, each carrying 2000 - 3000 passengers and 1000+ crew. Do the math.
That's what I was about to say. I work in Alaska and was on a business trip in Skagway in February. Even though it was a bitterly cold 2 degrees with brisk winds, the residents told me it was much better than in the summer when they were overrun with tourists off the cruise ships.
I was in Zion Canyon NP this year during what turned out to be spring break time on a Saturday. We left our hotel 1 hour before dawn & arrived first light. We were fine hiking around, but by lunchtime the crowds on the trails were really apparent but by then we were having lunch & getting ready to leave already by 1pm. Lines of buses were waiting at the entrance & full parking lots & crowds all around the areas near the Visitors Center. Angels' Landing, a high, narrow, not too-easy-to-hike-to trail destination was so crowded by afternoon that the photo of the long line waiting to get to the edge was published on many papers & featured on the TV national news that evening. Yellowstone is even worse I hear now.
BTW I recommend this early-bird technique for any well known sight these days. I recently took some visitors on the Highline Park here in NYC this spring by being there the minute it opened & it was very pleasant, by 10am the crowds were happening & this was non-holiday, non-weekend.
I used to take my little sister to Dollywood back in the late 90s and it was pretty crowded through that area even in the summer. I've not been that way in years but I can imagine it must be awful now. I live in the Triad of NC, we aren't a touristy area except for the furniture markets in High Point. However, traffic can be an absolute nightmare. I'd hate to live in a city where hordes of tourists descend daily.
Tourists are particularly bad cause they don't know where they're going! And usually aren't in too much of a hurry. Especially if it's for sight seeing. They're too busy looking around.
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Originally Posted by Serious Conversation
I don't get this at all.
I'm in Asheville two or three times a month most months, though it is mostly on weekends. I-26W coming from Hendersonville can be bad. There can be occasional hang-ups around Biltmore. Beyond that, it is fairly smooth sailing.
I lived in Indianapolis for three years and Asheville's traffic is laughable compared to a weekday on 465. Asheville's traffic is nowhere nearly as bad at the whole Gatlinburg to Sevierville debacle, especially at the holidays.
Check out my location, I've lived in Atlanta, Houston, and Dallas. Obviously Asheville doesn't compare. But for what Asheville is, and how large it isn't, it has frustrating traffic and is busy.
Asheville's metro population is between Huntsville's and Corpus Christi's. I've been to both those places and outside of rush hour, it's easy to get around. Plenty of parking.
It has not been like that in Asheville for me. I passed through mid day of a summer workday for work. We decided to stop in Asheville and check it out during lunch. Downtown was packed and parking was a pain.
Did another work trip where I drove through on I-26. Multiple back up zones all the way from Hendersonville. Same thing when we drove back through.
Just recently I figured noon on a Friday after Labor Day wouldn't be too bad. Wrong. Stopped to eat off I-40 one exit west of the 26 interchange. From the time I turned onto the ramp back to I-40, it took 10 minutes to actually make it to I-26. That's just 2 miles for an average of 12 mph. No construction lane closures. Traffic wasn't bad on 26. No wrecks. Just too many cars trying to get from I-40 to I-26. At noon on a Friday. Even on 26 there continued to be heavy traffic. A mile or so down there was more traffic. Just on and off delays every so often until I got past the airport. I hooked around and hit 85 SB to head back to Georgia. I hit a little bit of traffic in Greenville trying to get past the construction at 385/85 but overall I had an easier time. I don't think I came to a stop once. It was more of a 30-40 mph slowdown and at that point it was around 130.
Nothing about it says "relaxing mountain vacation". Which is why I would go to a place like that. I'd rather go somewhere else in western NC that isn't so crowded. I'm not leaving Atlanta traffic just to go sit in traffic elsewhere.
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