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Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Surprisingly nice towns and cities in the USA
You could do this as a Themed Trip and follow the many "Best places to live" lists, and wonder in amazement how on earth they came up with their lists! You could author a guide / review to all lists! Do the "Best place to Retire" list written by '20 something' authors who are thinking they know what retirees look for in a NICE town. Quite honestly I don't think they even care... they're just filling space in the magazine / webpage.
One thing we've done is sort of ignored the travel in the US where we live (San Francisco). I'm originally from Wisconsin and we've been there, Chicago, Boston, NYC, up and down the West Coast, and to Utah, Arizona, and New Orleans. However, I've started wondering about lesser known location in the US - Portland ME, Ashland NC, Bowling Green KY....I wonder what Buffalo, NY or Colombus, OH are like?
Sure. I've lived roughly five places in the US, Boston to Seattle, and my dad was a big traveler so with the family I've seen more than a little of the US and Ontario. On my own I've traversed BC, the southern half anyway, more than a few times.
Bay Area was one place I lived, for seven years. I was always on the go, on my motorcycle, and my job was almost daily travel to places near and far mostly in-state. First order of business is to ensure you've done the following and isn't terribly far away:
- Up to Humboldt County on Hwy 101, or Hwy 1 if-time. All the way to Crescent City, actually. If you've not been on Avenue of the Giants, "just wow." There's a diner in Weott with great pancakes, and while a nothing-town there are a few things to see...or not see...in the area making it worthwhile.
- Mendocino County, more spots to stop than I can count. I've seen most of the smaller towns there, which are largely unlike anything else in the US AFAIK: visit Boonville and Philo on Hwy 128, one of my favorite highways in the state. Have a burger at a 50 y.o classic diner in Willits, CA, and report back. I looked it up; unsurprisingly it's called the 101 Diner and I used to hit it every time to and from Humboldt. OR, take the Skunk Train, Willits to Ft. Bragg: it's a hoot. "World Famous," they boast. Hmm...
- Pop into Merced, there used to be an Italian restaurant there to-die for w/home made pasta and authentic cuisine. Spent a month there decades ago working at the now-decommissioned Castle AFB, which was active at the time. You haven't lived until you've seen a scramble (or whatever they call a drill) of a dozen or more B-52s taking off really *fast* to get to what they used to call Fail Safe points, long ago. Ah, the Cold War...
- Pop into Monterey and explore that area in-detail. The aquarium! And so much more. Don't forget the track, formerly called Laguna Seca and quite the site. Best track in the US, and I had the privilege of a couple track days there (on motorcycles) plus I've seen the US GP there a few times.
- Santa Clara County has much to see, as does Santa Cruz County. A lot of it burned up recently, I gather, but still...San Mateo County, too. Stop in for a meal at Alice's, if it still exists.
- Further south, exploring the hills NW of Los Angeles is interesting (Santa Monica Mountains). Mullholland Highway will take you to the Rock Store, and you've not lived until you've been there (if still open). I figure it's a year-round treat for bikers, anyway, on weekends at least. Never found any trouble there myself, it's just a nifty stop on an interesting highway not 30 miles from one of the largest metros in the US.
I don't recall leaving the state too much those seven years, there is so much to see and do. I couldn't get ahead there economically, and assume it's vastly worse now, but it's a helluva place to be for activities like biking, motorcycling, and general sight-seeing. Start there, report back, then worry about other interesting places like Nevada and Oregon, and of course WA State. Oregon could fill a book with cool things to see as it's mostly rural, from deserts to endless forests. Don't get me started on that.
There is much more to see in this great nation, I grew up in Michigan and wouldn't know where to start in terms of things to mention there, too, but first and foremost explore the north, south, and east of the Bay Area in-detail. That will take years.
Every one is quaint, to actually nice, to gorgeous. I'm thinking really hard about actually moving to Poulsbo as a retirement destination not terribly remote from Seattle city-of, but a ferry ride away which is not a bad thing. The Norwegian kitsch aside, it's a cool place to be. Leavenworth is something of a gag, if you know the history, but I was hauled there for Christmas a couple years ago and had a splendid time: lots of holiday cheer.
Twisp is close to Winthrop, the latter being kind of our "Deadwood West" if you've ever been to the Black Hills...they're both hotter than the hinges of hell in the summer, and colder as a witch's (something) in winter. And both sort of lost in time...which may be the point.
Haven't been to Walla Walla, in all the years I've lived here. Will take a weekend trip if the weather cooperates after Christmas, I figure. That's dodgy going across the pass(es) but we'll see.
Sounds like you are mainly interested in cities & towns over countryside.
If so, here are some possibilities:
Taos, NM. Obviously not completely off tourist trail but off it compared to Sante Fe.
Livingston MT. Or Buffalo WY.
Bisbee AZ. (Touristy but not like some big name places.)
Maybe Walla Walla WA if you are into wine.
Fredricksburg TX or smaller hill county towns near it.
Staunton VA or nearby.
Berlin, NH.
Berea KY.
Beaufort SC.
Breaux Bridge LA.
Problem with this list is that most of these are rather touristy. (Not Berlin, NH - can't figure out how that's on this list.
Truth is there are hundreds, if not thousands, of mid to smaller towns that have their charms. Take the next town over from mine - Peterborough NH. 6,000 people and quite charming.
My "thing" has been to get off the interstates and see the smaller towns. Some are duds. Many are charming. It helps to have a theme. For me, it's finding old mill towns or covered bridges. For others it might be antique shops? For the Southeastern US, you could do civil war battlefields? Or coastal towns with beautiful harbors, which could be most of them?
If you ever are in the Buffalo NY area and if the borders are open, and the weather is nice, hop over to Canadian side and visit a town called ‘Niagara on the Lake”. An absolute treasure of a hidden gem.
Detroit Michigan.
Charlevoix MI
Petosky Mi
Grand Rapids MI.
Marquette MI.
Munising MI
Wyandotte MI
Traverse City MI
Orange CA
Solvang CA.
Coloma CA (if it is still there)
La Jolla CA
Laguna Beach CA
Balboa CA (Part of Newport Beach)
Julian CA
Ventura CA (to visit the Channel Islands)
Santa Barbra CA
Monterrey Ca
El Paso TX
Austin TX
Cave City Kentucky.
Bisbee AZ
Flagstaff AZ
Santa Fe NM
Milwaukee WI
Duluth MN
Nashville TN
Savannah GA
Charleston SC
Florence NC
Williamsburgh VA
Ogunquit ME
Halifax NS Canada
This thread could go on with endless lists of interesting or off-beat places.
My suggestion is to think about a theme for places to visit, depending on one's interest. Read and learn more about that theme before starting to plan a trip, and where to stop along the way.
For example:
Theme = Louis & Clark's Corps of Discovery expedition, 1803-1806.
Good read = Out West, An American Journey by Dayton Duncan.
He wrote this book in the late 1980s or so, but it is an excellent tale not only of the Louis and Clark journey, but of how the places along their journey have developed & changed in the couple of centuries since L & C passed through. Dayton Duncan is not a world famous author, but if you have ever watched a Ken Burns series on PBS, he has been behind the writing and content presented in many.
After reading Out West, you will be motivated and educated enough to set out on your own journey of discovery, and see for yourself the many interesting places along the way. Most of the time, you will not encounter any crowds of tourists because the places along this route are literally off the beaten path. You will find quaint, interesting and historical places. If you follow Dayton Duncan's advice on how to find a good restaurant along the way, you will find some good food too.
Inland Washington State has apple and other fruit orchards - also the very northern Shenandoah Valley between Winchester VA and Gettysburg PA.
Western Kansas/ Nebraska, meat packing/ slaughterhouses.
Eastern Shore/ peninsular MD/ VA/ DE, enormous poultry farms and vegetable farms.
Gainesville, GA, poultry farms.
Harrisonburg, VA, area, turkey farms.
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Quite honestly I don't think they even care... they're just filling space in the magazine / webpage.
