There are 5 US states I have not yet been to and I am looking for ideas as to what to see there. I don’t need help with Alaska, but am looking for suggestions for:
Oregon
Crater Lake looks very interesting, but what else?
New Mexico
I could go skiing at Taos. I have been to Arizona and should have made the short trip while at Canyon de Chelley. What is there to see? Is there anything at Los Alamos?
Vermont
Not sure what to see here, although I could combine it with a trip to Montreal.
And the big challenge…
Arkansas
I could go to Memphis and take a short drive, but Memphis is an armpit of a city anyway.
So - help me out (and apologies to Arkansas residents for insulting your state already).
Arkansas is a beautiful state. If you like outdoorsy stuff you’ll find loads of things to do there, depending on the season. I would recommend going in either the spring or fall, and avoiding summer at all costs.
If you like geology, you could go to Crater of Diamonds state park in Murfreesboro where you can dig for diamonds and keep what you find.
While you’re in that neck of the woods (kinda) you could visit Hot Springs, and stay in one of the spas there.
Up north you can trek through the Ozarks, which are gorgeous old mountains. You could also float down the Buffalo River, one of only two national rivers. (If you do, say hello to my aunt for me!)
Up near Mountian View, which is a cutesy little art town in the northeast part of the state, you could visit the Ozark Folk Center, which is more fun than it should be. And, while you’re in Mountian View, you could also stop by Blanchard Springs Caverns, which has a very neat tour and a lovely state park associated with it. (And it was discovered by a friend of mine!)
Finally, there’s the northwestern part of the state, home of Fayetteville and the University of Arkansas, as well as Eureka Springs, which is another fun artist colony.
Arkansas is an absolutely beautiful state. It’s definitely worth a visit. And, for what it’s worth, this is coming from someone who ran screaming from there once I reached the age of majority. But, it’s pretty.
In Arkansas, canoe on or hike around the Buffalo (National Scenic) River. Visit Mountain View, especially during one its many yearly festivals. If you hurry, you can make this year’s Bean Fest complete with the Outhouse Race.
And near Eureka Springs (a tourist destination town worth seeing in its own right) is Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge, a sanctuary for rescued big cats. Visiting there is a unique experience.
If you’re going to Montreal, you could drive through Vermont along Route 7. It’s a nice route that will take you through Bennington, Rutland, Middlebury, Burlington, and St Albans. It then turns into Route 133 in Quebec and goes into Montreal. Vermont’s a small state and the entire route’s only about 120 miles.
Billy the Kid is buried in Fort Sumner, and a bit southwest of there are his main stomping grounds during the Lincoln County War. Albuquerque has a nice zoo, and old town, and Sandia Mountains. Santa Fe is historical, as is Taos.
Ditto on the Arkansas stuff…as a rule of thumb, if you divide the state diagonally from NE to SW, the SE part is flat and uninteresting, the NW part is hilly and more scenic. So, if you come into Arkansas from Memphis, you won’t see much scenery, because it’s flatter than a plate of piss between there and Little Rock, excepting Crowley’s Ridge (which is kind of interesting, itself).
When you drive up (or down) the Oregon coast, don’t forget to view the Devil’s Punchbowl and Cannon Beach is considered one of the most beautiful beaches in the US. Find a diner on the coast and eat razor clams. Heavenly.
Once you get tired of exploring the city of Portland and the wet coast, drive past Mt. Hood to Bend . On the edge of the desert, it’s a growing city with lots of activities for athletic people, including skiing, biking, hiking, depending on the season.
If you drink beer, there are a lot of great microbreweries and fun watering holes throughout Portland, and Bend has a lively pub built inside the Old St. Francis Catholic School .
In VT there are wonderful hikes along the Long Trail, probably the easiest of the big hikes would be Camels Hump which takes 4-5 hours and gives you 360 degree views. There are dozens of smaller hikes to be found all over the place. If you can, visit during foliage season (last week in Sept, first week in Oct) for the best views. VT has amazing skiing if you time it right, Feb and Mar usually has the best snow, but you can find powder days all winter if the conditions are right. Try Jay for the best snow, Mad River Glen (no snowboards) for a trip back in time.
The Ben and Jerry’s factory in Stowe is worth a visit, the ferry across Lake Champlain is a fun trip.
In Vermont, you could go for dayhikes in the Green Mountains. Eat creemies, soft ice cream made with real maple syrup. If you are a baker, go to the King Arthur Flour Baking Store . It’s heaven – so many kinds of flour, dough conditioners, bowls, pans and various and sundry baking needs.
If you shop, Manchester has good outlets and one of the best independent bookstores, Northshire Book Store that I have visited. Even small towns in Vermont have great independent bookstores.
There’s a very nice bike trail along Lake Champlain in Burlington, and the Magic Hat Brewing Company in South Burlington is worth a stop, though perhaps not quite as much fun as their website.
If you stop in St. Albans on your way to Montreal, you might take a detour into As the Crow Flies . It’s a kitchen store, notable for the sexy ad the owner ran one year of a gloriously buff young man’s torso draped with frying pans and other kitchen gadgets on a tool belt. Worth picking up a couple of the postcards of it, if the owner still has them.
It’s been a little slow this year. Saturday was supposed to be the peak but I have a feeling this coming weekend will be even better.
What are your interests? What time of year might you visit?
In addition to everything mentioned above, and pretty much any outdoorsy activity you might want,
The Shelburne Museum is cool. Historic buildings were moved there to hold the collections.
Woodstock: Billings Farm, shops and restaurants in a small town atmosphere
Quechee: Quechee Gorge, Simon Pearce Glassblowing, Antiques Market
Burlington: UVM, events on the Lake Champlain waterfront
Windsor: Cornish-Windsor covered bridge “This is the longest wooden covered bridge in the United States and the longest two-span covered bridge in the world.”, Windsor Station restaurant in an old railway station building
Any time, but probably not winter (I will go west to ski). We like the outdoors - hiking and taking in the scenery. We also like lively cities, e.g. New York, Chicago, and places of geological or historical interest (although as a Brit I may want to avoid Lake Champlain ).
I will speak to Vermont and Arkansas because I used to live in Vermont and some of my family lives in Arkansas and I have spent significant time there.
Vermont is one of the prettiest states. The easiest way to get a taste of it is to go to the Woodstock area and visit the nearby Quechee Gorge. The entire area is typical Vermont and drop-dead gorgeous. There is plenty of skiing in the immediate area if you go in the winter. I know what I am talking about so take this as the definitive recommendation.
Arkansas is a very underrated state. It is poor in parts but it is also very pretty and has lots of varied terrain. Eureka Springs is a good recommendation as mentioned above and the general area has a lot to offer. However, there are a lot of tourist attractions of the tacky variety around so beware. You could take a day trip to Branson, Missouri which obviously has a lot to offer as well but you will need brazen, tacky armor configured on the high side. One of my favorite memories involves the Devils Den state park in Arkansas. There are some pretty extensive caves there that you can use to spelunk on your own. There aren’t any tours. You just go yourself and me and my brothers went wayyy underground in a real wild cave on a trip that took over two hours climbing and crawling deeper and deeper.
More New Mexico stuff: White Sands NM, Acoma Sky City, El Malpais NM, Bandelier NM, Bisti Badlands, Chaco Canyon, Bosque del Apache NWR, The VLA, El Morro NM, Salinas Pueblo NM, Sandia Peak Tram…
I was up on Camel’s Hump on Saturday, if it wasn’t peak all the rain may have knocked down a bunch of the leaves before they turned. There’s a lot on the ground now. Sunday seemed about peak.
We were thinking it must depend on exactly where you are. Some areas looked raging with color and others on their way, with a good amount of green left. Could be they’ll never quite peak.
If you like hiking in the outdoors, there’ll be no shortage of things to see in Vermont. If you do go through Windsor, there’s the American Precision Museum: “The American Precision Museum…now holds the largest collection of historically significant machine tools in the nation.”
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