Highlight Your State - 3 Must Visit Cities or Places

[gardenstategal]

For Pennsylvania, totally agree with Fallingwater. There are actually a number of Frank Lloyd Wright houses in the area, one of which has overnught stay options. And the area around there has nice biking, whitewater rafting, and biking, so if you go out of ypur way to visit for the architecture, you can have a lovely mini-vacation.

Pittsburgh is a fun city – I’d add it to the list. Good museums, nice architecture, historic amusement park, interesting history. Easily a long weekend trip.

For NJ, I’d pick Grounds for Sculpture. Our best kept secret!

[sevmom]

Kentuck Knob by Wright is near Fallingwater and is great. Ligonier is a nice town and has Idlewild Park and Story Book Forest. PIttsburgh is great!

[deb922]

Also easier to get reservations for if Falling Water is booked

[total1096]

Utah: stuff other than the obvious Mighty Five

Salt Lake City area: Temple Square, LDS Church Family History Library (largest collection of genealogical records in the world, might be surprised what you can find out about your ancestors) Bingham Copper Mine (largest man made hole in the world)

NE Utah: Dinosaur National Monument, Flaming Gorge (boating, water skiing, etc) Green River (river running) Uinta Mountains (hiking, camping)

Park City: ski town, US Olympic Park, arts, dining etc

[total1096]

Lake Powell! Kind of sneaky trying to take that one from Utah
Certainly a beautiful and mysterious place.

[college_query]

I have moved every couple of years for my spouse’s current line of work, which he’s been doing for almost 11 years, and during that time, have lived in 7 different cities (6 states). I just moved to my current location less than a month ago, so I’ll highlight the state I’ve lived in the longest: KANSAS!

Picking 3 must visit cities, I’ll choose Topeka, Lawrence, and Overland Park, KS. Of course, once you’re in the Kansas City area, there are also a lot of the attractions on the Missouri side so you can cover two states in one stop! And there are lots of other interesting attractions in cities like Atchison, Manhattan, and Wichita, to name a few. And the Eisenhower Presidential Library is in Abilene!

Topeka is the state capitol and I would visit the capitol building (tours are offered, including going up in the dome if you are okay with heights) and the Brown vs the Board of Education National Park. For an outdoor activity, Old Prairie Town is fun, if visiting Tuesday - Saturday from 10 - 4 or Sunday from noon - 4, go to the old time soda fountain and order a Green River!

Lawrence is the home to the University of Kansas and besides exploring the campus, I would visit the Booth Family Hall of Athletics, where you can see Naismith’s Original Rules of “Basket Ball”, and the Dole Institute of Politics, then I would wander up and down Massachusetts Street to enjoy the shops and restaurants.

In Overland Park, I would visit the Johnson County Museum, the Deanna Rose Children’s Farmstead, and the Museum at Prairiefire. And of course, have some barbeque!

I tend to prefer museums and educational sites in my sight-seeing and of course this list reflects that, but there are lots of outdoor attractions if that’s your preference.

[mominva]

Those were my 3 as well.

[AustenNut]

Louisiana, and will try to be different from @trops, though I think the Whitney Plantation is a must-do for anyone visiting the state:

1. New Orleans:

• Walking around the various historic neighborhoods (Uptown, French Quarter, Marigny, etc)
• Checking out the many murals across the city. Here is a map of many of them along with an article that shows many of them.
• World War II Museum: Seeing what our country was able to come together to do is pretty amazing

2. Swamp: Whether you go kayaking or on a swamp tour or even driving past on the interstate, the swamps have a beauty that should be experienced. Both pictures are of the Atchafalaya Basin (via Google Images), but there are many other options.

(someone’s picture from I-10)

3) Festival: Whether it’s the peach festival in Ruston (home of Louisiana Tech) or the strawberry festival in Ponchatoula (not far from Southeastern Louisiana U.), there are more than 400 festivals a year in the state, and they have them for just about anything (fried chicken festival, po-boy festival, creole tomato festival, jazz fest, zydeco fest, etc, etc, etc.).

[1214mom]

Maryland -

Annapolis - Naval Academy, Chesapeake Bay, “sailing capital of the US,” blue crabs (you can get crabs all around MD, but gotta list them somewhere), and more.

Ocean City - beach town. I actually don’t care for it much, but people come from all across the country to do their week at the beach in OC MD. I’ll combine Assateague Island with OC They have wild ponies there.

3rd - I’m thinking either the Eastern Shore for all the nice little towns, great bike riding, the other side of the bay. But maybe Deep Creek Lake area - they have the lake in the summer, skiing in the winter, a park with waterfall, you can go whitewater rafting not too far from there.

[maya54]

In big states it’s so hard to choose. .

For Chicago I’d suggest

Maggie Daily park

Buckingham Fountain

Chinatown via water taxi to Tom Ping Memorial Park

For Coachella Valley where I am in the winter

Palm Desert Civic Center Park

Indian Wells for. Bnp Paribas Open for $10 dollar preview days

Palm Springs Street Fair

[LeastComplicated]

I went on a swamp tour with my girls when we visited NOLA while my husband was working on the oil spill for a few weeks. It was really fun and interesting.

They even liked the WWII museum and my youngest, who was about 8 or so, talked about what countries were assigned which beaches during d-day for weeks!

[Googie31]

I live about 15 minutes in winter/30 minutes south of OG (7 miles) and they are calling for nice weather after Wednesday.

Ocean Grove’s fourth of July parade is Saturday July 5. Asbury Park has fireworks on the Thursday 7/3 and Bradley Beach on Saturday 7/6. I lov ehow the beach towns coordinate their displays. My town is the third as well.

Hope you have a great time.

[cellomom2]

Thanks so much for the info on fireworks!
We’ll be there Saturday and try to see the Bradley Beach ones

[MADad]

Since I live very near Rhode Island, I will cover the Ocean State:

1–By a huge margin, Newport. Gilded Age mansions, colonial history, beaches, dining, it’s got it all.

2–Providence. Lots of history, one of the best foodie scenes in the country. We had teachers from France visiting our high school asking if they could be taken to a certain restaurant, as it was one of the best in the WORLD…

3–South County beaches. Miles of sand, clam shacks, etc.

[Marilyn]

Personal top places in San Diego:

• Cabrillo National Monument, a little spoiled because it’s a short drive away. It’s my very favorite spot in San Diego. The day after we moved here, I stopped at the guard house and bought my senior lifetime pass. From the cliff tops, there are sweeping views of the ocean, city, and bay. In season, you might use binoculars to see whales. You can see mountains and the coast of Mexico, check on what’s happening at Naval Base North Island (helicopters at a minimum, sometimes jets, major Navy vessels at times passing by), and enjoy all the boats in the harbor. It’s my destination when I need a little exercise and some serenity.

(Just asked husband what he would pick, without telling him my choices, and he also said Cabrillo.)

• San Diego Zoo and Balboa Park. I seldom go to the zoo (member) without strolling over to the main drag of the park (takes 10 minutes) to wander past the architecture, into the newly rebuilt Botanical Building, and through the many varieties of gardens. I like to grab a coffee and relax in the Spanish Village Art Center, a charming set of artisan run shops set in tiled courtyards.

• the beach - which one is a personal preference; there’s no best per se. The waves are so calming. We go to Mission Beach because it’s close - it has a classic small beachfront amusement park. And it’s across the street from where husband and I both have done various stints of physical therapy. Coronado, La Jolla Shores, and Del Mar beaches are the more scenic in the county.

[rhododendron]

For RI, to add to #3: South Coast Beaches, south of the south coast is Block Island. A fun day trip by ferry or stay a few days. 46% open space with trails throughout, great beaches, huge protected anchorage if you go by your own boat.

[Sweetgum]

I’ll give some other options for NC.

• Asheville is going to be my city pick. It’s got a lot happening for less than 100k people. Gorgeous old Art Deco architecture and the Biltmore House (chateau/castle) if that’s your thing. Not really my thing, but I love Asheville for the music scene and the funky vibes and the opportunities to get out in nature. Great hiking, rafting, climbing, also great food and great beer and great art! I do love the Blue Ridge Parkway but there are lots of other little roads to explore too. (I love Boone, too, but trying to switch it up a bit). www.exploreasheville.com (Note: all the mountain areas are great. I just had to pick one and Asheville is really cool. )

• Crystal Coast – the beaches of Emerald Isle, Pine Knoll Shores, Atlantic Beach, Cape Lookout National Seashore, and the towns of Beaufort and Morehead City. It’s a little less well known by out of state folks than the Outer Banks, but it’s also a super popular area with folks that do know. It’s got a gorgeous lighthouse, wild ponies on several islands (which I think is much better than the wild ponies up at the OBX where they come into conflict with tourist areas – you can still go see the wild ponies at the Crystal Coast, but they live on uninhabited islands), lots of history with Fort Macon, too. Beaufort is a charming historic sailing village, also. www.crystalcoastnc.org (Also note that all the NC beaches are great, but thought this might be an area fewer people knew about. Also didn’t want to give away all my secret places.)

• really hard to pick a third place, but I think I am going to go with the NC Zoo right outside of Asheboro. It is the largest natural habitat zoo in the world. The elephants and rhinos and antelopes and gazelles roam over 40 acres. This means that there is a lot of walking to do, but it is a very cool zoo. https://www.nczoo.org/ While in the area you could stop by Seagrove NC which is a tiny town dedicated to pottery. Folks there have been making traditional pottery for many generations. It’s a really cool little place. https://discoverseagrove.com (Note: I debated about including one of our bigger cities, but I’m just not really a fan. No offense @CollegeNerd67, my in-laws all live in Charlotte. I thought about including another mountain town, but CN already had Boone on their list. Thought about doing another beach town, but I decided to stick with something in the middle of the state.)

[Youdon_tsay]

We planned to go to Asheville this summer, but the hurricane damage changed our plans. Is the city ready for tourists again?

[Sweetgum]

Definitely! It’s been ready and welcoming tourists for many months! Biltmore reopened about a month after the storm and downtown Asheville was largely spared any damage. They just had to wait for the electricity and water to come back on. There are a few areas that are still rebuilding, but 95% of the city is ready and has been ready for folks to come visit. Please go! Spend money! That’s the best thing you can do to help folks out. Tourists staying away are the thing that is doing the most damage now. Please go visit!

Just click that www.exploreasheville.com link. It’s got all the latest info.

[CollegeNerd67]

No worries - I get it, Charlotte can be polarizing.