August 4, 200916 yr A few months ago, I posed these queries: What do YOU consider to be "should see" areas/places in your home state? What would you tell travelers to check out, if they have the time, as they drive through your state? What "obscure" and "out of the way" places in your home state come to mind? Below is a compilation of the answers...ENJOY! ALABAMA Battleship Alabama Huntsville ... NASA site ALASKA ARIZONA Barringer Meteor Crater Crown King Grand Canyon (especially North Rim) Hoover Dam (Colorado River) Humphreys Peak, NW of Flagstaff Lake Havasu ... London Bridge Sedona Supai ... Part 1 starts on Route 66, runs 60 miles through some of the most pristine country in AZ and ends in a parking lot perched high on a bluff overlooking a stunning series of colorful canyons Supai ... Part 2 requires a hike of 8 miles, a rented horse or wild helicopter ride ARKANSAS Dig for diamonds CALIFORNIA 6 Flags Magic Mountain, Valencia Alcatraz Barstow Bishop ... Lone Pine ... Mono Lake (Owens Valley) CA SR Highway 1 Coastline Death Valley Disneyland GGNRA Nike Missle Site Hearst Castle Hollywood Joshua Trees Lake Tahoe Magic Mountain Monterrey Bay Kelp Forest Monterrey Peninsula Morro Bay Mt Lassen Mt Shasta Napa Valley Pebble Beach Pinnacles National Park Queen Mary / Long Beach Redwood Highway, 101 North Redwood National Park Ronald Reagan Museum San Diego / Sea World / Zoo San Francisco / Fisherman's Wharf / Golden Gate Bridge San Jose ... Winchester Mystery House Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk Santa Monica Pier Sequoia National Park Universal Studios Venice Beach White Mountains (oldest single living beings) Yosemite / Yosemite Valley COLORADO Amanda's Fonda, Old Colorado City and/or Las Margaritas, Denver Aspen Casa Bonita Cave of the Winds Colorado Springs Coors Brewery Denver ... 16th Street Mall, Denver Mint Eldorado Canyon Flatirons (W of Boulder) Garden of the Gods Glenwood Hot Springs Great Sand Dunes mountain escapes Mt Evans Rd (highest peak in CO and highest paved road in North America) Rocky Mtn National Park Royal Gorge Sangre de Cristo Mts (Southern CO) skiing CONNECTICUT Foxwoods Mohegan Sun Mystic Seaport FLORIDA Atlantic Ocean / Gulf of Mexico beaches Bok Tower Gardens Caverns, near Marianna Cypress Gardens Everglades Key West Lakeland Motorsports Dragway Miami ... Greynolds Park Overseas Highway (HW 1) Pensacola ... Naval Aviation Museum Ringling Museum Sarasota ... Amish restaurants Silver Springs Spook Hill St Augustine's Fort sugarcane fields Tenoroc Mine, state park GEORGIA Fort Jackson Fort Pulaski Lula Lake falls N Georgia Mtns Okefenokee Swamp Savannah's river front area Stone Mtn Park Underground Atlanta US Highway 41 (MI to FL) White ... Old Car City USA HAWAII IDAHO Craters of the moon Shoshone Falls ("Niagra of the West"; taller than Niagra Falls, though not as wide or as much water volume) Yellowstone ILLINOIS Cave in Rock State Park Galena Intersection of Lincoln Highway and Route 66 Lincoln Highway headquarters Meadowdale International Raceway Park Pontiac ... Route 66 Association of IL Hall of Fame and Museum Route 20 Route 66 Schaumburg ... LEGOLAND Southern tip ... Hardin County, Route 1 Union ... IL Railroad Museum Volo Auto Museum Wrigley Field INDIANA Dunes Indianapolis Indianapolis Indians Indianapolis Motor Speedway Lucas Oil Stadium Manchester College O'Reilly Raceway Park IOWA Amish around Kalona Barges in Dubuque Des Moines (current capital) Field House fishing Herbert Hoover Library Iowa City (old capital) John Wayne's birthplace, Winterset Kinnick Stadium Parkersburg EF-5 tornado (leaving some things untouched) KENTUCKY 25E down through Cumberland Gap Bardstown ... dinner train Bardstown ... Makers Mark facility Bowling Green ... Corvette Museum caves (western) horses Paducah riverfront murals LOUISIANA D-Day Museum False River Festival international de Louisiane French Quarter Layton Castle Mardi Gras ... Eunice, New Orleans, Mamou, New Roads, Baton Rouge, Lafayette Myrtles Plantation State Capitol MAINE Acadia Mt Desert Island Old Orchard Beach Portland ... art museum Portland ... Old Port Route 1 ... all the way to Key West MARYLAND Air and Space Museum, Dulles Airport Antietam National Battlefield (Sharpsburg) Assateague State Park (Eastern shore) Baltimore Camden Yards Chesapeake Bay Continental Divide Fort Federick Garber facility (Suitland) Garrett County, state parks Hagerstown ... 1/2 mile dirt track M&T Bank Stadium Mason Dixon Dragway MD International Raceway (Budds Creek) Monocacey Battlefield National Aquarium, Inner Harbor Route 50 (originating in Ocean City) ... ends in CA Smithsonian USS Constellation, Inner Harbor MICHIGAN 8 Milez Road Ann Arbor Automotive Hall of Fame Beaver Island Castle Rock Crossroads Village Davidson Freeway Detroit ... The National Automotive Historic Collection Detroit institute of Arts Detroit Science Center E Grand Rapids ... Yesterdog (restaurant) Frankenmuth Flint Getty Drive-in - Muskegon, MI Grand Haven ... Coast Guard Festival (August) Green Field Village Henry Ford Museum Holland ... Tulip Festival Kalamazoo ... Air Zoo at W MI University Leelanau Peninsula Mackinaw Bridge Mackinaw City Mackinaw Island Maritime Museum Marquette ... Peter White Library Marquette ... Presque Isle Petosky Rockford Rothbury ... Double J Ranch Shoreline Drive ... Holland, Grand Haven, Muskegon, Ludington, Traverse City, Petosky, Mackinaw City Silver Lake Dunes / Mears, MI Soo Sault St Marie boat locks tour St. Ingnes (car show) Tahquamenon Falls Traverse City ... MI Cherry Festival Upper Peninsula Woodward Avenue (first paved mile of roadway in the US) Ypsilanti ... home of the Orphan Car Show and last Hudson Dealership (now museum) MINNESOTA Alexandria ... Kensington Runestone Darwin ... bit ball of twine Highway 61, North shore Lake Superior Circle Drive Vining ... metal statues (in a park next to a gas station) made by the father of NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg MISSISSIPPI Battle grounds Cruzin' The Coast Gulf of Mexico Home of Jefferson Davis Mardi Gras NASA Natchez Trace Parkway Nortrup/Grumman navy shipyard Oil rigs Old Plantations MONTANA Bob Marshall Wilderness Bozeman ... Museum of the Rockies Dinosaur digs Essex Garnet ghost town Glacier National Park Great Falls ... Charlie Russel Museum Lolo Hot Springs Lost Trail Ski Area (no-frills skiier's mountain. US 93 at the Idaho line) Moeise Buffalo Range Museums National Bison Range Old mining sites Welcome Creek Wilderness Area Yellowstone National Park NEBRASKA Chimney Rock Lincoln Monument (i-80) Pioneer museums Platte River Sand hills (central) Scottsbluff Timberline / Beaver Dam NEW JERSEY Appalachian Mountains Atco Raceway (south) Atlantic City Ben Franklin Bridge Camden Delaware Gap Hoboken Island Dragway (north) Jersey Shore beach towns NJ Motorsports Park NJ State Aquarium Raceway Park (central) Six Flags Great Adventure Skiing areas Wildwood boardwalk NEW MEXICO Albuquerque ... Kimo Theatre Albuquerque ... old-fashioned diner on Central Carlsbad Caverns Santa Fe ... Plaza Cafe White Sands NEW YORK 1000 Islands Albany caverns Central Park Coney Island Ellis Island Empire State Building falls Fort Wadsworth glens Ground Zero Harold Square Ithaca ... Cornell University Jericho Turnpike Jones Beach Kings Point ... Sands Point Castle Lake Champlain Lake George Lake Ontario if you've never seen a Great Lake before Lake Placid Letchworth-Grand Canyon of the east Long Island Long Island beaches Manhattan skyline Meadowbrook Montauk Point Museums New York City Niagara Falls North Fork Ocean Parkway Old Bethpage restoration Orient Point Prospect Mountain, Adirondack's Raynham Hall Richmond Town Robert Moses Beach Sag Harbor Sagamore Hill Saratoga Springs Horse Race Track Staten Island Statue of Liberty Stock Exchange Sunrise Highway Tahawus/Adirondak Times Square Union Square Varrazano Narrows Bridge Wall Street Watkins Glen wineries N CAROLINA 7 light houses beaches Biltmore Blue Ridge Mountains Blue Ridge Parkway Cape Hattaras Charlotte Charlotte Motor Speedway Crystal Coast Dale Earnhardt Museum Grandfather Mountain Great Smokey Mountain Railroad Kill Devil Hills Kitty Hawk Linville Falls and Caverns Lost Colony Mooresville "Race City USA" Raleigh Richard Petty Museum Rockingham Wright Brothers Memorial OHIO 7 presidential birthplaces Amish country Canton ... Football Hall of Fame Carrollin Park Cedar Point Cincinnati Music Hall Cincinnati Union Terminal Museum Center Cincinnati Zoo Cleveland ... Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Cleveland Zoo Columbus Zoo Dayton Air Force Museum Erie Canal Kelley's Island Kilkare Dragway King's Island Leesville Lake Mentor ... President Garfield's home Mt Adams Ohio Caverns Ohio Stadium Put-in-Bay Riverboat ride Serpent Mound, Adams County Sidney ... Eldora Speedway Toledo Zoo Youngstown ... Mill Creek Park OKLAHOMA Arcadia ... Big Red Round Barn Arcadia ... POPS Bricktown Edmond ... Boulevard Steak House Indian Unmarked Grave Midwest City ... Napoleon Deli Norman ... Sam Noble Natural History Museum Oklahoma City ... Nonna's Oklahoma City ... Western Heritage Museum Shoe Tree Stroud ... Rock Cafe Talequah Tulsa ... Aquarium Wichita Mountains Wild Life Preserve OREGON Columbia River Gorge Crater Lake National Park Forest Grove Concourse D'elegance Lava Fields McMinville Airport ... Spruce Goose Mt Hood Oregon Coast Oregon Trail Rally Painted Hills Rose Cup Silver Falls State Park Trillum Lake PENNSYLVANIA Altoona Railroader's Memorial Museum Andy Warhol Museum Battleship Olympia Boat House Row Citizens Bank Park Dorney Park Erie ... Niagara Falling Waters Franklin Institute Gettysburg National Park Heinz Field Hershey Park Horseshoe Curve Inclines Independence Hall Johnstown Flood Memorial Kennywood Kinzua Bridge Lancaster County Amish country Lincoln Highway Museum of Sports National Constitution Center Penn's Caves Philadelphia Museum of Art Philadelphia Zoo Pine Creek Gorge Pittsburgh ... Mt Washington PNC Park Pottsville ... Yuengling Brewery Primanti's Railroad Museum of PA SS United States Steamtown National Historic Site Strasburg Railroad The Franklin US 6 US Mint Valley Forge National Park S CAROLINA Anderson Belton Cooker's Chateau fun country roads Hilton Head Myrtle Beach S DAKOTA Badlands NP Crazy Horse Monument Custer State Park Deadwood Mitchell Corn Palace Mt. Rushmore Sturgis The Engalls Homestead (Little House On The Prairie) Wall Drug Store TENNESSEE Bristol Motor Speedway Cades Cove Chattanooga ... TN Aquarium Clingmans Dome Gatlinburg Graceland Grand Ole Opry Great Smokey Mountains National Park Highway 11E Highway 25W Jackson Lake City ... Cove Lake State Park Lookout Mountain Lynchburg ... Jack Daniels Distillery Maryville ... Foothills Fall Festival Memphis Music Row Nashville Opryland Hotel (especially around Christmas) Reelfoot Lake Rock City Ryman Auditorium Sweetwater ... The Lost Sea Townsend ... Tuckalechee Caverns US 411 (Newport to Anniston AL) US 441 (Gatlinburg to Cherokee) US 70 (parallel to I-40, Knoxville to Nashville) TEXAS Alamo Amarillo Austin Big Bend Cavalla College Station Corpus Christi ... USS Lexington Dyer's Barbecue Enchanted Rock Fredericksburg Galveston Gruene Hall, oldest dancehall Hill Country Lubbock ... Canyon Lakes Palo Duro Canyon Pampa ... Woody Guthrie's home Pelican Island Route 66 San Antonio San Jacinto Monument and Battleground Ship Channel Waco UTAH Bend in The Road: http://chevyasylum.com/bsf2008/sw/20080818...07r8r8_jpg.html Big Cottonwood Canyon, picnic at Storm Mountain City Creek Canyon (lovely drive) ... breakfast at Ruth's diner midway up the canyon Hidden Peak (via Snowbird tram) Land's End Park City, Alpine Slide Rainbrow Bridge Salt Flats, during Speed Week Salt Lake City downtown library Snowbird Stoneground Pizza, SLC Timpanonos Cave Truckstop, Exit 2, I-80, Utah Wendover VERMONT dirt roads with old-fashioned covered bridges farms with dairy cows and sugar houses for making maple syrup scenic drives small, out-of-the-way hikes with gorgeous views villages with craft stores VIRGINIA Blue Ridge Parkway Chincoteague Island Luray Caverns Shenandoah Valley Skyline Drive WASHINGTON Boring Lava Fields Bruce Lee's grave Chuckanut Drive Columbia River Gorge Deception Pass Dry Falls Dunes Wilderness Experience Music Project Friday Harbor George Grand Coulee Dam HIghway 101 Hoh Rain Forest Kettle River (flows backwards) Leavenworth Mt Rainier Mt St Helens N Cascades Highway Olympic Mountains/Rain Forest Olympic Peninsula Loop Seattle ... Pike Place Market Snake River Canyon Space Needle Tacoma Glass Museum Takhlakh Lake WISCONSIN Door County House On The Rock Lake Geneva Lambeau Field Miller Brewery Milwaukee Domes natural beauty Road America WI Dells WYOMING Aspen Alley Big Horn Mountains Canyon between Shoshoni and Thermopolis Centennial/Snowy Range Cheyenne Chimney Rock Devils Gate Devils Tower Flaming Gorge Grand Tetons Green River Independence Rock Jackson Hole Laramie Shirley Basin Sybille Canyon The Summit (E of Laramie, beautiful stretch of I-80) US 16 through Buffalo, over Big Horns, to Yellowstone Vedauwoo Wind River Range Yellowstone CANADA Butterfly Conservatory Clifton Hill Fort Erie Fort George Kingston Maid of the Mist Niagara Falls Niagara Gorge Niagara River Parkway Nova Scotia Ontario - Hamilton ... Webster's Falls Oshawa ... GM complex and Canadian Automotive Museum Point Pelee Queenston Sandbanks Provincial Park St Lawrence Seaway The Rideau Toronto ... Wonderland Trent Canal hydraulic lift lock Trent/Severn Waterways Welland Canal Wolfe Island Cort | 35swm | "Mr Monte Carlo"."Mr Road Trip" | pig valve.pacemaker ...RT 66 = Sept 5-16, '09 WRMNshowcase.legos.HO.models.MCs.RTs.CHD = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort "There was something in the country that he said he couldn't leave" ... John Denver & Emmylou Harris ... 'Wild Montana Skies'
August 8, 200916 yr I'll think about this some more, but here are a few right off the top of my head for NC: Asheville: Grove Arcade Grove Park Inn Seely Castle (private residence -- can only be seen from a distance) Helens Bridge The Flat Iron Building and Sky Bar All of those are around downtown Asheville, and Asheville itself has a lot of old and interesting buildings. Mt. Mitchell (the highest point east of the Mississippi) Charlotte: Lots of 100 year old Textile Mills Billy Graham Library Charlotte Museum of Aviation NC Transportation Museum Charlotte Motor Speedway RCR Museum (better than the Dale Earnhardt Museum, but it's closer to Winston Salem than Charlotte) The Dale Trail Reeds Gold Mine (the first goldmine in America) Mooresville "Race City USA" (downtown Concord and Albemarle are cool as well, but not anything specific) Oh, and DEFINITELY add Charleston and it's lighthouses (speciallcally Morris Island) to your SC list. Edited August 8, 200916 yr by FUTURE_OF_GM
August 8, 200916 yr KENTUCKY 25E down through Cumberland Gap Bardstown ... dinner train Bardstown ... Makers Mark facility Bowling Green ... Corvette Museum caves (western) horses Paducah riverfront murals I have a little more traveling to do ...
August 8, 200916 yr kings mountain is a good one for SC too. Revolutionary war site. pendleton sc is cool as well, established in the 1700's. we have a lot of history here in anderson sc. also add this to the tennessee list ruby falls
August 8, 200916 yr Missouri St louis- city museum-bigger kids playground Zoo- it's free the arch, duh others- tower rock, when the river is really low jesse james museum ozark scenic driving. ROUTE 66 MOTORS & NOSTALGIA GIFT SHOP sure there are more, but i might not be thinking of them.
August 8, 200916 yr The only thing I like to see in Missouri is the "You are now leaving Missouri" signs. This state sucks hard.
August 8, 200916 yr Iowa in pictures NE Iowa Effegy Mounds National Monument McGregor/Marquette (scenic river towns on the Mississippi) Guttenburg (another river town on the Miss) Field of Dreams in Dyersville Quad Cities Figge Art Museum (designed by David Chipperfield) Davenport sky bridge Des Moines East Village State Capitol complex Central Park & Des Moines Central Library (another Chipperfield building) Principal Riverwalk & pedestrian bridge (under construction) Robert D. Ray Asian Gardens Grays Lake Park Living History Farms (recreation of 1750s-1900s indian/pioneer farms and towns) Iowa State Fair (one of the biggest in the nation) Cedar Rapids Czech Village Quaker Oats (largest cereal plant in the world) Not too much more to recommend since the flood took out a lot of our attractions, but by the time the new federal courthouse is finished in 2012 downtown should be hopping again Iowa City U of I campus & architecture Ped mall area & dowtown (where most of Iowa City's nightlife is) Dubuque (oldest city in Iowa, very scenic and hilly with buildings dating to the early 1800s) Other: Bridges of Madison County & Winterset Danish Windmill & Museum in Elk Horn Pella & Orange City (two big Danish/Dutch settlements that hold annual festivals) The world's largest truck stop off I-80 near Walcott (buy your fuel across the street at the BP because it'll be .20 cheaper) Burlington, IA & snake alley (another historic river city) Frank Lloyd Wright homes & Park Hotel in Mason City Merchant's Bank in Grinnell by Louis Sullivan
August 9, 200916 yr CALIFORNIA 6 Flags Magic Mountain, Valencia -- 6 Flags is 6 Flags...this one isn't anything special IMO Alcatraz Barstow Bishop ... Lone Pine ... Mono Lake (Owens Valley) CA SR Highway 1 Coastline Death Valley Disneyland -- DisneyWorld is better. GGNRA Nike Missle Site Hearst Castle Hollywood Joshua Trees Lake Tahoe Monterrey Bay Kelp Forest Monterrey Peninsula Morro Bay Mt Lassen Mt Shasta Napa Valley Pebble Beach Pinnacles National Park Queen Mary / Long Beach Redwood Highway, 101 North Redwood National Park Ronald Reagan Museum San Diego / Sea World / Zoo San Francisco / Fisherman's Wharf / Golden Gate Bridge San Jose ... Winchester Mystery House Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk Santa Monica Pier Sequoia National Park Universal Studios Venice Beach White Mountains (oldest single living beings) Yosemite / Yosemite Valley Palos Verdes should make the cut--simply some of the most beautiful landscape in the region, even though it's mostly just suburban, residential homes. Portuguese Bend, part of the PV peninsula, is the fastest moving land in the world, a continuous slumping landslide since 1956. That portion of PV Dr. S. is undergoing near-constant roadwork. Hollywood Riviera is another good area--subdistrict of Redondo Beach, the signs call it "Riviera Village," but it's where the Hollywood elite used to have a lot of beach houses, like back in the 1920s through the 1940s. Can't forget LA's Chinatown--so famous, and the first master-planned "Chinatown" in the world. The district was originally designed by a Hollywood set designer in the late 1930s, and it shows. Too cool at night. The Valley...San Fernando Valley. Yes, it's suburbia, but you have to see Roscoe and Ventura Blvds. for yourself. Mulholland Drive snakes through the Santa Monica Mountains bordering The Valley. Griffith Observatory needs to be on the list. Huntington Beach, CA--aka Surf City USA. And Beverly Hills is the ultimate tourist destination, though I personally don't think it's all that special. INDIANA Dunes Indianapolis Indianapolis Indians Indianapolis Motor Speedway Lucas Oil Stadium Manchester College O'Reilly Raceway Park I have to ask...what about Indianapolis is really worth seeing? There's maybe enough to do to occupy a weekend, but that's about it.
August 9, 200916 yr I went to Indianapolis once. Ate at a steak place (Sizzler I believe) and spent the next two days vomiting. Still better than a weekend in Cincinnati.
August 9, 200916 yr kings mountain is a good one for SC too. Revolutionary war site. pendleton sc is cool as well, established in the 1700's. we have a lot of history here in anderson sc. Kings Mountain is cool. There also seems to be a lot of history in both Camden and Rock Hill. I've just passed through those two, but I plan to go back and investigate further.
August 9, 200916 yr I went to Indianapolis once. Ate at a steak place (Sizzler I believe) and spent the next two days vomiting. Still better than a weekend in Cincinnati. I don't know if Sizzler is even still around. Indy does have a good steak place, called Peterson's, up in the Castleton area off 82nd St. and I-69.
August 27, 200916 yr Author How long did it take to type that list out? LOL! A few days, at least an hour or so a day ... he he. But, I LOVED doing it. It was really cool to go through all of the replies and see what others had mentioned. AND ... it seems like I have a few more to add, eh? VERY COOL.... Since I'm trying to get ready for the Route 66 trip, I doubt I'll have time to put the revised list together before then ... but later this year, I will put out a new list . Cort | 35swm | "Mr Monte Carlo"."Mr Road Trip" | pig valve.pacemaker ...RT 66 = Sept 5-16, '09 WRMNshowcase.legos.HO.models.MCs.RTs.CHD = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort "If you fall, I will catch you" ... Cindy Lauper ... 'Time After Time'
August 27, 200916 yr I really hope I didn't suggest all of those places in Wyoming. Most of the towns, listed don't have anything too special other than the fact that there are hotels, and many of the mountain passes and scenic byways end up in them. I suppose Cheyenne has the capitol, Laramie has the university. Green River doesn't have much of anything...but if you like small town charm, you could check out Saratoga, and Thermopolis has (I believe) the worlds largest natural hot springs. Everything else sounds pretty good as long as you like the outdoors. If you were to stop and check out Vedauwoo, you should also check out the Pole Mountain area (they're pretty much the same thing). Ames monument is also near there if you want to see a random pyramid built in the middle of nowhere...
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