Question for all with experience:

1. What are your favorite states to travel to or that you traveled to? If you can list in order or preference. Thank You.

2. Similar question: favorite Nation Parks. Again, in order or preference, would be appreciated. Thank You.

Hard question, lcc. It depends on your priorities. If winery visits are to be a significant part, then the Willamette Valley and California are our favorites, with Washington a second choice that can be added to the same trip.

If you like inns and history, then the South, Georgia and Tennessee in particular, would be my choice.

As far as national parks go, Crater Lake in Oregon is magnificent, as is Mount Rainier in Washington. The one area of the country we haven't spent much time in is the national park area of the West, so I'll let others speak for that. We have visited the Canadian Rockies and were awed by the scenery with Emerald Lake, Lake Louise, and Jasper Park being our favorites.

The Grand Canyon is just unbelievable. Pictures don't do it justice. It is amazing.

More specifically: the states that offer the most scenery/natural beauty. And, good dining.

rjs: been there. I agree. Next trip is rafting the Colorado river through the Canyon.

All these world travelers here & no recommendations?!?

Some that others recommended: Utah, Montana, Colorado, New Mexico, etc... Just looking for some more opinions.

Having done most of my National Park trips to the ones in the west I can highly recommend southern Utah. Zion, Bryce, and the various places in between are stunning. Canyon De Chelly in Northeast Arizona as well is incredible (but don't plan on anything else....because there is nothing else). Canyon De Chelly is not far from Southeast Utah where you will find Valley of the Gods, Monument Valley, and others.

Moving North some of the most beautiful scenery I have seen is the Grand Teton's, simply stunning. Colorado has a wealth of beautiful scenery.

One of the top Parks I have been to is Yosemite in California though.......nearly unparralelled.

Northern California - Yosemite, Sequoia and King's Canyon are all worth visiting. Yosemite is, arguably, the most amazing place on Earth.

Southern Utah, as Seek mentioned, is simply awesome too. My favorite was Bryce Canyon with Zion a distant second.

Colorado is beautiful, but I can't think of any major National Parks offhand (I'm sure someone can list one here though...)

On my list as next visits would be Wyoming and Montana.

Montana, anywhere. Especially around Glacier National Park.

Three years ago, we stayed over the 4th of July in Red Lodge, Montana (a regular destination for us for about 45 miles south of Billings, on the edge of the Beartooth Absoroka Wilderness area. I forget the name of the highway going from Red Lodge to Yellowstone, but it is an incredibly beautiful drive). Then, we drove up to Glacier afterwards. A long drive to both places. The drive between Red Lodge and Glacier makes the Colorado Rockies look ugly, imo. Though the southwest part of Colorado (Durango area) can compete, the 12 hour or so drive from Red Lodge to Glacier contained a "wow" around just about every corner.

I agree with all of the National Parks in Utah, especially Bryce and Zion (if you avoid summer in Zion).

Colorado has three national parks. Rocky Mountain National Park is the most heavily visted and traveled. The road through the park goes up over 12,000 feet, and is the highest continuous highway in the US. Spectacular scenery all around, we may even head up there this weekend for the elk rutting season.

Mesa Verde is in the southwest part of the state, about 40 miles west of Colorado. Great ruins (Anasazi around 1000-1400 A.D. if memory serves me). However, this park has been devastated by fires the last few years, so some of nature's beauty has been replaced by another type of nature's beauty.

The third and most recent national park is the Great Sand Dunes NP, formerly a national monument. To me, it is just a bunch of sand. The prevailing winds drive sand across the San Luis Valley, up to the Sangre de Cristos, creating large sand dunes (I believe over 300 feet high, though I could be wrong). Eerie and desolate, very different.

We have driven through much of Wyoming. Many beautiful areas, separated by vast nothingness. Yellowstone and the Tetons are two beautiful NPs, located very close to each other. The Sheep Mountains and Wind River range are two of the other beautiful mountainous areas. Various hot springs scattered throughout the state. But try to stay awake driving between the areas, and keep a close eye on your gas tank. In many places in Wyoming, you will see mileage markers to towns 50 miles away, figuring on a good place to stop. Some of those towns have been population 10 (two buildings) and population 5 (one building, a house with a gas pump in front and a small supply of beverages in a cooler in a living room). I kid you not.

One drive back from Yellowstone and the Tetons, Jill and I kept ourselves awake in a unique manner. This was about 15 years ago, I would set the cruise control on 95. The roads were so straight for so long, we would place gummi bears and gummi worms on the top of the steering wheel, and see how many miles we could go before they fall off.

Mike

I've been to every "major" US national park and most of the "minor" ones, too.

I'd suggest that good dining and National Parks are usually not available on the same day, except at Mt Rainier, North Cascades, and/or Mt St Helens National Monument. One can also "sorta" do Olympic National Park and get back to Seattle by dinner time, although my favorite parts of that park are on the North-to-West quadrant of the park and at that point you are too flippin' far from anything that even remotely resembles civilization.

Ojeffso, Armmar, their wives, and I showed that you don't need official policies or fancy dining areas to enjoy some fine wine with your National Park Scenery. We pulled out three bottles at the visitor's center at Mt. Rainier last year and enjoyed them with hotdogs and chicken fingers!

I love Washington State, particularly Mt. Rainier, but I also particularly enjoy:

-- GLACIER! WOW! Probably my favorite.
-- Yosemite
-- Yellowstone / Grand Tetons
-- Zion
-- Grand Canyon (although I would strongly suggest the North Rim to the touristy and crowded South Rim)
-- Rocky Mountain ... close enough to Denver to have a great steak & bottle of wine or three with MBansek, and
-- The one closest to you:Acadia

Good suggestions. I've probably been to Yosemite a dozen times, but it amazes me every time. The view coming out of the tunnel is memorable. I prefer Bryce to Zion. Zion is nice, but nothing memorable. Hiking is pretty limited as well. Climbing to the tip of Morro Rock in Sequoia (or it is King's Canyon) is pretty exciting. Grand Canyon is either spectacular or ho-hum depending on the whether it is clear or not. Crater Lake is pretty spectacular as well. Pretty dangerous in the winter (once you go over the rim, your toast).

I love eating in the wilderness. The air seems fresher and food tastes better.

Thank you all. Noted in my Travel-file.

Come on, QofH. This is your specialty, isn't it?

Hi, LCC. I'd have to agree with Washington state. I'm not up on my national parks (more of a 4-star gal myself).

I recently rafted portions of the Snake River in Idaho and it was spectacular. Camping alongside the rapids was breathtaking.

Washington offers amazing variety with two magnificent mountain ranges, desert, agriculture, waterfalls, lakes, rivers, bays (three, count 'em, three floating bridges) and the most extensive and beautiful archipelago in the world (IMHO!) To be able to watch the sun set daily over the snow-capped Olympic mountains is unparalleled in my book. To see Mt. Rainier poking up is a surprise and delight every morning -- when she's out. For anyone who has flown over Rainier, Mt. St. Helens and the Cascades, you know what I'm talking about. I can only compare it to flying north over the entire length of the Great Barrier Reef.

Every state in this union has its own unique beauty.

Others that jump out -- Montana, central and coastal Oregon and Colorado.

As for charm, mystique, mystery, intrigue, alluring nature, voodoo, history, debauchery, genuine folk and really, really good oysters, I'd go with Louisiana.

I love Washington and can't see myself living anywhere else. But travel is another story. Since I live here, there are a million day trips that I can go on (going to the San Juan Islands this weekend, for instance)... but real travel to me is going to places with history. Boston, NY, New Orleans is amazing. I really like Upstate NY, particularly the adirondacks, seneca lake, placid, etc. Vermont, NH, and Maine in the fall can't be beat..

For me the ultimate in travel is still Europe. So much culture, history, wine, and beauty. Can't wait to go again.

yosemite is a special place. katy & i got married there & they even have a great hotel & relatively good restaurant with a pretty good wine list. i highly recommend theahwahnee hotel.

i will also say that the most overlooked & unexpectedly beautiful national park in america isbig bend national park in west texas.

volcanoes national park is really cool (actually it's pretty damned hot) if you catch the lava flowing. they also have a pretty interesting old hotel, volcano house, that had a pretty good restaurant where i remember having the locally raised beef from the big ranch (parker ranch, i think) that takes up a large part of the "big" island.

it's a big country & there's a lot to see.

Favorite state to travel - No doubt California, it's why I moved here twice. I'm 4 states shy of all 50 (AL, MS, NM, OK) and the stunning diversity of CA's natural and people built beauty is not even approached anywhere else in the country IMHO. That said please don't move here!
Other faves.
2. Montana
3. Wyoming
4. Idaho
rest I really like,
Washington
Tennessee
Virginia
Colorado
Utah
Vermont
New Hampshire
Maine
Missouri
Favorite National Parks in order,
Grand Teton - Far and away #1
Glacier
Yosemite
Yellowstone
The quality of dining is entirely up to you.

The Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite is special, but considering that the waiting list can be years for certain dates and the cost, I'm amazed how small the rooms are. Pretty special location though.

If you go to Big Bend in Texas upi can also see "The Lights". They are made by alien UFOs you know. Right gus?

Favorite States would be California, New Mexico, Arizona, Washington, Utah, Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Nevada, Colorado I guess I love the west.

Favorite NP and Monuments, Yosemite, Bryce, Death Valley, Canyon De Chelly, Grand Canyon, Chaco Canyon, Olympic, Zion, Sequoia and King's Canyon, Redwood, Mesa Verde, Lassen, Yellowstone, Crater Lake, Hawaii Volcanoes, Grand Teton, Joshua Tree, Everglades, Devils Postpile, Petroglyph

ah yes, davidn, the "marfa lights" em to be some interesting & unexplainable phenomena in the desert.

Wow, the responses are great & exactly what I was hoping for. All is being saved in my Travel file. Thank You all...

In 1997 my wife and I drove from Philly to Seattle. In 1998, we drove from Seattle to Boston. Each time, we spent around five weeks and made sure to visit a lot of national parks.

We visited about thirty parks overall. Bryce Canyon was the most memorable, followed perhaps by Olympic Peninsula. Mt Rushmore was pretty disappointing (too small). The Grand Tetons are nice, but if you're used to the Alps, they don't quite live up to their billing. Camping in Death Valley in August was memorable but not fun.


Some tips:

1. Make sure you get the golden eagle pass...at the time it cost $50 and permitted access to all national parks. This probably saved us a couple hundred bucks.

2. Get a NPS Passport where they stamp each park you visit...that way you have a momento.

3. If you want comfortable camping, consider nearby state parks. In our experience, these typically have better shower facilities and more conveniences like stores and restaurants. The best state park we visited in all of America was Custer State Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota. It was stunningly beautiful, and had very nice facilities. National Parks are more into low impact camping, and so don't offer as much in the way of ammenities.

4. There is a very hilarious book called "Roadside America". Sorry I can't remember who wrote it. It is a guide to wacky roadside attractions, like a giant statue of Babe the Ox, or the world's largest ball of twine, that sort of thing. We used it endlessly. It led us to some real gems, like Carhenge in Alliance, Nebraska (a life size model of Stonehenge made of wrecked cadillacs sticking out of the ground).

5. Unless you like country & western, bring tapes or CDs. Between the Mississipi and the west coast, that was all we could get on our radio.

Have fun!