Tag: state

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50 State Series

Family travel in Washington

States Inn and Ranch, San Juan Island, Washington State (courtesy woodleywonderworks on Flickr CC)Every Tuesday until we run out of states, I plan to post about family-friendly travel ideas, attractions and events in each one of the US states, taking input mostly from Twitter and Facebook.

We’re going in alphabetical order but started with the end, so our first state for the series was Wyoming, then we investigated Wisconsin and West Virginia and now we’re moving on to….the state of Washington!

You can find their state tourism folks on Twitter at @ExperienceWA and here is their Travel and Tourism Facebook page.

When I asked for input, here’s what came in (no one responded on Facebook….)

Twitter Travel Tips for Washington State

***   From @ExperienceWA via Twitter  —  Yes of course we have kid-friendly WA ideas! Seattle Children’s Museum, Pacific Science Center, Ride the Ducks, Pike Place [kid-friendly suggestions from Visit Seattle]…Other WA kid-friendly ideas: Riverfront Park in Spokane, whale-watching in San Juan Islands and Forks (home of the book/movie Twilight) on Olympic Peninsula.

***   From Annemarie Dooling via @TravelingAnna on Twitter  — you’ve got Forks, right? It’s all I know of WA! [Yep, thanks, I got it!]

***  From Thomas J. Brown via @MWProductions on Twitter  — And if you visit Forks, be sure to check out the beautiful Quileute reservation!

***  From Peeples Ink PR via @PeeplesInk on Twitter  — Has anyone mentioned the San Juans? Orcas Island is a great place for families: Moran State Park, kayaking, nature tours…

***  From @KevinAshby on Twitter  — Poulsbo is a great old Norwegian fishing village on the Kitsap Peninsula where you can rent kayaks and eat in some great bakeries.

***  From Team Marco Polo via @TeamMarcoPolo on Twitter  — [In Seattle] Maybe the underground tour as well? Ballard Locks?

***  From Carol Peacher via @peachergraf on Twitter  — The Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum in Seattle is really cool and educational with fun hands-on things to do.

Our own BootsnAll Travel Network has a lot of resources  —  the WhyGo Seattle site and a bunch of articles and links under Washington Things to See and Do Travel Stories.

Oh, and I must mention the Seattle channel on Alltop and Washington-based travel bloggers Pam at NerdsEyeView, WanderMom Michelle at Wanderlust and Lipstick and Mary Jo Manzanares at Fly Away Cafe.  If I’ve forgotten someone, please remind me in the comments.

Thanks so much for the contributions – the next state in the series is Virginia.

Send your highlights to @SheilaS on Twitter or my Facebook page (tell me you’re a 50 state-er if you want to friend me.)

Yes, I know how to search for family travel ideas on a destination or attraction Web site, but a tweet or Facebook recommendation is a much more engaging and public way to spread the word.

My purpose for this series is not only to highlight worthy kid-friendly vacation destinations in all 50 states, but by using Twitter and Facebook I want to also encourage tourism organizations to learn more about connecting with their visitors using social media and online networks.

Please add your own Washington suggestions in the comments below, if we’ve missed anything. Thanks!

Categories
Tips USA

Dueling tourism taglines for North Carolina and Ohio

Here they are, and coincidentally both were on Chevy cars parked right next to each other in Dayton, Ohio.

You know I had to drop everything and take travel geek photos.

The plates feature taglines for two different states in two different regions of the US that both use an aviation angle to tout some “historic cred,” and perhaps encourage tourism along with state pride.

North Carolina, of course, is the home of Kitty Hawk on the Outer Banks, where the Wright Brothers conducted their famous experiments in flight around the wide-open, unpopulated sand dunes (at least, they were unpopulated way back in 1903.)

Today it’s still a nice place to visit, if a bit touristy. Plenty of lighthouses to see, although there are so many shipwrecks offshore that it’s called the “Graveyard of the Atlantic.”

Sainted Husband and I liked the area so much, we got married there a few years back, in the tiny town of Duck at the Sanderling Inn.

Ohio, on the other hand, was actually the home of the Wright Brothers and their famous bicycle shop in Dayton.

You can visit the Dayton Aviation Heritage site, but ironically the original Wright shop was transported to Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan by automotive titan Henry Ford, in an effort to preserve important historic locations.

My esteemed contacts at the Dayton Daily News tell me that the National Museum of the Air Force, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, does an excellent job of telling the aviation story in that part of Ohio.

Pick your state plate – you’ll get a fun flying story either way!

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New York City USA

More than NYC: family travel in New York

Fort Ticonderoga reenactors (courtesy Slabcity Gang at Flickr CC)

While researching 20 different educational and family-friendly New York attractions for a recent article on Education.com, my toughest challenge was ensuring that I cast a wide net beyond New York City.

Here are three highlights from outside the five boroughs:

  • Women’s Rights National Historic Park – In Seneca Falls, Elizabeth Cady Stanton (who also raised seven children) and four other women organized the first women’s rights convention in July 1848, using Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence as a model for their Declaration of Sentiments. Convention Days special events are held each July. The organizers were also abolitionists and one of their houses was a stop on the Underground Railroad. Visit the National Women’s Hall of Fame in downtown Seneca Falls; it celebrates a wide variety of accomplished women throughout history.
  • Rochester – Trade, industry and the opening of the Erie Canal put Rochester on the map. Frederick Douglass is buried here; George Eastman of the Eastman Kodak Company and Susan B. Anthony both lived in the city and their homes are National Historic Landmarks. The Eastman House is also a museum of photography and film. The Genesee Country Village and living history museum bring the 19th century to life, and kids love the place that celebrates them: the Strong National Museum of Play, which features interactive games, a massive collection of historic toys and a Butterfly Garden.
  • Chautauqua Institution – Long recognized as a wonderful opportunity for adult summer education, renewal, recreation and fine arts in a lakeside setting, the Chautauqua also offers an activity-packed Children’s School (ages 3-5,) Group One for rising first graders, the Boy’s and Girl’s Clubs for ages 7-15 and a Youth Activity Center for preteens and teens. Family entertainment and a Young Reader’s book club patterned after the venerable Institution adult book club round out the offerings, so that no one is bored.

Take a look at the rest of the article right here:  Family Fun and Learning in New York.