Tag: US

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50 State Series

Family travel in Oregon

Shark tunnel at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport OR (courtesy OCVA on Flickr CC)Every Tuesday until we run out of states, I plan to post about family-friendly vacation ideas, attractions and events in each one of the US states, taking input mostly from Twitter and Facebook.

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

Please don’t email suggestions to me; that’s nice but it is one-to-one communication. Tweet me and/or Facebook me, so that all of our networks can see what’s cool about your state.

We’re going in alphabetical order but started with the end, so our first state for the series was Wyoming, then we investigated Wisconsin , West Virginia , Washington, Virginia, Vermont, Utah, Texas, Tennessee, South Dakota, South Carolina, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and now we’re moving on to….Oregon!

Their state tourism organization is on Twitter at @TravelOregon and they’re on Facebook at the Travel Oregon Facebook page. They also have a blog and the Go See Oregon community of travelers.

When I asked for ideas, here’s what came in….

Twitter Travel Tips for Oregon

***  From Jamie Pearson via @TravelSavvyMom on Twitter  —  Our kids dug the High Desert Museum in Bend: otters, bobcats and rattlesnakes. Plus creepy docents in period costumes. Fun!

***  From the tourism folks for the Eugene, Cascades and Coast regions via @TravelLaneCo on Twitter  —  Willamette Pass-Oakridge area: second-tallest waterfall in Oregon, mountain bike capital of the Northwest, mountain gondola, ski/sled in winter, Waldo Lake.

***  From Pam Mandel via @nerdseyeview on Twitter  —  Crater Lake! Crater Lake! Crater Lake! Crazy blue, boat ride to Wizard Island. What I’m sayin’ is this:  CRATER LAKE. [I think Pam has strong feelings about this.]

***  From The Little Fluffy Cat via @LittleFluffyCat on Twitter  —  [I’m] not an Oregonian, but we loved this place: Lincoln City Glass Center. Kids as young as 8 can blow glass w/artisans!   In Tillamook….small, but inexpensive and full of great creative vibes: Latimer Quilt and Textile Center.

***  [In a demonstration of cross-country tourism support….] From the Virginia State Parks via @VAStateParks on Twitter  —  The drive east along the Columbia Gorge has great waterfalls with easy access. One of my Oregon faves.

Continue reading “Family travel in Oregon”

Categories
Book Reviews Philosophy USA

My top US road trip guidebooks

Although significant travel events have been a bit scarce around here lately, mine is a road-tripping family at heart.

Whenever it’s time to plan one, there are a few guidebooks that I turn to again and again, because they are well-edited, accurate and it’s easier to skim through them than it is to plow through a jillion websites of dubious vintage.

You’ll notice that none of them are kid-specific;  I like the unusual, unknown and offbeat, and my children usually do, too. Plus, hey, I’m driving, so I get to pick.

Other than my other favorite tips (see my earlier post on how to plan a tailpipe-kicking road trip) here are my favorite references….

***  Road Trip USA – This is a top reference for me because Jamie Jensen’s Road Trip USA finds the most wonderfully obscure stuff. The book covers 6 major routes, and if my trip area isn’t included it doesn’t do me much good, but I always check it first (and the Road Trip USA blog, of course.) The series now has books for certain routes, like the Pacific Coast Highway.

***  Off the Beaten Path travel guide by Reader’s Digest – Yes, the old fogies at Reader’s Digest have one of my favorite guidebooks. Off the Beaten Path is packed with useful information about unusual sights that I don’t find anywhere else; I always check it for each state that I’ll visit.  Worth tracking down a copy, along with Most Scenic Drives in America and See the USA the Easy Way (great loop tours.)

***  Insiders’ Guide: Off the Beaten Path – from Globe Pequot Press, these are easy to find in the travel section of any bookstore. Super-detailed and usually written by locals, the Missouri and Kansas versions were invaluable to me when I drove from Texas to Chicago and back for BlogHer a few years ago, exploring the “Square States.”

***  1,000 Places to See Before You Die – Overly dramatic title, but I do find good things here, arranged by state.

***  Anything Frommer’s – my favorite general guidebook. I always have the current edition for wherever I’m living (currently Texas.)

***  RoadFood by Jane and Michael Stern – because, well, food. Must have. Preferably not from yet another Chili’s, although they’re fine in a pinch.

***  For any particular city where I’ll spend significant time, I look for the TimeOut guides. Very British, very detailed, very thorough. Can read them over and over during subway rides and never be bored.

My biggest guidebook surprise over the last decade?

The quirky and detailed Lonely Planet Guide to Louisiana and the Deep South, used to death during our Great American South road trip from Florida to Arkansas and back. At the TBEX travel blogger’s conference recently, I had the pleasure of telling the US Lonely Planet editor, Robert Reid, how much I used and adored this guidebook.

What are your road trip planning favorites? Please let us know in the comments.

Categories
USA

Announcing the family travel 50 state series

50-states-map-mural-courtesy-maryatexitzero-at-flickr-ccEven though travel prices (in many cases) are plunging and there are cheap ticket deals to be had, from Minnesota to Las Vegas to  Borneo and Singapore, I think a lot of folks in the US are looking close to home for summer vacation ideas.

Enter the 50 State Family Travel Series.

Starting Tuesday, April 14 and running every Tuesday after that until we run out of states, I’m going to profile great places and events for kids in all 50 of the United States.

As a social media maven, my primary information sources will be Twitter and Facebook (with a little Alltop thrown in) plus my own experiences.

I’ll start with Wyoming on April 14….if I’m gonna go alphabetically, I want to give some love to the ones at the back of the letter line.

On Twitter I’m @SheilaS and here is my Facebook profile (let me know you’re a 50 State Series contributor) so if you want to provide input, please keep an eye out for when your state is coming up.

Don’t forget about family-friendly festivals and events, not just places, and include some off-the-beaten path goodies, too!

Categories
USA

Biggest stuff in the U.S., in a good way.

The United States is known worldwide for BIG.  We have big cars, big trucks, big houses, big, umm, bodies. 

You can also say that we dream big, thanks to all of that wide open big space in our country.  That space is why we end up sprawling all over — because there’s room to do so!

This is all pretty overwhelming from a visitor’s perspective, but the UK’s Times Online gives a rundown of the most impressively fun big stuff in the U.S.

All of the bases are covered, from Arizona’s Grand Canyon to the MGM Grand Hotel in Vegas to Macy’s gargantuan flagship store in New York City to the massive Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta.

Think big.