Thinking about a vacation? Are you looking for a place that will offer you a wide array of activities and sights? Are you trying to squeeze as much excitement into a week or two? If so check out my list of top 3 places to travel in the Continental US to ensure you have the most exciting vacation imaginable.
If I was looking for a trip that offers many different activities and endless amounts of things to keep our family busy I would pick these top three vacation destinations over any other place in the US.
1. Key West, Florida
This destination is absolutely perfect. You can start out in Miami area and head over to the Everglades for an exciting fan boat excursion. Then take the 3 hour drive south down Route 1 crossing all of the Florida Keys and eventually end up in Key West. The drive is fun and you go over so many bridges the views are gorgeous. Why I like Key West so much is because it offers a wide array of activities for all ages. There are museums, restaurants, street entertainers, sunsets, water excursions galore, shops, bars, nice beaches (one note beaches in Key West aren’t as nice as you would think but still good), cruises, the list goes on and on. It is a very clean place were every nite the town goes to work and cleans up the streets from the festivities early that evening. Key West is very small so you could walk anywhere you wanted to go, or if not that energetic rent a scooter or bike. The restaurants are great so many awesome choices. Abbondanza’s on Simonton St was my favorite. The street entertainers are amazing so many great acts. The museums are great. So many to choose from if you want a Pirate Museum or simply a Ripley’s Believe It Or Not they have it all. So much to see and do. I highly recommend the 28 mile jet ski tour around Key West. It is very exhausting but so much fun. You will stop along the way for a break on a sand bar because your arms will be exhausted. The beaches are nice, but not as good as I thought they would be, don’t get me wrong they are still great but I was expecting Caribbean type water, ehhh not so much. But if you are looking for nicer beaches they offer excursions to remote islands that offer nicer snorkeling and beaches. The best beach on Key West is the Fort Zachary Taylor Beach definitely offers the nicest calmest water. The sunsets here are gorgeous and the sunset cruises are a blast. Even children will love Key West for their endless amounts of museums, street performers and water activities. If you are looking for bars there is no better place. Duval St is littered with one bar after another that all have their own originality and excitement. If you are looking to simply relax Key West is great for that to. There are many quiet beaches and chill spots on the docks you will be sure to find a relaxing spot to enjoy. Needless to say Key West is a great place to vacation!
2. Four Corner States (New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah)
These four corner states are a driving vacation dream. These states by far offer the most National Parks clustered together and the sites are unreal. You can start off in Denver and enjoy yourself in the beautiful city. Then head off up in the mountains. You will pass by Red Rocks which is an all natural beautiful amphitheater where they host concerts of all kinds. Then drive through some nice ski towns and just simply serene high elevations that will offer some of the most spectacular views you have ever seen. Along the way you will see many animals from big horn sheep to moose, deer, bears, the list goes on and on. You can stop by Aspen and indulge in the luxuries of the wealthy ski town. Make sure you stop by Glenwood Springs where you can relax in the all natural pools and water slides which are supplied with water from the natural springs, very therapeutic. Then onto Mesa Verde one of the coolest National Parks in the country. Next off to Durango which is a great place to stop for a drink or lunch. As you head towards New Mexico you will drive through Ouray, Colorado which is considered the Switzerland of America, enormous towering peaks, just a real pretty place. Then you will come across the San Juan Mountain range which are striated jagged peaks, they are gorgeous. Now we are in New Mexico driving on we come across Shiprock which is this ginormous rock the crops out the flat desert to about 2000 feet or so, pretty crazy. There are some parks to stop at in New Mexico to pick up and see some native american apparel or cultures. Moving into Arizona the sights and things to do are endless. You can drive along the famous Route 66 and head into Flagstaff. This area is cool because you always think of Arizona as a dry flat desert, but here there are huge mountains and lots and lots of trees. You can stop by Sunset Crater which is a crater formed in the mountain range. Drive on to Painted desert, then to Petrified Forest. This place is home to trees that are thousands of years old that have been petrified over the years to form these little rocks that litter the landscape. As you drive on you will come across Glen Canyon Dam which is huge, a definite must see. Now we drive onto the much-anticipated Grand Canyon which is just stunning. The size of this place is unreal. After we leave here we go onto Utah which just offers the most and best National Parks in my opinion of any state in the country. From Zion, to Bryce, Arches to Monument Valley this place has it all. All these places talked about and then some can be done in a two-week driving trip. You can camp every nite a t a new campground and pack up and drive an hour or two everyday to move onto your next destination. Some days the drive is short and some days the drive may be a couple of hours. If you are disciplined and wake up early 6 am have breakfast pack up and are on the road at 7am you will have full days at every place you want to see. Of all these places I mentioned and there are tons more I left out, the amount of activities is endless. From fishing, to swimming, shopping to dining anything you can imagine can be done in these 4 corner states.
3. New England
You will be hard-pressed to find a better vacation destination than New England. This place has it all. If you want to enjoy the beautiful beaches amazing restaurants or just drive the scenic roads you won’t be disappointed. From the beautiful Acadia National Park in Maine, down to the quaint sailboat capital of the world Camden. Maine’s coastline if stretched out is longer than California! If you like seafood you will find some of the best in the world in these restaurants up and down the coast of Maine. If you are looking to go inland head to Baxter State Park this area is home to Mount Katahdin the highest t peak in Maine and you will be sure to see some big moose and maybe a bear or two. In New Hampshire, you can’t beat the White Mountain Area and the Lakes Region. From jumping off bridges (at your own risk of course) to having fun in the lakes and rivers, it creates an old school perfect type of fun. If you like hiking no better place than Mount Washington but be prepared the summit is usually 30 degrees colder than the base and very windy. North Conway is always a favorite fun town with great shops and restaurants. If the traffic is bad on the main rd take the West Side Rd which runs parallel to it to avoid some traffic. Want the beach head down to Rye, it reminds me of a mini Newport RI, bug mansions and nice beaches. In Vermont you will find yourself here. It is so quiet and laid back you will for sure have a chance to collect your thoughts do some soul-searching. You can head up to Burlington VT and check out Lake Champlain, maybe you will find Nessie the mythical creature some say lives in those waters. Then drive down Route 91 to Stowe such a great ski town even in the summer it is fun. Here you can see where they filmed a small portion of The Sound of Music. On the way out of Stowe make sure you stop at Ben and Jerry’s for a tour and some ice cream. As you drive down 91 you will come across so many awesome towns make sure you take some detours maybe drive Route 100 down and take your time you will definitely bump into some awesome places. Into Massachusetts you go and will be amazed by the beauty of the Berkshires. Large mountains and serene little towns with lots of nature activities to become apart of. Drive east down Route 2 all the way too Boston. In Boston there are lots to do from the Freedom Trail to the Duck Boats, provides a fun day in the city. What Boston has offered in the last decade is the Boston Harbor Islands which are quick to get too and cheap and you feel so relaxed out 5 miles off shore exploring these little islands which were made from essentially trash and fill. If you are looking for some nice beaches you can either head up to Manchester by the Sea to Singing Beach or head down south the Cape and Islands where you can visit many different beaches and head to Nantucket to see how perfect an island can be. Nantucket is often credited as the best island in the world. Moving onto Rhode Island, you have Newport which is a must see you can explore the mansions and I mean mansions and stroll along the cliff walk. In Newport is the tennis Hall of Fame. Moving out of Rhode Island and into Connecticut you can swing by the largest Casino in the world Foxwoods or go to Mohegan Sun for some gambling. Head to the old seaport Mystic and sea where they filmed Mystic Pizza with Julia Roberts back in the day. After this is all said the list of activities and things to see in New England is endless, if you visit here you will be glad you did. If you want to use Boston as the central location, the furthest you will have to drive to see any of these above mentioned activities is 4 hours and that is only because some of those spots in Maine are far, but for the most part all these places can be driven to in under 2 hours.
I hope you liked my top 3 places to travel in the Continental US, of course this is my list, what are some places you like?
Happy Travels
Jay
jaystraveladvice 