Surfing the States

Here we sit with over a foot of snow on the ground watching as it works toward another foot or more. We have to shovel a path for the dogs to go out. Now I'm wishing I bought those snow shoes Costco had last month.

In the winter quiet my brain turned to travel... preferably without the snow. I plan to compile a list of websites for finding cool places to visit and figured the folks on the forum are an excellent resource for this. I know each state has tourist info but I'm finding some of them are trying to be so all inclusive that it's hard to sort it all out.

We use the National Parks site, State Park sites, milebymile.com, roadsideamerica.com, civilwartraveler.com and random sites as we find them. Does anyone have favorite sites?

As an alternative you could list must see attractions by state. I'll put little pins on my Google Earth map which has become a travel log as well as a wish list. So if you have found a good source, please share.

Hope this will help you out

Jim

Here in Illinois, first off go to Springfield for the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum:
http://www.visitspringfieldillinois.com/lincoln?utm_source=madden&utm_medium=googlecpc&utm_content=lincoln&utm_campaign=dmilspr15

The Start of Route 66 from Chicago to St Louis in Illinois:
https://roadtripusa.com/route-66/illinois/

As far as camping:
http://www.allstays.com/Campgrounds/Illinois-state-parks-campgrounds.htm

Holly/John:

Hope you are able to shovel out soon and get back on the road!  Here is my contribution to the thread....more as I wake up a bit and remember other places and resources.

A guide to unique, offbeat, quirky attractions around the country: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/

Another guide to the unusual things we never knew were out there: http://www.atlasobscura.com/

RV Blogs are great resources for where to go and what to do/see.  Here is one of my favorites (these folks are pretty tech-savvy and full timers): http://www.technomadia.com/

Travelers reviews of thousands of cities, towns, areas of interest and what they offer: http://www.virtualtourist.com

Good resource for scenic roads with maps and descriptions: https://scenicbyways.info/

Great resource for the State of Oregon including weather, traffic, events, and such: http://www.tripcheck.org/

Short drive-through video clips of campgrounds and RV parks (they continuously add more, but definitely don't have most yet): http://www.campgroundviews.com/

As for some specific pin-it locations we've enjoyed:

Oregon: Bend - Overall great town. Awesome 'beer trail' of microbreweries.  Great restaurants and shopping, amazing natural beauty and sights (drives, trails, museums), interesting micro-distillery (Cascade Alchemy)

Vermont: The whole Woodstock/Quechee area - Quintessential New England with many things to see and do.

South Carolina: Isle of Palms - Beautiful beaches, great bars, restaurants, live music, close to Charleston.

California: Napa Valley/San Francisco - Stay at Napa Expo RV Park (higher end) or Skyline Wilderness Park (rustic, but has hookups) and explore Napa Valley, Sonoma Valley and Calistoga.  Short drive to Vallejo to catch the 1-hr scenic ferry ride to Fisherman's Wharf area in San Francisco (great public transit from there)

    - Mike

Thanks all for the info. I'll be pinning my little heart out these next few days.

Mike, we got between two and three feet of snow with drifts up to six feet. After two days with many hours of shoveling we reached the street which has one lane plowed (we could drive on it if there weren't so many people out there trying to go around each other and getting stuck). We are among the lucky ones. Many roads and apartments haven't been touched and won't be touched for a few more days. We have road access, were able to shovel out (though we'll be paying for that muscle abuse) and did not lose power. Temps tonite will be around seven degrees so heat is greatly appreciated. Life is good.

We don't know how the Phoenix is doing as she's several very snowy miles away. I'm hoping the high winds kept the roof accumulation down. We just took her for a run last week and she's parked on solid ground so we don't have to fret over digging her out yet. We'll clear the roof when we can get to her, hopefully before it packs down into icy slurpees. I hate belly crawling in slush.

West coast weather sounds so awesome right about now.