Top Five Intriguing Destinations

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February 11, 2009

When RVers hit the road, many head to the homes of faraway relatives or visit world-famous theme parks and sightseeing attractions. Here are five intriguing destinations that you may not have considered.

Building with castle like design 5. Visit the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota, where murals are created annually from ears of corn attached to the exterior of a huge building with turrets and an onion-shaped dome. Inside the building are a museum and gift shop. Call (605) 996-6223 or visit www.cornpalace.com for a free vacation guide. Other Mitchell attractions include the Enchanted World Doll Museum and a prehistoric Indian village.

4. Cody, Wyoming, founded by Colonel William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody, calls out to those who love the Old West. Fun begins at the Irma Restaurant in the Irma Hotel, a meeting place for cattlemen, oilmen and sheepherders. Be sure to visit the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. The parking lot accommodates any size RV. The Ponderosa Campground (shown at right), (307) 587-9203 or www.codyponderosa.com, is nearby.

Close up of white and red tulip in tulip garden3. Experience Tulip Time in Holland, Michigan, May 5~12, 2007. Park your RV at the Ottawa County Fairgrounds and spend the week enjoying plays, dinners, parades, outdoor presentations and street dancers in authentic Dutch costumes. Visit fields of beautiful blooming tulips (shown at left) and a windmill from Holland. Call (800) 822-2770 for a free brochure or go to www.tuliptime.com.

2. Marvel at the captivating blue of pristine Crater Lake, Oregon, on a cloudless day. Circling the lake is 33-mile Rim Drive. In Rim Village, Crater Lake Lodge offers first-class dining and scenic views. Hiking, fishing and boat tours are available. Call (541) 594-3000. Narrow, winding roads in the park as well as construction and traffic congestion at Rim Village make it advisable to drive a tow vehicle to the lake.

1. Walk among cliff dwellings built by the Anasazi Indians in the 13th century at Mesa Verde, Arizona (shown at left). Learn about their lifestyle and hardships, and climb their steep stairs to the top of the mesa. Stay at a campground in Durango, Colorado; then ride the Narrow Gauge Silverton Train 45 miles up through the San Juan National Forest to the town of Silverton, Colorado, a 19th-century silver-mining town.

When you plan your next RV trip, open your mind to new possibilities. Then with a little research, you’re sure to find fun and memorable places to add to your itinerary.

Happy RVing!
Bernice Beard

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8 comments

  1. Been to 4 out of 5; Michigan is too far east for me after spending half my life in the east. I could add many places in AZ, UT, CA NM, CO etc. Just left Monument Valley and Mesa Verde heading for Talisin, WI, Frank LLoyd Wright’s estate.
    There are so many wonderful places to see that it’s damn near inexhaustible!

  2. Ron Butler

    Haven’t been to the Tulip festival or Cody, but hope to check Cody off our list sometime this summer.

    We have a great tulip festival up here in the northwest at LaConner WA. that is very colorful and fun.

    For great Americana schtick, I would add Wall Drug in SD, close to the Corn Palace in Mitchell.

  3. Ray Corder

    Been to 5-4-3 all great places to visit. Have not done 2 or 1 but hope to in the near future. Just recently retired and completely dismantled our travel trailer and rebuilt it from the ground up. Can’t wait for the weather to warm up, so we can get on the road again.

    Ray & Sue Corder
    Ohio

  4. Shirley Dawson

    We have been lucky enought to see most of these and you are right they are something to see……..but the place that affected me most and the most unforgetable.was a very small building just a little south of Jimmy Carter’s home.. It is free I doubt if you wii have to fight a crowd. This small building is on the grounds of a national cemetary. The land where the Confederates sent their prisoners of war. The small building is a museum of how we , our friends and enemies treated their P.O.W. This side trip through the beautifull Georgia countryside to ANDERSONVILLE you will never forget. plus you will actually see history. Be proud to be American. PS Many years after we went to andersonville we were in thailand and saw the RIVER KWAI that land half way around the world had the same feeling.

    Shirley and Bob Dawson
    Missouri

  5. Jack & Linda

    We have also been to all except Holland—The corn palace is ok, but if you see it once that is enough. Crater lake is amazing—make sure that you take the boat tour. The water is as blue as the picture. Mesa Verde is cool. Vegasdan—interested in your comments about St. Mary glacier—never realized a glacier existed that far south. Will be spending the last 2 wks of July in CO. and will try to fit the glacier. Will be in GNP end of June and will visit the vanishing glaciers there.

  6. We are planning a trip from Western NY to Branson MO. and look forward to any destinations along the way & around the Branson area.
    Thanks, Dennis & Kathy
    2005 Newmar
    Country Star

  7. JOHN& TERI BENWELL

    My spouse and I have been to all of your top five except TULIP FESTIVAL, Will be going again this year hopefully! I would like to add to your list- CRESTED BUTTE, CO. and BEAR COUNTRY tour near MOUNT RUSHMORE. JOHN B.

  8. Vegasdan

    Pella, Ia is also a place to see thousands of tulips in bloom each spring. They have a big festival each year. St. Mary’s glacier in Colorado is the furthest south glacier in the US. Reach it by taking I70 to the Fall River Rd and go north a few miles. There was ample parking on the west side of the road for larger units just before the trail up to the glacier. The walking only trail is moderately strenuous, but the reward is the scenery at the glacier. The glacial lake at the bottom of the glacier is beautiful. It’s been a few years since my last trip there, and at that time they were improving facilities at the lake which I beleive was to include a rest room.