In an usual twist of this blog I would like to talk about great places we have been and encourage readers to get in their vehicles and see them while they can. The “while they can” is two fold. One is Climate Change is in the process of destroying the sites and biodiversity. The other is mobility although I must say we were never the hikers that would have exposed us to greater views.

As a geographer and historian I recommend Civil War Battlefields. The best would be those around Chattanooga, Tennessee, Antietam, Vicksburg, and Gettysburg. I would like to go back to Gettysburg to ask the experts what would have happened if Meade had let Lee have the Ridge and then surrounded him without food, water, and ammunition. The war could have been over much earlier saving tens of thousands of lives. Go see the aquarium and butterfly collection in Chattanooga.

We have been in most of the National Parks in the lower forty-eight states so I recommend Yellowstone, Everglades, Big Bend, Zion, Arches, Grand Canyon, Crater Lake, Death Valley, Mount Rushmore (better before the modernizations were added.),Mesa Verde, and Carlsbad and Mammoth Caves. Those are the “Do Not Miss!

Other places are the Pink Coral State Park in Colorado (dust sized pink sand dunes), Roosevelt National Park for Buffalo (although the Elk and Buffalo Refuge in Kentucky’s Land Between the Lakes is often better for real eye ball to eyeball viewing.) Great Sand Dune National Park, Pike’s Peak, Florida Keys, Rocket Launch, Museums in Washington DC, Williamsburg, House Tours in Natchez, Mississippi, Meter Crater in Arizona, the Real London Bridge at Lake Havasu, Okefenokee Swamp, Yosemite, Kings Mountain, Bad Lands, Monument Valley and the Air Force Museum in Dayton, and of course Niagara Falls on the Canadian side. You can go under the Falls in Tunnels.

We have never done a Bed and Breakfast because it is uncomfortable to be in someone else’s home, or staying even in a relative’s home much less a total stranger’s. Of the couple hundred of places we have stayed, we recommend the duplexes overlooking the Ohio River on the cliff in Cave-In-Rock Illinois State Park with a cafe across the lane, the Malanga in Mobile (Great story), Cabins in the Keys, in North Cabins of Fort Stock, Texas, The View in Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park in Oljato-Monument Valley, Utah (second and third floors have terraces and Navajo Food Restaurant owned by the tribe).

We liked Zoos in Milwaukee, San Diego, Atlanta and Washington DC but seeing “caged”
animals became a turn off. A safari in Africa would have been nice. Oh, Yes, I forgot the Australia Zoo North of Brisbane (Allowed to pet the creatures).

Never wanted to be on a ship with a few thousand of my best friends so we have rafted the Yellowstone River during a very white water, boated the Bayous in Louisianan and the Okefenokee Swamp in a small guided tour boats. We have ferried the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, Puget Sound, Long Island to Groton, and most exciting was Swash Inlet to Ocracoke Island (we were the center car, with the rocking five feet up and down and four feet bow to stern – we were hugely lucky in our position), we took a small boat fishing Florida Bay for sharks (great jaws story), and whale sightseeing tour in Monterey Bay in California. Additionally a small ship to the Great Barrier Reef and a submarine in the reefs.

I like to drive in real mountains on exciting roads and we have been on big roads with several thousand foot drop offs with wrecked cars below. We were the first one through and early heavy snow was on one side of a mountain and dry on the other. We drove Pike’s Peak with 75 curves up and 75 down with a ranger checking flatlanders who rode their hot brakes, and hundreds of other miles that flatlanders would creep on. My million plus miles go from -270 feet to +14,110 feet in elevation.

My advice to all Americans is put down all your devices and go see America. Go to the Smokey Mountains before seeing the Rockies and Sierra Mountains. See our volcanoes and Western National and State Parks. Meet the locals in little cafes and over breakfast at your hotel. People love to talk about their home area. Stay away from franchise food and experience local cuisines. Ask the Hotel staff for ideas and not your device. Drive through big cities and stay in the small ones and towns. Look out the car windows and see life. Maybe be only inches from a bison or see a cougar running across the road, or stop for a herd of deer, elk, or antelope standing in the road. Maybe you might be lucky enough to see a black or grizzly bear or a moose. We did motor a small boat through alligators and shark infested water.

Memories and pictures will be enjoyed for the rest of your life. It is disappearing fast so spend the time and money now. Experience Real Life!