BellaOnline Forums Beauty and Self Inspiration Tell me about the State you are in

Hi Out There!

My three daughters & I love to travel. Last year, we took our biggest road trip (as my youngest was just 4) from Chicago to Georgia, North Carolina, D.C., New York, Massachusetts, and Canada (Montreal, Toronto). As a family, we've been to the above mentioned places plus, Mexico, Toronto, St. Maarten, St. Thomas, Jamaica, Haiti, Bahamas, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Florida, and Texas (I'm sure I'm leaving some places out).

This year, my oldest wants to hit the road going west. And they all want to immerse themselves in French culture in Quebec.

Last night, I asked Bellaonline's resident Fiction Writing/Romance Books Editor, Val Kovalin, to give me her spin on the difference between Arizona and New Mexico. Her response was amazing, more than I expected. In fact, it inspired this thread.

Tell me about the place (State or City or Town) you live. What is it that I do not want to miss when visiting/driving through?

Keep in mind, we will gladly travel by car, train, airplane, or bike (well we're working on this one). We like hiking (well some of us do), we don't mind camping, and we would like to keep the budget under control.

Looking forward to your responses.

Apparently you have already been to the state I live in, New York.

I just wanted to say that if you are planning a western road trip, be sure to include historic Route 66 or what is known as the Will Rogers Highway. It starts in Chicago and ends in Santa Monica Ca. The highway system goes through Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas Arizona and Cali.

Route 66 is on my bucket list.

Right now, our plan for the Westbound road trip includes these States:

South Carolina (because we will be at a family reunion)
Texas
New Mexico
Nevada
California
Oregon
Washington
Vancouver
Illinois

If your State is on the list or in-between, please tell us what we must see or do or try.

Any suggestions for best campsites or places to stay?

Vance-

You rock! I hadn't considered this.

The girls and I just did a mini historical lesson the old highway. Of course, much of it has been removed/rerouted, but we are thinking Route 44 is pretty close to the same idea.

One thing we must consider: we have to go to S.C.

So, now we are on the hunt for the historical Route 66 from S.C. to San Diego. Yay!!!!!!

Thanks for the tip Vance!

For the record, we are thinking of returning on I90. Any other ideas?

Yvonnie, this is an awesome idea for a thread! I'm so pleased that my answer on the other thread gave you some inspiration. I will be checking back here because I love hearing about other people's locations.

And Route 66 goes from Chicago right through Albuquerque NM so that fits with Vance's suggestion!

The question that inspired this thread was about the difference between Arizona & New Mexico. Here is Val's original post:

Oooh, good question! Arizona is hotter for sure, especially in the summer. It has the Grand Canyon, and we don't have anything to compete with that here in New Mexico, but we do have some good hiking in the Sangre de Cristos and Rocky Mts. Arizona is more desertlike whereas we have more forest and mountain terrain especially toward the north.

We don't have any city as big as Phoenix. Our biggest city Albuquerque is roughly comparable to Tucson at half a million people. Of course, they filmed the hit t.v. series BREAKING BAD in Albuquerque and not Tucson, so that's a fun reason to visit ABQ if you're a fan of the show.

If you're into art, you'll find much more of a "pedigree" and history in New Mexico than Arizona, especially up in Santa Fe and Taos, which are famous for their art galleries and artists (Georgia O'Keefe, RC Gorman, and others).

If you like Native American culture, the Navajo Nation stretches across both states, but New Mexico also has all the Pueblo cultures and their amazing artwork such as the Hopi and their baskets and kachinas, the Zuni with their stone fetishes, and silverwork, and of course the Navajo with their famous weavings. There are Pueblo ceremonies and dancing that you can view during the summer.

Arizona is going to have more of a Anglo-European Wild West history and a Mexican-from-Mexico cultural feel. New Mexico (and parts of southern Colorado) has a unique Hispanic-Spanish-Catholic feel that has very little to do with Mexico. You can see a lot of amazing Spanish and Catholic art in New Mexico and a lot of picturesque old churches.

Also, last but not least, we have the whole history-of-the-atomic-bomb thing here in New Mexico, and Arizona has nothing like that. The Manhattan Project was helmed by J. Robert Oppenheimer at our Los Alamos National Laboratory during WWII and the first atomic bomb was tested at Trinity Site in White Sands Missile Range here in NM in 1945.

The atomic bomb history is all over the place. You can visit museums in ABQ and also White Sands itself which is a beautiful place. Almost like visiting another planet. You can even visit Trinity Site if you coordinate it (I think they only open the site twice a year and one time is in July.)
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Val Kovalin
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The girls & I are still planning.

I prefer to start driving before the sun rises (around 4:30am). With that, we have decided that we do not want to pay for a room when we are going to get up the next day and depart that early. So, getting a room will be reserved for 2 or 3 night sleepovers.

We are also interested in staying in a Yurt, a Treehouse, and a Tee Pee along the way. Have you tried these? Do you have any tips or 'best places for the experience' in mind?

Tell us of your favorite campgrounds or places to park & rest. Have you ever rented an RV? Is that more expensive?

Yesterday, I stated to the universe, that I needed a way to make our hotel stays inexpensive. Last night I met a young man that is an amazing resource for hotel stays. Planning on taking advantage of that.

Anyone got any other overnight options/ideas? Please chime in.