On our recent visit to Charleston, SC, every local we met wanted to know if it was our first visit to the city (it was), and then without exception they added, "Y'all will be back."
Charleston was lovely. We enjoyed so much about it--the architecture, the history, the food, the people, the accessibility. We won't, however, be going back. Four days was enough for us to get the flavor of the city and see the highlights, and we are "did and done" as someone in my childhood used to say.
That whole "You'll be back" thing made me think about what places in all our travels could lure me back. Here's at least a partial list:
Zion, Arches, and Yosemite National Parks--especially Yosemite. I'd go there any day, any season, any weather condition. I'd go if I had to stay in the crowded, loud tents of Curry Village, even though the last time I did that I slept with my eyes open due to the noise of a thousand fellow campers and the thoughts of a thin sheet of canvas separating my children (and me!) from hungry bears padding through the campground.
Custer State Park--Love them buffalo! (No, really: The buffalo are awesome!)
The Badlands--Surreal is not a common feeling to experience and not at all unpleasant. The Badlands are surreal.
Northern Wales--A fairyland.
NYC--It's exciting and ever-evolving, I love theatre, and Central Park requires constant exploration. Truth be told, I'd go back anytime because we always have a free place to stay and that free place to stay comes with my beautiful sister Kathy and her much adored (by me!) husband, G. It doesn't hurt that her neighbor is Ed Doctorow (E.L. to you in the know) and that the their apartment is beautiful, close to everything Manhattan, and comes with the requisite doorman. I like having a doorman in my life.
New Orleans--The joint was jumping!
There's a couple of places I'd love to go back to but only with conditions:
London--If money was no object. Dang, that city is pricey.
Disney World--It's not as fresh as it was the first time we went, but someday I'd love to go back there with grand kids in hand. They would need to be 6 or 7 years old and have been raised by parents that expected them to be well behaved and adore their Nana (Noni? Grandma? MaMa? Lucky this grandparent thing is not just around the corner. I need time to decide what moniker fits me best.)
I know there are more places I'd go again, but it's time to post and get to work. How about you, faithful readers? Where would you travel to again--or not--and why. Post your comments and let's share!
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2 comments:
I have done a lot of travels that I can divide into two eras of my life. The first as a young man with friends, male and female, and then later as an older man with a family. This era continues to today, literally since I am writing this sitting in Las Vegas on my way back home from a driving trip to Santa Barbara, Ca for my daughters graduation. I have been to almost all of the places you mentioned except for Northern Wales and Arches but will be at Arches the day after tomorrow. I have been to many of the places multiple times, Charleston twice, Yosemite twice, Custer and Badlands probably 5 times and Disney World 19 times (and Disneyland 5 times). We had a goal to get to all 50 States with our kids before the end of High School and we accomplished this goal. We allowed our kids to go to colleges that were fun places for Mom and Dad to visit; Miami, Santa Barbara, and Stanford. I have a database of all our vacation days for the last 25 years and there are over 1000 entries. My favorite way to travel is a driving trip. In the first era of my traveling that is how I did all my travels then as I became more affluent I flew many places but now as airlines get more and more like medieval torture I am back to more driving. My most favorite place to go is “Out West”. I never tire of the plains, the mountains or the deserts of the American West. My least favorite places are big crowded cities such as NY, LA, Chicago, New Orleans and where I am right now, Las Vegas (but Jean and the kids like it). I have little interest in travel outside of USA (why when you have all this here). No interest in Mexico or Asia but some interest to go back to Europe with London and Germany being places I would like to go back to (if only I could drive there).
When I think that I have done a lot of traveling in my two eras of traveling I remember that I did not have a third era as a child or teen. I never was on an airplane until we went to Europe when I was 21 and thought that going to western Wis. to see the Mississippi River at 11 was an incredible journey.
Being retired is great, we can go whenever we want and for as long as we like. We get home from this trip on Sunday them after 3 or 4 days at home we are back in the car headed for Texas and points in between.
I just finished two long road trips, first to California and then to Texas and have some more places to go back to and not go back to. Santa Barbara, Ca is a go back to place. Beautiful place to visit but could never afford to live there. Las Vegas, Jean and Becky love it but I don’t. I only stopped there because it is the only city in Nevada and Utah with nice hotels. Arches Nat. Park is another American jewel. We only had one day, which was not enough time. I would like to have explored Moab and Canyonlands N.P. Definitely a go back to place. Nebraska (the whole State), if you could eliminate it the drive out west wouldn’t be half bad. Houston, TX. is big, crowded, hot, humid and has nothing to offer, it’s a don’t go back to place. San Antonio, Texas, I had been there twice before and would go again. The Alamo is over rated but the River Walk is really nice. Kerrville, TX is in the Hill Country of Texas, which means that it is just a hilly version of the rest of Texas, dry and desolate. We would only go back to visit Jean’s Aunt Bobbi again. Mountain Home, AR, we stopped there to visit old work friend Tom. It’s a pretty area in the Ozark Mountains but a bit out in the middle of nowhere. Probably would only go back to visit Tom again. Road trip through America’s West is definitely a go back to place
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