What to put on the Bucket List

[Butte64]

Now that I am getting ready to retire where are the best places I should go and what should I do?

I have been fortunate to have already visited all 50 states and have been in most of the major national parks; Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Zion, Yosemite, Everglades, Rocky Mountain, Smoky Mountain, etc. Not that I won't visit them again but I'm looking beyond the biggest most well known places to what else is most interesting. Also lived in the Washington, DC area so have been all around there.

The most interesting place I have visited in the past five years is the BMW plant near Spartanburg, SC. Great example of manufacturing efficiency and quality control. I would put other places like that high on my list so I am not looking for just scenery attractions. Second most interesting was the aircraft carrier Midway in San Diego. I have already been to enough amusement park type places and unless I take some younger relatives they are not on my list.

Some of the things already on my list are Ruby Falls near Chattanooga, the space museum in Huntsville, Oak Ridge, the Tampa RV show, the Dayton Hamvention, Sun n Fun in Lakeland, Oshkosh (again!), and Carlsbad Caverns.

What are your suggestions for my and others' bucket lists?
Recommendations on nearby campgrounds to these places would also be useful.

Thanks in advance.

[Dog Folks]

The USS Razorback in Little Rock Arkansas. Corps. of Engineer parks nerbay.

The museum at Ft. Knox in Kentucky. Lincolns Birthplace, also in Kentucky.

The Museum of Industry in Tampa Florida. Hillsborough State Park nearby.

These are one that were NOT on our bucket list, but were great finds.

[ChasA]

Naval Air Museum in Pensacola Florida. Awesome!

[twogypsies]

. a guided raft trip down the Colorado River
. spending the summer - driving up to Alaska
. Kartchner Caverns, Benson, AZ
. Jasper/Banff parks in Canada
. Olympic Peninsula, Washington
. Kite Festival, Long Beach, Washington
. a slow meandering tour from north to south on the coast of Oregon. The state parks are great places to stay
. drive Hwy 395 and explore the eastern Sierras
. Borrego Springs, Calif
. experience Quartzsite, AZ the last two weeks of January - plop down anywhere in the desert with thousands of other RVers and/or hook up with specialized groups (your RV mfg. group, ham radio group, a SC group you belong to)
. Canyon de Chelly, Arizona
. Silverton, Colorado - especially if you want to go Jeepin'
. Pagosa Spring, Colorado and soak in the awesome hot springs
. Creede, Colorado to take in some rep productions in beautiful scenery
. Grand Teton National Park
. Stanley, Idaho (Sawtooth Mountains)

. volunteer in our great national parks

...and our list could go on and on. We've full-timed for 16 years and still haven't seen it all! These are some of our favorites.

[JohnT]

On My List.

Albuquerque Balloon Fest.

[Butte64]

Originally Posted by Dog Folks

The USS Razorback in Little Rock Arkansas. Corps. of Engineer parks nerbay.

The museum at Ft. Knox in Kentucky. Lincolns Birthplace, also in Kentucky.

The Museum of Industry in Tampa Florida. Hillsborough State Park nearby.

These are one that were NOT on our bucket list, but were great finds.

Thanks, I have been to Tampa many times and never even heard of the Museum of Industry.

I was at Ft Know long ago and got to fire the guns on a tank but am still looking forward to seeing the museum.

[Butte64]

Originally Posted by ChasA

Naval Air Museum in Pensacola Florida. Awesome!

Definitely a great place to visit. And if you like aviation museums there are two in GA that are very unique. The museum at Robins AFB near Macon has some things you won't see anywhere else. The 8th Air Force museum near Savannah has a great WWII exhibit. If you head out West, don't miss the Pima Air Museum which also has some exhibits that are the only ones that exist.

[bronk]

Much of the armored museum has moved to Ft. Benning,GA, but a lot of the Patton archival displays and such are still here at Ft.Knox.




Bronk

[Butte64]

Originally Posted by twogypsies

. a guided raft trip down the Colorado River
. spending the summer - driving up to Alaska
. Kartchner Caverns, Benson, AZ
. Jasper/Banff parks in Canada
. Olympic Peninsula, Washington
. Kite Festival, Long Beach, Washington
. a slow meandering tour from north to south on the coast of Oregon. The state parks are great places to stay
. drive Hwy 395 and explore the eastern Sierras
. Borrego Springs, Calif
. experience Quartzsite, AZ the last two weeks of January - plop down anywhere in the desert with thousands of other RVers and/or hook up with specialized groups (your RV mfg. group, ham radio group, a SC group you belong to)
. Canyon de Chelly, Arizona
. Silverton, Colorado - especially if you want to go Jeepin'
. Pagosa Spring, Colorado and soak in the awesome hot springs
. Creede, Colorado to take in some rep productions in beautiful scenery
. Grand Teton National Park
. Stanley, Idaho (Sawtooth Mountains)

. volunteer in our great national parks

...and our list could go on and on. We've full-timed for 16 years and still haven't seen it all! These are some of our favorites.

Thanks, this is great. I'm looking forward to it already.

[Selah]

Letchworth State Park in the Finger Lakes Region of upstate NY. Phenomenal series of water falls through 200 ft gorges. Often called the Grand Canyon of the East.
The stone work on bridges and walls were done in the 1930s by CCC, civilian conservation corps. Probably never see a public facility with that type or work again.

[EZDZIT]

Glacier National Parks (ours and Canada's)
Victoria and Vancouver Island
Artillery Museum at Fort Bliss, Tx
San Diego Zoo
Chicago's museums
The Canadian Maritimes including Newfoundland
Acadia National Park
Durango, CO or Chama, NM for narrow gauge steam
Florida's Keys
We also love the small Midwestern farm towns, many with o'nite camping
State and county fairs

Glad to be able to suggest these and glad you reminded me.
Have fun! Be safe.

[okgc]

A couple places not suggested already would start with Moab, Utah with two National Parks and 1000's acres of additional BLM properties. This maybe the Jeep capital in the world so Rent a Jeep or atleast pay for a ride on the many trails.
Portal RV Resort is probably the nicest of many facilities in the area.www.portalrvresort.com/

1600 miles away is the Gilmore Car Museum www.gilmorecarmuseum.org/‎ located between Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids Michigan. The Gilmore Car Museum is home to the CCCA, Franklin Car Collection, Model T Foundation, Cadillac Car Club, and soon home to the Lincoln Car Museum and others.
Hidden Ridge RV Resort, Hopkins, Michigan is the closest 5 star facility.

A side note is Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids were recently voted the two best Craft Brew cities in the USA.

[Arch Hoagland]

We have gone to every Presidential Museum, except Bush's new one in Dallas which we will visit in January.
That got us around the country a few times.

We ran into a couple who went to a baseball game in every major league stadium across the country in one summer. AND, they did that without a toad because theirs was totalled two days before they left on the trip.

So pick something you like to visit and you will see a lot of other things along the way.

[Penster]

We went to see Louisville slugger baseball bats made in Louisville, KY. It was really interesting!!