What is the most unique place or thing that you have visited?

[bruce t]

Just a FWIW. We have done a lot of traveling in our days. Europe, USA etc. The museums in the USA are stand outs. There is somethings the USA doesn't get right. But there are lot of things the USA does really really well. And that's the museums.

Another one to ad to the must see list. The East Texas Oil Museum in Kilgore. Small but brilliantly done.

 

[Vladimir]

As a professional forester for 50 years, I thought about all the unique and special places I worked and visited.

Yellowstone NP.  Beartooth Plateau, Canadian Rockies, Yosemite Valley, Sequoia National Park....and lots of "little special" places.

BUT....if you want ONE PLACE....

Go here....https://azstateparks.com/kartchner/ 

[agesilaus]

Karchner, it's on my todo list if I can ever get on the list to get in.

I'm a bit surprised that most of these places listed are urban sights not natural. My favorite, which shall remain unnamed, is a boondock camp on the very edge of a 1500 foot vertical cliff. My new epiphany is this, to name a site on the web is to destroy it. The new pack of 'campers' aka locusts, know how search the web but do not know how to properly boondock.

[Vladimir]

As a Federal employee when I was working......I told all the "secret" places to anybody that would ask.

They were paying my salary.

[Vladimir]

15 hours ago, trailertraveler said:

I am intrigued by pictograms and petroglyphs. I envision an ancient artist or teenage graffiti artist working for hours to create their masterpiece(s). Often on the side of sheer rock faces well above the round. The images depict the activities of their lives or conjure up speculation of extraterrestrial encounters. One of my favorites appears to depict an individual in a sleigh pulled by reindeer. This in the American dessert Southwest.  There are so many amazing sites on public lands. 

I assume you have found Grapevine Canyon off the Christmas Tree Pass road in the Lake Mead National Recreational Area.

[Kirk W]

Don't miss the House on the Rock in Wisconsin when you travel that way.

[Jim & Alice]

21 hours ago, 2gypsies said:

Independence Rock was still there last year.  😁  Tours given and you can even climb it.

Thanks, 2gypsies.   In our past vacation trips, our kids, nieces, nephews have scrambled all over that rock... But spending the night there in our Dolphin motorhome, during inclement weather... hinted at what those early travelers must have experienced.   Lots of names, ghosts, and stories remain there.

Edited February 14, 2022 by Jim & Alice

[Kirk W]

4 hours ago, Jim & Alice said:

 Lots of names, ghosts, and stories remain there.

There are several other locations along the Oregon Trail that you and others may be interested in which I found to be interesting. Register Cliff, near Guernsey, WY with the associated wagon ruts up the rock ridge is well worth your time and old Ft Laramie is just a few miles away. It is located on US26 which then continues along the route of the Oregon Trail for a long distance into NE. 

[agesilaus]

There is an easily accessible canyon in Capital Reef that has a wall covered with pioneer graffiti names, plus the site on the main road thru the park east of the visitor center. and I've seen like name covered rocks in several other places. One as far east as Mammoth Cave. The old ones are easily distinguished from the modern graffiti by how much effect they put into the name and how precise the result was. Modern ones are almost always sloppy and poorly done.

As for Rock Art there is an excellent one called the Great Hunt Panel on Nine Mile Road/Canyon in Central Utah. They are all over the desert west tho. Tristan who does a weekly vblog on YouTube has been to many of these but has recently stopped posting the GPS coordinates for the sites.

Edited February 14, 2022 by agesilaus

[Kirk W]

On a related subject to the rock-art is the cliff dwellings, which there are many excellent places to visit. While my favorite is probably Walnut Canyon Natl. Monument, we also very much enjoyed a visit to Tonto NM, in the mountains east of Phoenix & Globe.

[agesilaus]

`I strongly advise one and all to not visit Walnut Canyon in the hot months. The whole bunch of us thought heat stroke was near in July. It's a good spot to visit tho.

[bruce t]

One place that never gets a mention is Williamsburg VA. We have been there a few times. Late afternoon you will hear the beat of the drums and the pipe. Volunteers march onto the parade ground. George Washington rides his horse in the addresses the volunteers. Canons are fired.

Now we aren't Americans but we find it very stirring and patriotic.

[sandsys]

30 minutes ago, bruce t said:

One place that never gets a mention is Williamsburg VA. We have been there a few times. Late afternoon you will hear the beat of the drums and the pipe. Volunteers march onto the parade ground. George Washington rides his horse in the addresses the volunteers. Canons are fired.

Now we aren't Americans but we find it very stirring and patriotic.

For me that place was Gettysburg battlefield. It was a hot day in July and I kept seeing in my mind all those soldiers in wool uniforms charging up the hill towards the enemy.

Linda

 

[Randyretired]

Hyder Alaska watching the bears catch fish.  I have never been so close to black and brown bears in the wild.  A brown bear with 2 cubs ran under the open platform we were on.  Only a few feet from us.  A black bear walked within about 20 feet of us.  Armed Forest Service Rangers were there to protect us.  Their speed in the water catching salmon is unbelievable. Eagles were in the trees above us.

[2gypsies]

Newspaper Rock on the road to Canyonlands Needles Unit is amazing.

https://www.utahscanyoncountry.com/Newspaper-Rock-Recreation-Site

[j2catfish]

Smashed-in-head buffalo jump. Great museum! Good story of how it got its name. When I was there they were still digging relics inside the building,  You can walk around the upper cliff edge where the buffalo were driven over.  Some of the bones are still visible at the bottom where the buffalo were  "processed" by the Indian folk.  Near Calgary, but the old noggin forgets lots of directions now days.  There was also a teepee that was an available for over night stays. Highly recommended!

[Kirk W]

Ft. Robinson State Park, Crawford NE. They have an RV park and also you can stay in some of the historic buildings and the tour is great. 

[Lafitte]

Going to the Sun Road , Glacier Natl Park.

[Wrknrvr]

   We stoped in Mobile Alabama to see the Battleship Alabama.   There was a B52 bomber on display. Inside a building they had one of the older spy planes from years ago. It held 18000 gallons of fuel I believe. But when full of fuel it could not takeoff . The tires would not hold the weight. So once it was in flight they had 15 minutes to fuel it mid air.

 

 The other really interesting place we have been, is in a valley in Utah where Jedediah Smith first traveled through see to California. He was one of the original mountain men to see the west.

 

  Never thought I would see either of these places.

 

  Vern

[Payroll Person]

Carrier Hornet in Alameda CA c2008. It was a day when there were veterans who served aboard giving tours. We were looking into a particular plane and a gent who flew that plane off that deck talked to us. 

Edited February 17, 2022 by Payroll Person

[chiefneon]

Howdy!

We have been fulltiming for over fifteen years. We traveled most ever state in the lower 48, been to Alaska twice but the one place that stand out is LeScie Newfoundland. We by chance visited this small town fishing cove and stayed there at the nice little Island Cove RV Park. We were only going to stay a couple of nights and ended up staying two weeks. The Park over looks the cove to the fishing village and the Atlantic Ocean. We set outside our RV and daily watched pods of dauphins, whales, Caplin and icebergs. The town was very friendly along with fishermen. The local fishermen invited us along with other RVer’s to go out on their fishing boats. They drove their large boat around the iceberg just of shore and we were able to see several unbelievable large humpback whales up close. 
 

We had planned our trip to Newfoundland to see the icebergs for a month. Once there we canceled our cruise ship return and ended up staying three and a half months touring “The Rock”. We also made a short trip to Labrador during our stay. We would definitely like to go back to Newfoundland especially LaScie.

” Happy Trails “

Chiefneon 

[JimK]

On 2/13/2022 at 12:48 PM, bobsallyh said:

Smithsonian 

I think Kirk is looking for those small, unique places like the world's largest ball of string.  Otherwise, I would agree, the Smithsonian is high on my list.  Especially because I met my wife there when we both had jobs back in the archival collections.  Many visitors do not realize that the public items are only a very small portion of what the Smithsonian is about.  The collections, not on display, are extensive and attract scholars from around the world.

For another suggestion of lesser traveled places, I would put Alcatraz on the list of unique places.

For scenic wonders, Yellowstone would be at the top of my list and for an interesting place not heavily visited, I would put the "Wave" near Kanab, Utah.