My favorite destinations

Over the years I've had the opportunity to travel to a majority of our beautiful country. I've lived in several states and spent months at a time in some of the others. I just wanted to give a quick list of some of our favorite destinations and some of our not so favorite locations just so you can get an idea of what we are looking for in our travel planning. 

Lets start with our least favorite. Im by no means not saying to explore these places as they each still had some things that I enjoyed. I'm just saying that there are other places that I would check off of my bucket list before taking the time to explore these.

Least Favorite

1. Miami, FL - I lived here for a year and honestly have not been back since I left. Of course its hard to complain about the beautiful weather throughout the year but i was very disappointed in my time there. For starters the traffic is insane at all hours of the day. I found myself going to the grocery store at 4 am just so it wouldn't be a 2 hour adventure to go to the store just 5 blocks away from my apartment. Secondly, this city is for strictly the rich. Even 6 figures does not let you live comfortably and have the ability to afford to check out all of the events or restaurants that you would like to. If you have the ability to spend then absolutely have at it. Lastly the city itself is rather dirty. South Beach smells like Bourbon Street and there is trash everywhere. Some of the places i do recommend going if you are in Miami are the Rusty Pelican for lunch on the way to Key Biscayne, house viewing in Coral Gables, peacock bass fishing the canals and flyboarding in Coconut Grove. 

2. Seattle, WA- The only reason that this is not my number one least favorite is because i only spent 24 hours here. With that being said i can not say that i gave it a full chance to change my mind. If you could not tell from my first listing, I am not a city person what so ever. The trip just starts you on the wrong foot with their airport being a complete nightmare. Once you retrieve your lost luggage 3 hours later and make the journey through the traffic and get downtown you are greeted with a beautiful view of the bay and the wonderful smell of human urine on every corner. There were several places when walking around that the smell would be strong enough to make you gag. While you enjoy lunch you have the entertainment of a group injecting needles on the sidewalk next your outdoor patio table. This seemed to be an every day occurrence, as the locals just walked by like it was nothing new. You can't go to Seattle without going to watch them toss the fish at the market. This however is quite disappointing. The entire market is shoulder to shoulder as you wade through the crowd to get to the fish section. Once there it's just 2 guys tossing the same fish back and forth. This isn't the production of unloading fish or packaging orders or anything. It is literally the same fish all day long. The only good thing I can say about Seattle is that it is a good access point for Olympic National Park, the Hoh Rainforest and the North Cascades National Park. 

Those are really the only two places that I would put on my do not travel list. Everywhere else I have been may have some good and some bad things but are still worth traveling to explore for yourself. Now for my favorite places in the United States. I will have travel guides and more in depth breakdowns of what to do and see going up shortly for each of these locations.

5. Rocky Mountain National Park- This was the most recent trip that I have been on. We stayed in Estes Park as our access to the park. Not many times is the place you stay just as incredible as the park itself but Estes surely was. Estes and RMNT is hands down the best place i have been to when it comes to wildlife. The elk crossing the road on your way to get coffee and the mule deer hanging out in the yard of our VRBO were nonstop. I don't think you can go wrong with any of the hiking trails throughout the park. Our favorite trails were down in the Bear Lake corridor. Be sure to get your timed entry pass and get their early as the parking lots do fill up quickly. Take the drive up to the highest visitor center in the United States and continue on to the town of Grand Lake for lunch with a spectacular view of the aspens. 

4. Olympic National Park-This is where i asked my wife to marry me so this will always be a special place for me. We stayed in a VRBO on Sequim Bay as our access point to the park. Looking across the bay to Victoria, Canada just starts the bark off with incredible sights. Once in the park the trails are endless. I can not recommend more to get a 4x4 vehicle and make the drive to the obstruction point trail. After taking in Hurricane Ridge, make your way to the Hoh Rainforest and stop to see Second Beach. The park is huge and can take several hours to get to different attractions so plan accordingly and start your days early. 

3. North Cascades National Park- North Cascades is the least visited National Park in the United States and appears to remain a hidden secret for those that know about it. There was a wildfire burning around Diablo Lake so we were unable to explore the East side of the park. We stayed in a VRBO in Mazama as our access point. Maple Loop Pass is the most popular trail and is for good reason. The 8 or so mile loop is unrivaled in its views of the park. Just the scenic drive anywhere you go in the park will continuously take your breath away. Be sure to venture in to the old western mining town of Winthrop for lunch.

2. The Florida Keys-My favorite place in the continental United States. From top to bottom the keys are remarkable. Road tripping down from Miami is the best way to explore the islands. Stop and get in the water to explore underwater Jesus in John Pennekamp park in  Key Largo. Feed the tarpon at Robbie's in Islamorada. Grab lunch and see the key deer at No Name Pub on Big Pine Key. Party your way down Duval Street in Key West. The activities are endless and the weather is unbeatable. My personal favorite time of year is to go down and dive for lobster in August. 

1.The big island of Hawaii- I was lucky enough to get to spend an entire summer on the big island for a marine biology course when i was in high school. We lived up in the volcanos at Hawaii prep academy and got to explore every corner of the island. From Kona coffee, to the waves of the North Shore, to the endless corals and marine life at every beach. The can not miss adventure is a drive to the observatory on top of Mauna Kea for sunset and watch as the sky comes alive above the clouds at night. 

These are just a few of my favorite places that I've had the privilege to travel to. I will be doing full travel guides to these with more details on the activities and must sees along the way. Let me know if you've been to some of these or have had different experiences in your travels to them.