A list of our favorite places, plus sites that we want to go to but haven’t seen yet, in Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, plus Washington D.C.

A list of our favorite places, plus sites that we want to go to but haven’t seen yet, in Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, North and South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia, plus the territory of U.S. Virgin Islands.

A list of our favorite places, plus sites that we want to go to but haven’t seen yet, in North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio

A list of our favorite places, plus sites that we want to go to but haven’t seen yet, in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma

A list of our favorite places, plus sites that we want to go to but haven’t seen yet, in Washington, Oregon, California, Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, and Utah. Because the western U.S. is so big and so full of awesome sights to see, I’m dividing them up, and I’ll list the Rocky Mountain states and Southwest states in my next post.

Kentucky’s Red River Gorge and southwestern Virginia’s Grayson Highlands State Park

It took 20 years, but we finally revisited Chicagoland, where I grew up. Then we explored some beautiful spots in Illinois we had never been to before: Starved Rock State Park and Garden of the Gods.

Our trip to northern Wisconsin included a boat tour of the Apostle Islands on Lake Superior, and a visit to the Door County peninsula that juts into Lake Michigan.

The last week of our month in Michigan was spent in the western part of the Upper Peninsula.

Mackinac Island, Tahquamenon Falls, Soo Locks

We had really looked forward to our month in Michigan, because until now, we had spent very little time in that state, and there was so much we wanted to see. We began our visit by working our way up the west side of the “mitten” along Lake Michigan, starting with a stay in Holland.

After we left SW Ohio, we traveled through Indiana on our way to Michigan. We camped for a couple nights at Indiana Dunes State Park, which is situated between two sides of Indiana Dunes National Park, making it very convenient to explore both parks.

We spent the last of June and the beginning of July in Ohio, visiting Cuyahoga Valley Natl. Park and Hocking Hills State Park, before spending time with Craig’s family.

Our first visit to the Finger Lakes region just scratched the surface of all there was to see. We stayed at Watkins Glen State Park at the southern end of Seneca Lake, and we visited Taughannock State Park on the shore of Cayuga Lake. These two lakes are the longest of the Finger Lakes. We also stayed at Letchworth State park, which is not on one of the Finger Lakes, but is close to the region.

Including the Winter Olympic Village of Lake Placid in the Adirondacks, as well as a couple of islands in the Thousand Islands region

It was a short jaunt from New York’s Hudson River Valley to southern Vermont. We stayed near Bennington in order to see the battle monument there, as well as nearby Hildene, the summer home of Robert Todd Lincoln, the only surviving son of Abraham Lincoln.

Within New York’s beautiful Hudson Valley lie 3 NPS historic sites plus one NPS affiliated site: Vanderbilt Mansion, Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt NHS, and Thomas Cole NHS. We camped here for a week and visited all 4 locations, plus a state park.

Valley Forge, Hopewell Furnace, and Delaware Water Gap

Assateague Island Natl. Seashore, Delaware Seashore and Cape Henlopen State Parks, Cape May. NJ