Our Favorite Spots in All 50 States: Part 1-The West
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.
Rialto Beach, Washington
We’ve been to all 50 states, but the ones filled in with a sticker on the map are the ones we visited in an RV.
In 2020, before we decided to retire early, sell our house, and hit the road full-time, we rented an RV and finally made it to our 50th state: North Dakota. We have visited a total of 41 National Parks and 74 other NPS units, and at least 91 state parks across the lower 48, (the majority of these have been within the last 5 years). We’ve traveled many places, but one thing I’ve learned is that there’s still so much more out there to see! And that’s not counting the other countries we want to visit.
It is very hard to narrow down our favorites. I’m also listing a few places we haven’t seen yet, but hopefully will in the future. I’m listing as favorites the places we enjoyed the most and we’d go back to in a heartbeat. A caveat: we prefer peaceful nature rather than crowded cities. So most of our favorites reflect that preference.
PACIFIC STATES:
WASHINGTON:
Diablo Lake at North Cascades National Park
So much to love about this state! However, listed here in no particular order, are some of our favorites.
Ruby Beach
Olympic National Park. Such variety, from the sea stacks and rocky shores of the coastline, to Hoh Rain Forest, Sol Duc Falls, and the mountains. I’d gladly go back, especially since it’s so spread out that we didn’t make it to Lake Quinault or Cape Flattery during our first visit.
North Cascades National Park. No crowds and good hiking and views.
Whidbey Island. Fun to explore the small towns and shoreline. Good state parks, especially Deception Pass. We took a whale watching tour from neighboring Fidalgo Island.
I’d put Mt. Rainier on here, but I haven’t been there since I was 5 years old, so obviously I don’t remember much about it, and Craig has never been there. It’s on our list to visit during wildflower season.
We only scratched the surface of Seattle, with a visit to the top of the Space Needle. And that was 15 years ago. Another site on our list to revisit.
Snoqualmie Falls and Palouse Falls are also on our list to see in the future, as well as the San Juan Islands.
Other sites we wouldn’t say were our favorites, but were definitely worth the time, include the cute town of Leavenworth, Cape Disappointment State Park, and Mt. St. Helens.
OREGON: One of our favorite states.
The entire coastline—beginning with Astoria in the north to Cannon Beach and Ecola State Park, down through Tillamook to Thor’s Well at Cape Perpetua, then to Heceta Head, continuing south to the long, sandy beach with lots of sea stacks at Bandon, then the Samuel Boardman Scenic Corridor, and finally Harris Beach State Park near the OR/CA state line. I do not have the words to describe it all. We could spend many weeks here.
2. Crater Lake. The most beautiful deep blue water—especially if you go on a sunny day.
3. Portland. Some of our favorites include HUGE Powell’s City of Books, the view of the city and Mt. Hood from Pittock Mansion, the International Rose Test Garden, Pip’s Original Donuts, the view of the Columbia River Gorge from Vista House east of the the city, and of course, Multnomah Falls.
On our list for future visits: Smith Rock State Park, the Painted Hills, and the Portland Japanese Garden
CALIFORNIA:
Zabriskie Point, Death Valley
I’m not going to even try to talk about everything there is to do and see in this big state. What a treasure trove!
Yosemite National Park—Hands down our favorite national park so far, although I wouldn’t want to go during the crowded summer season. The scenery is awe-inspiring.
Kings Canyon National Park—uncrowded and underrated gem. The valley was beautiful in the fall. Plus, sequoias!
3. Death Valley National Park—Surprisingly colorful, from Zabriskie Point to Artist’s Palette, to Golden Canyon. So big that we didn’t have time to see everything we wanted to during our short visit.
4. Big Sur coast drive along Highway 101.
5. Alabama Hills—like being on another planet. The sunrise glow on the mountains and rock formations was gorgeous.
I’m not normally a city person, because I don’t like crowds and traffic. But IMHO, San Francisco is one of the prettiest big cities in the U.S. There’s SO much to see and do—Golden Gate Park, Golden Gate Bridge (including the view from above at the Marin Headlands, and the view from right underneath at Fort Point), Palace of Fine Arts, Chinatown, Ghirardelli Square, Painted Ladies and other cool architecture, etc. ad infinitum, not to mention sites outside the city, including Napa and Sonoma, and places nearby we have yet to see, including Muir Woods, Mount Tamalpais, and Point Reyes. Again, we haven’t scratched the surface and I’d willingly go back, if we could stay in the city and keep interstate highway driving to a minimum!
Some other places we’ve been to that we were glad we visited, (even if they didn’t make such a lasting impression as to be ranked among our most favorites) include the following:
San Diego Zoo, sea lions at La Jolla beach, Redwoods State and National Parks, McArthur-Burney Falls, Carmel-by-the-Sea and 17-mile Drive, the cute Danish town of Solvang.
Still on our list of places to see: Lassen Volcanic National Park and Sequoia National Park, which sadly were both closed due to forest fires when we were in those areas in 2021. Also on our list: the fields of wildflowers during a superbloom year, as well as Lake Tahoe, Hearst Castle, and the night sky at Joshua Tree N.P.
ALASKA:
It’s been 15 years since we’ve been here, and that time was on a cruise through the Inside Passage. A list of our favorite places in Alaska is going to be seriously lacking, since we have yet to go to any of the National Parks in that state. However, getting a small taste of Alaska has just whetted our appetite for more. My dream is to see the Northern Lights. Having said that, here’s what we did enjoy seeing:
float trip down a river outside Haines to see bald eagles
Mendenhall Glacier and Mt. Roberts tram in Juneau
On the list for a future trip: Denali N.P., watching bears catch salmon at Katmai N.P., Kenai Fjords N.P., Wrangell-St. Elias N.P., and Glacier Bay N.P.
HAWAII:
It’s been MANY years since we’ve been to Oahu and Kauai, and we are overdue for a return trip, but next time, we will go to the Big Island.
You can’t go to Hawaii and not go to a luau. Great experience!
The uncrowded Lumahai Beach in Kauai. At least it was uncrowded way back then. I don’t know if it still is now.
Waimea Canyon
Na Pali coast—last time we hiked the first two miles of the Kalalau Trail to a beach. We couldn’t see much of the cliffs from that segment of the trail. If we ever go back, we’d take a helicopter or boat tour to really see the cliffs.
INTERMOUNTAIN WEST STATES:
IDAHO:
Such an underrated state. Our favorite places were:
Craters of the Moon National Monument—It’s a bit of a drive out in the middle of nowhere, but worth it. Trails, fields of jagged rock formed by lava, a tall cinder cone to climb, etc.
City of Rocks National Reserve—lots of cool rock formations. We could just drive by most of them, but there were trails, too. Fun to watch the rock climbers.
Coeur d’Alene—pretty town along the lake with cute shops and restaurants along the main street. Nice shady park next to a small beach, and a very long floating boardwalk. Fun to watch people parasailing. We hiked the Tubbs Hill Nature Trail and from there, we had great views of the lake and town.
We also enjoyed Shoshone Falls and Bruneau Dunes State Park. Henry’s Lake State Park was a great place to camp while we visited Yellowstone National Park and Mesa Falls. Lake Pend Oreille is beautiful, especially at the town of Sandpoint, and at Farragut State Park.
NEVADA:
Valley of Fire State Park—One of our favorite state parks we’ve ever been to. First time we went was in September, and it was still SO hot. The next time, we went in mid-November and the temps were much more tolerable. Fire Wave is just so fascinating, as are the other colorful rocks.
Great Basin National Park—incredible clear night sky filled with so many stars. I wish I had set up my camera for Milky Way photos. We took a long hike to see the bristlecone pines and the glacier at Wheeler Peak.
We also enjoyed Cathedral Gorge State Park and Red Rock Canyon Conservation Area.
UTAH:
We loved Utah’s “Mighty 5” National Parks so much, we returned several times. SO much to see and do, including a lot of excellent state parks, that it took multiple trips just to feel like we had really explored the area.
Capitol Reef National Park—this one gets overlooked by many visitors to Utah’s National Parks, but that just means it’s not as crowded as the others. Such a beautiful spot and it’s probably our favorite park in the state. Great hiking and scenery. The Cathedral Valley jeep tour at sunrise was amazing.
Arches National Park—probably my next favorite, especially when we went in September, as it was not as crowded or as hot as in late May and June. Delicate Arch was worth the uphill hike. Amazing, memorable sunset view from the Windows.
Cedar Breaks National Monument—less crowded than Bryce Canyon but still gorgeous red hoodoos. Great hike along the rim.
Zion N.P.—especially in November when it was cooler and the leaves were golden, although it was only slightly less crowded than in June. Kolob Canyons are the separate northern section and much less crowded.
Landscape Arch-We saw it in mid-afternoon when it was hotter and the bright sun was overhead. We should have gone here in the morning for best light for photos.
Cedar Breaks
Great Utah state parks that we enjoyed include the following:
More cool red rock formations at Kodachrome Basin State Park. Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park is a hidden gem. It was so fun to walk among the weirdly shaped rocks at Goblin Valley State Park. Dead Horse Point State Park is close to the entrance to Canyonlands N.P.’s Islands in the Sky District and worth the stop.
Yant Flat (Candy Cliffs), a Forest Service site, is outside St. George and worth the hike.
Other National Park Service sites that we are glad we saw include:
Bryce Canyon, because we could hike into the canyon close to some of the hoodoos, which we couldn’t do at Cedar Breaks. Great Milky Way photography opportunity there, as at many of these dark parks in Utah. Natural Bridges Natl. Monument is also fun to hike and it’s out of the way and uncrowded. Canyonlands is huge and takes several days to see both the Needles district and Islands in the Sky, as their entrances are far apart. Great hiking and viewpoints there, including Mesa Arch. Hovenweep National Monument was out in the middle of nowhere, but was a very interesting park with ancient tribal ruins.
We also visited the BLM lands of Bears Ears National Monument, barely scratching the surface of this huge area by hiking to House on Fire, a small, ancient cliff dwelling, and we also hiked to Corona Arch on BLM land near Moab. Utah is definitely one of our favorite states to explore.
