Our Favorite Spots in All 50 States: Part 4-Southeast States
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.
Cumberland Falls
KENTUCKY:
People have asked why we chose to live here when we’ve been to all 50 states, and have lived in 8 different states. While we love visiting the desert southwest, we would miss the green grass and trees too much to live there, and anyway, I can’t tolerate months of very high heat. Also, while we love the Pacific Northwest, we ruled it out because the cost of living is too high for us. Kentucky is a beautiful hidden gem. There’s a lot to do within a short distance, and it doesn’t get quite as hot for as long here, compared to some southern states, nor is it as cold as some northern states. We have a long list of places here we want to see.
So far, we have really enjoyed the following sites:
Red River Gorge/Natural Bridge State Park—great views, especially in the fall, and great hiking
Cumberland Falls—I’d like to go back to see the moonbow.
Cumberland Gap Natl. Historical Park—panoramic view
Columbus-Belmont State Park—We went twice; once in April and once in September. It was quiet and pretty in the off-season. The park has an interesting Civil War museum and trail among the earthworks. We had an excellent view of the Mississippi River from our campsite.
Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill—interesting history, great food, lots of trails
Pine Mountain State Park, Kingdom Come State Park, and Breaks Interstate Park all had great views and were beautiful in the fall.
Places on our list to see include Kentucky Horse Park, the Pinnacles of Berea, and quite a few state parks.
Civil War earthworks at Columbus-Belmont State Park
The campground cat jumped onto my lap to enjoy the warm campfire while we waited for the sunset view over the Mississippi River.
TENNESSEE:
Smoky Mountain National Park—beautiful place and great hiking to get away from the crowds; once when I was young and fit, I hiked to Charlie’s Bunion via the Appalachian Trail.
Fall Creek Falls State Park—lots of trails and waterfalls
ARKANSAS:
Buffalo National River, one of very few International Dark Sky Parks in the eastern half of the U.S. Taken on a night photography workshop years ago led by the excellent photographer Tim Ernst.
We lived in NW Arkansas for over 20 years, but we were too busy working and raising a family to really explore the state. Usually when we got vacation time, we went out of state! Although, fall in late October/early November is really pretty. However, here’s a few favorites, mostly in the Ozark mountain area:
This is zoomed in so it doesn’t show how the crag juts out hundreds of feet above the hillside. But it’s plenty wide enough to walk on.
view from Hawksbill Crag
Hawksbill Crag (Whitaker Point)—hike to one of the best, most iconic views in the whole state
Buffalo National River—awesome night skies in the Ponca/Jasper area, plus there’s the bluffs along the river
Devil’s Den State Park
Petit Jean State Park
Eureka Springs—fun little town with good restaurants and shopping
Garvan Woodland Gardens in spring
We never made it to Pinnacle Mountain or Crater of Diamonds State Parks. Maybe we’ll take a detour to those parks on a future road trip.
LOUISIANA:
Honestly, the best thing about Louisiana is the food! Beignets, gumbo, shrimp etouffee, boudin. Mmm!
New Orleans—Jackson Square
I wish we’d had the chance to go to the WWII museum.
Oak Alley Plantation—the huge live oaks that frame the house were damaged in a recent hurricane, so it didn’t look the same as in pictures, and it will take awhile for the branches to grow back.
MISSISSIPPI:
This has been pretty much a drive-through state for us. I would like to drive the Natchez Trace Parkway someday, though. We did go to Natchez once many years ago, and it would be nice to go back and take some tours of some of the antebellum homes.
ALABAMA:
We were going to go to Little River Canyon and DeSoto State Park last fall, but our plans changed at the last minute. Those parks are on the list for the future, though.
Gulf State Park—excellent big park with loads of bike trails, good campsites, and of course, the beach, and great seafood restaurants nearby.
USS Alabama in Mobile—really interesting self-guided tour
GEORGIA:
Gibbs Gardens—Millions of daffodil blooms are quite a sight! I’d like to go back to see the many Japanese maples in fall colors.
Cumberland Island Natl. Seashore—big, peaceful beach and cool ruins
Savannah—Forsyth Park and many smaller squares surrounded by historic homes.
Fort McAlister State Park—interesting Civil War earthworks self-guided tour
Driftwood Beach on Jekyll Island
Amicalola Falls
Skidaway Island State Park, Cloudland Canyon, Tallulah Gorge, and Tybee Island are on the list for a future trip. We were going to see these places last fall until we decided to stop full-time RVing sooner than initially planned.
FLORIDA:
We lived in Florida for 7 years, but were raising young children at the time, and so there were a lot of places we didn’t go to, especially in south Florida.
Disney World—What can I say? We loved taking our kids there. We took our oldest grandchild to the Magic Kingdom last December and the park was as good as ever.
Sanibel and Captiva Islands—They took a big hit from the hurricane last fall, but I’m sure they’ll recover.
Bok Tower Gardens—serene and beautiful, especially when the azaleas are in bloom
Maybe one winter we will be the snowbirds we always used to joke about when we were young residents! We still have not seen the 3 National Parks or the Keys in south Florida, and there are also many nice state parks that we would have visited last winter if we hadn’t bought a house and were still RVing. It is very difficult to score a campsite at Florida state parks for a wintertime visit. We tried to reserve sites as soon as they were available 11 months out to the day, and often still didn’t get our first choice of park. Hopefully we will hang out on the beach one day at Topsail Hill Preserve or Caladesi Island, etc.!
SOUTH CAROLINA:
Charleston—Rainbow Row and Fort Sumter were the highlights for us.
The historic plantations around Charleston—These gardens are so pretty in the spring, and we learned some interesting history, too.
We went to Congaree National Park, but it was one of our least favorite national parks out of the 41 we’ve visited, although it’s an ecosystem worthy of protection. It just didn’t wow us.
We’d like to return to visit more islands and beaches, namely, Edisto Beach State Park, Kiawah and Hilton Head, and Huntington Beach. Beaufort would be nice, too.
NORTH CAROLINA:
Blue Ridge Parkway—We’ve never had the opportunity to drive the whole thing. So, a return visit is in order. Mount Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Mississippi River, is right off the Parkway, and was a good place to stop and see the view.
Biltmore Estate—Admission is expensive, but the grounds are beautiful.
All of the Outer Banks, including Cape Hatteras—Loved our beach time, as well as the NPS sites, including the Wright Brothers Memorial at Kitty Hawk, and all the lighthouses.
We have also been to Grandfather Mountain and Chimney Rock State Park. Not our favorites, but worth a stop.
On our list for a future visit: Cape Lookout.
VIRGINIA:
Lots to see here: history, beaches, mountains. One of my favorite eastern states.
Norfolk Botanical Garden—We visited during the peak azalea bloom in mid-April. It was gorgeous! Certainly one of the best public gardens we’ve been to.
Skyline Drive in Shenandoah Natl. Park and Shenandoah River State Park—We had a nice, big campsite at the state park, which was close to the north entrance to the national park.
James Madison’s Montpelier—We had an excellent tour guide. Great way to learn some U.S. history. Also in the area is Monticello, Jefferson’s home.
Grayson Highlands State Park—Great hiking and beautiful views in the fall in the mountains
We’ve also enjoyed visiting Natural Bridge State Park, Mt. Vernon, Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown.
Natural Bridge S.P.
Grayson Highlands State Park
WEST VIRGINIA:
New River Gorge Natl. Park—great hike to a super view of the bridge; I’d like to go back in the fall, as there’s still so much for us to see.
Coopers Rock State Forest—very nice state park with lots of trails
U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS (a U.S. territory):
Another one of my absolute favorite places. We went on vacation on St. John 3 times in 5 years because every time we left, we missed it so much! We loved the beautiful beaches, the Natl. Park Service hike to Reef Bay and the petroglyphs, and the sugar mill ruins. I never got tired of that view, and it was just so relaxing, when we weren’t busy hiking or snorkeling! Plus, it was just a short ferry ride to the British Virgin Islands, which are on the horizon in the photo above.
Iconic view of Trunk Bay