Journeying Elsewhere

”The Hawkeye State”
-Did you know that Iowa has the best bike trails in the U.S. according to Bike Magazine?  At the Effigy National Monument located outside of Harper’s Ferry, Iowa, you can see ancient Indian burial mounds in the shapes of animals and birds.  And at the Hitchcock Bird Sanctuary, you’ll find one of the nation’s best bird watching venues replete with hundreds of hawks and eagles   On Snake Avenue in Burlington Iowa, you can drive down the “crookedest street inthe World.”

• Iowa Department of Natural Resources
• Iowa Office of Tourism

“The Mount Rushmore State,” known for its distinctly western flavor is emblazoned with cowboy trails and ghost towns such as Deadwood.  We all know of Mount Rushmore, the Black Hills National Park, and the Badlands, but lesser known attractions include Custer State Park (the nation’s largest park), Crazy Horse Memorial (the world’s tallest statue), and the Wind Caves, the longest and one of the oldest cave complexes in the world.  This state is the top duck producer in the nation and has the largest number of cattle-on-feed, and numerous wild game for hunting. With roaming bison, petrified forests, and dinosaur skeletons, the natural wonders of this state are a must see for journeying elsewhere.

• South Dakota Office of Tourism
• South Dakota Department of Natural Resources

“The Peace Garden State,” Did you know that this state is the most agricultural state in the U.S., with farms occupying over 90% of the land, and that it leads the nation in spring sorghum wheat production?
North Dakota's best attraction, the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, located in the southwestern part of the state, honors the founder of the National Park Service.  Did you know that the historic city of Medora, a restored cowboy town, was founded by a French nobleman, the Marquis` de Mores, and is the most popular attraction in North Dakota?   Outside of Stanton, North Dakota is the Knife River Indian Village National Historic Memorial, where many of the villages of the Prairie Indians have been rebuilt in their entirety to give tribute to the instrumental role of the Native American in our history.  The internationally acclaimed American Western novelist, Louis L' Amour, who wrote over 100 books during his life, was born in Jamestown, North Dakota. And, Devil’s Lake, North Dakota’s largest natural body of water, is endowed with some of the most spectacular geological vistas of all.

• North Dakota Office of Tourism
• North Dakota Department of Game & Fish
• North Dakota Department of Parks & Recreation

"Traveling through Time"

(Courtesy U.S. Geological Survey)

We have an excellent photo gallery, and if you’ll click on the images, I think you’ll be able to witness some of God’s natural creations, taken by outdoor people such as yourself.

Old World Travel, shown on the next page, brings back some of the rustic flavor associated with an earlier era in American History.  We are excited to be able to present some of the old world charm that accompanied travelers in the 1850’s.  Here you will find great places to ride the trails in a covered wagon, hitch up a mule team, sail up our inland waterways in a Paddlewheeler, explore the Pacific Coast in a steam driven locomotive, or go horseback riding along the Canyon Rim.

On the page following , Popular U.S. Nature Spots, profiles our nation’s natural heritage.  The legacy our nation’s parks and forests hopefully will live on forever.  These lands are truly America’s Hidden Treasure and our Bounty.  We are glad to share this knowledge, knowing that all of us are entrusted with the stewardship of our precious natural habitant.  It is ours to keep, only if we take care of the water, living creatures and the land.  For this reason, we highlight the most popular U.S. Parks and the most popular U.S. Forests for your Journeying Elsewhere in this Great Land of Ours. Next, we describe some of the most unusual places to explore and discover on our off-beat and curious page called "Weird Travel".
And don't forget to view our USA Today Travel Headlines.  These travel headlines will keep you up-to- date on the latest travel news, especially as this summer proves to be dramatically different from last summer's vacationing.

 Happy Trails to You!

• To the Next Pages:
• Old World Travel
• Popular U.S. Nature Spots,
• Weird Travel