My state has many popular vacation locations that locals travel to for summer vacation. In fact, many people I know don’t vacation outside of our state since my state is surrounded by lakes. This makes me wonder if other states have popular vacation destinations for locals or do most need to go outside of the your state to get to popular vacation spots like mountains, lakes, oceans, or popular campgrounds, etc?


25 comments

  1. I grew up on the north side of Chicago. Everyone who could, had a summer cottage in Wisconsin.

    We now live in suburban southern California. Recreation / vacation spots abound, from 10 to 1,000 miles away, all in California.

  3. The Hill Country, South Padre Island, San Antonio Riverwalk (and SeaWorld), Big Bend (if you’re into hiking)

  4. I can’t think of any state that doesn’t have either campgrounds in a state or national parks/forests or some type of family friendly or luxury resort. Even Indiana and Ohio have vacation spots.

  5. Every state has state parks, so there are at least some vacation spots. Not everything is grand as Yellowstone or Grand Canyon, but there are spots. I’ve never been to Theordore Roosevelt National Park in western North Dakota. In Minnesota, there’s Itasca State Park which has the headwaters of the Mississippi River. There’s also the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, Voyageurs National Park, and the North Shore of Lake Superior.

  6. I grew up in Oklahoma. There are definitely locations that residents frequent in the summer. Floating the Illinois River in Tahlequah and Turner Falls are pretty popular. Lake Tenkiller or Eufala are also popular spots.

  8. I *assume* most states have local spots that are mostly for locals (people within two hours or so). These are good for long weekend trips and what not. Not good enough for much longer, and nobody is coming in from farther to go there. 

    Places like quiet lake/beach/mountain towns. Big enough to have a few restaurants, has nice views, maybe an activity or a winery nearby. 

    I know that’s true of the coastal states, the great lake states, and the rocky mountain states. That doesn’t leave a whole lot of other places.

  9. Can any North Dakotans let us know where your vacation houses are?

    Genuinely curious what their equivalent to the “Chicagoan who has a lake house in Wisconsin” phenomenon is.

  10. Currently in Chicago. Most people leave the state. Either Wisconsin or Michigan.

    Previously lived in Michigan, most people went to the lakes or up north.

  11. I would assume that all states have at least *some* vacation destinations. At least known to locals.

    There are several states where I wouldn’t have any desire to vacation to, because my mental image of those states doesn’t include any travel destinations. Like, I would never think to vacation to Kansas (for example). But I’m sure there are vacation-worthy places there. I just don’t know about them from here in Ohio.

  16. I’m from WV, where you can hike the mountains, snow ski, whitewater raft, BASE jump, visit multiple Dark Skies Parks, see a large radio telescope installation, drive 2 lane highways through old-growth forests, ride a scenic railway to a point where you can see 7 states at once, visit a coal mining museum where you can ride a simulation of the elevators miners rode down into the mines, go to a sternwheel boat regatta, fish on quiet lakes or waterski/speedboat on a large river. In my little hometown you can visit a Shawnee chief’s grave (Cornstalk) plus a Revolutionary War-era Fort and the Mothman statue/museum all in a couple blocks of each other.

    I’ve lived in OH, CA and FL. So I’ve been lucky to have things to do everywhere I’ve lived. I’m sure most states that look boring on the outside have fantastic things to do if you know more about the area.

  18. I live in New York, so… yeah. Loads of state parks all over the state. Adirondacks. Long Island has beaches on both north & south shores. Montauk Point. Green Lake State Park. Niagara Falls. Thousand Islands. Finger Lakes. Cooperstown and the MLB Hall of Fame. And that’s without even mentioning the obvious. 😉

  19. Depends on the state and income. I grew up in Pennsylvania, which is landlocked in a mostly low income area. If you were high middle class you went out of state to the beach. Low middle class, you went to the Poconos. Poor you either did nothing or went nearby to a camping spot with a lake you could swim in.

  22. NJ here. We have multiple beaches and beautiful towns to Vacation in. We also have lakes and ski areas as well

  23. California has ski resorts, wine regions, state/national parks, beaches, theme parks, cities, and probably more that I can’t think of off the top of my head

  24. I live just outside of Charleston SC. For some reason, makes no sense to me, a lot of locals here go up to Myrtle Beach for vacations. I guess because it’s cheap, but the beaches right here on our front porch are 1000x better. It’s called Dirty Myrtle for a reason.

  25. Pretty common for many Pennsylvanians to vacation in Pennsylvania. Lots of places to vacation. Pittsburgh, Lake Erie, Philadelphia, the Pocono Mountains. But most of them vacationed to the Jersey Shore, the OBX of NC, and delaware beachesz

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