Summer’s coming, and across the fruited plains, people are making vacation plans. Since plenty of folks’ plans involve travel, and despite some problems with air travel of late, Google Flights are gathering data (Google is good at that) about where people are planning to go this year. It doesn’t come as a huge surprise that Google Flight’s top ten vacation destinations are all big cities. Here is their list:
- London
- Paris
- Tokyo
- Rome
- New York
- Cancun
- Orlando
- Las Vegas
- Seattle
- Athens
Of those, were I to pick one, it would be Tokyo, although my wife and I have already spent a fair amount of time in Tokyo and love the place.
But, sure, all those are big cities. Despite my fondness for Tokyo, which is a real outlier, I’m not a fan of cities. Still, vacations are important to take our minds away from the various woes of life, and choice of destination can be key.
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This piece inspired me to come up with my own list. So, without further ado, here are my top ten recommendations for the 2024 summer vacation season.
1: The Boundary Waters Canoe Area. It’s been almost 50 years since I was in this area, but I have very fond memories of the summer I was 16, when I tied my old 17-foot aluminum cargo canoe on top of my old Ford, motored north, and spent about two weeks, alone, canoeing and wandering the Boundary Waters. (I don’t recommend doing this kind of thing alone, of course, but young men aren’t always known for their robust sense of self-preservation.) I had a great time: It’s a beautiful, wild country. I caught a lot of fish, heard wolves howling at night, and, as my Dad was fond of predicting, came home when I got hungry.
2: Quebec, Canada – the Laurentides. These are stumps of ancient mountains, a great area with rugged hills, deep forests, and beautiful clear lakes. A few years back my wife and I spent a long weekend in the area, staying in a lovely little B&B in the town of Sainte Agathe-ded-Monts. The fishing was, I admit, a little disappointing, but the scenery and the hospitality of the locals made up for it. Be careful what you say, though; there’s no First Amendment in Canada.
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3: Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Ernest Hemingway spent many of the summers of his youth in Michigan, mostly in the lower part; his family owned a cabin on Walloon Lake near Petoskey. But his story “The Big Two-Hearted River” describes his semi-autobiographical character Nick Adams fishing the Fox River north of the U.P. town of Seney, and while I’ve only dabbled in exploring the Yoop, I’ve always wanted to re-create Nick Adams’ fishing excursion. One day, maybe.
4: The Mojave Desert. In the summer of 1991, I was the convoy commander for a Colorado Army National Guard battalion’s trek across the Mojave on our way from Pueblo, Colorado to Camp Roberts, California. Bear in mind that Army vehicles are not air-conditioned, and our convoy was limited in speed by an ancient, rattling, flatulent 2-1/2 ton tool van that could only manage about 45mph. I was nevertheless struck by the bleak beauty of the desert, and intend to return to explore it some more. One precaution: Nothing grows in that country but has stickers.
5: Grand County, Colorado. Much of what used to be Colorado remains up in Grand County. There are some scattered towns — Granby, Hot Sulphur Springs, Kremmling — and even the Winter Park ski resort, if that’s your thing. When we still lived in the state, we hung around Grand County a fair bit, and my loyal sidekick Rat and I still hunt elk and mule deer in the Gore Pass area most years. If you want to see some great country and a few old mountain towns that as yet haven’t gone too Californey, check it out.
6: Texas, the Hill Country. Texas is a big place, and there are a lot of neat places to see, but when the Army had me at Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio, whenever my schedule allowed, I liked to go up around Kerrville just to hang out. I would have loved to have done some hunting in the area, but all of that country is privately owned, and trespass fees were pretty steep for a Second Lieutenant. But it’s a beautiful area.
7: Puerto Rico, the Caribbean coast. Some years back, I was working in San Lorenzo in central Puerto Rico and staying in Caguas, but on weekends I often found my steps taking me to either Ponce or La Parguera, where I would sit on the beach with a frosty-cold beer, a long green cigar, and my toes in the water. I don’t know much about post-hurricane PR, but back then, the beaches were not crowded, the booze and food were cheap, and the lovely, clear Caribbean was as warm as bath water.
8: Northeast Iowa. Everything I’ve done in my life has taken me farther and farther from home, but as I age, it daily becomes more obvious how much being a farm-country kid from Iowa has made me who I am. Allamakee County, where I grew up, is not what people picture when they think of Iowa. This country was missed by the last glaciation, and so instead of gently rolling grassland this ancient terrain consists of hills covered with hardwood timber, with trout streams in the valleys. Deer and wild turkeys live in the woods and fish in the streams, and I keep thinking I need to make time to revisit those hills of my youth. If you’re in Iowa, it’s worth going up there to see just how varied that state can be.
9: Lake of the Ozarks. Our oldest daughter and her husband keep a big trailer down on “The Lake,” as do her husband’s parents, and we have, on several occasions, traveled to visit. It’s fun in summer, touring the Redneck Riviera on a big party barge; activities include fishing for largemouth bass and big, delicious blue cats, as well as coving (you pull the party barge into a cove, of which the lake has many, put a cooler of beer into an innertube, launch it, everyone jumps in the water.) There are also a million little watering holes and eating places along the lake, all of which are worth visiting.
10: Alaska, the Susitna Valley. Yes, really. Not only is there no place like home, we worked very hard for many years to get here. Not only is it a beautiful country, but the people are friendly, and there are many great places to eat, have a drink and gas with the locals. One of our favorite places is the Sheep Creek Lodge, pictured below. There is great fishing, great hunting, and miles upon miles of walking trails. Alaska is vast, wild, beautiful, and free, and when it comes to relaxing, there’s no place I’d rather be than right here.
Wherever your travels may take you this summer, enjoy! Relax, enjoy the scenery, have a few fine meals and some drinks if that’s your thing, and relax. It’s important to blow off steam and unwind — and the troubles of the world will still be here when you get back. And to stay right on top of those troubles, consider upgrading to a VIP account. VIP status will open a plethora of stories and podcasts here at RedState. And remember that a Gold-level account gets you access to all of our sister sites in Townhall Media: PJ Media, Twitchy, Hot Air, Bearing Arms, and Townhall.com. Use promo code SAVEAMERICA for a 50% discount.
