The Axelrod's "Top Ten"...States In America

Since we've been home for the holidays, and we just arrived in St Petersburg, Fla. for the month of January we thought it would be cool to narrow down the 37 states we've visited and give you our "Top Ten".

We have taken into account a handful of deciding factors including landscape, things to=do, weather, food and people were our categories of choice. After some deep-rooted negotiations, discussion, backtracking and reminiscing without any hollering between us, This is what we came up with. We hope you dig it!

#10 Idaho- The Pacific Northwest is predominantly featured in our Top Ten and we'll start the trend here, with Idaho. We had three main stops in the state with the star being the magnificent, gorgeous, and stunning Coeur D'Alene. Neatly nestled on beautiful Lake Coeur D'Alene this scenic and charming town had much to offer. Plus, we had our first beach day there in quite awhile.

Idaho Falls was another potato state wonder.

While we were there it was in the mid-to-high seventies everyday and in the mid 50's and 60's at night. For eats we did a Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives joint that rocked and the one hundred year old Hudson Hamburgers which was an awesome experience as well.

#9 Oregon- The Oregon coastline is absolutely magnificent...the weather not so much! It has beautiful beaches an unbridled coastline with magnificent waterfalls. While we were touring there we went to Bullards Beach, Eugene and Portland. Bullards Beach was our first Oregon stop and only a bike ride away from our campground. We have to say just driving to Oregon from Cali our mouth was agape. Just the drive was magnificent. Bullard Beach was right on the Pacific Coast and was breathtaking.

Eugene was unspectacular but cool nevertheless. We hit a winery outside of the city that was simply stupendous and Portland had a lot to offer. The two brightest highlights being the Multnomah and Bridal Veil Falls and the Grotto. Both places left lifetime impressions.

#8 Tennessee- We never expected Tennessee to be a top ten prior to visiting the state. Don't get us wrong, we hugely anticipated our visit especially to Nashville and then somewhat less to Graceland but heck! Memphis, Nashville, and Chattanooga all exceeded expectations! Knoxville was a nice visit too but the other three town/cities were exceptional. Hence, Tennessee gets numero ocho out of the 37 states we've visited. Welcome to our Top Ten Tennessee!

Between the music, the bbq, the people, their history, and, the things-to-do...forget about it! Great times were had. Our highlights in Memphis were Beale St., The National Civil Rights Museum and of course Graceland.

Nashville really-really Rocked! Between partying on Broadway to visiting the Capitol, The Andrew Jackson Estate, The Grand Ole Opry and the Country Music Hall of Fame....Yikes! It was a great time. We'll be back for sure!

Chattanooga had a wonderful history dating back to the Civil War. Then the naturalness of Ruby Falls and Rock City....dang nab it. It was ye-hah wonderful!

#7 Montana-Similar to Idaho and Oregon, Montana was wonderful just to drive through. Let alone to stop and tour for awhile. Lets get this out of the way first. Butte and Missoula were good visits because they were so different than other parts of the country but the true stars of Montana for us, were Glacier National Park and Whitefish, Although, while visiting Missoula we stayed in LoLo Montana which was about 20 minutes out of the city and that too was beautiful.

#6 Utah-This state should be called the National Park State. While there,we hit Bryce Canyon, Zion, Arches and Cedar Breaks National Parks. Plus, we spent a little time in the city of Moab which was quaint and pretty. The first three NP's were extraordinary. So extraordinary we'll just let you gander at their pics below...no words really necessary.

#5 Washington-Wowie-Kazowie! Washington had lots to offer and being clearly across the opposite end of the country from home we were happy it was as fantastic as it was. Our first awesome visit in Washington was at Vancouver while we were staying in Portland, OR. It was just a short car ride over the bridge to the state.

While in Washington we visited two National Parks, Tacoma, Seattle, Gig Harbor, Port Townson, Port Angeles and we even took a ferry ride to Victoria, the Capitol of Vancouver, CN. These visits were the reasons why Washington comes in at #5.

You know we love our National Parks and Mount Rainier and Olympic kept the trend in tact. Among the natural phenomenons of these parks, the waterfalls in both were extraordinary parts of the visits to both. The water has to run downhill and boy did it ever!

Here are a few pics from our stops in Vancouver WS., Gig Harbor, Crescent Beach (where we stayed while visiting Olympic NP) Port Townson, Port Angeles and Victoria, CN.

We couldn't leave out mentioning our favorite new friends we met in Washington, Stuart and Toni Nicholas. Such wonderful people! We loved, touring Olympic NP with them as well as playing Yahtzee, dining, drinking and having plain old fun together. They even hosted us at their beautiful home after our visit to Seattle. Great Peeps!

We loved Seattle too! It had so much to offer! The Pike Place Market, A Seattle Mariners game, Starbucks Reserve Roastery-Tasting Room, The Space Needle and the Waterfront were all wonderful sites of the city.

#4 Arizona-We stopped overnight in New Mexico to break up the drive from El Paso to Tuscon. We were there for Super Bowl Sunday and Valentine's Day. The weather was beautiful and it was hot in February. The Tex-Mex was outstanding in a couple places and the things-to-do were plentiful!

We took an eight mile bike ride through Segura National Park. We can picture the cactus, the overlooks and mountains just writing about it. It was a highlight of the visit but there was a lot more to love.

We went to a sprawling mega-mile long Gem Show while there. We never saw anything like it and we could swear this is where we got Covid. We took a day trip to the cowboy town of Tombstone too. We hit an Arizona Vineyard that was beautiful. The wine and service sucked but looking out over the Winery still made it a good visit. We"ll want to spend more time in Sabino Canyon when we go back. We went to a Dessert Museum that was 90% outdoor. Very Cool!

The Tucson. stop was just a tip of the Arizona iceberg. We also loved Phoenix, Scottsdale, The Grand Canyon and Sedona. While on our Phoenix stop we also explored Tempe, Mesa and the aforementioned Scottsdale.

Bike rides at Papago Park and the Scottsdale Bike Trail were both spectacular. The sunset at Papago Park was breathtaking. We think you'll agree after you take a gander at the pics below. Great food at Bootleggers a Triple D restaurant and excellent Italian at Evo.

Next stop was William, AZ and the Grand Canyon. We stayed in the former and drove the 1/2 hour to the national park. It was freezing cold at night and snowy when we arrived and we left a day early because they were calling for more snow. Three days was an okay time to stay anyway. Williams was cool Route 66 town but it was all about the Grand Canyon. It was amazing!

Next stop in Arizona was the pictureous and bugee town of Sedona. If you're a hiker it's paradise. If you like wine it's a home run. If you like wonderful mountainous landscapes and breathtaking overlooks this town is a killer. It also offers offbeat shopping opportunities as well.

While there, we were in awe of the Uptown Sedona Chapel of the Holy Cross. A splendid chapel tucked into the mountains. We hiked the Boyton Canyon trailhead and went to two vineyards just a stones throw from our RV Park. DA Vineyrads was cool but Page Springs Vineyards and Cellars was magnificent in a few ways. The Airport vortex and overlook was a beautiful place to see the sunset and Tiaquepaque was an awesome place to checkout wonderful works of very expensive art.

We have to mention that we had one of our best meals on our entire adventure at Up the Creek restaurant. The food was fantastic! We also had a great time at the Blaz'n M Ranch for dinner and a Cowboy Show.

After writing about Sedona, maybe we should consider a " Top Ten" town/cities list. What do you think? Sedona would probably be on it.

#3 Texas-Yee-Haw! Between the All-Star cities of San Antonio, Austin and Houston along with interesting and wonderful visits to Dallas, Corpus Christi and El Paso. Texas comes in at number three. Our visit to Big Bend National Park helped put Texas near the top of our ten favorite states. Hmmmmmm...A "Top Ten" National Park list? Interested? Let us know, please. Okay, let's stay focused on Texas and start with San Antonio. Don't forget the Alamo! And the Riverwalk, The Missions, and the San Fernando Cathedral were all stars as well to this visit.

Austin was a surprisingly outstanding city. It far exceeded our expectations. It had everything going for it. The Capitol building was as impressive as any we've seen. Other highlights included LBJ' Library and Museum, Mount Bonnell, Barton Springs.

There were other notable museums and entertainment areas in Austin as well but we have more to cover.

Dallas was all about JFK when we visited the 6th Floor Museum on Dealy Plaza and the Grassy Knoll. It was bone-chilling! Additional time spent at the Fort Worth Stockyard and AT&T Stadium were more highlights to this stay.

Big Bend National Park is an American wonder. We'll let the pictures do the talking for us with this one addition. We stayed in Maverick Ranch Rv Park which was exceptional and Terlingua Ghosttown was special too.

The weather was not great while in Texas but we think that's because we visited in February. There were a handful of restaurants and BBQ joints worth mentioning. Great Tex-Mex, Great BBQ we're enjoyed in Julio's Dave's BBQ ( El Paso), The Woolworth and Pecan Lodge ( Austin), Franklin BBQ and Chuy's ( San Antonio), Boodro on the Riverwalk ( Corpus Christi), The Pit Room, Weights & Measure, Lupe Tortillo and Papasittos in (Houston). And speaking of Houston...here are our highlights.

We were in Houston during the New year so touring the mansions and their Christmas lit splendor in the River Oaks area was amazing. Along with The Waterwall, Smither Park, Seismique and our day trip to Galveston were additional highlights.

#2 Florida-Yep! The Sunshine State comes in at #2 because it has The Keys, The Everglades, The Kennedy Space Center, Sanibel, Captiva, Sarasota, St. Petersburg

(cause Brad's Mom, Sister and Brother-in-Law, live there), Cedar Key, and the Panhandles' Destin and Pensacola.

We started the Florida leg of our tour the end of October last year and didn't depart for Mississippi until mid December. So of course being in Florida for the late Fall and early Winter is a huge weather plus...but there's more. Hollywood, St Augustine and Jacksonville were great visits too but we'll focus on the highlights.

Let's start with the Keys. We stayed in the most beautiful Rv Park of our entire trip and for what they charged us it was still worth the dough. Our campsite was in Sugarloaf Key and while there we also went to Marathon, Islamorada and of course Key West.

The highlights were Duval St., Mallory Square, Bahia Honda State Park and Robbie's to feed the Tarpon.

After stopping in the Keys we went to the Everglades. Wow! It was Stupendous! It was so different from any other place in the USA we adventured. Between the alligators, dolphins, swamps, Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve it was unique upon itself.

Captiva and Sanibel were day trips while staying on the west coast in Fort Meyers. Two charming beach towns. We had an awesome bike ride in Sanibel and ate at the Bubble Room in Captiva. We've been going to Sarasota for years because of family and Siesta Key Beach remains a top three beach in all of America. Always great to visit with Uncle Mel and Aunt Judy there. Same to be said about St Petersburg. For us it's all about family there. The beautiful community is the bonus plan.

The Redneck Riviera highlights for us were Destin and Pensacola, Fl. While we were setting up our tour we had no idea the Panhandle was as magnificent as it turned out to be. We got lucky when we found these two stops. We liked it so much we booked the upcoming month of February in Destin. We gave Henderson State Park where we stayed in Destin a five, on a one to five basis. The beach there was just stunning.

Pensacola was only a stones throw away from Destin but worth the seperate three days we spent there. The Gulf Island National Seashore was unbelievable! The sand was so fine crystal white it looked like snow, not sand.

#1 California-For us, it was a no-brainer that California was our favorite state to adventure. There is so much to see and do. The landscape is absolutely breathtaking and can be compared to anywhere in the world. Yes, we're talking about comparisons to Italy, Spain, Portugal, England, France, Mexico and The Caribbean. We're not saying California is better than those other destinations but can be compared to any of those.

Here's why! We visited the Los Angeles area for ten days. San Diego was an absolute ten in itself with additional spell-bounding visits to Monterey, Pebble Beach, Carmel By The Sea, Santa Cruz, Napa and Sonoma Valleys, San Fransisco, Sausalito and Lake Tahoe. That's a traveling cornucopia of magnificence. Additional stops at Yosemite and Redwood National Parks made California a grand-slam home-run and hence our number one.,

We'll take you along on our southern to northern tour of the state. We started our Callie tour in San Diego after a brief overnight stay in Yuma, Az. San Diego has it all. Great weather along with a stones throw away from Torrey Pines, La Jolla. and Coronado Island.

Los Angeles is more than one of the largest populated cities in America. La La Land's surrounding areas, towns, beaches and islands were a true delight. Between Venice, Santa Monica, Catalina Island and Pasadena...whew-we

Our bike ride to Venice Beach has awesome fun and our ferry-ride-bike-ride around Catalina Island was also tremendous.

Hollywood is scuzzy but we had a good time checking out the Walk Of Fame and the Getty, recommended by a friend was a winner-winner-chicken-dinner!

While stopping in Monterey, we also took day trips to Carmel by the Sea and Pebble Beach while taking the 17 Mile Drive to each. The beachfronts were breathtakingly spectacular.

Yosemite will definitely be in a list of our top ten National Parks if we do one. Or, we should say if you want one? Please let us know. Yosemite had it all...waterfalls, elk, rivers, beaches, giant sequioas and great bike and hiking trails. We took 287 pictures there...we'll narrow those down for you.

After drinking so much wine we needed a Napa...haha...get it? Napa Valley first, then, Sonomo. We're getting to Wine Country folks! Quite frankly, the wine was awesome, but, the Wineries and Vineyards were more beautiful and more splendid to visit than to even drink their wine. In Napa we visited Domaine Carneros, Artesa, Pine Ridge, Quintessa, Louis Martini and Romeo Vineyards and Wineries. We couldn't drink wine at all of them or we'd be alcoholics but we might have blown the two drink maximum on a few days.

Sip, Sip Hooray...Sonoma Valley next! While visiting Sonoma we also spent a day in San Fran with friends and took a day trip to Sausalito. Great diversity! While in Sonoma we hit Simi, Francis Ford Coppola, Ferrari-Carrano, Jordan Wineries and did a tasting at J Vineyards.

Lake Tahoe was our last stop in Callie (YES, it snowed while there) and will also be our last stop on our "Top Ten" list of States, Axelrod style.

We hope you enjoyed our list, pictures, and highlights of our journey. If it sucked, please let us know? If you liked it and would be interested in more Axelrod "Top Tens" please like our blog and/or comment. Your input is appreciated both good and bad! Cause, if it did suck we put way too much time into doing this and there won't be another. Hehe...Thanks for following our adventure. Wishing you and yours a happy and healthy 2023. With Love, Kathy and Brad

Special thanks to Rick and Jan Menetti, Pat and Rebecca Neville, Mel & Judy Axelrod, Marci and J Kolb, for their astute, intuitive, and insightful recommendations to our travel plans. Additional thanks to Chris Morse, Jon Berman, Ruth Cohen, Tim McCool and others for their heads-up on places to go. We're heading to the Great Lakes after our ST Pete, Destin, Fl.and Charleston SC longterm stays. Any insight, advice or recommendations are welcomed. Thanks, Kathy and Brad...again.