Here is a slideshow of 40 unique small towns in the US. I've been to about 4-5 of them. I'd love to do all of them if I could. This is my favorite type of vacation, exploring small towns that have something interesting or unique to look at or just a feel of days gone by. I'd love a road trip across the country! http://www.housebeautiful.com/lifestyle/g3655/small-american-town-destinations/?slide=40
Recognized a few. Gallup, NM, we've stayed overnight numerous times. Picturesque town with a large gulley running through it, which often floods with the flash floods typical of high desert. My moving truck, I was driving to MO alone from AZ, blew two double rear tires right in town, on I-40! Shipshewana, IN, is an Amish town only about 20 miles from where my wife was born and raised. We frequented the Amish antique stores there, as well as restaurants. She bought my beer-bottle capper for me, a nice, solid, cast iron unit, in an antique store there! The clerk frowned......... St. Genevieve, MO, was a town passed through enroute to Lake of the Ozarks. Galena, IL, is on the mainline route of the Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy RR, central part of the state. Beautiful OP, Chrissy! Thank you. Frank
I haven't been to the US yet but I would be glad to visit any old town particularly in the rural area. If you have heard of Santa Rosa in California, that's where I want to go because of the story that my husband had told me. He was invited for a weekend vacation in a mountain cabin and he had seen the pear tree and sugar plums. Fortunately, those trees were fruiting and so my husband went back to the cabin with a handful of pears and fresh prunes (this is how I understand that small plum). And I'm sure there are small towns that are more interesting with their own native attractions.
@Corie Henson Corie, Southern California around 1900 has been described as the "closest to Heaven" one can find on earth. And I don't doubt that. There is a most wonderful book written about that time frame, a historical novel, with fictitious characters, but nonetheless accurate about the area, people's lives, and so on. It covers the discovery of Oil in a most wonderful way. As you are probably fluent in Spanish, you would appreciate the main characters: a family led by a man of Dutch ancestry, Van Vliet was his name, who married a Mexican woman. Their sons, form the bulk of the story, the youngest son, named Vincent Van Vliet, was nicknamed "3-Vee". His older brother, Bud, married a girl whom 3-Vee was in love with, though she did not know it. Descriptions of the Los Angeles valley are priceless. Yellow mustard flowers, growing in profusion, covered the hills and valleys. The Railroad brought prosperity, people, invention, money, and heartache. If you enjoy reading exciting books, this one tops my list. "Palo Verde", by Jacqueline Briskin. Published about 1978. I have read it through many times, never failing to catch some new incident! If you cannot obtain a copy, and want one, PM me, and I will mail mine to you. Remembering scenes "painted" in that book catch in my throat, with tears in my eyes. I was moved by it. Frank
I stayed in Gallup New Mexico one time..several years ago now. This was in February, and the winds were something else. There was about a 50 60 Mph wind going on at night enough to rattle windows in the motel, and whip up gravel in the parking lot. If it was happening around here..there would definitely be a high wind advisory going on. However, I was asking a desk clerk about the wind...she said..it is almost always like this, during this time of year. During the day, it seemed more civilized..pleasant even.
Yes if ever I visit the USA it's the small more traditional towns I want to visit, not the large metropolises .
I would agree, Holly. Some big cities are interesting such as Chicago and NYC but the rest are all alike. All the same franchises everywhere you go.
@Frank Sanoica , Galena is one of the towns I've been in. Also Capitola, CA. And Paia, Hawaii. The last 2 are very hippyish.