What does your state have for tourism?

[RC]

They keep pushing tourism in North Dakota. What do we have to attract the tourists?

Well..., North Dakota has the Hjemkomst Viking Ship and a Hopperstad Stave Church Replica over in Moorhead, across the river in Minnesota.

http://www.hjemkomst-center.com/

The worlds largest buffalo in Jamestown, a hundred miles to the west of the above.

http://www.realnd.com/jamestownbuffaloindex.htm
http://www.sorabji.com/2002/road_trip/north_dakota/jamestown/

The Peace Gardens, 160 miles to the North of Jamestown. That is worthy visit. Plan to spend the day and get a room in Rolla or Belcourt. It's a long drive back.

http://www.peacegarden.com/

A big fiber glass Holstein in New Salem. But that is a drive-by on the way to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Unless you want to stop and take a few pictures.

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/set/cow.html

And of the few real tourist attraction - Madora ND - Theodore Roosevelt National Park in Western North Dakota.

http://www.nps.gov/thro/home.htm
http://www.theodore.roosevelt.national-park.com/


In 2003 North Dakota had a population of 633,837
An area of 68,976 square miles.
9.3 people per square mile.
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/38000.html

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I just know I am going to get in trouble for this. But it is about time people face facts. The sites to see, as worthy as some of them are, are too spread out for any real tourism in this state.

What is tourism like in your state?

[Botany]

1. I like the park .......

...... I bet I would have it to myself

[B Calm]

3. Dan Burton's district is a big tourist attraction here in Indiana.

People enjoy seeing seeing the local people bare footed, spitting tobacco and married to their sisters. At night you can hear their banjo music for miles..

[supernova]

2. Tourism has long been a mainstay in NC

http://www.visitnc.com/

Plenty of beaches with swimming, fishing and general lazying about. THere is much the same to be had in the mountains with the addition of hiking and watching the fall leaves.

You can also explore the colonial past in Hillsborough, where I grew up,

Pleanty of artists of all kinds, craftsmen, musicians,
to keep you busy and entertained.

[patricia92243]

6. Don't forget the Biltmore House in WNC - biggest single family home in

the world - or is it just the USA..Perfect example of the robber baaon age - it still has all the good land in this area.

[supernova]

31. Biggest in NA, I belive

I don't think Biltmore is the biggest in the world. And you're right about it being the perfect icon of the Robber Baron Age.

[Mist]

9. There really is a lot in NC-problem is

some of it's quite far apart, i.e., from beaches to mountains is about a day's drive. I feel blessed to live right in the middle of the state: not to far to beach or mountains. To RC from North Dakota, wide open spaces have appeal, too! That can be the "selling point," nobody around, just you and the blue bowl of heaven!

[supernova]

33. Yes, some people don't realize how wide NC is

:D It would be difficult to do the Mountains AND the coast in one vacation. It's about as far from my house to go to Cape Hatteras as to go to DC, about 5-6 hours.

Where are you Lulu? I'm in the Triangle.

To RC: I agree there are proabably a lot of natural areas in SD that would be beautiful to see.

[KharmaTrain]

4. Don't They Have The Lawrence Welk Museum???

Several years ago I was on the PR committee at the local chamber. We were trying to promote a local festival. We ended up having to work with a County division of tourism, a regional tourism agency and then the State Board of Tourism. Each were politically run (the Repugnicans were in control of the regional and state at the time, Democrats for the County) and it was a nightmare. If one found out you got a grant from another, the knives came out...you all but hid the obvious that you were working with all these groups. In recent years, I've heard this process has been bypassed and these events now are publicly funded and promoted...the bullshit just got too deep.

As a traveler, I appreciate some of the places you've listed above, and it's good to know these places exist and are being maintained. For this, I appreciate State Tourism boards. I regularly visit state tourism websites when I plan vacations and a little tidbit I read or see seems to come back at those times leading to some interesting side trips.

That said, seeing the Repugnican Maryland Governor will keep me AWAY from the state. Also if that's the state of George Allen, Virginia sure isn't for lovers and there's no way I'd ever consider going to Texas.

I travel Blue wherever I can. In business, if I can control where a meeting takes place or who I do work with, I always favor a Blue state...especially ones with Democrats in control of the state government. For personal travel, last fall, I changed our plans for a Florida vacation to California based on the elections and I tell my family and friends in Red states that I'll gladly visit when Democrats are elected in your states.

[China_cat]

5. Charleston, SC

Lousy with tourists. We even have tshirts that say "I live here" and (for those who don't want to be bothered) "don't ask me, I'm a tourist, too".

Fort Sumter, historic homes, carriage tours, slave market, etc. Worldclass aquarium and Imax theater (which is still refusing to show the Volcanoes of the Deep because of its reference to evolution). February sees the Wildlife Exposition and soon the Spoleto arts festival will begin. Summer has beaches. Fall has ghost tours and winter has the procession of homes decorated for the holidays.

Be glad your tourist sites are spread out. Ours are all clumped together and it's absolute hell during tourist season. Which is most of the year.

[patricia92243]

8. Hell for people who live there, but us tourist LOVE Charleston. Beautiful

historic old city.

[all.of.me]

15. when i lived on the nh coast, we had bumperstickers that said

i am not a tourist, i live here.

t-shirts, too.

i have also seen one that said, don't honk at me, i live here.

[riverwalker]

7. lots of lakes in Minnesota

the BWCA (Boundary Waters Canoe Area)in the north is a must. My vacation this year is to drive west for 2 weeks and see everything out there. I am focusing on Native American history this year, after the Red Lake tragedy I realized how totally ignorant I am about the nations that lived here for millenia. I have to admit, that in my research, I am kind of amazed that all those places in South Dakota are named after....(IMHO) not very nice people (like Custer and Harney). It would be like having a Hitler National Park, or Goebbel's Peak, in Israel.

[RC]

21. North Dakota usually has billboards along I94, in the Summer,

with Custer on them pushing the Bad Lands. Custer is a hero with a lot of people in ND also. Not me.

[MollyStark]

10. Pa

Valley Forge


Independence Hall


Gettysburg
http://data2.itc.nps.gov/parkphotos/profile0903%2Ejpg

Amish country


The Poconos...home of the heart shaped tub



The Delaware Water Gap


Presque Isle

[EFerrari]

11. We live in Disneyland (CA) but this is the best of it:

Not Hollywood or San Francisco or even the beach at Malibu: Yosemite.

If you are a ski bunny or a camper or a photographer or a hiker or a painter or whatEVER, this park has something for you.

http://data2.itc.nps.gov/nature/photos/ACF5A%2Ejpg

What is it like to live somewhere that isn't crawling with strangers all the time?! :)

[tyedyeto]

14. That looks like Tenaya Lake...???

Ahhhhhh.... fond memories.

[RC]

22. What is it like to live somewhere that isn't crawling with strangers ...

It can get lonely. Nothing between you and the North Pole except Canada in the winter.

[recoveringrepublican]

12. You won't get in trouble from this born and raised NDer

Born and raised until age 11 in Minot. Now live in Florida. If it wasn't for family I would move back to Minnesota or North Dakota in a heartbeat. You can't beat an North Dakota sunset to me. So much land that isn't stack with concrete. Beautiful.

[Art_from_Ark]

13. Arkansas-- home of the Buffalo National River

the first national river in the US (great for floating-- especially in the fall);

To the north and west of the river is Eureka Springs, which has more hotel rooms per capita than any town its size. You can see a huge statue of Jesus, if that's what you're into, and see the Passion Play on a summer's night, or take a trip to Onyx Cave. Or visit all the tourist shops downtown. From there, it's just a short drive to

Pea Ridge National Military Park, the scene of the largest Civil War battle west of the Mississippi River (in Northwest Arkansas, northeast of Rogers and east of Pea Ridge). The park is along US Highway 62, which more or less follows the old Trail of Tears.

A little bit down 62 is Rogers, which is home to the world's first Wal-Mart (which is now a flea market, I believe), and the church Will Rogers was married in (which was a flea market in the '70s, and who knows what it is now). However, the town of Rogers wasn't named after Will Rogers-- it was named after some railroad guy in the 1880s. Next door is Bentonville (named after the Missourian who was instrumental in getting Arkansas admitted in 1836), but it really should be renamed "Wal-Mart City".

Down south a little ways, at the end of the Ozarks, you'll find Fort Smith, which was the home of Isaac Parker, the "Hanging Judge".

Further south of there is America's only diamond field (in Murfreesboro, in the SW), which is not too far from Hope, which is the birthplace of Bill Clinton, as well as the home of the largest watermelons in the US. In the vicinity is Old Washington, which was once the seat of the Arkansas Confederate government.

From Hope, it's not too far to Hot Springs National Park, but when you're there, you ask yourself, Where's the national park? Beats me. I never found it the two times I was there, although people told me the whole town is a national park.

Up the pike from Hot Springs is Little Rock, which features the Old State Capitol, as well as the New State Capitol, which is modeled exactly on the US Capitol Building. There's also, of course, the Clinton Library. And MacArthur Park, named for the famous general who was born there, but didn't spend much time there.

[Heidi]

18. Also the state . . .

where I was born, though that fact doesn't bring in any tourists. Hi, Art_from_Ark! :hi:

[Art_from_Ark]

34. Well, me being from the state doesn't bring any tourists, either,

although when I was a kid I dreamed about charging admission to the Art_from_Ark National Birthplace Shrine :hi:

[Heidi]

16. Lago Maggiore!

[liberalitch]

17. Virginia: Williamsburg, Jamestown, Va. Beach, many...

battlefields (civil war revolution), Wineries, Skyline Drive (Fall/leaves), Montecello, Mount Vernon, Washington DC, Yorktown,
Nightlife in Va. Beach, Norfolk Ricmond
Norfolk's Original mace

[MuseRider]

19. Ha Ha Ha

Welllllll, here in Kansas it is much like North Dakota. We do have lots of things, mostly spread way out like in your state. Some stupid, some cool, some beautiful but nothing that will ever really attract or maintain a tourist industry.

I love my state and have learned the close places to visit that make me happy but it will forever and always be considered a fly over. Sad but true.

The very cool and odd Garden of Eden in Lucas, Kansas



The Flint Hills




Monument Rock



and the always important Praire Sunset

[tyedyeto]

20. Here in AZ we have.......

the rattlesnake bridge: Tucson



the burger family: Willcox



the Longhorn Grill: Amado

[RC]

23. Egads Man!!!

Keep that stuff to yourself. Don't be giving people up here them kinda ideas. :P

[proud2BlibKansan]

24. Garden of Eden in Lucas, KS

No, it's not a religious shrine. It's a great stopover for those driving across Kansas who need a sidetrip.

Located 16 miles north of Interstate 70 in north-central Kansas, Lucas is home to S.P. Dinsmoor's incomparable garden and cabin. Lucas has "the most unique home for living or dead on Earth."

Samuel Perry Dinsmoor, a retired schoolteacher, Civil War veteran, farmer and Populist politician, began building the Garden of Eden and Cabin Home in 1907 at the age of 64. For 22 years he fashioned 113 tons (2,273 sacks) of cement and many tons of limestone into his unique "log" cabin with its surrounding sculptures. He opened his home to guests, conducting tours on the first floor and through the yard from 1907 until a few years before his death in 1932. Now owned and operated by a group formed to preserve it, the site is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and welcomes more than 10,000 visitors annually.

http://www.washburn.edu/cas/art/cyoho/archive/KStravel/GardenOfEden/



\

[LiberallyInclined]

25. Chicago.

other than that...a bunch of Abe Lincoln stuff in Springfield...that's about it...(on edit) oh yeah- East St. Louis- the Gateway to the Gateway to the West.

[in_cog_ni_to]

26. We have cornfields,

cornfields and more cornfields. :evilgrin: I look at Chicago as one of Illinois' greatest tourist attractions. Brookfield Zoo. Maybe Galena. That's a quaint area. There's Springfield. Now we at least have a Lincoln Museum. Really, why would anyone come to Illinois for vacation? :( There's nothing here to see and IMCPO is one of the ugliest states...flat, flat, flat, cornfields, cornfields, cornfields, bean fields, bean fields, bean fields, sod farms, sod farms, sod farms. Who vacations in Illinois unless they have family here they wish to visit?

[gollygee]

27. A bunch of great big lakes

[amandabeech]

30. Which light is that in the top picture?

It looks like the Pentwater light, but then maybe I'm home sick. The Great Lakes shoreline makes Michigan very special, but let's not forget the inland lakes, streams and forests that attract many tourists as well.

I'm still from Michigan, no matter where I live.

[gollygee]

32. I believe it is the Waukegan lighthouse

I agree - the inland lakes, streams, forests, etc., are also beautiful.

[Canadian Socialist]

28. I find it ironic

that N.D. is pushing tourism. It seems your largest group to target would be Canadians (specifically Winnipeggers, which has as many people in that one city as all of N.D.). The reason for the irony? Last week, IIRC, one of the editorials in a newspaper in N.D. specifically came out AGAINST going into Manitoba.
http://winnipeg.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=mb_boycott-outlet-20050420

[Dave Sund]

29. Henry Doorly Zoo and Rosenblatt Stadium

Not much else. The College World Series is a hell of a lot of fun, though.