Everybody’s working for a weekend…of travel!
When we dreamed up the vision for The Jaunt, the nation was mired in a pandemic where dreams of places visited in the past and future were the only tangible connections to travel we had.
When the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) made updated recommendations for vaccinated Americans, it opened up the floodgates for cities and states to reopen. That means increasing numbers of folks will head back to stores, attractions, and other venues.
If you’re looking to rent a vacation rental, secure a camping spot, or even rent a car—you’ll be lucky to land a spot and paying a ton of money for that car. This just underscores how much of a thirst Americans have to travel, after being inside their homes for more than a year. 💡Note: This is a topic we will be exploring in-depth here in the coming weeks, from the places people are visiting and the tech that’s helping get us there more efficiently.
One of the greatest opportunities for us to return to travel will be exploring right out our back door. A majority of Americans, wary to travel in airplanes or head overseas, will have a chance to dabble in exploration in their home city and state.
One of the biggest challenges is the discovery aspect of travel. That’s why we’re scouring the ends of the internet and tapping our favorite sources to curate a list of articles about interesting and unique places you can travel. It’s our hope that these posts will help inspire you to explore places you didn’t know about before.
We’ll be sending a list like this each week, pulling articles and sources as well as listing which state and region they’re located in. We hope you enjoy this list and please be sure to share this email and newsletter with other fellow travelers. We’re always willing to hear your favorite travel spots, too—send them our way!
Here are some of the articles that we’re reading that are having us not just dreaming about travel, but actually making it happen. Be sure to keep reading for our “discovery of the week” and a great photo we had to share.
⛺️ Backcountry Camping in an Inland Sea of Sand | Via: Field Mag | Colorado | Mountain States
If you’re looking for one of the most underrated and least-visited national parks, look no further than Great Sand Dunes in Colorado. Known for its mile-high towering dunes and nighttime stargazing, it needs to be on your radar. It’s also one of the quietest spots on the continent.
💡Local Tip: Each night, weather-permitting, rangers allow 20 permits to camp beyond the day-use area. You just have to climb and hike to get there.
🌼 Rare Flower Blooms in Abandoned Gas Station | Via: SFGate | California | Western States
Sometimes, the most delightful things literally pop up right in our backyard. Take for instance a rare flower that has emerged from the concrete of an abandoned gas station in San Francisco. A local flower shop owner placed it there so people could get a good view and since, lines have been forming down the block to catch a good look and a pic.
🚘 A Deliciously Diverting Road Trip Through the Deep South | Via: Wall Street Journal | Oxford to Natchez | Southeast
When we think of the South, we can pick off a few of the classic cities. But Andrew Nelson makes the case for savoring small-town stops and lingering whenever possible. His road trip reassures us that getting back on the road to explore is back on track.
💎 Uncovering Hidden Gems on New Mexico’s Turquoise Trail | Via: Texas Monthly | New Mexico | Mountain States
One key to exploring is to get off the interstate. Many states offer scenic trails or highways that bisect small towns and natural areas. A good example—New Mexico’s Turquoise Trail, a 50-mile stretch of Hwy. 14.
💡Local Tip: Stop by the Mine Shaft Tavern, a lively haunt serving New Mexico fare and cold beer since…1899.
🌲 Milwaukee Magazine Writers Explore What Makes Going Up North In Wisconsin So Special | Via: WUWM | Wisconsin | Midwest
In Wisconsin, Up North, or ‘Da Nort’ as the locals pronounce it, is a truly magnificent place. It’s not just the physical region where the farmland gives way to the pine trees and lakes, but it’s a destination for generations of families to escape life in favor of time spent at a fish fry or pondering life at the edge of a pier.
🏭 Local Travel: Explore West Virginia’s Canaan Valley | Via: Columbus Monthly | West Virginia | Mid-Atlantic
With a name evoking the Promised Land, this formerly struggling mining boomtown and the industrial region have been transformed into an outdoor enthusiast’s paradise.
💡Local Tip: Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge is a can’t-miss destination. Whether traveling on foot or by bike, 30 miles of trails will guide you throughout the wilderness. Topography varies from wetlands to forests and home to creates like deer, raccoons, bobcats, and black bears.
🛤 How to Hop Trains to Montana During a Pandemic | Via: Teton Gravity Research | Montana | Mountain States
Sure, train-hopping is technically illegal. But in riding the rails and hitchhiking across the American West, they tapped into the endless spirit and culture of opportunity, grit, self-determination, and free-living that defines much of America. Check out the incredible photos and short documentary.
🔎 Discovery of the Week
Texas is a state filled with endless stories. We found an Instagram account and website of a team based in Austin that travels across the state to capture and catalog the stories of the hundreds of small towns that dot the Texan landscape. The project is called The Great Texas Road Story and follows an interesting trend we’ve been seeing where dedicated historians, photographers, and writers are documenting the history of buildings, signs, and entire small towns so they’re never lost to the dustbin of history. As American towns become more and more vanilla and impossible to distinguish, sites like this are helping preserve the history of the bowling alley, fueling station, motel, and taverns that distinguished the town and the people who lived there. We’ll be interviewing their team for a later story here, so stay tuned! This is how they describe their mission:
To find the things we are looking for we drive the forgotten roads, the dirt roads, the gravel roads, the creaky one lane bridge roads, the roads with a muddy water hole of indeterminate depth that Andrea tells me not to go through, but I do, and we make it through, and we celebrate, and I sigh in relief that I’m not going to have to pull a Honda from a muddy pit, at dusk, with no reception, and our new kitten in tow. We pay special attention to place names, color, typography, cemeteries, laundromats, theaters, and post office and newspaper buildings.
📈 Trend We’re Excited About
Travel is back and there are a number of startups that are building new tools to help us get back on the road. Hiring at many of these companies is ramping back up and new updates are being made to apps and websites that took some time off during the pandemic as people remained in their homes. It’s not unusual for unpredictable and challenging times to create new companies—Airbnb was launched following the recession. It is going to be really interesting following these startups as the world starts to finally move again. We think many travelers will be exploring their own hometowns, regions, and states nearby first before hopping on planes and traveling internationally. That’s why our work is just beginning. Be sure to check out future articles about these trends and startups coming soon!
📺 What We’re Excited to Watch Next Week
A few years ago, we read the incredible story of the Donut King, a Cambodian refugee who ended up building a multi-million dollar empire of donut shops up and down the west coast. Now, the documentary premieres Monday on PBS’s Independent Lens. Check out the trailer:
📸 A Photo to Remember
After 53 years, an epic sign of a famous Denver landmark has emerged. Located at 8315 East Colfax Avenue, the sign greeted travelers from the Famous Chef, which was open for 18 years, from 1950 to 1968. Fallen on hard times, it was most recently a strip club that was demolished. When the sign framework was being ripped apart, the original sign made its appearance, in very good shape, all things considered.