{"id":8908,"date":"2019-05-20T10:30:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-20T14:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/?p=8908"},"modified":"2019-05-10T09:22:57","modified_gmt":"2019-05-10T13:22:57","slug":"5-under-the-radar-north-american-destinations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/5-under-the-radar-north-american-destinations","title":{"rendered":"5 Under-the-Radar North American Destinations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Memorial Day weekend will be here before you know it, and most of us at Explorica are ready for an unofficial summer getaway. But, where should you go that isn\u2019t too far from home and won\u2019t be so crowded you can\u2019t enjoy the change of scenery? Below are five destinations in the continental U.S. that fit this need perfectly. Check them out and see which will be the best place for you to kickoff the season!<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

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\nBlock Island, Rhode Island
\n<\/b>Just thirty-minutes from the fishing town of Galilee by high speed ferry, Block Island is one of Rhode Island\u2019s best kept secrets. While nearby Martha\u2019s Vineyard and Nantucket are experiencing the summer hustle and bustle, the 17 miles of pristine white beaches on Block Island stay almost crowd-free. Bike rentals, hiking trails, lighthouses, shopping, and of course, beaches\u2014this little getaway has “Sunday outing” written all over it. The Mohegan Bluffs are not to be missed. These 150 granite cliffs are a sight to behold, and those that brave the steep steps down (and the looming thought of the climb back up) are rewarded by a secluded beach that offers the most dramatic views in all of Rhode Island.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\nKaty Trail State Park, Missouri
\n<\/b>Missouri\u2019s Katy Trail State Park has the longest developed rail-trail in the U.S., spanning 240 miles between Clinton and Machens. The park was built on the former corridor of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (MTK or Katy) and winds through some of the most scenic areas of the state with the majority of the trail following the Missouri River quite closely. There are 26 trailheads and options for bicyclists, walkers, and equestrians. Whether you are nature lover or history buff, the trail offers opportunities for recreation, a place to enjoy nature and an avenue to discover the past. <\/span><\/p>\n

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\nValley of Fire, Nevada
\n<\/b>An hour’s drive from the Las Vegas Strip, this state park is a great place to escape the madness. The area is named after its bold and bright red sandstone formations.<\/span> They may feel other-worldly, but the 2,000-year-old petroglyphs and thorough Visitor Center will remind you that you\u2019re stepped in human history<\/span>. Visiting during the spring or fall is advisable\u2014visitors are warned not to hike in the scorching summer temperatures. Many claim the park rivals Zion National Park in Utah, without the crowds.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\nApostle Islands, Wisconsin
\n<\/b>With their windy beaches and postcard-worthy cliffs, the Apostle Islands are \u2014 as the National Park Service puts it \u2014 \u201cwhere water meets land and sky, culture meets culture, and past meets present.\u201d The lighthouses of Lake Superior are scattered across 21 islands and 12 miles of mainland, with mysterious sea caves sprinkled in for good measure. Camping, diving, kayaking, hiking, scenic boat trips, and even diving to shipwrecks all on the menu. A smorgasbord of summer fun. If you come back in the winter, you might arrive in time to walk across the frozen lake for a <\/span>jaw-dropping spectacle. The caves are dripping with frozen icicles and waterfalls frozen into ice ripples, columns and curtains.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\nGreat Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Colorado
\n<\/b>Open 24\/7 year round, this park is a diverse landscape of grasslands, wetlands, conifer and aspen forests, alpine lakes, and tundra. The stars of the show are the dunes \u2014 the tallest sand dunes in the US, and to take full advantage, visitors head here for sand-boarding and sledding. You’ll need to bring your own boards, but the park service lays out clear guidelines on what instrument works best for sledding.\u00a0<\/span>Experience a starry sky on moonless nights, or a surreal walk on the dunes under bright full moonlight.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Memorial Day weekend will be here before you know it, and most of us at Explorica are ready for an unofficial summer getaway. But, where should you go that isn\u2019t too far from home and won\u2019t be so crowded you can\u2019t enjoy the change of scenery? Below are five destinations in the continental U.S. that Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8925,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-explorica-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8908"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8988,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8908\/revisions\/8988"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.explorica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}