I don’t mean that kind of mining, although the photo below shows my son Luke ecstatic at having found, um, some sort of rock while panning for gems outside the Cave of the Winds in Colorado Springs.
No, for the purposes of this post, by “mining for local gems” I mean to discuss the process of unearthing the local attractions in any city you visit. I’m putting the finishing touches on the itinerary for our grand 2009 summer expedition, so this is very much on my mind. In fact, this might be a good time to offer some tips for RV travelers who want to maximize their visit to cities by taking advantage of local attractions. How do you FIND the attractions? I offer a half-dozen ways:
LOOK AT A MAP: It sounds obvious, but I’m always amazed by people who take road trips and either forget to bring along an atlas or refuse to consult it. When I first considered our visit to western South Dakota last year, for instance, I examined both the regional map of the Black Hills and the city map of Rapid City (I use a couple of atlases, by the way. Sometimes three). I simply looked for the little red squares (colors and shapes may differ per atlas) touting local attractions. So besides visiting Mount Rushmore, my maps told me we also could have explored, for instance, Wind Cave National Park, the Museum of Geology, the Cleghorn Springs Fish Hatchery, Storybook Island, Dinosaur Park, etc, etc.
USE THE INTERNET: Once I have a sense of options, then I look for details. The Internet is just about the best tool for a road trip since the invention of the wheel. Although the GPS and the Blackberry come close. Now, I’m a bit meticulous about this: I have a three-inch-thick binder that I take with us, filled with printouts detailing everything from RV parking info to attraction fees to the location of various Barnes & Nobles and Chuck E. Cheeses (just in case). You can be as pre-planned as you want to be – I’m on one end of the spectrum. But the World Wide Web can give you great local help.
PICK UP BROCHURES: Most every RV campground has a collection of brochures somewhere near the registration desk. Often, there are dozens of different ones. Usually, they tout attractions not only in the immediate area, but also in the general region. So at the campground on the outskirts of Colorado’s Great Sand Dunes National Park, for instance, we were able to pick up a bunch of brochures about various attractions in and around the Pike’s Peak area. That way, as we motor along, we can discuss what might come next.
FIND A VISITOR CENTER: Maybe it’s called a visitor and convention bureau. Or a chamber of commerce. Or a simple info kiosk. But by any name, it is there to help you (the visitor) find something to do.
TALK TO PEOPLE: The folks at the RV campgrounds are in the same boat (so to speak) as you. Maybe they’ve been there before. Maybe they’ve planned carefully. Perhaps they live somewhere in the region. On several occasions, a simple chat with these amiable people has translated into a change of our plans or an unexpected addition to the itinerary. At the very least, as happened to us at Pike’s Peak last July 4th, they’ll tell you to wear warm clothes if you’re trekking to the top of a mountain.
TALK TO FRIENDS: Our friend Dana has traveled through Palm Springs. She told us to look out for the Discovery Children’s Museum last summer. Our friend Adam used to live in Boise. He suggested we visit well-worth-it Bruneau Dunes State Park two years ago. Our friend Lauren grew up in Milwaukee. She told us not to miss the Betty Brinn Children’s Museum when we went through town during the summer of 2005. If your friends can’t join you on your journey, at least they can point you in the right direction.
So that’s how we find the gems. There’s gold in them thar hills.
