States and Provinces – Less Beaten Paths of America Travel Blog

23Dec 2020 by Sumoflam No Comments

Roadtrippin’ 2020: An Overview

Adventure, Arizona, Back Roads, Backroads Discoveries, Birds, Bison, Books, Bridges, Buffalo, California, City Skylines, Cross Country Road Trips, Deer, Dinosaurs, Dragons, Dream Highways, Eagles, Family Travel, Geologic Formations, Giant Things, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Landscapes, Less Beaten Paths Books, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Mountains, Mountains, Murals, National Monuments, National Parks, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ocean Scenes, Offbeat Places, Ohio, Oregon, Place Names, Quirky Things, Raccoon, Roadside Attractions, Roadsigns, Rocky Mountains, Route 66, Sandhill Cranes, Seagulls, Selfies, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Town Names, Travel with grandchildren, Unexpected Discoveries, Unique Places, US 129, US Highway 101, US Highway 16, Vintage Neon, Wall Art, Welcome Signs, Wyoming

[caption id="attachment_25138" align="alignleft" width="300"] With family at Stitch the Dragon on the Tail of the Dragon (US 129) in Tennessee[/caption] The year 2020 has been a tough year for many people around the world. Its thrown me for a few loops as well. But, overall, as I look back on the year, it has been an absolutely amazing one. In fact, this may very well have been one of my biggest domestic road tripping years ever. Including the 8154 epic road trip in January and February, I put on an additional 4-5000 miles. Following are some of the highlights, which will be covered in separate posts over the next few days. Many of the trips included some of my children and grandchildren. We had some mini-reunions together. From the Blue…

Murals of Hamilton, Ohio

Backroads Discoveries, Birds, Grafitti Walls, Less Beaten Paths Books, Murals, Offbeat Places, Ohio, Quirky Things, Roadside Attractions, Street Art, Unexpected Discoveries, Wall Art

[caption id="attachment_25261" align="alignleft" width="300"] Hamilton's namesake, Alexander Hamilton, has a nice mural in downtown Hamilton. Painted by Nicole Trimble[/caption] Many cities are moving towards becoming "mural towns" as a drawing card to their towns. The nice thing about murals is that they are each so unique and original. In late October 2020 I had the opportunity to visit Hamilton, Ohio, which has now added numerous murals to buildings all around the town. Thanks to an organization called StreetSpark, some lovely murals have begun dotting the town. StreetSpark is similar to Lexington's PRHBTN organization, which I have written about a number of times. StreetSpark is a public art program established in 2016 in partnership with the Fitton Center for Creative Arts, the City of Hamilton and the Hamilton Community Foundation, and…

8154 SNEAK PEAK: New Introduction

Adventure, Arizona, Back Roads, Backroads Discoveries, Books, Bucket List Trips, California, Cross Country Road Trips, Family Travel, Landscapes, Less Beaten Paths Books, Mountains, National Monuments, National Parks, Nebraska, Oregon, Quirky Things, Roadside Attractions, Selfies, South Dakota, Travel with grandchildren, Unique Places, US Highway 101, Washington

While working on my new book 8154, I had written the typical generic introduction to the book. However, since returning in late February, the world has changed dramatically. As a result, I have totally reworked my introduction to the upcoming book of our amazing road trip to the West Coast. As I have written before, this trip took us over 8000 miles through 20 states and much more. Some of my earlier blog posts have detailed parts of this trip. But, on this date (September 16, 2020) the United States is nearing 200,000 deaths as a result of the worldwide pandemic of COVID-19 and it is much greater worldwide, the country's economy has taken a terrible downward turn and hundreds of businesses have dropped off of the face of the earth,…