After doing considerable research here are my suggestions for 5 U.S. Destinations To Avoid During COVID. During the pandemic there are still great places to visit so I am giving you place to go instead.
Traveling and sampling local eateries is a dream come true. But it’s very apparent how much the pandemic has affected every part of the globe. RV vacationers and traveling retirees have had to pull over to consult their maps and reassess their road trip routes.
5 U.S. Destinations To Avoid During COVID (And Where To Go Instead)
If you’ve decided to stay off the road altogether, you can join us on our journey — we’d love to have you along! TheTravelingLocavores.com/About-Us
Otherwise, here are 5 U.S. destinations to avoid during Covid. There’s even one of that we’ve visited!). Hope to see you on the road!
With cases continuing to rise in most U.S. states, not one U.S. resident has remained unaffected by the COVID-19 crisis. Everybody has lost something during this time, even if that something was “only” a much-needed vacation. Many U.S. residents have scrambled to figure out what to do with their suddenly reallocated time and plans, but there are a few typical hot spots that discerning vacationers should avoid for the time being. Here are five of them, along with other options to consider.
As with all travel in the COVID era, you’ll need to be flexible with your plans. Health and safety risks—and business operations—can change on a dime. You should be ready to pivot your plans if things change between making reservations and leaving home. Check the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, read local news, and inquire about community laws and sentiment before traveling. If you’re feeling sick or you’re traveling from a high-risk area, stay home. The following are 5 U.S. Destinations To Avoid During COVID with alternative suggestions.
Avoid: Walt Disney World
In July, Forbes contributor Megan DuBois reported on the situation with The Walt Disney Company and the planned phased reopening of their two U.S. theme parks. In order to open responsibly during the COVID-19 crisis, Walt Disney World instated a park registration system for prospective visitors, social distancing measures, a masking order, temperature checks, and a significant cut to the park’s maximum capacity. Some may argue that this is an ideal time to visit Walt Disney World due to extra sanitation measures and lower capacities, but others feel that the mid-July reopening was still too soon.
The issue with visiting Walt Disney World during these times is not only the increased risk of exposure in the park but the fact that the park is in Florida. As cases in the Sunshine State continue to increase, mitigation efforts have failed to keep up. According to Florida Health, roughly 20% of Florida residents have been tested and of that sample, just under 3% have tested positive for COVID-19. At the time of writing, there are already over 600,000 positive COVID cases in Florida alone. So regardless of the safety measures implemented at Walt Disney World, the cautious traveler should probably skip the parks this year.
Consider: Hersheypark
Hershey, in central Pennsylvania, is a company town like Lake Buena Vista where Disney World is located. However, the region has been much less affected by COVID so you can visit both the theme park and the surrounding town with much less worry.
With both kiddie and thrill rides, Hersheypark may especially be a hit for older kids who are burnt out by It’s a Small World. Candymonium, the new signature coaster, has just opened with speeds up to 76 miles per hour for your adventure seekers. If you are missing Animal Kingdom, you can take a walk on the wild side at Hershey ZooAmerica.
There are even on-site hotels, with the Hotel Hershey inviting the same turn of the century glamour of the Grand Floridian and the Hershey Lodge being more reminiscent of the Wilderness Lodge on Disney property. While you can’t build a LightSaber, you will be able to explore the massive Hershey’s Chocolate World where you can make your own signature candy bar.
Avoid: Great Smoky Mountains National Park
A true gem of the National Park Service, Great Smoky Mountains National Park was America’s most visited National Park in 2019, by far. Unfortunately, this makes it a prime target for nature enthusiasts with suddenly canceled summer plans and quarantine-fueled cabin fever. While the Smokies can generally handle the 12.5 million visitors they saw in 2019 (and the nearby Blue Ridge Parkway hit almost 15 million) this year is painting a very different picture for those beloved borderlands.
As a government entity, the National Park Service has been reopening parks in phases since early summer. At the time of this writing, most of the park is open and ready to receive visitors including visitors who have spent copious amounts of time indoors, visitors who need a quick Plan B for their family getaway, visitors who re-routed their honeymoon for something stateside, etc. Many of the surrounding state parks have seen unprecedented visitation too, but if possible, steer clear of the Smokies this year and try to find a lesser-known alternative for your outdoor adventure.
Consider: Grayson Highlands State Park, Virginia
The Grayson Highlands made our list of Europe-inspired destinations for a reason: The landscape brings Scotland to mind more than the Mid-Atlantic. Located in Southwestern Virginia, the region is just a couple of hours from the Smokies but is much less well known and attracts fewer visitors.
Besides the hiking and outdoor attractions you would expect, you can also enjoy rock climbing, horseback riding, and tubing near the state park. Or if you prefer you outdoors without so much exertion, the wild ponies and wildflowers may be more your speed.
Avoid: Mount Rushmore
Tucked away in the South Dakota wilderness, this unassuming monument might not seem unwise to visit even during a global health crisis. Usually, Mount Rushmore gets around 2 million visitors per year, most coming in the summertime to avoid driving around hairpin turns during the frigid, icy winters. This pales in comparison to the mighty 12.5 million that showed up to Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 2019, but GRSM is a vast wilderness while Mount Rushmore is a comparatively tiny site.
Mount Rushmore is not a place where one can avoid crowds. The hall of flags funnels visitors through one main sidewalk leading up to the amphitheater, where folks can either break right to visit the sculptor’s studio or break left to approach the mountain the other way. It isn’t wilderness, and everyone is there to see the same thing. But there are still more on my list of 5 U.S. Destinations To Avoid During COVID as well as Where To Go Instead.
Consider: Custer State Park
If you were looking forward to visiting the Black Hills, why not camp in the surrounding Custer State Park instead? It’s free to do, and it will be much easier to find a spot to relax away from the crowd. Your neighbors are more likely to be herds of bison than throngs of tourists.
Who needs presidents when you can have dinosaurs? The original Jurassic Park, Dinosaur Park, has welcomed visitors since 1936. It’s as famous for its larger than life statues as it is for its fossils and best of all, it’s free to visit.
Avoid: New York City
Although the Big Apple depends heavily on tourism, this is not the time to flock towards population centers if you do not live or work there. There is hope for NYC looking forward; according to the City of New York, the rolling 7-day average of cases has flattened significantly since mid-June. However, this relatively good news has not signaled a green light for tourism as usual.
Broadway will remain closed for the remainder of 2020 and likely will not see an opening night until the spring of 2021, at the earliest. If Disney+ isn’t doing it for you and you’re missing Broadway proper, put a cautious pin into next spring. When it’s safe to invite tourists back to NYC, Broadway will certainly need you back, front and center.
Consider: Boston
Since Broadway is a no-go, what about a trip to Beantown? Instead of Hamilton, you can indulge your creative side in the literary tradition of Thoreau, Hathorne, Platt, and Frost. The Freedom Trail (which has the socially distanced benefit of being an outdoor attraction) introduces you to luminaries from John Adams to Paul Revere. Or you can follow in the actual footsteps of Alexander himself, who arrived on our shores right in Boston Harbor, which is also infamous for a little squabble over tea.
With fall around the corner, you might want to consider a trip north to Salem, Massachusetts. Salem shines in the season around Halloween with as much witchy kitsch as your coven desires. If you’re not inclined to embrace your inner witch, you can just as easily go natural with a whale watching tour.
Avoid: Washington, DC
Out of a similar vein to New York City, but slightly different, the nation’s capital has welcomed over 20 million tourists per year since 2014. Washington DC is an obvious favorite because, besides being our capital district, it houses incredible museums, libraries, historical sites, and national monuments. The National Park Service has opened the majority of sites and services to visitors so the ever-popular Lincoln Memorial is open, but some of the National Mall facilities are still closed until further notice.
However, this probably isn’t the time to visit DC. Not only is it difficult to avoid crowds at DC’s major attractions, the fact that 2020 has been politically and socially tumultuous increases the chances of large gatherings exercising their right to protest. If you are planning to visit DC in order to raise your voice, then you have every right to do so; however, vacationing in DC can wait until another time.
Consider: Williamsburg, VA
If history is your game, Williamsburg has it in socially distanced spades. The region’s attractions are nearing 400 years of age and the entire region is chock full of colonial and revolutionary sites.
Many of Colonial Williamsburg’s demonstrations and attractions are outdoors, and those that are inside are capacity controlled. Nearby you have the Jamestown Settlement, which features an outdoor Powhatan native American village and re-creations of the ships that sailed to Virginia in 1607. The Jamestown museum is large, spacious, and rarely crowded even in pre-COVID days, but with the current climate should allow you plenty of space to explore.
Drive just down the road and rewind 175 years to the Yorktown Battlefield and the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown. If you want to keep to outdoor activities, Yorktown has an active colonial farm and village along with a colonial army encampment where kids can see firsthand how life was in the 18th century.
Bottom Line
Ultimately, what you choose to do with your time and resources is largely up to you. However, it is important for us all to remember that we aren’t yet clear to return to a fully upright position. Instead of heading to our most-visited spots, try to find a few off-the-beaten-path adventures. Use this guide of 5 U.S. Destinations to avoid during COVID (and where to go instead) for your friends and family getaways this year.
Reference: {https://www.forbes.com/sites/advisor/2020/09/08/5-us-destinations-to-avoid-right-now-and-where-to-go-instead/}
