Is West Better?

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sparkling_gal

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I've read a lot of RV trip reports and blogs and it seems that most people travel to the West of the USA.  Why is the West more popular?  Is it nicer, or is it just that the weather is generally better?  Are there also nice places to visit in the East.
 
Heavens No... the east is much better.  I don't know why anyone bothers to come west of the Miss River, it't usually hot, very dry, pretty expensive and the locals all wish they could get out, except for those that are lucky enough to live on the coast.  Even those folks are getting tired of all the fires and earthquakes.

Just kidding of course.  Actually, I have no idea.  I share your perception that the trip reports and blogs are often about the west.  There are a lot more people in the east, maybe they are trying to keep it secret?  Come on Easteners, let's have way more blogs and tweets.  LOL.
 
I was born in the east, but prefer the west.  Scenery, weather, attitudes, a whole bunch of not-so-clearly defined things.  Several years back I had to fly "back home" alone and on the return flight my seatmate was a young lady who had never been west.  It was an exceptionally clear day and I was able to point out to her numerous landmarks.  I later told Jerry that I had the strangest sensation - the farther west we got, the more I felt I was coming home and truly belonged in the west.  Visiting the east is okay, but west is where I want to live.

ArdraF
 
We now live in the West, and wish we could travel the beautiful Eastern States but the travel is too far as both my wife and I have full time jobs....

When we lived in Houston and Dallas, it seemed like we did more travel to the East.....

BUT.....THE ROCKIES ROCK!!!!  ;D
 
Neither is 'better" but they are very different. We spent about 6 months traveling east of the Mississippi this past summer but most of our RVing miles have been west. Major negatives regarding the east are campgrounds and roads. Campgrounds are older, smaller, tighter, more heavily treed (doesn't make us with satellite dishes happy), outdated hookups and more expensive. The roads are narrower and more heavily trafficked. Road conditions might be considered poorer also. But there is more history to see and relive in the east. We enjoyed our eastern touring very much and glad we did it.

The west has newer, better equipped campgrounds, wider roads, higher speed limits and the most breathtaking scenery nature has to offer. The west has a lot of ground to cover and there are major changes in the different areas of the west; high desert to rain forest, mountains to thousands of acres of farmland.

You have to try them both. ;)
 
Having been to all 46 of the National Parks in the lower 48 states I have a top ten list:

1 - Grand Canyon
2 - Yosemite
3 - Grand Teton
4 - Everglades
5 - Zion
6 - Bryce Canyon
7 - Channel Islands
8 - Yellowstone
9 - Joshua Tree
10-Kings Canyon

9 are located in the west.
 
Tom

Not much land left in the east to turn into National Parks by the time they started to develop :-\
 
The American West has the most famous national parks, e.g Yellowstone & Yosemite & Grand Canyon & Zion and Bryce, the ones that are most often written about. But the most visited National Park is Great Smoky Mountains, in the east (Tennessee). And the most visited national recreation area is the Blue Ridge Parkway, also in the east (Virginia and North Carolina).  Both haves of the country have spectacular sights - you could spend a lifetime in either area and still not see everything.
 
seilerbird said:
Having been to all 46 of the National Parks in the lower 48 states I have a top ten list:

1 - Grand Canyon
2 - Yosemite
3 - Grand Teton
4 - Everglades
5 - Zion
6 - Bryce Canyon
7 - Channel Islands
8 - Yellowstone
9 - Joshua Tree
10-Kings Canyon

9 are located in the west.
Click to expand...

Is it the Channel Islands or the Everglades that is not in the east? ;D

The other eight  I have been to many times.

The Everglades is on my wish-list.

-Don- SSF, CA​
 
wish the congress would read this... maybe the next ten NPs and wilderness areas can be EAST of the Miss R, closer to the people so they don't have to use so much energy (and hence CO2) to get to the NPs.  If they buy the land right now while real estate is down, they could create open spaces that, in less than 30 years, would return to the wilderness state that existed before all the development.  we have enough west of the Miss River... what is it 90++%?  IMHO, of course.
 
With being from Ohio and winter approaching fast I have to vote for west but I have only lived it through photos. Some day when we can get enough time off from work to travel the distance we too will head in that direction. If it wasn't for farmland in some of our areas I don't believe there would be any land to see. Everything here is overdeveloped so the only landscape you see is what was installed by professionals, not nature ::).

I don't know what the roads are like out west but I do also hear that people have a much better experience driving west then out this way. If you see constant orange barrels on constructed roads then you are driving through the east. There is some pretty country but you have to know where to look but even w/o seeing it I still vote west  ;D.
 
Dar said:
If you see constant orange barrels on constructed roads then you are driving through the east. ;D.
Click to expand...

It's the same now in the west. From Fairfield east on I-80 all they way to the NV state line.

See here.

And for the last ten years or so, they have been working on 395 northwest of Reno. And I see a new freeway being built down by Carson City on 395.

They have so many orange barrels north of Reno for the last ten years that I wish I owned stock in the company that makes them!

-Don- SSF, CA​
 
sparkling_gal said:
I've read a lot of RV trip reports and blogs and it seems that most people travel to the West of the USA.  Why is the West more popular?   Is it nicer, or is it just that the weather is generally better?  Are there also nice places to visit in the East.
Click to expand...

The west has spectacular canyons, dozens of 10,000 foot plus mountain ranges, glaciers, volcanoes, alpine forests, rain forests, sea cliffs, redwoods and Sequoias, deserts, valleys below sea level,  lakes like Tahoe and Crater so deep they never freeze, Monument Valley, petrified forests, geysers, hundreds of hot springs, unbelievable sunsets, alpenglow, and cowboys and Indians.

The east has nice beaches, hills one of which is over 6000 feet,  big swamps, lots of very green woods, lots of rain, and lots and lots of cities.  ;D
 
   Hey, East or West, DO NOT forget about North.  If you look at Framily postings, there has been almost unanimity in positive comments about all RV trips to Canada.  As for snowbirding, ask us in 6 months.  Being easterners, we have spent our time up & down the east, but we head west this year.  My guess is that Bernie hit it right on when he says that it is nice but different, and that's exactly what we are looking for.  Heck, if we didn't want to see differences, we would sell the motor home and just stay put in our stick home.
   BTW, don't undersell Acadia National Park, the White Mountains or Hot Springs AK.  They may not have the grandeur of a Grand Canyon, but they do offer their own unique charm and beauty.  Besides, where else can you see a real desert,and a rain forest adjacent to the ocean.
 
Hfx_Cdn said:
    Het, East or West, DO NOT forget about North.  If you look at Framily postings, there has been almost unanimity in positive comments about all RV trips to Canada. 
Click to expand...

Except for the fact that these days, going to Canada will quickly make you go broke. Especially in Alberta. For an example, a simple hamburger now  costs $12.95. Add bacon, cheese an extra patty as I like mine, and you have a $20.00 hamburger. 

That's in Canadian dollars, but you only get $1.05 to each US dollar.

But gasoline isn't too bad. A little less than one dollar per liter in Alberta, but more than a dollar per liter in BC (about 4 US dollars per gallon).

We have been to Canada many times in the past. But it's never been nearly as expensive for Americans as now. And in a few months, the HST (sales tax) will increase to 12%. And they no longer refund it to Americans.

BTW, we just returned a few days ago from a three week trip in Canada.

IMO, this is a great time for Canadians to visit the USA, but not for Americans to visit Canada.

-Don- SSF, CA​
 
    Don, that's because Alberta is out west, you need to come east where you can still get a burger for a lot less than $13, heck you can get 2 lobster for that  ;D,  or about 10 pounds of fresh cultivated mussels if you're Marsha  :D for about the same.  That's what you get for a free market economy that's over heated by oil fields that are being developped by big business without concern for the future only the present.  Come east and you will find tha prices are a bit more moderate.
 
    Carson, your knits need picking, that's because Don's correct.  We in 3 of the 4 Atlantic Provinces have an HST, Harmonized Sales Tax.  Ontario and BC have just passed legislation harmonizing theirs commencing next year.
    And Don you are correct, we no longer rebate GST/HST to tourists.  But, neither do any American States rebate any Taxes to us when we leave, nor any of the hidden business taxes burried into the price, or the room tax levied on RV sites by certain states.  It washes out in the end.
 
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