Be Well: Hidden Vacation Gems Across U.S.

<div class="block">Lale Arikoglu, articles director at Conde Nast, joined Cheddar News to share a few summer vacation ideas that Americans might typically gloss over or haven&#39;t heard about all together.</div>

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Summer is road trip season. So it's time to grab those kids, throw them in the car and get on the road and explore the open outdoors. That's right. There are so many unique sometimes quirky places to visit around our great country. So why not make your vacation even more memorable by venturing off the beaten path. I'm ready for it. From ghost towns to old school motels. Conde Nast Traveler is rounding up all of the best of roadside Americana and articles. Director LA A is here to share some of the highlights. Thank you so much for joining us. Thanks for having me. Ok. So first before we get in the car, what are some of your best, you know, tips for the family that's decided to take a road trip? Great question, important question. Um So to start off with, I'd say plot your route, um have a vague idea of where you want to stop along the way, try and give yourself plenty of breaks. I don't think anyone wants to be in a car for that long. As beautiful as the view may be is why we've created this amazing interactive map that has all sorts of roadside attractions, motor lodges to stay in crazy National Parks to see and lots, lots more. And I'm glad to see that it's all across the country. So everyone has somewhere to go. Let's start with Long Leaf Hotel. What can you tell us about this location? Long Leaf Hotel is this amazing 19 sixties style travel lodge that's been restored. So now you have all the sort of luxury quirks that I think we've come to expect from different hotels. But the way it looks like the vibe of it is that time, it's very much of that time. It's like mid century modern. So think like Mad Men. Um and you know, stop there for a night or two and kind of like, you know, take yourself back to the golden era of road tripping. So next up, this is an interesting one. Don King's Western Museum. Think lots and lots of kind of antique Americana like old leather saddles. Um There's Taxidermy Jackal, which I think sounds like a not for the faint of heart. Um There's a actual hearse there. It's a real weird, weird museum. Actually, a fun fact about that museum is even Queen Elizabeth visited. It's kind of funny to think of her next like a taxidermy Jacko, but we also don't want to forget about Golden Gate saloon. Yes. So I think, you know, one of the really cool things is there are so many saloons both functioning and Oh, this looks pretty restored that are all over the country and this one is a great one to check out. I think again, maybe if you aren't with kids you might want to spend some more time in a saloon or a dive bar. Makes that one so lovely. Is it all original or a lot of these opportunities to go back in time? Right. I think that's something we keep on coming back to is whether it's the retro motor lodge or the old timey saloon or, you know, speaking of saloons, another place that I'm really excited to go see is the Garnet ghost town. That's all the rage right now. On television. Everyone's right. Everyone wants to go check out these ghost towns. I think when it was fun functioning, it had a dozen saloons at one time during the gold rush. And then I don't know if they all drank it away, but that's what it looks like. And that is what when you say ghost town, is it because it's empty and deserted or is it because it's haunted? So maybe both it's empty and empty and deserted. Um, but perfectly preserved. It's one of the best preserved ones in the country. Um, but we actually did a story where a writer of ours actually, Halper interviewed the caretaker who lives there year round and he thinks it's haunted and one of the really cool things you can do between December and April. Um, is, you can stay there. Um, and it gets snowed in during the winter and you have to ski in and ski out too. So if you were to kind of have your own taste of shining and stay there, um, that could be the place for you. That was so great. Thank you so much for all that great information. Oh, thanks for having me. All right. And for more summer travel tips, make sure you check out the magazine's current issue on news stands right now.