Foo - Quaint little towns you fell in love with...

Has there ever been some nice little town you fell in love with when there. Maybe you were just passing through, but something about the place just stood out and made you remember it. If so, what little towns had this affect on you? What stood out?

For me the most memorable was about a year ago. On my second drive from Florida to Seattle (where I went back and got my girlfriend, now wife) to drive back. We were in an area where exits were not very frequent and no decent sized cities (other than "behind" us and we didn't want to back track). We stopped at the next exit in Canistota, South Dakota.

Most places the hotel/motel is right off the exit, but not here. We had to drive through about 3-4 miles of corn fields to find the town. The sign said it had a Holiday Inn, but when we found it, the place was a tiny little dump of a motel (which would have been fine just for the night).

Before checking in, we found the "downtown" (e.g. one street with about 5-6 businesses). We had dinner at the only restaurant, something or other grill. Waitress was soooo nice just chatted and chatted. You got the impression she was so happy to see somebody she didn't already know.

We noticed a "Canistota Hotel" across the street. It looked like a very old hotel. It was the type that looked like a fancy hotel when it was built (20s) and probably very expensive. I decided to go over and check it out just for grins.

The lady at front desk was wearing a quaker type outfit. A sweet old lady. I asked her how much a room went for and she said $29.99 or (and she winced to even say how "expensive" it was) $39.99 for the "deluxe" room.

I'm like "WHAT?". We'll take it...we'll take the deluxe room. The sweet old lady takes us up in the original 1920's era Otis elevator.

We get there and the room is HUGE. It has a recliner, a bathroom the size of a small bedroom, etc... Wonderful room. We slept great. Got up in the morning and they had a little restaurant that did breakfasts only (buffet style). It was a cheap and great breakfast.

We'll never forget that little place. If we are ever in that area again, we'll surely stop and stay there again!! :thumb:



How about you? What quaint little places did you fall in love with?

--------------
edit: Just found that Canistota had a wikipedia article and through that found a city website.

City website:http://www.canistotasd.com/index.asp?Type=NONE&SEC={A96D9C58-EC69-43B3-AFED-E157042D529D**

Hotel (was called Hotel Ortman, not Canistota Hotel):
http://www.canistotasd.com/vertical/Sites/%7B280584BA-7836-4C6C-89DA-33196513FA0D%7D/uploads/%7B3ECF80E7-5FC7-4078-AF73-6DE2A4AAA7ED%7D.JPG

Kensington, OH. I love that town.

Bardstown, KY
Athens, GA
Baraboo, WI
Uniontown, PA
Natchitoches, LA
Yelm, WA
Aviano, Italy

I could go on for a while but each of these places offers something special that I really can't explain. I think the feeling of "home" would best describe it. When you stay in hotels enough, you realize that the home feeling is something that you desperately crave. Whether you know it or not.

Durango, CO - I had to work down there last Fall/Winter - love the historic downtown
White Hall and Red Lodge, Montana
Merideth, NH
Leverett, MA

Ha, I can't stand small towns at all. I don't mind driving through them, but I get the creeps even if I have to stop at a stop sign in one of them.

Yelm, WACan you remember what you liked about Yelm? That is not very far from me...maybe I'd go check it out. Any tips on what you liked so much?

Ha, I can't stand small towns at all. I don't mind driving through them, but I get the creeps even if I have to stop at a stop sign in one of them.

I used to kind of feel that way when I was a teenager. Then we moved to a small town when I was 15. I hated it. By the time I moved back to Tampa at age 19, I kind of missed the "small town" feeling.

Having lived in little towns, I've realized that no amount of quaintness would make me want to live there.

Cedeira, a little coastal town in the Galicia province of Spain. We loved everything: the people, the food, the music, the sea.

Scituate Massachusetts
http://www.town.scituate.ma.us/harbormaster/feb09_IMG_0113d.jpg

I've always liked Lockhart, TX

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_g46MNnpE3j4/SixWwsdXcLI/AAAAAAAAAjA/DC-7DjdWvQ4/s512/055.JPG


Down the road from Lockhart is my father's birthplace, McMahan, which makes Lockhart look like a metropolis:

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_g46MNnpE3j4/Sixxqf5Yh4I/AAAAAAAAAjQ/kccXD6uXDEg/s512/039.JPG

Having lived in little towns, I've realized that no amount of quaintness would make me want to live there.

I didn't say anything about wanting to live there. ;)

Same here...you can fall in love with them, but that doesn't mean you want that kind of life style full time. It just means you'd love to visit it again now and then.

I didn't say anything about wanting to live there. ;)

Same here...you can fall in love with them, but that doesn't mean you want that kind of life style full time. It just means you'd love to visit it again now and then.
The thought of driving through scares me, let alone visiting.

Although, I do love it when I take US/state highways through small towns and I slow down as the speed limit drops, everyone behind me gets mad, and they all get pulled over at the next town. :roflmao2:

Can you remember what you liked about Yelm? That is not very far from me...maybe I'd go check it out. Any tips on what you liked so much?

The people were really nice. All of the staff where I was working welcomed me in like family. I don't think I bought anytime I went there.

Barre, VT. The first place I had the experience of cars stopping when I stepped into the crosswalk. I must have crossed the street a dozen times, just to make the cars stop..

Too many to recall on-the-spot, but a few starting with your olde kountry:
Mt. Dora, FL
Lots in Vermont
Louisville, KY
Lots in upstate NY
Lots in PA, New Hope, Doylestown, Lansdown, etc...
A few in Jersey on the Gap border, Lambertville, etc........
Brunswick GA
Savannah GA
Charleston SC

Hmmmm.......Miss Cleo see a motorcycle roadtrip in da futuh, mahn !! :)

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b359/x136/outdoors/img_4490.jpg

Wow....looks awesome X. Where is that?

Frisco, CO

http://www.runningrein.com/images/frisco.jpg

Fort Robinson, NE:
http://www.stateparks.com/photography/photos/3161.jpg

My first choice is Thermopolis, WY. Nice people, a mineral hot spring, a herd of bison, several cool museums (Old West, teddy bears, dinosaurs), and within a short drive of Yellowstone. A morning in Thermopolis clearly was among the highlights of my cross country road trip in 2003.

Telluride CO

I started going there before the ski area was built, lovely and quiet little mining town. After the ski area was built the town took on a completely different feel, but still a very, very nice place to be.

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_RX2uz5fR3dA/ReMzM0bOK9I/AAAAAAAAAV8/jSUM0ntqZvM/s512/P2220130.JPG
Parati, RJ
Brasil

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_RX2uz5fR3dA/SPKUBvIhKGI/AAAAAAAAGtA/FpxKkXubhLI/s512/P1000628.JPG
New Paltz, NY

I also really liked Crested Butte, but it's sort of a tourist trap. Estes Park CO was really cool, and much less so.

My first choice is Thermopolis, WY. Nice people, a mineral hot spring, a herd of bison, several cool museums (Old West, teddy bears, dinosaurs), and within a short drive of Yellowstone. A morning in Thermopolis clearly was among the highlights of my cross country road trip in 2003.

There's a little town near Yellowstone that I loved when I was a kid... I can't remember the name, though. Lots of little "log cabin" shops, wildlife, etc. We slept in a hotel that backed up to a little river, and it was gorgeous! I LOVE Wyoming.

OH, and Montana, too! (I could go on all day, I swear.)

Cooke City, MT:
http://yellowstoneguide.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/cooke-city2.jpg

Perrysburg, OH was cool, too. In my opinion, it was the town that best took advantage of being right on US-20, with the beautiful and historic Hood Park being right at an intersection where US-20 turns left (if going east to west).

Sweet Home, OR was somewhat memorable, too. I admit Foster Lake recreational area wouldn't be that memorable were it not for the location. On US-20, Sweet Home straddles the sparsely populated western interior and the more or less continuously settled coastal region. On my coast-to-coast US-20 trip, it was the last I would see of the majestic vastness of the country that had been uninterrupted (except perhaps by a short trip through Boise) since passing Chicago.

http://www.silverstage.net/OurayMagazine/OurayDowntown/Ouray03.gif

The thought of driving through scares me, let alone visiting...

Really? That's how I feel about large cities.

There's a little town near Yellowstone that I loved when I was a kid... I can't remember the name, though. Lots of little "log cabin" shops, wildlife, etc. We slept in a hotel that backed up to a little river, and it was gorgeous! I LOVE Wyoming.

Maybe Cody, WY. Just outside of Yellowstone, about 50 miles east of the boundary of the park. It seemed really cool, but since I had spent the entire morning in Thermopolis (100 miles to the south of Cody) and wanted to spend a lot of the afternoon in Yellowstone, I didn't get to spend much time in Cody.

edit: Cody also marks the point where trees became abundant again for the first time since crossing the Mississippi River.

Some town in Scotland. Don't remember the name.

Some places I've been that I liked:

Julian, CA
Pagosa Springs, CO
June Lake, CA
Coos Bay, OR
Arendtsville, PA
Waimanalo, HI
and don't throw things please...
Celebration, FL

Really? That's how I feel about large cities.
It's just a weird feeling I get while driving through small towns. I feel like the 10 people there are out to get me and I am always uncomfortable driving through a tiny town. I feel better about driving through the rougher parts of a large city, although I wouldn't want to live there, either.

Bardstown, KY
Athens, GA
Baraboo, WI
Uniontown, PA
Natchitoches, LA
Yelm, WA
Aviano, Italy

I could go on for a while but each of these places offers something special that I really can't explain. I think the feeling of "home" would best describe it. When you stay in hotels enough, you realize that the home feeling is something that you desperately crave. Whether you know it or not.

Yelm....seriously...gotta know the reason behind that one

Chagrin Falls, OH, SE of Cleveland.

Canterbury, NH, established in the the early 1700's, and still has many if not most of those early buildings and homes. For a time I lived on the 3rd floor of one of those homes. That floor was unfinished and unmodernized, with wood slat walls, rough hewn beams, plank flooring.

Yelm....seriously...gotta know the reason behind that one

google J.Z. Knight or Ramtha...

google J.Z. Knight or Ramtha...

LOL...I've heard of her. Didn't realize she was just over this way.

Port Townsend Washington
Cannon Beach Oregon
Sedona Arizona
Gurneville, California
Moab, Utah

Leavenworth Washington is pretty cool.

Leavenworth Washington is pretty cool.

Been there a few times now. Fun, but very touristy to me. They have their "authentic German" schtick and people come out in droves to experience it.

http://www.silverstage.net/OurayMagazine/OurayDowntown/Ouray03.gif

+1

I also have good memories of Gunnison CO. for some reason.

I live right near Athens, GA. It's a cool little city.

Madison, GA is georgious, so is Mansfield, GA.
Highlands, NC is wonderful.

I'd move to Fiesole, Italy in a heart beat.

Wow....looks awesome X. Where is that?Bodie, CA.

A mining town founded in the 1850s which boomed to 6-10,000 residents in the 1870s. Dwindled to a few hundred by the early 1900s. A large portion of the town burned down in 1932, and only a handful of people stuck around after that, until the whole area was designated a national historic site and a California state park in the 60s.

Fascinating place. I wandered around for hours. Unfortunately it'll probably be shut down soon due to the stupid state budget crisis. :(

Another picture, this one stolen from Wikipedia:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/38/Bodie_ghost_town_edit1.jpg/600px-Bodie_ghost_town_edit1.jpg

durango / ouray

Cant call it my favourite, but Garberville was different.

...
Sedona Arizona
Gurneville, California
Moab, Utah

These are neat ones too.

I also forgot a really unlikely one - Scotch Plains, NJ

Bodie, CA.

A mining town founded in the 1850s which boomed to 6-10,000 residents in the 1870s. Dwindled to a few hundred by the early 1900s. A large portion of the town burned down in 1932, and only a handful of people stuck around after that, until the whole area was designated a national historic site and a California state park in the 60s.

Fascinating place. I wandered around for hours. Unfortunately it'll probably be shut down soon due to the stupid state budget crisis. :(

Another picture, this one stolen from Wikipedia:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/38/Bodie_ghost_town_edit1.jpg/600px-Bodie_ghost_town_edit1.jpg

Quaint? No way. That's a really creepy place.

Sainte-Genevieve-de-Batiscan, Quebec.
Nice little town of 1000 people on the river Batiscan, 170 km east of Montreal along 40, 100 km west of Quebec City.
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f126/scorpio516/Quebec/Village_River.jpg

Got full service gas there in 2004 out of pump from the 50s. Thought that was something neat, until we got gas in Quebec City and Montreal over the next two weeks and almost everywhere in the province does full service :D

Vantage, WA. I.love.that.place. I am not sure it can even be called a town it's so small. It's mind-blowingly beautiful there.

Also, Superior, MT. I love LOVE LOVE Montana.

Quaint? No way. That's a really creepy place.I'm sure it was quaint a hundred years ago. :P

i have lived in a few "quaint little towns", and even do right now. the truth is, we know you aren't from around here, and yes we do go out of our way to **** with you. no harm is intended, it's just about the only entertainment we can find. that, and locals can be very protective about their area, especially when it comes to entitled tourists who think that they are better than us and demand special treatment just because they have money.

big cities can be scary in a general kind of way, but little towns can be way scary in a very personal way.

it's all about respect/humility, and trying to not stand out where ever you go. if you're cool and hang out and ask me about great places to photograph, i may help. if you drive your bmw like an a-hole and demand directions to a ski area, it's all downhill after that.

i have lived in a few "quaint little towns", and even do right now. the truth is, we know you aren't from around here, and yes we do go out of our way to **** with you. no harm is intended, it's just about the only entertainment we can find. that, and locals can be very protective about their area, especially when it comes to entitled tourists who think that they are better than us and demand special treatment just because they have money.


SE Vermont ?
Im gonna guess you arent a fan of New Yorkers :lol:

When I lived in VT, a NY tag meant you were getting pulled. Period :eek: