Travel and Leisure Magazine likes lists. I tend to mistrust them even though I went to Penzance on The New York Times recommendation this year and Mexico City last year. Below are reflections on 2 T&L lists.
Last year Travel & Leisure published a list of “America’s Favorite Cities”. It was based on an annual survey of readers, and the text was written by Katrina Brown Hunt. There were 30 cities selected for honors. Among the top 10, 2 each were in Texas, Tennessee, and Virginia. The other four were Buffalo, New York, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Raleigh, North Carolina, and Providence, Rhode Island. Buffalo was #1. Buffalo! I can’t remember the last time I said to Ruth, “Let’s go to Buffalo.” Maybe I should. We’ve been to all of Katrina’s cities, but some not recently. We have traveled to San Antonio, Nashville, Albuquerque, and Fort Worth on recommendations in the last couple of years. All 4 are list-worthy.
The 2nd list was just published on July 11, 2017. On it Jacqueline Gifford documented “The top 15 Cities in the United States”. She mentioned that 8 0f the 15 were in The South. She listed 2 criteria for winners–they play host to festivals and attract inventive chefs. There are only 2 cities in the top ten on both lists–Nashville and San Antonio. We like both and have been to all 10 of Jacqueline’s winners recently except for Asheville, North Carolina. Buffalo is not on her list, but the cities that are, like Savannah and Austin, are definitely crowd pleasers.
My personal list would be different from the 2 above. Big cities that we tend to regularly repeat include Seattle, Phoenix, Chicago, Las Vegas, Denver, Vancouver, BC, etc. We’re actually heading to Vancouver tomorrow. For roots reasons we like Madison, Wisconsin, Springfield, Illinois, and other Midwest destinations.
I do pay attention to current travel buzz. This has taken Ruth and me to Oklahoma City, Los Angeles, and Charleston recently. It’s the reason why we’ll more than likely travel to Galena, Illinois, soon for a reunion with her cousins.
Hank
