“It is obvious that you are a young, smart-a– who probably moved from LA to Mammoth, couldn’t afford to live there and ended up here.” “I was born here. You’re obviously a hypocrite.”
Itineraries: 11 resort towns in 3 travel regions in California; 14 resort towns in 3 travel regions in Colorado
Changing Regions for Changing Reasons during Changing Seasons.
Let’s help you put together a travel itinerary.
Your goal is to plan two vacations, one for opposite seasons – winter and summer.
In the regions of your top bucket list destinations.
To sample the good, bad and ugly community factors.
With the help of our knowledge bank, you can choose for variations in your new neighborhood by:
But to zero in on the best place for you you’ll have to visit and schedule time to explore potential new homes in a region.
For our “quality-of-life purposes” we can help you plan two mountain itineraries —
- one for the Rocky Mountain Region and
- one for the Sierra Nevada Mountain Region.
Whitefish, you’ll recall is located in Northwestern Montana in the Glacier Country Travel Region within the Rocky Mountain Region of Western United States.
Phew!
You’d like it for all of those quality-of-life outdoor activities like
- skiing and snowboarding in the winter, and
- road and mountain biking, hiking, camping, kayaking, horseback riding, and whitewater rafting in the summer.
That means, of course, to build your own bucket list, you should focus on the four-state region Rocky Mountain Region which includes
Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming and Montana.
So from the common (Premier Resorts –WRPR 09M1T1 and Rustic Eagles –HCERE 58M4T4) and the lifestyle-specific lists we’re eliminating some states.
The first to go is Arizona, followed by parts of California and Nevada, and New Mexico and Utah.
But, first you may enjoy our “Best West Road Trips – Route 66” which traces the “Mother Road” from
the Texas Panhandle Region through New Mexico, Arizona and
ends up on the Santa Monica Pier in California.
Oh, and if you’re planning to move your lifestyle business from Whitefish to an artist colony, you may want to keep
Bisbee, 85603 and Jerome (Prescott), 86305 in Arizona and
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87505 on your list.
Jerome (Prescott), 86305 in the Northern Arizona travel region was once a notorious “Wild West” town, a hotbed of prostitution, gambling, and vice — “the wickedest town in the West”.
Today Jerome is known as an art destination, with more than 30 galleries and working studios.
Bisbee, 85603, on the other hand, is in the Eastern Arizona travel region known for high desert lands, Wild West history galore and small towns near the border.
“Bisbee offers some of the best art galleries together with highly Zagat-rated restaurants and brewpubs.
Main Street’s antique shops and galleries are surrounded with examples of Victorian architecture.”
In our “Best West Road Trips – Route 66” magazine profiling the North Central travel region of New Mexico you may enjoy discovering all that Santa Fe, New Mexico 87505 has to offer you as one of the
“world’s top destinations for its long history of artists (especially Georgia O’Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz) , musicians and fine dining.”
Oh, and before we dismiss Montana, if Dudley and Arthur and the long-term locals, Charles and his brother relocated as part of the Rustic Eagles –HCERE 58M4T4 migration, it’s entirely possible that they would prefer Red Lodge (Billings), 59068.
You’ll recall that they fell victim to astronomical tax valuations based on the skyrocketing land values that had turned much of western Montana into a real estate gold mine over the previous 10 to 15 years.
So if they took some of their friends advice, “Your sitting on a couple million dollars; why don’t you sell it?’ they might have capitalized on a hidden opportunity.
Most other Montanans got relatively small property tax increases in the same year — some, in declining areas like eastern Montana, actually saw their tax bills go down.
And, not only is Red Lodge still in Montana it is on the eastern side of the Continental Divide roughly an eight hour drive southeast of Whitefish.
Like Whitefish, Red Lodge offers many outdoor recreation opportunities: skiing, mountain biking, and backpacking.
In April it is host to a popular triathlon called the Peaks to Prairie.
Red Lodge’s population increases from about 1,200 people in the winter to over 1,800 people during the summer tourist season, arriving via the Beartooth Highway.
Pretty much just like Whitefish in the good old days before the celebrities, sports stars and CEOs made neighboring Flathead Lake their playground.
With sometimes as much driving time and distances to cover as from Whitefish to Red Lodge and with only a week or two vacation time to spend, we recommend organizing your itinerary by travel regions.
In the Rocky Mountain Regions, Colorado is often considered the gateway to the Rockies. Within Colorado tourism areas are broken down into:
Denver Area
Eastern Plains
Front Range
Northwestern Colorado
South Central Colorado
Southwestern Colorado
In California the travel regions vary greatly, ranging from forested northern coastal regions to the rugged interior mountains to the harsh southern desert.
“Outside California’s major cities one finds some of North America’s most rugged national parks, incredible skiing/snowboarding opportunities, and quiet and ancient northern forests including the highest mountain peak in the contiguous states, Mt. Whitney.”
California’s 10 travel regions are broken down into:
Southern California
Desert
Central Coast
San Joaquin Valley
Sacramento Valley
Sierra Nevada
Gold Country
Bay Area
North Coast
Shasta Cascades
If you’re interested in the Desert and part of the Southern California region, you may enjoy the “California Regions” edition of “Best West Road Trips – Route 66
“California Regions – the last leg of your journey. From the desert and the mountains to the sea. Ending In Santa Monica at the Pier. It’s all there if you dare!”
If you’re fascinated by the beach towns and breath-taking scenery along Pacific Coast Highway (PCH), then you might enjoy, “Best West Road Trips – Goin’ Coastal,” an itinerary.
It that takes you from
the historic beach Hotel del Coronado in San Diego
through South Coast beach towns to
the laid back Central Coast,
the Bay Area and finally to the North Coast before continuing into
Oregon and Washington.
California – birds-of-a-feather (BOF) towns sorted by regions.
Southern California – Idyllwild, 92549; Del Mar, 92014; Escondido, 92026; Julian, 92036; Lake Arrowhead, 92352 and Malibu, 90265
Bay Area – Mendocino, 95460; Healdsburg, 95448; La Honda, 94020; Napa, 94558 and St. Helena, 94574
Sierra Nevada – Truckee, 96161, 96162; Lone Pine, 93545; Oakhurst, 93644; North Fork, 93643; Bishop, 93514; Squaw Valley, 96146; Tahoe City, 96145; and Truckee, 96161
Central Coast – Baywood – Los Osos (San Luis Obispo), 93402; Cambria, 93428; Montecito, 93108; Morro Bay, 93442; Santa Cruz, 95064; Santa Ynez, 93460 and Scotts Valley, 95066
Desert – Indian Wells, 92210; La Quinta, 92253; Palm Desert, 92260 and Rancho Mirage, 92270
Gold Country (Western Sierra Nevada) – Murphys, 95247 and Roseville (Granite Bay), 95746
Shasta Cascades – Susanville, 96137
Colorado – birds-of-a-feather (BOF) towns sorted by regions.
Denver Area – Golden, 80401
Front Range – Boulder, 80301; Winter Park, 80482;
Northwestern Colorado – Aspen, 81611; Basalt, 81621; Beaver Creek, 81620; Dillon, 80435; Edwards, 81632; Frisco (Copper Mountain), 80443; Snowmass, 81654; Vail, 81567; and Walden, 80480
Southwestern Colorado – Crested Butte, 81224; Creede, 81130; Lake City, 81235; and Silverton, 81433
South Central Colorado – Pagosa Springs, 81147
Organizing potential quality-of-life mountain towns into travel regions for the migrating Premier Resorts –WRPR 09M1T1 and Rustic Eagles –HCERE 58M4T4 BOFs eliminates from the Southern California region …
- Del Mar, 92014,
- Escondido, 92026, and
- Malibu, 90265.
We also skipped those towns in California’s Shasta Cascades, Desert, Central Coast and Bay Area Travel Regions.
So, our itinerary in California focuses on the Western Sierra Nevada – Gold Country and nearby Sierra Nevada travel regions.
In preparation for the Colorado itineraries, we’ve eliminated the Eastern Plains, because no potential towns attracted ex- flocking neighbors.
And, by passing on the Denver Area and Front Range travel regions, we’re concentrating on the potential bucket list towns in the western half of the state, Southwestern, South Central and Northwestern Colorado.
California Itineraries 11 resort towns in 3 travel regions:
Southern California – Idyllwild, 92549; Julian, 92036; and Lake Arrowhead, 92352
Sierra Nevada – Truckee, 96161, 96162; Lone Pine, 93545; Oakhurst, 93644; North Fork, 93643; Bishop, 93514; Squaw Valley, 96146; Tahoe City, 96145; and Truckee, 96161
Gold Country (Western Sierra Nevada) – Murphys, 95247 and Roseville (Granite Bay), 95746
Colorado Itineraries: 14 resort towns in 3 travel regions:
Northwestern Colorado – Aspen, 81611; Basalt, 81621; Beaver Creek, 81620; Dillon, 80435; Edwards, 81632; Frisco (Copper Mountain), 80443; Snowmass, 81654; Vail, 81567; and Walden, 80480
Southwestern Colorado – Crested Butte, 81224; Creede, 81130; Lake City, 81235; and Silverton, 81433
South Central Colorado – Pagosa Springs, 81147
So the good news is you (and the migrating BOF from Whitefish, Montana) won’t have to visit all 75 potential communities.
By taking travel region itineraries you can cut the total by 66% and not have to deal with the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO).
However, since we’ve eliminated most of the Southern California travel region you won’t have a chance to visit one of the three chicken-war battle fields, “Wealthy Influential” Newport Beach.
But the better news is, by traveling the Sierra Nevada regional itinerary, you’ll (and former BOF) be able to compare notes during Bishop’s Mule Days Celebration over the Memorial Day holiday at popular Erick Schat’s Bakkerÿ on north Main Street.
You might run into those “hypocrites” …
“It is obvious that you are a young, smart-a– who probably moved from LA to Mammoth, couldn’t afford to live there and ended up here.”
“I was born here. You’re obviously a hypocrite.”
And, so it goes.
Steps:
(32) Plan extended seasonal vacations during summer and winter months. Group destination locations together in regional trips to explore what several bucket list towns have to offer in the general vicinity – with only a week or two vacation time to spend, we recommend organizing your itinerary by travel regions.
An excerpt from Book Three in “The Knowledge Path Series” dedicated to helping you find the place of your dreams.
