The COVID-19 pandemic has reached the fourth wave. After several months during which people believed it was relatively safe to travel, anxiety about infection has returned, even among those who are vaccinated. However, some people want to have the equivalent of a brief vacation over the next few months. Fall is not a traditionally heavy travel time, but for those who do want to travel outside their states, new research may help people make decisions about their destinations.
LawnStarter has created a guide for fall travel. It takes into account 15 factors that range from the number of scenic drives to the number of forests and forest trails to the number of apple orchards. Data were taken from the National Park Service, USDA Forest Service, Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, National Center for Disaster Preparedness, TerraGalleria, PlaygroundEquipment.com, Funtober, PumpkinPatchesAndMore.org and LawnStarter.
States were ranked on a scale of 1 to 100. The top three states were in New England (see list below). Each, particularly Vermont and New Hampshire, received high scores for entertainment and fall scenery. California was fourth, leading off a string of states in the west, some of them sparsely populated.
There is no clear explanation, but all of the states are in the northern tier of the country.
At the bottom of the full list were two states in the deep south. Louisiana did the worst with a score of 6.65, followed by Mississippi with a score of 10.85.
These are the 10 best states to visit this fall and their scores:
- Vermont (60.34)
- New Hampshire (52.86)
- Maine (49.34)
- California (43.66)
- Wyoming (43.09)
- Alaska (42.10)
- Oregon (39.05)
- Montana (38.30)
- Washington (35.52)
- Connecticut (35.01)
Click here to see the best place to buy a vacation home.
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