Rand McNally, in collaboration with USA TODAY, recently crowned the first five winning towns the Best of the Road® in its inaugural search at the Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI) Annual Convention in New Orleans.
Sandpoint Idaho is a resort community that offers a little bit of everything for everybody! (Credit: sandpoint.com)
The winning towns are highlighted on Best of the Road, the 2013 Rand McNally Road Atlas, and on USA TODAY’s travel site.
Narrowed down from more than 600 submissions, 30 top towns in five categories—Most Beautiful, Most Patriotic, Friendliest, Most Fun, and Best for Food—were selected for review during the inaugural Best of the Road Rally. Equipped with brand-new Saab vehicles and Rand McNally RVND navigation devices, five teams of amateur travelers completed a three-week cross-country road trip, for a combined 25,000 miles traveled, personally visiting the six top towns in their assigned category.
To showcase their journey and share town experiences, the teams posted photos, videos, and blog posts on ontheroad.bestoftheroad.com, Facebook, and Twitter.
During a presentation of their “traveler’s journals” on July 14 in Los Angeles, each team consulted with the judges panel to determine which town would be crowned the winner in their category. The winners are:
Most Beautiful: Sandpoint, Idaho – reviewed by The McNavigators, who said the unofficial motto is “enjoy the great outdoors, connect with friends and keep life simple.”
Every year, the many visitors to Mount Rushmore National Memorial in the Black Hills of South Dakota draw inspiration from the colossal portraits of four outstanding presidents of the United States: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt. (Credit: nps.gov)
Most Patriotic: Rapid City, South Dakota – reviewed by Captain and Clark, who described the town as “a place where people from across the world and country can learn about America’s past, become inspired by its present, and find hope in its future.”
Friendliest: Walla Walla, Washington – reviewed by Gone with the Wynns, who described it as “a town so nice they named it twice; a culturally diverse small town with happy faces everywhere you go.”
Most Fun: Glenwood Springs, Colorado – reviewed by TraveleingJules and TravelingJoan, who dubbed the town “a mountain of fun and an adventure capital, with endless ways to get your adrenaline pumping.”
Best for Food: Lafayette, Louisiana – reviewed by The Fun Finders who learned the true taste of Cajun food to be “flavorful, not hot or spicy” and that after a meal, the best dessert is “Cajun dancing.”
Having visited to each of these towns in our motorhome, it’s hard to argue against their selection. They certainly are five great RV destinations whether you plan to stay a day, a week, or longer.
“Each of the top 30 towns truly provided an unforgettable experience during the Best of the Road Rally and it was hard to narrow it down to just one winner in each category,” said Dave Muscatel, CEO of Rand McNally. “We’re grateful to the residents of the finalist towns and their fans for showing tremendous enthusiasm and support in our inaugural search.”
Glenwood Springs is located 40 miles north of Aspen, Colorado and 60 miles west of Vail, Colorado. Awe-inspiring Glenwood Canyon is the gateway to western Colorado and is the starting point of many popular hiking trails like Hanging Lake and Grizzly Creek. (Credit: en.wikipedia.org)
The winning towns were presented by Rand McNally and USA TODAY to an audience of attendees at the convention’s “Industry Spotlight” seminar.
Details
Best of the Road
Rand McNally’s celebration of the Great American Road Trip has given way to an online guide of the Best of the Road and features top attractions in more than 20 categories—from the Best Beach to the Best BBQ. This year, Rand McNally collaborated with USA TODAY, for an all-new the Best of the Road search with content created by travelers online and published in the 2013 Rand McNally Road Atlas.
Rand McNally
Rand McNally is a trusted source for maps, directions, and travel content. Rand McNally’s products and services include: Interactive travel referral service, Tripology; IntelliRoute® truck routing software, and GPS devices; and a leading geography-based educational resources for the classroom. The 88th edition of America’s #1 Road Atlas by Rand McNally will be available shortly and it includes digital TAGs which connect smartphone users to special mobile web pages.
USA TODAY
USA TODAY is a multi-platform news and information media company. USA TODAY, the nation’s number one newspaper in print circulation with an average of more than 1.8 million daily, and USATODAY.com, an award-winning newspaper website launched in 1995, reach a combined 5.9 million readers daily.
Worth Pondering…
Slow down and enjoy life. It’s not only the scenery you miss by going too fast—you miss the sense of where you’re going and why.
—Eddie Cantor