Our 2024 Best of #VanLife list

 We've collated our bests of 2024.   

Overall Bests

Key West in the Winter

For it's turquoise water, its laid back life style, its 'question authority' attitude, and its pelicans! 

Door County, Wisconsin in the summer

For its beautiful waters and laid back life style.  And for the Northern Sky Theater!

Best National Parks

The Everglades 

Mostly because it was so different from what we expected and its amazing wildlife

And Indiana Dunes National Park 

For its clear water, great beaches and great (cold) swimming

Best Monuments

The National Memorial for Justice and Peace in Montgomery, Alabama

For the history it teaches and for how moving it is

 Kentucky's Monument to COVID in Frankfort, KY

For the honor given to all Kentuckians as they made their way through a pandemic.

Best Museums

The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan

 Chicago Museum of Science and Industry

Best Events 

Gramp Camp 2024  and its Amtrak adventure to Glacier National Park

Traveling to Vienna, Austria

Christmas lights in Tucson Botanical Gardens

 Experiences that were a fun surprise

The Eclipse, seen from Texas Hill Country

Shakespear in a Cemetery

The Pizza Boat in Chicago
 with friends Sue and Tom, Ann and Richard, and grandson William

Best Whole Foods Plant Based Eating

The Turquoise Room in LaPosada Hotel -- Winslow, AZ

Joleo Restaurant in Washington DC

Crumbleberry in Collegedale, TN

Best Volksmarches

We walked 12 Volksmarches this year; these stand out:

Best Overall capital walk-- Lincoln, Nebraska 

for both the capitol building and the Lincoln street art.

Most fun on a Volksmarch

Columbia, SC Capitol   

Tim the Newspaper man was the funniest capitol guide.
special mention for the interior colors of the capitol.

Prettiest --Chattanooga, Tennessee

Special Mention for Best Library and scariest dome catwalk:  The Iowa State Capitol

Oddest Capitol Building-- Tallahassee, Fl

Tallahasee is a beautiful city, but this building?  What? 

Best Campgrounds

We spend about 2/3 of our nights in campgrounds -- most are fine, but some stand out;  we narrowed it down by type.

 Boyds in Key West - Best Overall (private and expensive)

Inks Lake in Texas -- Best State Park
With Friends John and Sally

Mt. Lemmon's  Spencer Canyon in Tucson -- Best Forest Service

McDowell Mountains Regional Park, near Phoenix --Best Regional Park

Kathryn Abby Hanna Municipal Park in Jacksonville, Fl (Oceanside) 
Best Municipal

Coconino National Forest Boondocking (also the only true boondocking we did)

Outside of Sedona, AZ, with Matt and Katy

This goes without saying:  Family and Friends are always our first and best experiences

We LOVED seeing each and every one of you this in 2024 -- We try to cross paths with each one of you often and hope to in 2025 -- its the very best part of 'the road"  and we hope to make the list longer in 2025: 

Steve and Jocelyn, Kathryn and Karl, Jim and Charlene, Cheryl and all her growing family, Sally and John, Richard and Ann, Sue and Tom, Sheryl and Tom, and Sheila. And our Virginia friends, Rennie, and Nick, Jan H., Beth, Mary, Pat and Becca and Mike, and all the A&P Faculty (thanks Mary). 

Family always gets our first priority award:

My brother Joe Koke, Bill's brother John Miller and all the Millers, Matt and Katy, Michael, Lindsay and William, Mark and Amber and Laura, Jeff Koke and all his family, Mike Wagner and all his family, Cindy Wagner.