The Best Staycation in Every State

Chattanooga, Tennessee

TripSavvy / Ivey Redding

Chattanooga boasts of several unique ways to staycation, and the influx of boutique hotels means you could spend the whole trip happily holed up in your room. Hotel Indigo Chattanooga – Downtown is already open for business, while Kinley Chattanooga Southside and Life House Southside plan to open in spring and winter of 2021.

 

If outdoor adventure is your idea of R&R, take a peaceful walk through the city along the North/South Chickamauga Creek Greenway or bike through the 92-acre urban wilderness park, Stringer’s Ridge.

 

Family-friendly ideas include a socially-distanced visit to the world-renowned Tennessee Aquarium or award-winning Creative Discovery Museum. Finally, the following virtual experiences can make you feel like you’re on vacation even when you haven’t stepped foot outside your front door: Association of Visual Arts; Charles H. Coolidge National Medal of Honor Heritage Center; Chattanooga’s Virtual Escape Room; and live streams from the Chattanooga Zoo. —Tonya Abari

San Marcos, Texas

Will-travel / CC BY-NC 2.0 / Flickr

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San Marcos, TX, USA

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This low-key college town is the perfect place to tuck away for a relaxing long weekend. Situated between Austin and San Antonio (and convenient to both Dallas and Houston), San Marcos is an outdoor lover’s retreat, with thousands of acres of parkland and hiking and biking trails. Tubing, of course, is the most popular activity in the area, but if February temperatures aren’t quite inviting enough, hit the trails at Purgatory Creek Natural Area or Spring Lake Natural Area.

 

Afterward, grab a brew at AquaBrew, whose beloved ales include the Ape-pricot Wheat and the Swine Dive, a single IPA with a hefty citrus punch, and head to Don Japanese Kitchen for lunch. The San Marcos offshoot of this Austin staple has a menu of classic Japanese rice bowls (donburi) and sides like kara-age (fried chicken) and seaweed salad.

 

Finally, step into the Calaboose African American Museum for an insightful look into San Marcos’s Black history and the lives of early African-American settlers in Hays County. Originally a jailhouse and later a community center, the museum’s exhibits highlight the proud history of local Buffalo Soldiers and Tuskegee Airmen, but also don’t gloss over the town’s racist past, including artifacts such as slave workday attire and newspaper clippings describing Ku Klux Klan rallies. Calaboose is also home to an extensive collection of memorabilia related to Eddie Durham, a jazz legend and San Marcos native son. While briefly closed due to COVID-19 protocols, the museum is open to the public on Saturdays starting next month. —Laura Ratliff