What is “up north” or vacation country for your state?

[Roadgeekteen]

"Up north" in Virginia is mostly too urban to be "vacation country".

Virginia's "vacation country" is often to the east, and not always in Virginia. For northern Virginia, it's largely beach towns in Maryland and southern Delaware, and also reaches south to the Virginia Beach area and North Carolina's Outer Banks.

What about the Appalachian mountains in Virginia?

[ghYHZ]

Here in Nova Scotia.....you say you're "going to the shore" .....and that could be anywhere along the coast surrounding the province. In my small town a lot of people have a cottage and it might only be a 15 > 20 km drive away....but that's where you spend your summer weekends.

Right now and with the nice weather starting soon .....people are anxious to get those cottages open for the season but like just about everyone else.....we've been asked to shelter in place. So hopefully..... we'll get out within the next month or so.

[DandyDan]

Spinning this from the COVID thread since it's a fun debate in all of the Lakes states.

In Minnesota I consider MN 210 to be the unofficial dividing line, but others consider traditional stopping points like Little Falls or Hinckley to be the start of "up north" .

1. MN 27 - a more literal definition, cutting the state in half from west to east. In my mind it's a little too far from the northern woods, minus the long jog on MN 65.

2. MN 210 - really the boundary between the woods to the north and farmland to the south. As mentioned this is my choice for the dividing line, possibly flipping onto US 10 where they meet going westward.

3. MN 200 - a good argument can be made for this route given it connects key tourist spots Itasca Stats Park and Leech Lake, definitely deep in the northwoods.

4. US 2 - while it fits some of the same descriptors as MN 200, it feels like you've been up north for a while before you hit this route.

5. MN 1 - only the hardcore up north folks think it's this far. 

Wisconsin, I would go with WIS 70. US 8 seems a little too far south.

The trouble I have with your list is that you aren't really hitting a vacation spot the farther west you go in northern Minnesota, generally speaking. Also, as far as my one friend is concerned, his grandpa's cabin was in NE Morrison County, between MN 27 and MN 210, so up north for him was quite far south.

As far as Iowa goes, I'm not sure they have one, although I know the Lake Okoboji area gets tourists. Clear Lake, only 10 miles west from where I am now, gets some Des Moines people.

[Henry]

In WA, I-90 is the dividing line for up north and the rest of the state. And Seattle has lots of great vacation spots nearby, namely Mt. Rainier to the east and Bainbridge Island to the west.

[Urban Prairie Schooner]

"The north" in Louisiana begins at Alexandria.  A rough divider would be LA 8 - LA 28 - Red River - Old River.

In Louisiana (at least south La), the most popular vacationland would be the beach cities extending from Gulf Shores AL to Panama City FL. Biloxi and the MS coast was favored prior to the 1970s, but the AL-FL beaches have white powder sand and clearer water so they became more favored as highway access was improved.

I suspect Holly Beach is the preferred destination for some in SW La.  Holly Beach along with Grand Isle are the only true coastal beaches in La.

For fishing/boating recreation, the coastal swamps/lakes/bays and Atchafalaya Basin, along with various state parks around the north and central parts of the state.

[briantroutman]

The OP's use of "up north"  as a synonym for vacation country suggests a certain bias toward either hunting/fishing cabins and lake recreation as the popular getaway destination. And for that, there are a number of people from the Philadelphia area who escape to cabins or resorts in the Poconos, especially for skiing in the winter. But in terms of weekend getaways for this region, my impression is that the number of people heading north and west to lakes and mountains is dwarfed by the number of people heading south and east–"downashore" , as they say in Philadelphia–to New Jersey and Delaware beaches.

Outside of the Philadelphia area, it's generally fair to say that there are plenty of lakes and forests statewide, especially north and west of Blue Mountain, and Pennsylvanians from across the state tend to head in all different directions to their cabin or favorite lake.

Does York and Carlisle and Chambersburg consider themselves Western PA or Eastern?  What about Williamsport? or Lock Haven? Or Lewisburg?   State College I believe falls under Western. 

Or is there a third line that everything above I-80 is considered Northern PA?

Well–you seem to be answering a different question, which is along the lines of the New York upstate vs. downstate debate.

As a native of Williamsport, I feel completely safe in saying the West Branch Valley is more closely tied with eastern PA than western–in terms of sports team affiliations, media market overlap, cultural traditions, dialect, etc. That's also the case with Lewisburg, Carlisle, Chambersburg, and York. State College is a unique case since it's largely populated by students and faculty from all over the state and beyond.

If there was a third "northern Pennsylvania" , the dividing line wouldn't be I-80 but rather US 6. Many of these towns are so far removed from the rest of PA civilization that they share more in common with New York's southern tier towns–and in many cases, crossing the border to Olean or Elmira provides the closest big box shopping. But it's very different region culturally–many of them are Bills fans; they buy groceries at Tops, are crazy about something called "spiedie sauce" , and have a touch of that Northern Cities Vowel Shift.

[webny99]

If there was a third "northern Pennsylvania" , the dividing line wouldn't be I-80 but rather US 6. Many of these towns are so far removed from the rest of PA civilization that they share more in common with New York's southern tier towns–and in many cases, crossing the border to Olean or Elmira provides the closest big box shopping. But it's very different region culturally–many of them are Bills fans; they buy groceries at Tops, are crazy about something called "spiedie sauce" , and have a touch of that Northern Cities Vowel Shift.

Wonderfully well put, and even with the appropriate touch of disgust about it! You got me smiling and nodding my head by the end there.
And, this is random, but here's what that Tops reference made me think of... such a classic example of the difference between Pennsylvania and New York, linguistically. You'd never see that on a billboard around here.

[briantroutman]

And, this is random, but here's what that Tops reference made me think of...

So here's a piece of trivia about that billboard and a bit of a roadgeek connection: It's posted above the Pepsi bottler in Williamsport. The bottling plant is now owned by Pepsi, but it was originally the Confair Bottling Company, the enterprise of Z.H. Confair, who was also a state senator and the single person most responsible for pushing the cause of the Keystone Shortway (I-80) in Harrisburg.

[webny99]

And, this is random, but here's what that Tops reference made me think of...

So here's a piece of trivia about that billboard and a bit of a roadgeek connection: It's posted above the Pepsi bottler in Williamsport. The bottling plant is now owned by Pepsi, but it was originally the Confair Bottling Company, the enterprise of Z.H. Confair, who was also a state senator and the single person most responsible for pushing the cause of the Keystone Shortway (I-80) in Harrisburg.

Interesting, and noteworthy too that I-80 still missed Williamsport itself by a fairly wide margin. It's not hard to envision an alternate routing of I-80 between roughly DuBois and Mt. Pocono that would have hit Lock Haven, Williamsport, and even Wilkes-Barre. All three of those would have been likely generators of additional traffic on I-80, not to mention big improvements over the current control cities!

(I should note that the specific "Pepsi is Tops" ad is no longer there. I remembered it quite distinctly from my trips down that way, and it was a surprisingly easy find, although I did have to go back to 2015 street view.)

[ghYHZ]

In Ontario you do say you're going 'Up North' for the weekend and that's the Muskoka, Huntsville, Algonquin Park area about 2 hrs north of Toronto......and that 2 hr drive on ON400/11 can easily double with the summer Friday evening exodus to 'Cottage Country'. Same returning on Sunday.

But in Ontario....it's really not that far 'Up North'. You would have to go to the shores of Hudson Bay.....another 1250 km (800 miles) further north and only accessible by air or water.

[D-Dey65]

But in Ontario....it's really not that far 'Up North'. You would have to go to the shores of Hudson Bay.....another 1250 km (800 miles) further north and only accessible by air or water.

800 miles north of my place would be just shy of Ruther Glen, Virginia. And it's all road from there, baby!

Personally, I don't what "Up North" is for most people in the northern suburbs of Tampa Bay. I keep guessing it might be anywhere north of Citrus and Sumter Counties, with the exception of Ocala or Dunnellon. Or maybe Ocala is included. Sure, it's a city. But with all the parties I pass by in Downtown Ocala every time I drive through there it wouldn't surprise me if they get visitors from Tampa-St. Pete and Gainesville.

[MikieTimT]

I suspect Holly Beach is the preferred destination for some in SW La.  Holly Beach along with Grand Isle are the only true coastal beaches in La.

My family took a couple of campers and setup on the beach at Holly Beach, one of the few places with a campground right on the beach. I think that the campground was wiped out by a hurricane since we were there, but it was pretty neat nonetheless.  Not a particularly clean beach with a view, but the absolute closest beach to NW Arkansas.  It's a little close to Port Arthur/Beaumont TX and St. Charles, LA to be a really nice area, and there was no shortage of oil platforms within sight of the beach.