About Lotsa Fun Maps
As a tourist or newcomer to an area, I found that you often end up at the less-nice places. You drive bewilderedly through town and pick the most-visible restaurant, the one that every other tourist goes to, the one that doesn't much care if their food is good because they don't need repeat visitors. You drive up to the park or beach that is just off the main highway, missing out on gorgeous gems that are harder to find. The brochures in your hotel room even lead you astray. They are designed to send you and your fat wallet to all the places that will happily help you spend your money- overpriced shopping areas, overrun tourist strips with trinket stores, overly fake "attractions." You've visited a marvelous town and when you leave, you haven't seen any of its real beauty. Even tourist offices and travel books by major publishers mostly lead you to the main areas that a thousand other people have seen, tired, over-photographed scenes that don't particularly refresh you.
The other day, I was looking at a book published by a small local publisher, written by a local resident- a guide to San Luis Obispo, and there were so many nice places I'd never heard of. I said to my husband, "I think we saw the lamest part of Morro Bay, the Embarcadero tourist strip. But as a tourist you just don't know where to go." That's where lotsafunmaps comes in! It's our goal to inspire you with new, fresh places that the locals of an area return to time and time again, places that will delight you with their beauty, places that are mostly free, and mostly uncrowded. This information is so hard to find- it takes years of exploring to find the best places. We do that work for you, so that when you visit an area you don't waste your time.
Every place we write about, we visit personally. We swim the waters, sun on the beaches, row the kayaks, hike the trails, ride the waves, dine at the restaurants. Our son plays on the playground, eats the icecream, roams the stores. Yeah, I know, it's a hard job, but somebody's got to do it!
Also, we don't advertise in our reviews. If we put up a restaurant or attraction, it's because we like it, not because someone paid us to. I really dislike many websites because you can't tell if Chuck-E-Cheese really is a great place for brithday parties or if it's a terrible place but the website author is being paid $150 a month to say it's fantastic. LotsaFunMaps NEVER does that! These kinds of lame-o websites which are all over the web were my motivation for providing a website that gives REAL information to travelers. Our only advertisements are google ads, which are separate from the reviews, and which we hope will someday provide enough money so that we can explore more places and expand LotsaFunMaps...
Also, our photographs are not touched up to make a place look nicer than it is. What you see is what you get! We hope that our photos inspire you even if you can't go to a place- our free screensaver fills your day with scenes of nature and fun, even if you're stuck at the office!
Our hope is that you will have many happy, exciting days because of LotsaFunMaps!!