OT - Vacations
Given it is summer and the board is dead, figured I would create a thread where people could share vacation ideas. What place was your favorite? What time of year did you go? Certain age to appreciate it?
I haven't traveled much outside of the US, but I am a huge fan of Hilton Head Island. That place is a must for any golfers out there and the week after the Masters is a great time to visit.
Maine - Arcadia National Park. Ferry over to Nova Scotia
SF area
Key West
South Padre Island
Latest vacation was NYC. Loved it.
Aside from Michigan Football this fall I wanna drive over to the Ozarks
Of the places I've been:
Continental US - Seattle
Other US - Hawaii - I'm a big fan of Maui, Grand Wailea is amazing.
Outside of US 1 - Dubai - very friendly, can do it on any budget, things to do for any sort of vacation (shopping, sight seeing, sports, etc)
Outside of US 2 - Costa Rica - great national parks, hiking locations, beaches, and monkeys everywhere.
Being 4 hours away makes this an easy summer trip for us. Great restaurants, history, sailing, beaches, shopping - one place that has it all. There aren't too many places in America where whole neighborhoods have 250 year old houses and Newport has several of America's "firsts" or "oldest" (oldest synagogue, first US Open, first auto race, oldest tavern in continuous use (1687)).
in the AF, my friends and I rented a house during the summer in Newport. It was so much fun, so much carnage, so much drinking. Had an absolute blast. Is the Red Parrot still there?
The Red Parrot is still alive and kicking, and so is it's 12 page menu. When I was a child, we moved to Newport in 1974 just after the Navy pulled out thousands of sailors. There were some really rough spots downtown and along water. By 1980, the place was completely transformed. Still cool to see our men and women in uniform strolling the wharves among the hoards of tourists.
I lived in Newport for a couple years and positively loved the place. Lived a stone's throw from downtown AND had off-street parking to boot - heaven. Honestly, after having lived there for a while, I can say this: the Red Parrot is nice and has good food, but it's for tourists.
These days anyone you see in uniform - 99% chance it's a NAPS kid. My reason for living there, it was my last tour in the Navy, working at the War College - and we wore civvies almost all the time, even at work.
GF and I are thinking of a fall trip to Montreal and then over to Acadia. Both of ours first times in the NE, so I'll take tips if any of you have them.
If you bike at all, the carriage trails around Acadia are an easy ride. More of a challenge is riding up Cadillac Mountain, but go up anyway, even by car if you have to, for great views (unless it's foggy, but fall is normally clear and spectacular). If you are more motivated than me, watch the sunrise from the top of the mountain.
I used to live in Vermont, and spent a lot of time in Montreal. I bike a lot, too, so I've biked around Montreal plus the Eastern Townships - the latter are areas where there are still villages of mainly English speakers. Very beautiful region, quaint villages. Did a bike tour with my then wife and our two young sons, ending up on Lake Memphremegog, which I've probably misspelled.
Montreal is one of my favorite cities, and very bike friendly when it's not raining. Or unbelievably cold.
No shortage of things to do in that area. There's Busch Gardens and Water Country for the kids and then tons of educational opportunities such as Colonial Williamsburg, Yorktown, Jamestown Settlement....stuff to do for the entire family.
Also a big fan of Hilton Head. As far as favorite location, tie between Disney and Atlantis Bahamas. I still enjoy Disney despite being in my 20s, even though the highlight is now getting hammered while drinking around the world at Epcot.
In the US, a tie between Montana and Colorado. Southwestern Montana, near Yellowstone, biking the Beartooth, staying in a log cabin outside Silver Gate. And biking the Rockies in Colorado cannot be beat.
Overseas, Japan. The expense scares many away, but it is an amazing, beautiful country. I used to visit every year, mainly the tohoku region in the northeast which was hit by the tsunami. Beautiful landscape, fantastic food, fascinating culture, one of the most civilized, safe and sensibly-administered countries in the world. And Tokyo is an incredible city.
....however, I think Tokyo is one of the most over-rated cities I have been. Maybe its because a lot of stuff got bombed out during the war, but I found it to be uncharming for a big city. No doubt, probably the safest cleanest big city I have ever been (next to Iceland) and there are certainly some interesting places to see, but overall I just found it too culturally sterile for my tastes. To each their own, I guess.
I tell people that a weekend in Tokyo is enough. Spend as much time as you can in Kyoto.
In the past year, I've been pretty fortunate to travel a fair bit. Since it's summer, I'll mention three of my favorite places to visit this time of year. In June, I flew out to Denver for a wedding and turned it into a Colorado road trip. Highlights were Boulder, Rocky Mountian National Park, Breckenridge, Aspen, Telluride, and Colorado Springs. I had been to Colorado before, but Telluride was new to me. Best town ever. I'm sure this trip would be a real treat in late September/early October when the Fall foliage peaks.
Second on the list is San Francisco, Monterey, Carmel, and Big Sur. Fly into SF and drive down CA1. Fantastic views and great hiking in the numerous state parks along the way.
The third on my list would be Seattle (my favorite "big" city). All three of these destinations would be very kid friendly, in my opinion. Of course, anywhere along the lakes in the great state of Michigan is near the top of the list. I'd also love to visit Maine in the summer.
... down the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. Favorite spots were:
Nosara
Santa Teresa
Domincal (a little more advanced than I could handle).
There are tons of great spots, some more crowded than others. The three above had great, consistent breaks without the crowds. I'm not good enough that I can navigate the heavy traffic.
Santa Teresa is a small slice of heaven.
A couple of years ago, I went to Slovenia and Croatia. As former Yugoslav states, Americans tend to think of them as hostile war zones, but that was over 20 years ago now. Slovenia is a well established part of the EU with a prosperous economy, while Croatia is one of the most popular vacations spots among those from northern Europe.
In western Slovenia, outdoor sportsmanship is the primary attraction in the eastern edge of the Alps, which slope down into wine country in the eastern part of the country. Croatia is a beach destination, with a thousand miles of coastline. But don't miss to highlights: Plitvicka Nat'l Park has the clearest water you've ever seen, and Dubrovnik isn't called "the Pearl of the Adriatic" for nothing.
Both beautiful places, fortunate to have survived the breakup of Yugoslavia reltively smoothly compared with the rest of the republics. Slovenia is like Austria without the major peaks.
I was in Yugoslavia in the late 80s, before I went to grad school at UM, taking a meandering train trip from Greece to Berlin. Slovenia was my favorite part of Yugoslavia but I had an unfortunate run-in with Tito's henchmen that left me with a pretty good idea as to how he managed to keep that country knit together. Pure, unvarnished violence at the hands of a police force who looked and acted like a bunch of little Stalins. I'd love to go back and see without the repression and terror.
My wife, girlfriend at the time went to Croatia for about 3 weeks in summer and stayed in Hvar, which is an island. It was pretty amazing...I would go back in a heart beat. We also took a boat ride to Italy from there. It was a pretty crazy experience getting to the Island, as we flew into Split and took a bus to the port and people were standing out at the bus stop offering rooms to stay in for a night, since there were no ferry's going to the island that late, we stayed in a room. Pretty much winged it...same as for Italy when we got off the ferry. Awesome experience tho.
My wife and I just got married last weekend and we are leaving for our Honeymoon tomorrow!
We are doing a Carnival Cruise with 4 stops:
Cozumel
Belize
Isla Roatan
Costa Maya, Mexico
Sounds like the weather is going to be extremely warm going in July, but so pumped for the beach and lots of cold drinks!