OT- Where do you MGO on summer vacation?
Occasionally rent a boat and take it over to Breakers in Topinabee... good times.
Have a family condo in San Clemente, CA. In Orange County so the wife loves the shopping and I enjoy that it is just a short jaunt from San Diego or north to the sports in LA.
What is it with UofM dentists? My brother is one and also headed to vacation in South Carolina all the time. /s
haven't been so don't really have an answer for you... but I'm going to London in September and am hoping to go to a Premier League game.
Any recommendations on which London area team would be the best to see? Looks like Chelsea, Arsenal, West Ham, and Crystal Palace are home that weekend. I'm a casual soccer fan so I don't have a dog in the fight, mostly interested in experiencing a cool atmosphere...
Thanks!
I have a friend who is an Arsenal fan and loved the old stadium...I've heard the atmosphere of the new stadium, Emirates, isn't as nice.
Chelski is the best team of the bunch so if you like good football*, would go watch them live @ Stamford Bridge.
In London, would do the Tower of London tour WITH the Beefeater guide. Thoroughly enjoyed yelling "Off with his head" with the rest of the tourists at various historic execution sites on the Tower grounds.
Also for an art history dork, the British Museum is a must see.
Finally, did not see the Borough Market, love those kind of markets
*soccer
The general rule in England these days seems to be the smaller the club (and the older the stadium), the better the atmosphere. There's been a lot of grousing there lately about teams pricing out the "kind of fans that get off on making noise during football matches", to quote the Guardian (they were, rightly, envying the Dortmund experience).
I honestly think you'll see/hear a better atmosphere at West Ham than at either of the big clubs. Or if you can get to Liverpool or Stoke or Newcastle, but that's a trip.
Beware of pick pockets in the touristy areas, and if you're travelling through the chunnel, the train ride is rather boring. Inside the chunnel there's nothing to see, and while you do see some countryside, it's mostly farmland and doesn't look much different from farmland anywhere else.
Oh, and in Paris, beware of the motorcyclists when crossing streets. I don't know how many times I looked down the street before crossing, but then had a motorcylist or two using their green light like a drag race "go" light. One minute they're a block away stopped at a light, 30 seconds later they're passing by at 60-70 mph.
August is when the French vacation, so be prepared for a lot of places to be closed. (Small restaurants, brochantes, and some touristy things.) The major ones will be open. It's always good to try to check ahead before going to the one attraction in a rural village.
My favorite lunch was to stroll into boulangerie for a bagette, a charcuterie for rabbit terrine or some other prepared meats (jambon {ham}, roasted chicken...), some cheese, wine and something sweet. Heaven
Some favorites in Paris:
Carnevalet Museum (City of Paris) is great and easy 1-2 hours. From Roman Occupation on. Get a book of walking tours, you'll discover the different neighborhoods and experience so much. (Walking Paris was a good one.)
Take to RER out to Giverny to see Monet's Garden and the American Impressionist Museum there.
The Jacquemarte and Andre Museum (a private home on Blvd Haussmann) filled with art (Rembrandts and Renaissance), architecture and a luxurious house from the late 1800's.
The Cluny, the medieval museum of France, near the Sorbonne in Paris is terrific: the Unicorn Tapestries, crown jewels from the 9th C, all kinds of interesting stuff. It's built on top of a Roman Bath.
Take in the street markets for some of the best people watching.
The Ile de Cite has Notre Dame and a million little streets to explore.
The Louvre
...has Berthillon.
It also happens to have Notre Dame and a million little streets to explore, but let's keep our priorities straight here.
You don't really have to be fluent, just be able to know a few phrases. When I was in Paris, I did begin each conversation / transaction with "Parlez vous Anglais?" When I got the response "non," I would stumble through what little bit of French I knew, and that was usually enough. Most of the people I encountered could understand and speak English a lot better than I could French, but I don't really blame them for expecting visitors to not just presume everyone speaks English. Also, one tip, for numbers that go beyond ten or 100 or whatever your capacity is, just speak each number individually, so if you were trying to say tell the hotel clerk you were in room 435, just say "chambre quatre trois cinq.
Also, many of the Paris museums (including the Louvre) are free the first Sunday of the month. The Louvre will be packed, but there are so many museums and churces, and other sites to see in Paris, you could spend months going some place different each day, and still not run out of places to see. There are probably several places near your hotel that might not appear in most tour books tucked out of the way that will be cool to spend time at.
Also, Versailles is easy to get to and from by train, and if you're in to history, it's a great way to spend an afternoon (though it will also be full of tourist groups--and outside the entrance and other places, like the Eiffel Tower, there will be dozens of people hawking touristy trinkets).
My buddy has a cottage on Bear Lake in Chautauqua County. I went out there a couple years ago and was told that Lake Chautauqua is a good time. Bemis Point in particular. Sadly, I never made it down there but I'm hoping to go back soon.
Yeah I was surprised at how many courses they had out there. We spent a few days at Cassadega Country Club and went to a really nice public course on Lake Erie that I forget the name of.
Summer vacation? You youngsters and your colloquialisms. Haven't heard that phrase since Rich Rodriguez was strolling the sidelines and weird stuffed animals were rubbing their junk on our linebackers!
The best I get is a weekend here or there to leave NYC and get out to the Hamptons. That's about it.
I hear Hampton tomatoes can't be beat.
of the Columbus area...birthplace of the (commercial) tomato.
sponsored by the Worst State Ever Convention and Sports Bureau
I live in South Florida and the 90 + degree temps every day with 100 % humidity gets old.
Nowhere this year, but hopefully next year the MGoWife and I can go to NYC. I have never been there and really want to go.
The wife, kids and I toured baseball stadiums. We started with Miller Park (Milwaukee), then hit Wrigley, Great American Ballpark (Cincinnati) and PNC in Pittsburgh before heading home. It takes a little bit of planning to make it work based on home schedules.
We would really like to hit the East Coast corridor in a year or two.
Great memories for the kids and adults!
I actually finished my 30th park on opening day this year - lots of great memories not just of the games/stadiums, but of the cities you'll visit, as well. I did the East Coast driving tour with my father in 2006 and can share some insight, if you'd like. Definitely helps to have more than one driver, as the nights can get unexpectedly long on I-95 if there's traffic (and there always is).
Enjoy!
I usually try to go to new places.
I've rented a cabin with some friends up on a lake called Beaver's Bend in Oklahoma in about a month.
In the past, it's either been Maui or the U.S. Virgin Islands. Been there multiple times and probably heading back to Maui in a few months.
My wife and I visit some of her family in central California every summer and make it a point to take two days to ourselves in Monterey and Carmel. We golf, cruise the shops, hit the aquarium and just enjoy the beautiful weather.
For longer vacations, every other year we take our breaks during winter and go somewhere warm. Last year it was Syndey, Australia, which is a very cool place and I highly recommend it.
In the Hamptons, we don't "vacation," we "summer." Kneel before Zod minion.
If you are going to the airport wear your "Worst State Ever" T-shirt! I wore it on my way to Vegas...TSA loves it and are always asking "What state is that?" Same with other people...its funny to see there reaction when you say OHIO.
I can attest to this, as to my wifes horror, I wear mine whenever I fly.
Only time it didn't get said reaction was when I wore it stepping unknowingly into a Buckeye bar out there.
Made a trip to Otter Lake last year and it was incredible.
Leaving for Nags Head in the Outer Banks tomorrow.
Typically will drive out to the Delaware, South Jersey beaches at least 4-5 times a summer.
When I was a kid, we rented a cabin on the north side of Higgins Lake every summer. It was wonderful.
I grew up in DeTour. To us, the Island was a shithole, but if you are not from the area and don't know the locals, probably a great place to be!
Outer Banks, North Carolina! Glorious
I’m planning to Mgovacation on the banks of the Upper Kenai River around Cooper Landing, AK , spend some time enjoying the beautiful surroundings and hopefully FedEx some freshly caught Silver (Coho) salmon back to Michigan to treat my fellow tailgaters over on Pauline Blvd to “Maple Rosemary Planked Salmon” before the Central game. That should be a nice way to kick off the season.
There are two sort of set weekend trips each summer for us. Given that my wife's family is mostly in Chicago, we go there at least once in the summer to visit them as well as the museums. Occasionally, I find time to bum a ticket to a Cubs game from one of my wife's relatives too. We also make the yearly trek to my parents' cabin in Canada Creek Ranch, somewhere between Atlanta, MI and Hillman, MI.
Beyond that, it will vary widely. After the kids were born, for a few years, those were the only two treks we made, but we have expanded the scope of vacations since then. This year, in fact, if a few things can be rearranged workwise for me, we'll be taking them to the DC area so I can take the kids to the Smithsonian.