Favorite vacation spots...

[Cuda1447]

It's approaching that time of year when the wife and I go on our annual vacation. I'm a bit torn about where to go though. I'm curious what are some of your favorite spots.


Here is where we've gone so far and what we've done there.

Vancouver - Lots of outdoors stuff. Skiing, white water rafting, hiking, climbing etc... Also some city touring and basically exploring a foreign country to us. I loved it. Great city.

Las Vegas - We ended up going twice in 2 months due to work. I loved the shows, not so much the gambling. During the day it was a bit boring. Did a lot of walking around and shopping. We also went touring an old gold mine and atving on the second trip. That was quite a bit of fun.

Bahamas - This was our honeymoon trip. It was ok. Played a lot of volleyball on the resort. Jet skiing. Unfortunately, being only 24 at the time I couldn't rent a freaking car there. It wasn't my favorite trip, but it was alright.

Chicago - The trip I proposed to my wife on. Also visited my sister who lives in Chicago. Tons of fun. Ate out at a lot of nice restaurants. Zoo's, aquariums, touring Michigan ave. ice skating etc... Typical city vacation.

Gatlinburg, Tn - This was a winter vacation. Snowboarding/skiing and hiking were done. Relaxing in a cabin with another couple. Just basically chilling in the mountains. I loved the scenery. Gatlinburg has a very cool downtown too. Also went up to NC and visited the Biltmore estate.

Clemson, Sc - For this trip we just picked a spot on a map and went there. Explored Clemson and happened upon an AWESOME town in Greenville, SC. Did some white water rafting and more hiking. Paintball. Gardens. And basically just winging it. Did I mention Greenville is cool as hell?


So where to go next? On the short list of places we'd like to eventually vacation to you have... New York City, Yellowstone or Yosemite National Parks, Hawaii, Alaska, Australia, Greece, Egypt.

I'd say Greece and Egypt are out right now, due to instability in those regions. Australia is probably also out simply due to it being so far. I'm not really to sure. Maybe there are some other places I haven't thought of.


So lets have it. Where are some of your favorite spots?

 

[blackdogdeek]

acadia

so far, this is my favorite vacation spot. rent a house for the week. you can hike, bike, swim, kayak, canoe, sail, rock climb, and most outdoorsy activities.

then in the evenings you can drive into bar harbor for food, drink, music and souvenirs.

EDIT: you can even camp if you don't want to pay for a house.

 

[LiuKangBakinPie]

Cape Town and Western Cape

Cape Wine Routes
Route 62
Cape Whale Coast
Table Mountain
Robben Island
Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens
Victoria & Alfred Waterfront
Cape Point
Cape Town Beaches
Cango Caves
White Shark Cage Diving

 

[corwin]

Anywhere with blue water for diving...Australia would be a big one for me for the great whites

 

[tarheel1983]

I have a few I would like to hit up. Mohonk Preserve in New Poltz NY, Ireland, New Zealand and North to Alaska

 

[slayer202]

Sounds like you'd like one of the national parks the most. I'd hold off on Greece and Egypt, though I'm not sure how the tourist spots are right now

 

[LiuKangBakinPie]

Ibiza enough said

 

[LiuKangBakinPie]

Anywhere with blue water for diving...Australia would be a big one for me for the great whites

Gansbaai

 

[IndyColtsFan]

You can't go wrong with France and Italy. I think we're heading to Ireland in the fall.

EDIT: Yosemite is awesome too, as is Hawaii.

 

[ichy]

I love France but it is crazy expensive. IMO if there are a lot of different places you want to see you can get better value somewhere else.

Re: Cape Town, nice place but hell of a long trip to get there. It also doesn't help that rape and homicide are South Africa's national pastimes.

 

[LiuKangBakinPie]

I love France but it is crazy expensive. IMO if there are a lot of different places you want to see you can get better value somewhere else.

Re: Cape Town, nice place but hell of a long trip to get there. It also doesn't help that rape and homicide are South Africa's national pastimes.

What were you doing in the slums? Couldn't you afford a decent hotel?

 

[Dr. Detroit]

Unplugging from society is a favorite for us.

Del Norte County - That means packing up the camping gear and heading up the coast to the California/Oregon border and living in the old growth redwoods for a week.

Hiking Redwood Creek & Tall Tress, Old Hwy 1, Damnation Creek, floating down the Smith River outside of Gasquet on tubes, having campfires, and heading into town every few days for fresh groceries, more beer, and gathering drift wood for a few more camp-fires.

Great family time and zero connectivity until we go into town.

 

[SillyOReilly]

Cruises have a black eye lately, but they're the best.

 

[edro]

We spent 2 weeks touring Spain last fall. It was awesome, but it rained the entire second week, so it could have been better.

They were a little unstable while we were there, but it was kind of cool.
The transit system kept going on strike, so we couldn't take the public train system.
Instead we had to use the private train system and taxis. (no problem)

We walked through a few strikes in town squares (Madrid and Seville).
It was pretty cool to see so many people striking like that. They kept setting off cherry bombs in the square and it sounded awesome because of the echo off the buildings.

We did get a little tired of Spain after a week or so. I wish we would have went to France a little. We are saving France/Italy/Greece for a later trip, hopefully.

You can't go wrong with the Caribbean though. We are going there for a cruise in a few weeks.

 

[ichy]

I went to Madrid a couple of years ago. Great place.

Where to go kind of depends on what the OP is interested in. I know I've become kind of tired of sightseeing and prefer to spend my vacation time doing something exciting (skiing, diving, etc.)

 

[GTaudiophile]

If you need any information on western European locations, especially Germany and Greece, then I am happy to provide suggestions.

I have been to Greece nearly every summer since 2002, but I would have a hard time recommending it right now.

 

[dr150]

Cape Town and Western Cape

Cape Wine Routes
Route 62
Cape Whale Coast
Table Mountain
Robben Island
Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens
Victoria & Alfred Waterfront
Cape Point
Cape Town Beaches
Cango Caves
White Shark Cage Diving

You forgot your cape, good sir!

 

[Sluggo]

Australia is probably also out simply due to it being so far.

I swear I would have to be sedated for a plane ride to Australia.

A few years back we had to go to Newport, RI for a wedding. I begged my wife to leave me at home since I was convinced it would be a horrible place to visit. Shame on me, it was a great place for short trip, had a great time.

 

[BurnItDwn]

My favorites places are
Door County Wisconsin, but mostly because I spent a LOT of my childhood up there, and my grandma and uncle live up there ... and my grandpa's buried up there...
Awesome snowmobiling in the winter. Swimming, boating, camping in the summer.

New Orleans (which also happens to be a cruise ship port for several big cruise lines) ... The French quarter is frickin awesome! Even after the Katrina disaster, New Orleans is my favorite city.

 

[soulcougher73]

Tahoe, Yellowstone and Grand Tetons ive hit in the last few years. All were awesome. If you want mountains in your vacation

 

[Cuda1447]

Anywhere with blue water for diving...Australia would be a big one for me for the great whites

You know you raise a good point. We live in Tampa, Florida, so obviously we have a lot of good diving within driving distance of us. We are spoiled though and take it for granted. We've never actually gone diving/snorkeling. Maybe we should have a mini day trip and do something like that soon.

 

[bobdole369]

It's approaching that time of year when the wife and I go on our annual vacation. I'm a bit torn about where to go though. I'm curious what are some of your favorite spots.


Here is where we've gone so far and what we've done there.

Vancouver - Lots of outdoors stuff. Skiing, white water rafting, hiking, climbing etc... Also some city touring and basically exploring a foreign country to us. I loved it. Great city.

Las Vegas - We ended up going twice in 2 months due to work. I loved the shows, not so much the gambling. During the day it was a bit boring. Did a lot of walking around and shopping. We also went touring an old gold mine and atving on the second trip. That was quite a bit of fun.

Bahamas - This was our honeymoon trip. It was ok. Played a lot of volleyball on the resort. Jet skiing. Unfortunately, being only 24 at the time I couldn't rent a freaking car there. It wasn't my favorite trip, but it was alright.

Chicago - The trip I proposed to my wife on. Also visited my sister who lives in Chicago. Tons of fun. Ate out at a lot of nice restaurants. Zoo's, aquariums, touring Michigan ave. ice skating etc... Typical city vacation.

Gatlinburg, Tn - This was a winter vacation. Snowboarding/skiing and hiking were done. Relaxing in a cabin with another couple. Just basically chilling in the mountains. I loved the scenery. Gatlinburg has a very cool downtown too. Also went up to NC and visited the Biltmore estate.

Clemson, Sc - For this trip we just picked a spot on a map and went there. Explored Clemson and happened upon an AWESOME town in Greenville, SC. Did some white water rafting and more hiking. Paintball. Gardens. And basically just winging it. Did I mention Greenville is cool as hell?


So where to go next? On the short list of places we'd like to eventually vacation to you have... New York City, Yellowstone or Yosemite National Parks, Hawaii, Alaska, Australia, Greece, Egypt.

I'd say Greece and Egypt are out right now, due to instability in those regions. Australia is probably also out simply due to it being so far. I'm not really to sure. Maybe there are some other places I haven't thought of.


So lets have it. Where are some of your favorite spots?

We did NYC just to say we went. Stayed in Queens for about $70 a night, rode the subway and took buses everywhere in the city. Did the touristy crap for about 4 days, then went home. DON'T rent a car - you'll spend so long looking for parking and trying to figure out how to not crash you'll have an aneurysm. We only rented a car for the last day - trip back to the airport and that was baaaaad. I could spend 3 weeks there just walking about.

Smoky mountains is "best" in mid-late october with all the leaf-peepers. This year (2011) not so much. Sort of why we went to NYC - was rainy, foggy, and cold and no leaf show. Actually did stuff in Cherokee and Gatlinburg this time though. I don't recommend the Blue Ridge parkway with flurries and 250ft visibility. I realllly wanted to drive tail of the dragon, cherohalo, parson branch, balsam mountain and wanted badly to make it out to cataloochee, but alas - we only got to do the cades cove and rich mountain road.

Don't waste your time at Shenandoah unless you are already near DC. It's literally doable in a couple hours, we actually liked it further down the Blue Ridge. It's a great park and all - we even did a couple neat little hikes (one was out to an old cemetary), and we camped there for 3 nights, once in each campground (by far the best was the furthest south - almost total seclusion and only one creepy ranger.)

As for another park worth it in the East - Acadia by far.


Why not come spend your money in the Florida Keys?


Yosemite is NOT to be missed. That has to be the best park to which I've been. Death Valley was quite relaxing and desolate, very beautiful too.

 

[corwin]

You know you raise a good point. We live in Tampa, Florida, so obviously we have a lot of good diving within driving distance of us. We are spoiled though and take it for granted. We've never actually gone diving/snorkeling. Maybe we should have a mini day trip and do something like that soon.

I would love to be close to good diving, I don't get to nearly enough I may be biased but you really should try snorkeling at least, actual diving is unlike anything else you could know, being essentially weightless and for the most part in peace and quiet is incredible, and the sights are beautiful

 

[LiuKangBakinPie]

You forgot your cape, good sir!

I could leave it out but one might end up in some shit town population 30

 

[manimal]

If you want to go somewhere off the beaten path try Dubrovnik Croatia

OMG its awesome sauce there.