OT - Vacation

northGAcock

@Sea2Ski    out of curisoty, what does one of those boats (you referenced) rent for? I assume its a sleeper right?

wbradking

@blasting May I ask how old your daughter is?  Mine turns 15 next month and I think that's a great idea to do.  I fear I don't have much time before she gets too busy with her own life.

blasting

wbradking said:

@blasting May I ask how old your daughter is?  Mine turns 15 next month and I think that's a great idea to do.  I fear I don't have much time before she gets too busy with her own life.

@wbradking   She will turn 14 the week we get back.  We're pretty much inseparable now, but I'm well aware that will change - hence the reason for this adventure.

wbradking

@blasting I hope the both of you make a lifetime of memories. 

blasting

wbradking said:

@blasting I hope the both of you make a lifetime of memories. 

Thanks @wbradking, I appreciate that.  Hopefully you can do something along those lines with yours before you become tots uncool (as we all will)

wbradking

Our sit back and relax spot is St. George Island.  Highly recommend it.

Jeepster47

northGAcock said:

I love the desert of Arizona. ... the south Rim of the Grand Canyon. ...

 @northGAcock ... add the north rim to your todo list.  Hard to get to, so not so many tourists.  There are spots where you can hang ten over 750 foot straight drops. 

U_tarded

Jeepster47 said:

northGAcock said:

I love the desert of Arizona. ... the south Rim of the Grand Canyon. ...

 @northGAcock ... add the north rim to your todo list.  Hard to get to, so not so many tourists.  There are spots where you can hang ten over 750 foot straight drops. 

North rim is awesome, either the national park with lodge and cabins or toroweap where it is completely rustic.  You could swing north from there and hit up some of my local flavor with Zions national park, arches, Bryce Canyon etc.  

Mosca

Hawaii Big Island is pretty spectacular. But Mrs and I are casino people, and Atlantis in the Bahamas is the nicest casino in the Caribbean.

Eggzellent

DoubleEgger said:

I did that the year before last @Eggzellent . Awesome trip! 

Braggart said:

Eggzellent said:

Fly in to Calgary..rent a comfortable full size truck/SUV and drive from Banff to Jasper or wherever life takes you. There may be more spectacular scenery jammed in to that small of an area with luxury amenities included (if you desire) in North America..yet I'm still looking (please advise).

Close to my back yard.  Come on up...I'll even provide accommodations.  All I ask in return is a RTIC 65...!!

blasting said:

Just finalized my summer vacation today.  Going on a coast to coast road trip across America - just my daughter and myself.  

Good luck planning yours @DoubleEgger .

DoubleEgger..we went the first week of October just as everything was shutting down and had the place pretty much to ourselves w/blessed weather. I'm sure that there's a big world out there..yet I've never spent near a week with my mouth open at God's glory (constantly).
Braggart..your signature line says that you're out in the bush with no neighbors..if your backyard looks like Banff..I'd never leave (until winter)
blasting..now that's the best vacation that I've heard yet.

Sea2Ski

northGAcock said:

@Sea2Ski    out of curisoty, what does one of those boats (you referenced) rent for? I assume its a sleeper right?

@northGAcock boat rentals are like car rentals.  They can vary greatly!  They can go for 2 K a week up to realistic 15K a week for a boat that The average Joe can drive without special training or experience.  If you want a crew - the sky is the limit. And yes - definitely a sleeper. 

Realistically, figure on 3-4.5K a week for just the boat. You can usually get a discount for >10 day rentals.  But remember, it is your car and hotel as well.  Everything is within the length of the boat from you.  You also have to factor in food, which you have to buy anyway, and fuel.  Get a LRC (long range cruiser) with 2 engines and a lower combined gross HP, and they can be relatively efficient. We got a 42 foot 3 stateroom with a cruise speed of 12KT top speed of 16 KT, had 4 people on board, and were perfectly comfortable the last time. The boat was 8k for 13 nights, $800 in provisions (beef, pork, wine adult beverages etc....) and fuel was $600 total. And that was moving from 6AMto 4:30 PM for all but 3.5 days. But total time off the boat was maybe 18 Hrs in that 2 week period. We navigated to remote coves where we did not see or hear anyone - only the resident seal and passing Orcas. Incredible. There are tons of options. If you seriously are considering it, I can provide more info which would be best communicated over the phone. 

*I have no association with the boating or vacation industry. We just love being on the water and traveling to remote places.

Sea2Ski

U_tarded said:

Jeepster47 said:

northGAcock said:

I love the desert of Arizona. ... the south Rim of the Grand Canyon. ...

 @northGAcock ... add the north rim to your todo list.  Hard to get to, so not so many tourists.  There are spots where you can hang ten over 750 foot straight drops. 

North rim is awesome, either the national park with lodge and cabins or toroweap where it is completely rustic.  You could swing north from there and hit up some of my local flavor with Zions national park, arches, Bryce Canyon etc.  

this was a great vacation too. We rented a camper (Cruise America) and hit both rims, Zion, Bryce, and Kayaked down The Colorado river from the base of the Lake Powell dam to just entering the Grand Canyon park. It was about 12 miles and we opted to camp one night. Note that this section of the river is calm.  The roughest we saw were 8" "waves" in the rapids.  It was basically a lazy river ride....  Very memorable. 

Sea2Ski

theyolksonyou said:

@Sea2Ski will you marry me?

But I barely know you.....
My wife might have a problem with it too!

theyolksonyou

@Sea2Ski my wife wouldn't be too happy either. 

1move

If you need advice on Croatia let me know as that's my neck of the woods. If you are down there also check out Bosnia! Much cheaper and a ton of history. Mostar is closer to Dubrovnik and also Sarajevo is very nice.

Mickey

Eggzellent said:

Fly in to Calgary..rent a comfortable full size truck/SUV and drive from Banff to Jasper or wherever life takes you. There may be more spectacular scenery jammed in to that small of an area with luxury amenities included (if you desire) in North America..yet I'm still looking (please advise).


We did that trip but drove from Texas thru the National Parks and all the way to Jasper. WOW

Davec433

My top three vacations:

Backpacking across Europe
Flew into UK and took a ferry to France. Walked the Normandy beaches, hung out in Paris/Amsterdam for a day and spent the rest of it in Germany. It was cool to see the sites, drink the beer and talk to the people.

Sandals Montego Bay
Got married in Jamaica but the best part about it is it's totally all inclusive. You can dive, boat, paddle board and eat and drink as much as you want. They even have a family version called Beaches which is pretty much the same.

Honolulu
Learned how to dive and the coral is 10x better than the Carribean. Tons to do but I was younger and pretty much stayed drunk the entire time.

Legume

Cuba - just starting to open up, see it before their tourism is Americanized.

gdenby

30 minutes at the west end of 12 mile beach at Pictured Rocks, just before sunset were among the best of my life. You do have to hike thru a mile of swamp and forest, w about a million black flies and skeeters to get there. But white sand stretching away into infinity, pink and orange cliffs, coppered green water but so clear your toes 4' deep under the water might as well be in the air.

The beaches are dotted w. water tumbled agates.

Loon cries are chilling, pre-dawn. Drumming grouse sound like Harleys starting up. Do watch for bears.

Don't miss the pasties and smoked fish.

Jeepster47

@gdenby ... you forgot to tell them about the No-See-Ums in that area of the country ... they make the black flies and skeeters seem like house pets.  But, once there, it is a beautiful area.  If that is the type of experience you like, then a trip around Lake Superior will only add to the pleasure ... with a side trip to Isle Royal of course. 

gdenby

Jeepster47 said:

@gdenby ... you forgot to tell them about the No-See-Ums in that area of the country ... they make the black flies and skeeters seem like house pets.  But, once there, it is a beautiful area.  If that is the type of experience you like, then a trip around Lake Superior will only add to the pleasure ... with a side trip to Isle Royal of course. 

I did get hit by a horse fly, it drew blood. The day I arrived w. my family, later in the season than I went myself, no flies. The next day, the beach was impossible. But at sunset, the time I mentioned, all gone. Strange and wonderful.

Both my wife and I, and the kids who were old enough to remember, really want to go back. Don't suppose we could manage the Isle, but maybe the Keweenaw peninsula. 2 years ago, we started planning, but every lodging on the shore was almost completely booked up 6 weeks earlier. Much more traffic up there now than when I last went.

newby84

theyolksonyou said:

Haven't been yet, but come June we're headed to Costa Rica for rafting, rappelling zip lining. Cloud Forrest, volcano and beach all in the week. 

We are going to Costa Rica first week of June as well. My favorite place I've been so far is Aruba though, friendliest island there is to visit. 

northGAcock

blasting said:

Just finalized my summer vacation today.  Going on a coast to coast road trip across America - just my daughter and myself.  

Good luck planning yours @DoubleEgger .

Making memories....nothing like it. Passing through the Carolina's?

Braggart

Eggzellent said:

DoubleEgger said:

I did that the year before last @Eggzellent . Awesome trip! 

Braggart said:

Eggzellent said:

Fly in to Calgary..rent a comfortable full size truck/SUV and drive from Banff to Jasper or wherever life takes you. There may be more spectacular scenery jammed in to that small of an area with luxury amenities included (if you desire) in North America..yet I'm still looking (please advise).

Close to my back yard.  Come on up...I'll even provide accommodations.  All I ask in return is a RTIC 65...!!

blasting said:

Just finalized my summer vacation today.  Going on a coast to coast road trip across America - just my daughter and myself.  

Good luck planning yours @DoubleEgger .

DoubleEgger..we went the first week of October just as everything was shutting down and had the place pretty much to ourselves w/blessed weather. I'm sure that there's a big world out there..yet I've never spent near a week with my mouth open at God's glory (constantly).
Braggart..your signature line says that you're out in the bush with no neighbors..if your backyard looks like Banff..I'd never leave (until winter)
blasting..now that's the best vacation that I've heard yet.

A little deceiving I guess, as we all have neighbours....it's just that mine are farther away than most peoples.   I'm actually about 60 mins east of Banff, close enough to see the mountains, nestled in the foothills.

 As far as vacations go, the mountain parks in Canada are not only beautiful, but also remarkably affordable for our US friends these days thanks to the value of the Canadian peso!

blasting

northGAcock said:

blasting said:

Just finalized my summer vacation today.  Going on a coast to coast road trip across America - just my daughter and myself.  

Good luck planning yours @DoubleEgger .

Making memories....nothing like it. Passing through the Carolina's?

Actually yes, Charleston is the destination / turn around point.

YukonRon

My personal favorite is France. One of the most beautiful tours you will ever take is leaving The airports of Paris, and taking the back roads through France to whatever your destination may be.
The Villages are ancient in origin, therefore the history is spectacular. The highest peak in the Alps is Mt Blanc, the south of France, provides a beautiful ocean experience, and nothing beats The beauty and history of the "City of Lights," Paris in the spring.
The museums, the islands in the Seine, the food, and last, but certainly not least, the best wine in the world.
You can make it as Lazy or active as you want. 
The Louvre. The collection of the history of civilization. So much to see and do, a very beautiful country, with very friendly people.

Aviator

Going to Kawai end of this month. Never been there. 
Cant wait.