Vacation thoughts..

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dr wogz

dr wogz

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So, the wife & I are talking about a vacation.. Likely for the end of april..

And we can't really nail anything down.. Either it's too hot or cold, or (more likely) we've done it.. Or, "for that $$ we could do XXX instead.."

So, fishing for any ideas / suggestions the collective may have..


thoughts we've had:

USA:
Florida, either do Orlando, or drive the Keys (Done disney a number of times, but the new "Star Wars" stuff is call us!)
Fly to NY City & do the city, (although that might just be a long week-end)
Fly to Chicago, rent a car to drive to Yellowstone (Yes, I am aware it's a 20hr drive.. We don't mind the long driving vacations. and besides, teh dakotas & Wyoming are beautiful states to drive thru)
Fly to Nashville & drive the thru Kentucky & Tennessee (do the Bourbon trail!!)
Fly to Washington or such, and drive in & about the Islands & such (the chain of islands south of Norfolk VA)


Europe:
Fly to Munich or Frankfurt & drive to Venice or Milan.. (And stop in Lichtenstein.. Another Bucket list item!)
Do Scotland again (We were there last year) and I do have family there..
Fly to Denmark / Copenhagen (and do that little town of Billund.. Bucket list item!!)
Do Paris & the Normandy coast.. (Aren't all Quebecers supposed to visit Paris?! Or, secretly plan a trip that follows the 101st as they liberated teh area.. Or some other regiment from the landings)
Do Ireland (on her bucket list)
 
Those ideas look great - but after two visits to WDW after the opening of Galaxy’s Edge I wouldn’t skip any of your other choices to see it. It’s…ok. Basing it on the sequel movies was a huge misstep IMO.

Yellowstone is our plan for 2025 - this year is the Smokys again but including Dollywood for the first time and then early fall on the New England coast.
 
Africa
Do it while there are still animals.
Europe hasn't changed since WWII - it will wait.
The animals won't
See them while you can.

Was in the same boat as you - wife said the above - now planning our 5th trip.
 
Come to Las Vegas and see The Sphere. It's fantastic. Also the Atomic Testing museum. Take a tour of Frenchman's flat and look at the big craters. The bleachers that can be seen in films of the shots are still there. Then there is the Mob museum. Vegas at night is a sight to behold. A lot more to do here than gamble. Yellowstone would be a good choice now. See it before the volcano explodes and takes a lot of the West with it.
 
Lots of good options. I want to drive through Kentucky & Tennessee (do the Bourbon trail!!). I can't stand flying anymore. After over a million miles flown in my military service. I have had enough. Some of those combat landings do a number on your psyche.

Enjoy your vacation. We love to have you as a visitor in the US.
 
This is a tough list. Bucket list items would probably be my priority, but those tend to have a lot more cost to them. We're slowly ticking them off too. Next summer is Denmark, Sweden and Norway. We just recently got back from Belize. Last summer was camping in Banff for a few weeks.

I've been to Paris and Normandy. It's worth it. Would love to get back and just explore all of it by bicycle.
Yellowstone is amazing. If you hit Badlands and Black Hills on the way, you are in for a really nice trip and give yourself more time than you think. Don't miss the missile silo/bunker tours near Wall, SD/Badlands!

We go west a lot with our camper, so lots of driving across the Dakotas and Nebraska (which is pretty boring; but I've done it too many times). There is a ton of really great stuff out west in the US....many trips are possible.

The Africa suggestion is good too....

My mother-in-law got me a cheeky t-shirt for Christmas with a picture of all the continents and says something like "I haven't been everywhere, but it's on my list"
 
If you are a foodie try hard not to miss Lyon if you go to France, kinda out of the way for the France itinerary you mention though.
 
If you’re going to do Yellowstone, check to see what’s open in April. They have a long snowy winter. You might also fly into Minneapolis instead of Chicago to cut 6 hours off the drive each way without losing too much scenery.

If you’re able to postpone the trip to July, consider Washington state. We have all the scenery you cities want, good beer and wine, an excellent Museum of Flight, etc.
 
On the list for my wife and I currently are these:
1) Fly to Colorado, do a week at a dude ranch and a full day ride over the Continental Divide (my wife did this a few years ago). The major difficulty here is that you need to have way more saddle time that I usually get before attempting a full-day ride. Even regular riders (my wife works with , and rides, horses regularly and has done this ride before) will get a sore keister, but the scenery is unsurpassed.

2) Small ship cruise to Alaska. The small ships (through AdventureSmith, I think) have less than 100 passengers, have a shallow enough draft to enter coves that the giants cannot, and do kayak excursions off the fantail so you can kayak around glaciers or near migrating whales.

3) There are a couple of train trips that I would be interested in taking, but my wife is not a big fan so while she will humor me for a day or two, a week-long tourist trip is probably not in the cards. Otherwise I would be interested in one of the trips through the Canadian Rockies that stop in Banff, ect. The Amtrak trip through the Rockies on the regularly scheduled California Zephyr might be fun as well.

A couple years ago we did a week at a dude ranch in Tennessee with daily rides (and a few things that regular riders do not just because my wife is a really good rider and a certified riding instructor) and concluded the week by doing a ride through the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest which was awesome (and had some steep(ish) terrain and several river crossings).

The thing about NYC, is that there's a LOT of stuff to do and you can build a week, or a weekend, on a lot of different themes. I used to travel there for work on a regular basis (twenty years ago). You can do a lot with Broadway shows if that's your thing, or tour the UN, or spend time in Little Italy or Chinatown, hike in Central Park (one of the few things that I haven't done), visit the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island or Ellis Island (both my grandparents passed through there and their names are on plaques outside - thanks to my mother). There's just a lot to do so you need to decide what's important to you.

Personally, I might also be interested in spending a few days hiking the Appalachian Trail or the Pacific Coast Trail.
 
The last oversees vacation we did was Ireland. Gorgeous country; the roads not so much. We decided that it was our last time going there (our third time). Seriously, the roads in the tourist area can be nasty for someone not used to really narrow roads. If you rent a car get the smallest one you can and don't plan on bringing it back with the mirrors intact.
 
This year I've spent a bit of time driving from North Carolina to Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Tennessee and Kentucky. The drives have been great. It is a privileged to drive across the Appalachian mountains and the trips occasionally take too long, as I stop more often to just look at the scenery and breathe the air.

While I'm not specifically recommending any of those trips, there is beautiful scenery around that I've lived near for decades and never took the time to experience, so anyplace you will spend more time stopped and experiencing vs. driving through seems like a winner to me.

We did a 14 day Alaska cruise in 2019 and also a self-guided trip through Maine and a little of the East Coast of Canada and also enjoyed the drive there. The cruise was amazing, but crazy expensive (how we did it, not necessarily how a seasoned cruiser would). Maine was relatively cheap and also had some great memories generated.

If I have my choice, I will never set foot on an airplane again. North America has so much to see that I'd rather spend some time on the highways than in the sky. Absolutely a personal preference, not a recommendation. Regretfully, if my wish comes true, I'll never see New Zealand or Australia, which were places I thought I'd love to visit. Just got burnt out on air travel and feel my quality of life is better overall without it. . .

Good luck on whatever adventure you choose!
 
Air Travel is just a means to the end.
You gotta get there.
Just make sure you go for long enough the travel time becomes minor.
Africa is a commitment - 25 to 30 hours each way - keeps those who can't be bothered away which is fine by me.
 
I like to go Jeeping in Utah in spring and fall, and Jeeping in Colorado in the summer. There are a lot of national parks to see in Utah but not everybody likes hiking and camping.
Yellowstone is interesting to see but for most people it is restricted to summer months. Glacier National Park is not too far away. I've been to Yellowstone 3 times but not to Glacier or Banff yet.
I like the coast of Oregon and even more the coast of Maine.
On my bucket list is Florida and Key West.
My wife went to Ireland and really like it, she went to Spain and hated it- the way the tour was organized, not the country.
 
Well, Kentucky is a neat place. We have Mammoth cave which is a natural wonder, it is a amazing place. There are many seperate tours and each one is neat. We have Cumberland falls. You can see a moon rainbow there. It is strikingly beautiful there. We have the corvette plant, and corvette museum, and NCM raceway where you can drive a corvette on a racetrack.
Lost River Cave has a underground boat tour that is cool. Lots of bourbon but I don't have advice there since I don't drink. Tennessee has a goofy amount of cool waterfalls. My wife has a book, and just takes the kids to different ones.


Hope this helps you.

Steve
 
Art Upton said:
We can see that in Ohio 41 miles from my house :)
Click to expand...
So we all meet at your place? ;):p

My family... we have relatives up north, about halfway between here and Erie, and I'm thinking of how to plan this so we'd have a "go" plan for several possible places that might have clear skies, depending. Good way to get everyone together.

My wife, bless her, could care less. "You can see better pictures on TV that night..." 🙄 "All that confusion and running around for 3 minutes... and the crowds and the traffic..."

So I have to get my daughter on board so it will be "for the grandkids". Then she'll move heaven and earth to make it happen! :D
 
Totality should pass over our house, although we're not in the center of its path. Schools are discussing whether they will be closed for the day or not and government officials and tourism folks are warning of increased traffic and visitors coming to see the eclipse.
 
Peartree said:
Totality should pass over our house, although we're not in the center of its path. Schools are discussing whether they will be closed for the day or not and government officials and tourism folks are warning of increased traffic and visitors coming to see the eclipse.
Click to expand...
You're further north than I had you in my mind, then! I figure it'll be a fiasco, I'm just hoping for a clear day... they sau historically it's about a 38% chance in Erie... but I don't know if I want to go anywhere near that place!
 
Blast it Tom! said:
You're further north than I had you in my mind, then! I figure it'll be a fiasco, I'm just hoping for a clear day... they sau historically it's about a 38% chance in Erie... but I don't know if I want to go anywhere near that place!
Click to expand...
Yeah, our track record for clear skies during celestial events is not good.
 
Peartree said:
Totality should pass over our house, although we're not in the center of its path. Schools are discussing whether they will be closed for the day or not and government officials and tourism folks are warning of increased traffic and visitors coming to see the eclipse.
Click to expand...

I think all the local schools are closed. I am pretty close to the center.

I need to find a good map of the track, to confirm. (Oakwood Village, OH. [Bedford zip code 44146] )

Hoping for clear skies.
 
@Peartree:
That's why we need my wife on board "for the grandkids"! I told you she'll move heaven and earth to make it happen... clouds would be no problem! We could run into trouble, though, if my grandson Joshua starts exerting his influence... unless it's at totality, that might be cool!
 
dr wogz said:
...
Europe:
Fly to Munich or Frankfurt & drive to Venice or Milan.. (And stop in Lichtenstein.. Another Bucket list item!)
...
Click to expand...
This former Quebecer took the Frankfurt route, did a Germany - Netherlands - Germany tour and never left :D
 
Peartree said:
Totality should pass over our house, although we're not in the center of its path. Schools are discussing whether they will be closed for the day or not and government officials and tourism folks are warning of increased traffic and visitors coming to see the eclipse.
Click to expand...

Tractionengines said:
I think all the local schools are closed. I am pretty close to the center.

I need to find a good map of the track, to confirm. (Oakwood Village, OH. [Bedford zip code 44146] )

Hoping for clear skies.
Click to expand...
Honestly, this makes me kind of sad. I feel like school should be open and all the kids should go outside if the weather's clear and be provided with eclipse glasses. The cheesy paper ones aren't that expensive in bulk.
 

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