Vacation Spots

[Dwight Schrute]

San Francisco is the most striking and beautiful large city I have ever visited. Culturally I had a few unwanted negative interactions, (far more than in say NY or Chicago) but it is a fantastic place to visit. Outstanding food. The derelict population isn't so great though...

I haven't spent enough time in Chicago to make a full comparison. I will say in terms of large cities, I felt most at ease in NY city and most overwhelmed by the sheer beauty in SF.

I've spent a grand total of 8 hours in NYC - not enough to form an opinion. I'd really love to get back for a long weekend. I'd love to take our son when he's a little older to the Herald Square Macy's and the Santa display they've got.

[Dwight Schrute]

I'll never understand the amount of saltwater taffy and hermit crabs available in the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area.

And while I like Gatlinburg as an outdoor destination, I've never enjoyed the town. And I hate - HATE - Pigeon Forge, mostly because it's an absolute nightmare to drive through. I'd rather go two hours out of my way just to avoid hitting the eleven thousand red lights in Pigeon Forge.

Same. Gatlinburg is only tolerable because of the park. My wife loved Pigeon Forge though. I'll never understand how a woman with otherwise good taste could love that place, but she was mesmerized by it. Her favorite was a tossup between the Godzilla thing and the upside down museum.

The last night we were there, we ate at Margaritaville, and I saw a family of 4 praying over a foot high plate of nachos. If there's a better symbol of that area, I wanna see it.

[surveyor]

I'll never understand the amount of saltwater taffy and hermit crabs available in the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area.

And while I like Gatlinburg as an outdoor destination, I've never enjoyed the town. And I hate - HATE - Pigeon Forge, mostly because it's an absolute nightmare to drive through. I'd rather go two hours out of my way just to avoid hitting the eleven thousand red lights in Pigeon Forge.

Pigeon Forge should be the poster child for Urban Sprawl. The thing I DO like about Gatlinburg is you can essentially walk and do whatever you want to do downtown. When we go in late November, we park in one spot, then bar hop from there. Never very many people that time of year. My wife's not as big on hiking as I am, so I've had her drive me and my mountain bike to the trail head. When I get done hiking I ride back down into town and meet up for a late lunch with the family.

[Joneslab]

My bucket list items are Yosemite and to ride a train across the American northwest.

Or really ride a train anywhere that you can sleep on. I love the idea of waking up on a train.

Though I've heard it's not as cool as I imagine it would be. They bunk you with strangers on some trains? Not down with that.

Also: Maine. Would love to go to Maine. I really think I could write a great Stephen King knockoff if somebody sponsored a six-month-long vacay to Maine for me. PM me if you're interested.

Of the places I've been, Amsterdam and San Francisco are at the top of the list. I've been in New York many times; went to grad school at Bard near Poughkeepsie and took the train into the city. But we were there just this past week with a tour group and I got a new appreciation for it. I sort of like being told where to go and where to be. Cuts down on the stress that you're going to get fantastically lost.

The 9/11 museum and the pools are also very cool. We stopped in Shanksville, PA on the way back at the United 93 memorial.

[Dwight Schrute]

My bucket list items are Yosemite and to ride a train across the American northwest.

Or really ride a train anywhere that you can sleep on. I love the idea of waking up on a train.

Though I've heard it's not as cool as I imagine it would be. They bunk you with strangers on some trains? Not down with that.

Also: Maine. Would love to go to Maine. I really think I could write a great Stephen King knockoff if somebody sponsored a six-month-long vacay to Maine for me. PM me if you're interested.

Of the places I've been, Amsterdam and San Francisco are at the top of the list. I've been in New York many times; went to grad school at Bard near Poughkeepsie and took the train into the city. But we were there just this past week with a tour group and I got a new appreciation for it. I sort of like being told where to go and where to be. Cuts down on the stress that you're going to get fantastically lost.

The 9/11 museum and the pools are also very cool. We stopped in Shanksville, PA on the way back at the United 93 memorial.

My good friends last year took a train ride across the west from Chicago - San Francisco. Once you get into Colorado, it's gorgeous judging by their pictures. Their return trip was from LA back through Chicago, which they said wasn't as nice.

I really want to travel to Europe - particularly northern and western Europe through the UK, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy.

Also would love to see North Korea (but not right now).

[surveyor]

When we were considering replacing our Volvo with another Volvo, I seriously considered the overseas delivery program. Volvo provides complimentary airfare for two to Sweden, as well as one night's hotel stay. You can stay longer, you just have to pay for the extra days. The provide an itinerary of tours to drive your drive your car around Sweden - northern Europe. They then ship the car to your dealership.

Would have been a good way to see that part of Europe. We would have considered it on the initial purchase in 2003, but she swore she'd never get on a plane back then.

[Spiritof96]

When we were considering replacing our Volvo with another Volvo, I seriously considered the overseas delivery program. Volvo provides complimentary airfare for two to Sweden, as well as one night's hotel stay. You can stay longer, you just have to pay for the extra days. The provide an itinerary of tours to drive your drive your car around Sweden - northern Europe. They then ship the car to your dealership.

Would have been a good way to see that part of Europe. We would have considered it on the initial purchase in 2003, but she swore she'd never get on a plane back then.

How much over MSRP is that?

[surveyor]

How much over MSRP is that?

From what I recall, it didn't affect the cost of the car. Essentially, the sticker price doesn't change whether you take advantage of the program. I've read customer reviews of the program where they actually got the MSRP reduced up to 4% AND took advantage of the overseas delivery program. In addition, most European makes offer similar programs - Audi, BMW, Mercedes Benz, Porsche...............

[Lighthouse]

My wife and I flew into Amsterdam, got on a cruise ship and went to 6 other countries. Germany, Sweden, Finland, Russia (2 days in St. Petersberg), Estonia and Denmark, not in that order. Then spent 2 extra days in Amsterdam. I have never seen so many bicycles. They have their own roads and traffic lights, and all other modes of transportation gives way to them. If you're walking and you happen to be in a bike road, they click the ringer, and you best get out of the way because they will hit you. This was a very memorable trip, although I would never go there now.

[Old School]

The Outer Banks is a place I want to visit. A few great old lighthouses there I'd like to visit.

. . .

Sedona, AZ and the Grand Canyon

. . .

Italy

You'll love these places.

The Outer Banks, compared to the Panhandle, has coarser, darker sand, and higher waves in many places, especially around Hatteras. In addition to the lighthouses, there are many shipwrecks. Some you can see from shore, particularly at low tide.

Sedona is beautiful. When you go, take advantage of the time change, and watch the sunrise. The pinkish rock walls all around it light so faintly with strange colors at dawn. It's really something. Watch one sunset from down there, and then go up to where the small airport is, overlooking the town, for another. It's very memorable.

Italy is probably my favorite, of all places I've ever been. That could be a thread in itself. There are so many fantastic things to see and do and eat there.

[Old School]

My contribution is less on where but more on how to.

Given the advances in car GPS, if you go to western Europe, try renting a car. The last time I visited Germany, Austria, Luxembourg we did a car rental (nice Mercedes station wagon) for a reasonable price. It was much easier to get around than I expected and I liked the freedom to get off the beaten path and control my schedule.

A few points:

1. A good guide book or two and a map can help cross reference what the GPS is telling you.
2. You need to familiarize yourself with the political geography of where you are going. They don't do north, south, east, west, signage.
3. Be flexible enough to learn how people drive over there and adjust. German's are not tolerant of some common US ways of dealing with interstate travel.
4. Carry more cash than you would here. You can go to a lemonade stand in the US and expect to use a card, not as much over there.

I drove through France, Germany and Switzerland in a rental car, and really enjoyed it. The freedom was nice. The autobahns were a fun driving experience. I'd recommend getting a good German car that is fun to drive instead of saving money to drive, say, some French car.

At the same time, though, I love train travel in Europe. They go everywhere, they're comfortable (far moreso than air travel - night and day), you can sleep...in fact, you can take an overnight train, getting on at the end of they day when you've enjoyed one place, and waking up the next morning to enjoy an entirely different place half a continent away.

[Old School]

My Wife and some in her Family went to Poland, Austria, and Munich back in 2014. The got a guide from Ancestry.com to guide them through Poland. They met with some distant relatives in Krakow and Lublin. They visited some concentration camps including Auschwitz. She told me it was a lot to take in and it was very moving. Not a dry eye during the tour. The pictures she brought home were breathtaking. Their last stop was a 3 night stay in Munich where they took in the first two days of Oktoberfest. I so want to go to that. Some of the videos they took were of a fun time had by any who was there. They sing a bunch of songs throughout the event. To my amazement, one of the more popular songs they sing is Country Roads by John Denver. I got a kick out of hearing them speak German throughout the videos, but when that song came on, everyone knew every word and they sung it loud and proud. Really cool.

Oktoberfest in Munich is a blast.

I've not been to Auschwitz but I did go to Dachau and the experience was unforgettable. It was incredibly eerie and affecting, almost as if the evil and cruelty of mass murder still hung in the air. I'm not doing it justice with that attempt to describe it. You just felt it in your bones. Chilling. You're basically walking through a village built for the sole purpose of perpetually murdering people after subjecting them to all kinds of degradation and dehumanization. It's sickening, not in the stomach-sickened way for which we usually use that word. I'm not explaining it well, but it was a place and experience and feeling I don't think I will ever forget.

[Old School]

Chicago is probably my favorite city in America. I've been several times and still don't feel like I've seen it all.

I used to love Hilton Head Island, and Savannah is one of my favorite cities in the south. But my new favorite beach destination would have to be the Florida Keys. Went in 2015, and I'm itching to go back. We stayed in Marathon, which is an island about halfway between Key Largo and Key West. It's one of the relatively rare spots on the island chain (Key chain?) that has a sand beach large enough to lounge on. The water is much calmer than traditional beach spots in the US. I recommend going snorkeling out Looe Key Reef, about 10 miles offshore. The boat leaves twice a day from Bahia Honda State Park. We also went kayaking from Robbie's Marina in Islamorada. We paddled about 10 feet from a manatee. in a mangrove We just sat in the waterway and watched it bob up and down for a good 15 minutes.

My wife and I took a weeklong trip last fall to Asheville and then to Gatlinburg. It was my first trip to Asheville, and I loved it. I could live there. Gatlinburg isn't my thing, but I did love hiking the Appalachian Trail up in the park.

I love Chicago also. I too have been several times and still feel like I have a lot more to enjoy there. And on top of that, I always enjoy many of the same things there even though I've already been to them or enjoyed them. The tall towers, the sports and concert venues, the museums, the lakefront, Michigan Avenue, the restaurants - there is so much in that city that I enjoy. And people there are enjoyable, too, unlike in, say, New York or Paris.

I think if someone from another country told me they were only going to get to visit the United States once, but they could only visit one city, I would tell them to go to either Chicago or Washington, not New York or Los Angeles.

Asheville is a really enjoyable place and it seems more and more people around here are tuned into that. The national park there (Smokies) is beautiful.

[Old School]

Been to Chicago twice and it was my favorite big city. Shaw's Crabhouse and Oyster bar is my favorite. Next best thing to fresh oysters outside of the Keys.
After going to San Francisco, it's become my favorite big city.



Love this area in the late fall and winter. Gatlinburg is more relaxing during this time because the crowds are smaller and the hiking trails aren't overrun with people walking 3, 4 or 5 wide at a snail's pace. I tolerate Gatlinburg because of the hiking. One could hike all over SMNP and never see it all. I'd like to hike to LeConte Lodge and stay overnight, but the wife ain't keen on no electricity and communal running water. I've hiked to the lodge several times by myself from different trails.

I'm in the same boat. I love hiking and camping, and kayaking, etc., but my wife isn't very into it. Any tips or advice?

[Old School]

If you've never eaten swordfish, you should do so ASAP: it's like steak, only fish.

You have me interested. I've never tried it.

Is there anyplace around Louisville you'd recommend for it, at least until one could get to the coast sometime?