Road trip down the coast with stops at the Oregon Caves, Crater Lake, the giant cedars, other random roadside attractions, and ending up in California, visiting Knott's Berry Farm, Lion Country Safari and Disneyland.
@jbrookebarrow@mfladd I've always wanted to visit Maine because of a lifetime of reading Stephen King books. You'd think that would make me not want to go, but he always describes Maine with glowing praise no matter what kinda fucked up shit is happening there.
@JonT, @jaremelz, @jbrookebarrow, @cocoaguy,@axleman, The pic is actually a cabin we stayed in. This is a family fishing resort on East Pond, in Oakland Maine (Alden Camps). Some of my best childhood memories reside here.
@JonT every friday night they do a true "Lobstah"/Clam bake with all the trimmings. This place is worth a look for a vacation.
This makes me sound way more spoiled than I was, so keep in mind it was the 90s economy – for about 4 or 5 years in a row my family would go to Hawaii, my grandparents got a good deal because we would always go in the winter.
Every time we stayed in Honolulu at a hotel that was walking distance to Waikiki Beach. We had dinner at a restaurant with an aquarium inside of it, saw some corny but awesome touristy shows, and bought a shitton of Carmacks at the ABC Stores. I had surf lessons and actually caught a wave, ate sushi for the first time, and bought a bunch of tiki totempole keychains. I always loved those trips and still have very fond memories of them. I hope to go back someday soon as an adult and experience it all over again.
@droopus A lot of folks will look down upon Disney World and dismiss it as low brow, and both the crowds that place a premium on "nature" or "culture" for their vacations will scoff at it as a destination (and believe me, I get all that) Some (e.g., Carl Hiaasen) go as far as to think of it as evil incarnate . However, for most kids who experience WDW, it really is a vacation to remember. And despite Disney's reputation for being money-hungry, for a lot of members of the middle class, they will never be able to afford a vacation where the staff treats the guests with more respect and will truly go out of their way to make each guest feel special.
Camping at Interlochen State park in Interlochen, MIchigan. Interlochen Center for the Arts just across the road. Traverse City and the Cherry Festival a few miles away. Swimming, fishing, Grandma and Grandpa on Long Lake. Lost its specialness when we moved there.
@Mehrocco_Mole 'know that stretch well. Favorite concert up there was Bob James at Interlochen.
As a kid visited our grandparents in Omena on the west bay.
Parents lived over in Frankfort, MI for 30+ years. We still have property in Benzie County and try to make it up there several times a summer. Lake Michigan . . .
@Mehrocco_Mole for a few years years (approx 86-91 ish, making me aged 7-12ish) my Folks would rent a house in a little lake(Log Lake) outside of Kalkaska for a week each summer. first year we took the drive up to Sault St Marie, and rode through the Locks between the lakes and the Sleeping Bear Dunes. the next year we went up to mackinaw Island, and drove across "the bridge" along with side trips to Boyne, Traverse City, Leland,etc. there was a fun restaurant in Traverse city, that was a converted train station, and they had an open air car converted into a dining patio.(or maybe it was just a deck with some train stuff, I was a kid, and it was almost 30 years ago...)
Kinda poor growing up (kinda still are), so our vacations were mostly camping and road tripping. One summer we went all the way from Seattle to somewhere in NoCal. We saw Trees of Mystery and I still remember a bit of the 4-year-old-kid-song I made up after first seeing the billboard.
@2many2no The "closed " was not a comment on Jellystone. It was the only pic I could find w/ the bears and the sign together from the cartoon. Yellowstone is the best ! Jellystone campground @sammydog01 at this point in my life I would pass. As a kid I would of loved the water slides : )
Money was tight but Dad managed a 7-12 day road trip for us every summer. Sometimes in a tent, sometimes a rented camper. Donner Lake, Mount Rainier, Wheeler Peak, Lehman Caves, and eventually four or five years at Little Reservoir in Fish Lake National Forest near Beaver Utah, which had the Beaver Variety Store that had the Star Trek Tracer Pistol that I never got to buy :(. But outside of that the trips were awesome, the fishing was great (and tasty), the hikes were beautiful, the forests awesome... And my Ray-o-vac Searchlight Lantern could light up the clouds, to the annoyance of all ;)
I find it hard to believe that my wife and I have taken so few vacations... its really rather sad.
Most of our vacations were road trips from WA back to Southern California after we moved when I was little. We were always broke and our cars always dodgy. I actually remember the strange things that resulted from those cars as being some of the best things about those trips. The old Ranchero that my sister and I rode in the back of on a giant bed my mom made up, or the tiny Datsun pickup we had that died going over the Siskyou mountains in the dark. It was weird, but it was entertaining.
I think the most memorable is when I was 10 we celebrated my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary at Rock Springs Guest Ranch outside Bend, Oregon. The whole place was our family, except for this one poor family from California who I'm sure had no idea what they were getting into (they had a really cute daughter my age; I learned the Texas Two-Step with her and she was one of my first crushes). We went trail riding every day through the Oregon desert, fording rivers, descending into canyons, climbing lava walls, and racing our horses through the scrub. My horse's name was Cody. My parents somehow found a riding helmet that a cowboy hat fit over, so with my black cowboy hat on and a red bandana over my face for the dust I picked up the nickname "the little bandito". There were counselors to look after us kids so the adults could do their own thing (I know besides trail rides they also had golf, clay pigeons, rafting, and hot air balloon rides available). I remember doing barrel racing and watching my dad and his brothers being way too competitive about it. They'd grown up riding; my grandmother inherited a cattle ranch so they all had experience. We made piñatas, did a talent show, did a hay ride, and were going to camp out one night but Oregon weather can be weird and it snowed that July night, so the camping was cancelled. It was a wonderful time for everyone. I've heard the family talk with surprise about how much fun they had; growing up with a real, working cattle ranch they used to make fun of city slickers going to dude ranches, but everyone thoroughly enjoyed that week. Those memories became all the more special because my grandfather died that winter following a car accident. I had a lot of fun growing up going to the beach or Disney World, but there was nothing like that week in the desert.
And if you happen to know a girl from California who'd be in her early 30s now named Audrey or Aubrey (not sure anymore) and she has a younger sister named Elsa, I always wondered what happened to her. 😉
@AnnaB So did we. It was the first thing we did when school got out. My husband has grown used to me taking stock of the supplies and getting everything ready in the final days of school. Luckily we live in a great place for camping.
If there was a trail west we followed it. (Oregon, Lewis and Clark, Mormon, etc.... ) Stopped at every historical marker and old fort remains. Off the highways and through the small towns. No McD's local joints and podunk motels only. Sometimes camping. Made sure we saw all the major National Parks. My dad would take vacation along w/ a conference somewhere and we'd end up there. Take a 3 weeks or so total. Saw the wagon wheel ruts and all. We had fun, but at the time I really didn't appreciate how lucky I was. Now I do !
Every August, we would go to my aunt's parent's resort in the mountains. The whole extended family would trek there, so I grew up knowing all my cousins, aunts and uncles. My dad was one of 6 children, so it was a big family, around 40 of us.
Let's see, lots of beach trips, since we lived in SC. Lots and lots of 'em. Mountain trips, mostly the Blue Ridge and Smokies. Trips to Long Island, to visit family, with side trips into NYC. The required trips to Disney World.
Mom, additionally, is also a fan of the Road Trip To the Obscure. You know those tiny articles in the Sunday paper about "Great Unknown Attractions", or the articles about "Ten Fun Things For a Day Trip" in Southern Living magazine? Mom reads those religiously to this day. Off we'd go, chasing the Granite Museum in Georgia, or the Gilbert, SC, Peach Festival, and stopping to read every historical marker on the way. Those were actually some of the best, just the random weirdness, and stopping at local eateries, and '60's and 70's rock stations. Although sometimes she'd give in to whining teenagers and turn the radio to the top 40.
Looking at this, it's interesting how my husband and I do the exact same thing with our kiddo. We don't go to the beach quite as much, since we live in a landlocked state, but we try to go at least every other year. We do the mountains a lot, since that's what we live closer to. Our big city vacation is Chicago, but we do try to get to NY every once in a while. And Road Trip To the Obscure? Oh yes. We even listen to the '60's and '70's station, just so we can feel young, as the teenager complains and shoves in his earbuds.
Disney World around age 4 when I was too small and scared to go on anything exciting. We owned a house in the Poconos in a private development with it's own lake. Many, many weekends spent there. In the summer it was playing in the lake, in the winter it was riding our snowmobiles across it. That practice pretty much stopped when one of the locals found a thin spot and took a nice cold swim. The house was sold when the parents divorced when I was 13. Hard to forgive them for not keeping it since I became a skier in my 20's. I've often considered looking into buying my own place up there.
When I was young our family was huge, and so camping was the only thing we did as a vacation. But it was always my favorite, and still is as an adult.
As adults my husband and I have gone to some incredible places in other countries for sure, but sometimes its just so nice to simply be in nature when its somewhere as beautiful as Yellowstone or Crater Lake or any of the other great national parks.
As a kid I liked the late nights, freedom to roam and roasting marshmallows. But as adult I like having no technology lol.
Road trip down the coast with stops at the Oregon Caves, Crater Lake, the giant cedars, other random roadside attractions, and ending up in California, visiting Knott's Berry Farm, Lion Country Safari and Disneyland.
@Pony Crater Lake is awe-inspiring in person; pictures can't do the size justice.
@jqubed Yes. I always loved going there. My grandparents always sprung for the boat tour. :)
Maine in the summer.
@mfladd We went to Ogunquit every summer before going back to school.
@mfladd I went to a camp on Mount Desert island... Acadia park is beautiful
@mfladd That's beautiful!
@mfladd My MIL's family is from Maine and I've always wanted to go. This looks beautiful.
@jbrookebarrow @mfladd I've always wanted to visit Maine because of a lifetime of reading Stephen King books. You'd think that would make me not want to go, but he always describes Maine with glowing praise no matter what kinda fucked up shit is happening there.
Plus...lobster.
@JonT, @jaremelz, @jbrookebarrow, @cocoaguy,@axleman, The pic is actually a cabin we stayed in. This is a family fishing resort on East Pond, in Oakland Maine (Alden Camps). Some of my best childhood memories reside here.
@JonT every friday night they do a true "Lobstah"/Clam bake with all the trimmings. This place is worth a look for a vacation.
@mfladd It really looks like a perfect spot. And @JonT just described above the main reason I've always wanted to see Maine. Plus, food!
[Highlands Lakes, CA]@38.496567,-119.797615,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0">https://www.google.com/maps/place/38%C2%B029%2747.6%22N+119%C2%B047%2751.4%22W/@38.496567,-119.797615,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0
@Veloslave roger that, coordinates received. salute
Block Island, Rhode Island then Martha's vinyard is a close second.
We had a boat... Damn I'm such a middle class bourgeoisie douch, oh well
Living on Cape Cod really takes the magic out of vacations.
@axleman1011 you could invite your friends here at meh to come visit you ! What a wonderful idea --
Why yes, I'd be happy to. : )
This makes me sound way more spoiled than I was, so keep in mind it was the 90s economy – for about 4 or 5 years in a row my family would go to Hawaii, my grandparents got a good deal because we would always go in the winter.
Every time we stayed in Honolulu at a hotel that was walking distance to Waikiki Beach. We had dinner at a restaurant with an aquarium inside of it, saw some corny but awesome touristy shows, and bought a shitton of Carmacks at the ABC Stores. I had surf lessons and actually caught a wave, ate sushi for the first time, and bought a bunch of tiki totempole keychains. I always loved those trips and still have very fond memories of them. I hope to go back someday soon as an adult and experience it all over again.
@JonT In Virginia ABC stores are the state run liquor stores. Until I clicked your links I thought you had the coolest grandparents ever.
@JonT Those Carmacks look delicious. I never heard of them.
@looseneck they are delicious, and apparently you can get them on Amazon.
@sammydog01 North Carolinian reporting the same.
@JonT They are being delivered on Monday - thanks for getting me hooked on more candy :)
Disney World. From the 70's. I took my kids in the 90's.
Still love it. At an [8] if poss....
@droopus They won't take my 'E' tickets any more :(
@droopus A lot of folks will look down upon Disney World and dismiss it as low brow, and both the crowds that place a premium on "nature" or "culture" for their vacations will scoff at it as a destination (and believe me, I get all that) Some (e.g., Carl Hiaasen) go as far as to think of it as evil incarnate . However, for most kids who experience WDW, it really is a vacation to remember. And despite Disney's reputation for being money-hungry, for a lot of members of the middle class, they will never be able to afford a vacation where the staff treats the guests with more respect and will truly go out of their way to make each guest feel special.
@DrWorm Given the pricing of tickets there now, I might argue that it is no longer affordable to much of the middle class.
Camping at Interlochen State park in Interlochen, MIchigan. Interlochen Center for the Arts just across the road. Traverse City and the Cherry Festival a few miles away. Swimming, fishing, Grandma and Grandpa on Long Lake. Lost its specialness when we moved there.
@Mehrocco_Mole 'know that stretch well. Favorite concert up there was Bob James at Interlochen.
As a kid visited our grandparents in Omena on the west bay.
Parents lived over in Frankfort, MI for 30+ years. We still have property in Benzie County and try to make it up there several times a summer. Lake Michigan . . .
@Mehrocco_Mole for a few years years (approx 86-91 ish, making me aged 7-12ish) my Folks would rent a house in a little lake(Log Lake) outside of Kalkaska for a week each summer. first year we took the drive up to Sault St Marie, and rode through the Locks between the lakes and the Sleeping Bear Dunes. the next year we went up to mackinaw Island, and drove across "the bridge"
along with side trips to Boyne, Traverse City, Leland,etc. there was a fun restaurant in Traverse city, that was a converted train station, and they had an open air car converted into a dining patio.(or maybe it was just a deck with some train stuff, I was a kid, and it was almost 30 years ago...)
Kinda poor growing up (kinda still are), so our vacations were mostly camping and road tripping. One summer we went all the way from Seattle to somewhere in NoCal. We saw Trees of Mystery and I still remember a bit of the 4-year-old-kid-song I made up after first seeing the billboard.
Jellystone, of course!
@2many2no
@ceagee I took my kids to this Jellystone.
@2many2no The "closed " was not a comment on Jellystone. It was the only pic I could find w/ the bears and the sign together from the cartoon.
Yellowstone is the best !
Jellystone campground @sammydog01 at this point in my life I would pass. As a kid I would of loved the water slides : )
Money was tight but Dad managed a 7-12 day road trip for us every summer. Sometimes in a tent, sometimes a rented camper. Donner Lake, Mount Rainier, Wheeler Peak, Lehman Caves, and eventually four or five years at Little Reservoir in Fish Lake National Forest near Beaver Utah, which had the Beaver Variety Store that had the Star Trek Tracer Pistol that I never got to buy :(. But outside of that the trips were awesome, the fishing was great (and tasty), the hikes were beautiful, the forests awesome... And my Ray-o-vac Searchlight Lantern could light up the clouds, to the annoyance of all ;)
I find it hard to believe that my wife and I have taken so few vacations... its really rather sad.
@duodec It's never too late... http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/191668876756?ul_noapp=true&chn=ps&lpid=82
@JerseyFrank Another one of those 'I had one of those, I can't believe it's worth that much money' toys.
@JerseyFrank Not at those prices. I have the regular one (cardboard long gone); it makes a cat a fun toy toy...err makes a fun cat toy ;)
Are you kidding me? Disneyland isn't a choice? I lived and breathed solely so that I could go to Disneyland.
Most of our vacations were road trips from WA back to Southern California after we moved when I was little. We were always broke and our cars always dodgy. I actually remember the strange things that resulted from those cars as being some of the best things about those trips. The old Ranchero that my sister and I rode in the back of on a giant bed my mom made up, or the tiny Datsun pickup we had that died going over the Siskyou mountains in the dark. It was weird, but it was entertaining.
I think the most memorable is when I was 10 we celebrated my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary at Rock Springs Guest Ranch outside Bend, Oregon. The whole place was our family, except for this one poor family from California who I'm sure had no idea what they were getting into (they had a really cute daughter my age; I learned the Texas Two-Step with her and she was one of my first crushes). We went trail riding every day through the Oregon desert, fording rivers, descending into canyons, climbing lava walls, and racing our horses through the scrub. My horse's name was Cody. My parents somehow found a riding helmet that a cowboy hat fit over, so with my black cowboy hat on and a red bandana over my face for the dust I picked up the nickname "the little bandito". There were counselors to look after us kids so the adults could do their own thing (I know besides trail rides they also had golf, clay pigeons, rafting, and hot air balloon rides available). I remember doing barrel racing and watching my dad and his brothers being way too competitive about it. They'd grown up riding; my grandmother inherited a cattle ranch so they all had experience. We made piñatas, did a talent show, did a hay ride, and were going to camp out one night but Oregon weather can be weird and it snowed that July night, so the camping was cancelled. It was a wonderful time for everyone. I've heard the family talk with surprise about how much fun they had; growing up with a real, working cattle ranch they used to make fun of city slickers going to dude ranches, but everyone thoroughly enjoyed that week. Those memories became all the more special because my grandfather died that winter following a car accident. I had a lot of fun growing up going to the beach or Disney World, but there was nothing like that week in the desert.
And if you happen to know a girl from California who'd be in her early 30s now named Audrey or Aubrey (not sure anymore) and she has a younger sister named Elsa, I always wondered what happened to her. 😉
@jqubed Sounds like a fabulous vacation!
Camping. We went every summer.
@AnnaB So did we. It was the first thing we did when school got out. My husband has grown used to me taking stock of the supplies and getting everything ready in the final days of school. Luckily we live in a great place for camping.
@AnnaB We went camping all the time. I still love it.
If there was a trail west we followed it. (Oregon, Lewis and Clark, Mormon, etc.... ) Stopped at every historical marker and old fort remains. Off the highways and through the small towns. No McD's local joints and podunk motels only. Sometimes camping. Made sure we saw all the major National Parks. My dad would take vacation along w/ a conference somewhere and we'd end up there. Take a 3 weeks or so total. Saw the wagon wheel ruts and all. We had fun, but at the time I really didn't appreciate how lucky I was. Now I do !
@ceagee Go West, young Ceagee. West is best!
Colorado Springs and Estes Park. I was very little, but I remember having a great time.
Every August, we would go to my aunt's parent's resort in the mountains. The whole extended family would trek there, so I grew up knowing all my cousins, aunts and uncles. My dad was one of 6 children, so it was a big family, around 40 of us.
Let's see, lots of beach trips, since we lived in SC. Lots and lots of 'em. Mountain trips, mostly the Blue Ridge and Smokies. Trips to Long Island, to visit family, with side trips into NYC. The required trips to Disney World.
Mom, additionally, is also a fan of the Road Trip To the Obscure. You know those tiny articles in the Sunday paper about "Great Unknown Attractions", or the articles about "Ten Fun Things For a Day Trip" in Southern Living magazine? Mom reads those religiously to this day. Off we'd go, chasing the Granite Museum in Georgia, or the Gilbert, SC, Peach Festival, and stopping to read every historical marker on the way. Those were actually some of the best, just the random weirdness, and stopping at local eateries, and '60's and 70's rock stations. Although sometimes she'd give in to whining teenagers and turn the radio to the top 40.
Looking at this, it's interesting how my husband and I do the exact same thing with our kiddo. We don't go to the beach quite as much, since we live in a landlocked state, but we try to go at least every other year. We do the mountains a lot, since that's what we live closer to. Our big city vacation is Chicago, but we do try to get to NY every once in a while. And Road Trip To the Obscure? Oh yes. We even listen to the '60's and '70's station, just so we can feel young, as the teenager complains and shoves in his earbuds.
Disney World around age 4 when I was too small and scared to go on anything exciting. We owned a house in the Poconos in a private development with it's own lake. Many, many weekends spent there. In the summer it was playing in the lake, in the winter it was riding our snowmobiles across it. That practice pretty much stopped when one of the locals found a thin spot and took a nice cold swim. The house was sold when the parents divorced when I was 13. Hard to forgive them for not keeping it since I became a skier in my 20's. I've often considered looking into buying my own place up there.
When I was young our family was huge, and so camping was the only thing we did as a vacation. But it was always my favorite, and still is as an adult.
As adults my husband and I have gone to some incredible places in other countries for sure, but sometimes its just so nice to simply be in nature when its somewhere as beautiful as Yellowstone or Crater Lake or any of the other great national parks.
As a kid I liked the late nights, freedom to roam and roasting marshmallows. But as adult I like having no technology lol.
Camping, and Panama City Beach baby!
Galapagos
So beutiful