<p>I’m living vicariously now…</p>
<p>This is the first year ever we’ve had no vacation plans for the summer. We spent our wad last summer in Europe and we’ll go again next year. So this is the dry year.</p>
<p>Are you doing anything great???</p>
<p>Just today, we confirmed our reservations for about 10 days at a place at the foot of the Austrian Alps. We hope to hike and “take the waters” and mountain bike and see some castles, and do some day-trips to cool places like Saltzburg and ice caves. And we’ll probably drink some beer.</p>
<p>We’re going to Maine. Four families, two sets of grandparents. 22 people! I think I’ve got Maine activites scheduled. I have more ideas than we have days. Could use suggestions on a place or two to stay on the way back, just for our family of 5. I’m looking for something South of Maine, North of PA and not in a city, maybe Salem, MA?</p>
<p>kathie, Sturbridge MA is a nice place to stay. I can recommend this hotel which has a very good restaurant, too.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.publickhouse.com/[/url]”>http://www.publickhouse.com/</a></p>
<p>Ummm… a two day driving trip to Lubbock Texas to check out a “financial safety” for DS, one night in a cabin at Palo Duro canyon, a one-hour horseback ride, and a visit with 102-year-old grandma-in-law on the way home. (The Austrian alps sound more fun - but slightly more expensive.)</p>
<p>I plan to participate in a couple of Buddhist retreats in Fla. and Calif., take a Reiki retreat in Fla., go to NYC and see some shows and friends, and volunteer in a college prep workshop that probably will be in S. Carolina.</p>
<p><a href=“The%20Austrian%20alps%20sound%20more%20fun%20-%20but%20slightly%20more%20expensive.”>quote</a>
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It’s a Christmas gift from a family member “of means”! We decided it would be tacky to turn it down. 
I think the Maine coast, a horseback ride through a canyon, and a couple of retreast sound pretty excellent, myself. I’m not hard to please when it comes to vacations.</p>
<p>One D is doing England for three weeks, another is doing a program at UCLA, H is going to Ireland to watch Soccer and visit mom</p>
<p>Me, i am home base</p>
<p>Maybe I will paint my kitchen…hmm</p>
<p>Oh, we have some really fun times planned. Well, OK, one.</p>
<p>Drive to a canoe-rental site near St.Louis, after we help D2 move out of her dorms. Splurge, and rent a canoe for one of those 8-hour canoe rides down a really mild river. Remove shoes & socks, count fish.</p>
<p>I can hardly wait.</p>
<p>For my wife’s 50th birthday, she wanted to get away to the middle of nowhere and avoid any silly parties. So we have a reservation with a bush pilot in Alaska to take us on a float plane to a primitive, remote cabin on a lake in the middle of a huge wilderness area for a few days. I hope the pilot remembers to pick us up again :eek:</p>
<p>Dig, that sounds like a wonderful 50th birthday! Cheers to your wife - I’m turning 50 this summer too.</p>
<p>How’s this for fun? I’m going back to work full time 8 - 5 for the first time in 20 years in a new field. I haven’t worked for a company for 20 years and haven’t worked for pay for 15. I freelanced in my profession when my son was little and then quit altogether when my daughter was born. I’m looking forward to using my design skills again but am sure going to miss my morning cup of coffee reading the NYTimes and CC. </p>
<p>We had our fun this spring - went to visit our son at Oxford ( 2 term study abroad ) and then went to Paris and London. For anyone traveling to London I highly recommend the musical Mary Poppins. I went with my 15 year old daughter and it was a highlight. We had amazing last minute but not cheap seats. I have to admit when the show first started I wondered why we were seeing it since the movie is seared in my head, but it exceeded my expectations and then some. There was a wonderful number where the statues in Hyde Park come alive singing and dancing and when we took a walk in the park the next day we happened on one of the statues. My daughter was as delighted as if she was 6 years old again - one of those rare moments you cherish as a mom with a 15 year old. And while she acted bored through many of the museums she did admit that it actually helped her on an AP Euro exam.</p>
<p>Going to Hilton Head for 2 weeks. Other than that I have to work in a couple summer programs for 3 weeks total. The rest of the summer involves stepping out the back door and hanging out by the pool to be interrupted only by the swilling of mass quantities of beer and the occasional lawn mowing.</p>
<p>lizschup - welcome to the real world… and good luck!</p>
<p>We are, we are. This is our 25th wedding anniversary in June, and I got a flyer for a conference in Florence that ends a couple of days before our anniversary - so we are doing a few days in Firenze, and a few days drinking wine in a small hotel at the end of a dirt road in Tuscany. I can’t wait!!!</p>
<p>Wow! It ranges from painting the kitchen to the Alps.</p>
<p>Cangel, Have you been to Italy before? We’ve only been once, but I’m taking Italian in preparation for our next visit. (But, I’m REALLY bad at it.)</p>
<p>oh my,Italy,Alaska,wonderful things to do!
We havent planned anything but now know S’s move in day in South Carolina will be Aug 19 so will try to combine that with a couple of days maybe on Hilton Head.Oh,and D is coming home for S’s HS graduation for a week or 10 days,and bringing her BF…is that considered a fun plan?</p>
<p>the only thing we have reservations for is the camping trip to the Gorge & a rock concert in July- it will be our 25th anniversary so we have to do something to celebrate I think ( I am still counting the almost 2 years we were seperated- because we were technically still married 
)
I am sure we will go camping- depending on busy H is at work- older D of course will be in Portland, so we may make a few trips down to see her
Summer is really gorgeous in Seattle, don’t have to go far to really enjoy it :)</p>
<p>Oh optimizer–I bet I have canoed down whatever river you are visiting. One of my sons was a champion paddler back in the day. Which river is it? What day are you going? I highly recommend a weekday–otherwise you’ll be canoeing with an interesting cross section of humanity, complete with tubes, canoes groaning under the weight of budweiser coolers and other crazy business. Or you cans tart very very early on a Sunday morning because Ozark folks are in church until noon.</p>
<p>It is a fun day though. Bring your picnic and your sunscreen!</p>
<p>Cheers:</p>
<p>My wife and I are strictly amateur canoeists - we haven’t shot a rapid yet. </p>
<p>Nix on the sunscreen, we have it built in - not like you crazy white folks, who turn red and peel every time you get zapped with ultraviolet. (There’s this song that starts “British people sitting in the sun to get a tan, Pouring oil on their faces like a frying pan…” . Wish I remembered the rest of it.)</p>
<p>Seriously, though, thanks for the advice. As for the river, I think it’s the Fox, if I remember correctly from the websites of the canoe-rental outfits. And we plan on going on a Friday, so hopefully we’ll avoid the crowds.</p>
<p>Weenie, we have, that is why we are OK with forgoing the Venice, Florence, Rome circuit. My husband has learned a great deal of Italian, his goal for this trip is to speak to as many people as possible, while I am in the meeting.</p>