We have traveled from Michigan to Georgia twice in the past 6 weeks. The highway rest stops through Ohio, WV, VA, NC & SC were all clean. Mask usage varied. Unfortunately, we did not find our Hampton Inn (GA) to be satisfactory. There was no evidence of additional cleaning of public spaces/high touch areas. We stayed at a Holiday Inn Express on the previous trip, and they did a great job with constant cleaning of public spaces. I bring cleaning products and thoroughly clean the room as soon as we arrive.
We are fortunate to have a family cottage on a lake just 3.5 hours away. We go a lot. Sadly, though, we haven’t been there at the same time as our kids this year due to Covid concerns.
We are driving to Morro Bay on the central coast of CA tomorrow and plan to stay until Thursday. I’ve rented a 3 bd/2 ba Airbnb for my family, which includes my son and his girlfriend, and my daughter. We’re (DH, DD and me) coming from the LA area, and my son and his girlfriend are coming down from the Bay Area. We’re hoping to escape the smoky air that’s terrible where we all live, but it looks like it’s also in Morro Bay, which is a huge bummer and will restrict most outdoor activities. We may end up cutting our trip short if the air is bad enough. The thing I’m most looking forward to though is seeing my son, who I last saw at Christmas.
Plenty of car traffic out on the highways we took today. Glad to be off of them. I feel for those heading northbound. They had quite the back up due to an accident. We had just typical “high traffic” stuff heading south.
I wonder if highways are actually more crowded now due to fewer people flying.
Wrapped up a long weekend in Napa and Sonoma with my DD to celebrate her 21st birthday. She is a senior and flew directly from college to meet me out there. She tested (negative) before she left. We rented a great 2 bedroom cottage and did bike and wine tours. The Napa tour had two others on it and we were the only two on our Sonoma tour. We initially planned to picnic for our brunches but the restaurant had a super spread out patio set up so we ate on the patio. We did take out for dinners. The wine tastings were all outdoors and very spread out (and sometimes we were the only visitors). We felt very safe and had a fantastic time. Airports are very busy but SWA is leaving the middle seats open. Glad we got to celebrate in style despite the pandemic. Our next and last trip for the year will b a ski trip in late December.
I am in Asheville NC on vacation right now. Not as many masks as I’d like to see, but many are wearing them.
We ate indoors for the first time since March. We asked to be as far from others as possible, and they did a good job. We had only 1 couple within probably 15 feet of us, and the were facing each other and not us.
We biked this morning, then went for a hike - I think maybe 6 miles or so, then had a great dinner. It was supposed to be a rainy day but we did OK. Son had a fall when we were biking, and it a car had been coming it could have been bad. Reminds me why I usually stick to trails and not roads.
I am not sure if you are familiar with Asheville and the surrounding area, if not you might also want to check out Brevard and some of the waterfalls in that area. Have fun!
Has anyone been to Victoria Falls? If so, any suggestions to do or not to do? It’s still our top choice for summer of 2021 - if it can happen. I know there was a Hostel there - not sure if Covid has affected that, but it’s where we’d planned to stay when we first started investigating.
@1214mom I am sorry to hear about S’ mishap. I am glad he wasn’t hurt badly. but I will second the waterfalls near Brevard. The waterfalls in the DuPont Forest are some of my favorite. Very easy hike too.
Asheville is one of our favorite places for H and I to visit. We were engaged at Biltmore. We actually have tickets to the house that must be used by the end of the month, but I am not sure if I am up to that level of risk right now.
@Mom2jl hope Morro Bay is nice and clear. A nice afternoon activity is to head up to the Hearst Ranch Winery in San Simeon. They have a great outdoor area overlooking the beach with picnic tables spread out over a large area. Decent food truck and nice wine. Under 21 and dogs allowed in the outdoor area.
Cayucos has a nice pier and nice beach that can be a calmer beach for swimming and sometimes a bit warmer. Also elephant seals north of San Simeon are a fun way to spend an afternoon.
We just made camping reservations for San Simeon State Park for the end of this month. Our previous reservations were in the western Sierra’s where there is fire. 2nd idea was eastern Sierra’s but fire risks have all the USFS campgrounds closed. @Creekland if my memory serves me I think @swimcatsmom has traveled to Victoria Falls. Don’t know why I remember that.
@creekland, my D did a semester at University of Capetown (2014) and I visited her and we traveled to Victoria Falls. It was fabulous. We stayed on both the Zimbabwe and Zambia sides. If you want, I can dig around/check with my D to find the hotel names, etc. If you’re able to go, GO!
I’ve been to South Africa five times, but I haven’t made it to Victoria Falls yet. Next trip, maybe! I love that continent so much. Everyone should go.
I have been to Vic Falls twice and other parts of Zimbabwe and Zambia many times ( in fact I am supposed to be in Kafue in Zambia at this minute). Vic Falls commands one or 2 days at tops. Zimbabwe side is best in my opinion. Budget dependent, there are many amazing options from there. Zimbabwe ( my favorite) - Hwange, Mana Pools, Lake Kariba. Zambia - South Luangwe, North Luangwe, Kafue, etc. You can also head to Botswana from Vic Falls - Chobe is closest.
@collage1 Yes, if your D has recommendations, I’d love to know about them. We want to keep this trip as Plan A if possible.
@tennismom Got a chuckle out of the thought of 1-2 days max there. Our family loves to bask in nature. What many folks tell us is a quick stop we can enjoy for long periods of time. It’s cities we’re eager to leave.
That said, thanks for the other suggestions because I’m looking at this as a two-three week trip if the “kids” (adults) can take that long. We won’t spend ALL of that time at the falls - just probably 3-4 days.
@Creekland - Respectfully, what one person views as pure nature , another sees differently. Personally, I have found The Falls themselves beautiful (time of year makes a difference), but the city/town they are in detracts. To me, it is not nature immersion, but a town with a ton of western tourists ( 2 International Airports a stone throws away) and with those that aggressively hawk their wares. I find basking and total immersion in some of the other locations I mentioned. Again, just some experienced suggestions and not meant to offend. I have spent many many months in most of Africa and for me, at least, the time surrounded and imprinted by nature may be found elsewhere. Happy Travels.
@tennismom I’m not offended at all. We’ve learned to detach from the cities and similar in places like Niagara Falls, so we can enjoy the falls and more or less ignore everything else around. Attractive places attract tourists (including ourselves). Where there are tourists there are folks wanting money.
We may very well also like the other places you’ve mentioned. It’s extremely rare that we don’t enjoy staring at and basking in nature. Our planet is gorgeous with both its diversity and similarities. If we could afford it and Covid weren’t an issue, we’d ditch the house and just wander for the rest of our lives taking it all in.
It is about opportunity cost. If you have a finite amount of time, they are to be seen and appreciated, but many other places in the region more ideal for basking.
@creekland, we stayed at the Avani Victoria Falls Resort in Zambia and the Stanley & Livingstone Boutique Hotel in Zimbabwe. While we could have taken a taxi as we transferred from one to the other, we elected to walk across the border with our roller bags. I have this wonderful recollection of that walk as mist from the falls fell on us.
At one of these two hotels (I believe Avani), there are zebra by the pool. People are within feet of the zebra. It was both bizarre and exciting. One of the staff saw how excited we were about the zebra and asked if we wanted to see giraffe. Of course we said yes and we got in a jeep and drove a short distance and we were in awe as we watched several giraffe from maybe 30 yards away. We have been on safari but this was a completely different experience.
At the Boutique Hotel we went on a rhino feeding tour that was fascinating. We also had tea at the Victoria Falls Hotel. It was a nice place for a break and had beautiful views but was pricey and rather formal for our taste (reasons we didn’t stay there).
I hope you’re able to go. It’s a very special place.
I’m hoping we can go too. It’s been a trip we’ve wanted to take for years and it’s likely the last time, at least for a few years, that we’ll all have free time at the same time.
We just returned from 9 days in MN. It was a 12 hour drive each way. Traffic was not bad, even through Chicago, where we usually get hung up. In cities, we saw many more masks than in the small towns. I researched patio restaurants ahead of time, so we only ate outside. Other than one crowded patio (tables 4-5’ apart), we felt safe. We stayed at the only hotel I could find with windows that open. It also had it’s own heating/air conditioning unit for the room. We also stayed at one VRBO.
We visited my mother at her home, wearing masks, at the beginning of our trip. When we ate, we opened her windows and sat at opposite ends of the table. When we drove somewhere with her, we wore masks and opened the sunroof and cracked the car windows.
We buried my MIL, and of course, that was outside.
We attended an outdoor wedding and cocktail hour under a tent (59 degrees) with D and her husband. We brought our own chairs so we could distance ourselves. They served to-go dinners at the end of the cocktail hour. It was really thoughtful.
Outside activities are quickly winding down, so I’m glad we got to do all of this.
