<p>Just got back from taking my Girl Scout troop to Galveston. Don’t think that really counts as vacation, though. </p>
<p>Family will be driving up to North Carolina to pick up son from summer program, and we’ll spend a few days in western North Carolina (heavenly!). </p>
<p>Then son gets to go to Alaska for a week. And hopefully send home some salmon.</p>
<p>Two weeks in a beach chair on the most beautiful beach in the US of A. Some good food, some good wine, two houses full of good friends.
One week taking daughter for a last visit with grandps before college.</p>
<p>Husband and kiddos just got back from school trip to Italy (I had to stay home and work)</p>
<p>Cangel, where is the best beach in the USA? </p>
<p>As far as I’m concerned, I’m toiling through the whole summer…no breaks. Going to India end of the year…</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.seasidefl.com/communityBeaches.asp[/url]”>http://www.seasidefl.com/communityBeaches.asp</a></p>
<p>Yes it really does look like that, even in the summer, although this picture was taken in the fall. There are more people in the summer, but it is never crowded by the standards of East Coast or California beaches.</p>
<p>Here are some more links to the state park, and the hamlet of Grayton Beach which is about 1 mile up the beach - enjoy</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.abfla.com/parks/GraytonBeach/graytonbeach.html[/url]”>http://www.abfla.com/parks/GraytonBeach/graytonbeach.html</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://www.graytonbeach.com/beachcam.html[/url]”>http://www.graytonbeach.com/beachcam.html</a></p>
<p>Grayton Beach is tiny, but is popular because you can drive a Jeep up onto the beach. The sand is sugar white (for years my kids thought all beach sand was like that) and is cool under your feet, even on the hottest day</p>
<p>Cangel- My daughter is heading to Seaside next week with a group of friends. I don’t know if the parents that are having them in their home deserve a medal or need to be committed!!</p>
<p>As a family we are spending a week at Rosemary Beach this year. While I loved the house we stayed at in Seagrove last year, the owner decided to pull it from the rental program. I even called him at home to ask if he would reconsider renting, at least to us! It was twice the house for half the price for a Seaside or Rosemary house and had it’s own pool.</p>
<p>Yeah, you pay a premium for Seaside, RB, and especially for Watercolors. We have a friend with a house in Seaside, so we use their house plus rent another house (we have as many as 16-18 people). From Seagrove you can walk to and use most of the Seaside amenities (except the pool), but we worry less about the children (who aren’t such children these days) when they aren’t tempted to use a car.
Have you eaten at Cafe 30A or Criolla’s? You should try the Terrace Restaurant if you are Rosemary - it is not as nice as the first 2, but has some excellent seafood dishes, but with much simpler salads and appetizers, etc. I’d be interested to know how you like Rosemary.</p>
<p>Nowhere. This area is perfect in the summer, and I hate traveling during the fruit-and-vegetable harvest season. Where else would I get ripe figs, fresh blueberries, fresh plums, and sunwarm ripe tomatoes?</p>
<p>Vermont…on Lake Champlain.</p>
<p>Cangel, thanks…</p>
<p>A long weekend at Berkeley Tuolumne Camp where both of my sons are working this summer. It is just outside of Yosemite…swimming in the river, sitting in the circle of green chairs, bingo at night…it is the best.</p>
<p>Also, 2 week Baltic cruise with my 75+ YO mom. London, Brugge, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Gdansk, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Tallinn, and Stockholm</p>
<p>A friend offered us the use of their guest house (on their property, but a separate home) for 2 weeks this summer on the island os St. Thomas. It overlooks Megan’s Bay. We’re going to spend 11 nights there and 3 nights on St. John in the Maho tent cottages, just for something different. I actually prefer St John over St Thomas, but it’s hard ot beat “free” lodging. We used air vouchers and FF miles for the air tickets. I’m hoping to keep the entire trip cost under $1500 - including 2 cottages on Maho and a rental car for the entire trip. We’ll see.</p>
<p>Cangel- Yes we have eaten at both Criolla’s and Cafe 30A. We will try the restaurants in Rosemary this year. I heard Luna Del Mar closed; we love Tex-Mex so were disappointed. We eat dinner out but breakfast and lunch in. Last year the kids fixed their own dinner a couple of nights and hubby and I ate alone; preparing us to be empty nesters!!</p>
<p>cangel: We drove past Seaside on our spring break “Deep South” roadtrip* , but didn’t get a chance to stop. We had an AWFUL experience in nearby Panama City Beach–it took two hours to get through the town because of traffic, the hotel was filled with drunk high school and college kids, and they tried to charge $250 for a room with tiled floor (no rug, presumably to make it easier to clean up after those drunken escapades) and the bathroom door kicked in. We left and ended up at a motel off the highway. I’m sure Seaside would’ve been nicer… :eek:</p>
<p>*Last summer was the “Wild West” roadtrip to the Grand Canyon and back, and up next is the “New England Colleges” roadtrip, but that’s not until spring 2006. My parents are incurable tourists–we’ve probably seen more of the US than most Americans.</p>
<p>thisyearsgirl, that’s how I grew up, too - with many road trips! I’ve seen more Presidential libraries than anyone I know. I still love road trips, and would rather drive on back roads across America than fly any day.</p>
<p>My husband’s company was bought out, so his current boss said “Take vacation before the end of May because you may not have another chance.” However, when he announced this most of my May was already busy. So we did something sort of spontaneous: We said “Let’s see what last-minute vacation packages go on sale for next weekend, pick one, and just GO.” I’m a compulsive planner so this was quite a wild hair. </p>
<p>We ended up going to the Great Smoky Mountains Nat’l park and environs (TN side) thanks to a nice fly-and-rent-a-car deal from Northwest airlines. It was fine, although from the reading I’ve done it sounds like it was good we didn’t go during the summertime proper. Wall-to-wall cars, I hear.</p>
<p>That was our vacation. We’re meeting family in Chicago for a weekend in July, so that’s a short one to look forward to.</p>
<p>My son is going to his grandparents’ house next week, so that’s a ‘vacation at home’ for us. We had been planning to go somewhere (as a couple) when we first lined this up, either the Finger Lakes region or maybe the Southwest, but the job change axed that. It will still feel special, though. Movies any night we want! Dinners out! Less laundry! Woohoo!</p>
<p>Pokey - Luna del Mar closed! That was one of our typical outings - it’s hard to find a place for 14-16 people.
The Terrace is a small place on Hiway 90, about halfway between Seaside and Rosemary, about 1 mile east of where 30A dumps back into 90, past Luna del Mar.</p>
<p>Thisyearsgirl - they don’t call it the “Redneck Riviera” for nothing - Panama City is THE spring break capital of the Gulf Coast. It has a more family air during the year, but still most families have fled to Destin, Fort Walton and Gulf Shores.</p>
<p>We are going to Israel! H was invited to participate in a workshop and I told him that if he goes, I go too! S will be working at a sleepaway camp while we are gone. Life is hectic getting everyone ready, but it will be worth it!</p>
<p>You mean I get a vacation?? I thought that college shopping was going to wind up being my vacation.
Hooray!!</p>
<p>To Philly for DD’s wedding! Two weeks to go!!</p>
<p>Montana, San Diego, Vegas, East Coast (N.C-Mass.) – three separate trips</p>