Random question about vacationing...

4thgenheel said:
yeah, its a hike from the charlotte area.

but you said "the NC population centers" and wake county (#1), durham county (#6), johnston county, etc. are all highly populated and within 3 hours of the outer banks, give or take. guilford/forsythe (#3/4) are up there too and are @ 4 hours from the outer banks.
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True, but all of the NC population have beaches closer than the Outer Banks.
 
Zoo_View said:
I’ve climbed in the Alaska Range, the French Alps, Scotland, Mt. Logan (St. Elias Mountains), the Wind River Range in Wyoming, Devil’s Tower in Wyoming, the Bugaboos in British Columbia, the Brooks Range, and elsewhere……many of those areas are more spectacular in a “jagged, rocky, glaciated” sense than the North Carolina mountains; the North Carolina mountains, New York’s Adirondacks and Catskills, Vermont’s Greens, and Maine and New Hampshire’s Whites all have their own beauty.
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The Linville Gorge views from Tablerock, Hawksbill and Shortoff are right up there, that's for damn sure. There's something magical about that river of air that flows down thought the gorge.

Not to say that a face full of Tetons isn't crazy magical in it's own right, but in a different and somehow less personal way than the the gorge (or maybe it's just my connection to that place that makes me think that way?)
 
Peppers49 said:
I’ve been to big bend and guadalupe mountains several times each. West Texas has a unique beauty to it for sure, it’s just very far away from where I live in Central Texas lol. You need at least 4 or 5 days at minimum to properly enjoy those places when you factor in the amount of time it takes to get there and back.

Hill Country is beautiful as well and is a better direct comparison to the NC mountains for me because it’s closer and easier to visit for a day or weekend. Solid hiking options like enchanted rock, wineries, quaint little towns, etc. It’s also a very fascinating area as a geographical and cultural transition zone between what we consider “the south” and the high desert of the west.

All that being said, Texas just doesn’t quite scratch the itch for me the way that the NC mountains do lol.
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Backpacked Big Bend and Guadalupe Pk and El Capitan. Beauty is as beauty sees. Expansive views. Hill country beginning to get a bit too touristy. Austin burbs have overtaken some places. Perdenale Falls was a hidden gem. First visited in early 70s.
 
Geisterfahrer said:
That just sounds like you don’t like your families.
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Why would it sound that way? We will still spend the holidays with both our families. We likely spend far more time with our families than most. Every year we take at least one major trip where we take both sides of the family with us. Every UNC game we attend my parents go with us...Final Fours, football, baseball, CWS, etc. We fly to Detroit at least 4 times a year to see his family and they come and stay with us at least twice a year.
 
gregh1 said:
What did you do instead? Then i'll judge the oddity ;-)
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Likely nothing special at all. The norm for us is to spend a couple days with my parents through Christmas Eve and then fly to Detroit late Christmas Eve and stay there until bowl season. We then usually fly back and grab my parents for whatever bowl Carolina is playing in and then head to wherever Michigan is playing before he starts back school.
 
Zoo_View said:
Which Finger Lake? I used to spend a lot of time at Canandaigua Lake. Love the Finger Lakes - except for the over abundance of Trump and Confederate flags in recent years.

We used to drive up to Rochester each summer and Christmas. Going through all those towns and small cities up the Susquehanna Valley took forever.
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I'm curious about the Finger Lakes. I've been flirting for ages with the idea of getting a lake house somewhere within driving distance of NYC... Poconos, Catskills, Finger Lakes, etc. But I just don't know enough about any of them to ever get close to pulling the trigger.

As it stands right now, I have spent the same week every year for the past decade in Montauk, driving there with friends. Outside of that week, much like the OP, I only do vacations I fly to... and usually nothing closer than 3 hours flight.

Granted for me, flying is easier. I don't have a car. So unless I'm going with a friend who drives (like Montauk), for me it's much easier to kick my feet back on a flight, have a few drinks, and let the pilot and flight crew worry about everything.
 
wmheel1287 said:
Likely nothing special at all. The norm for us is to spend a couple days with my parents through Christmas Eve and then fly to Detroit late Christmas Eve and stay there until bowl season. We then usually fly back and grab my parents for whatever bowl Carolina is playing in and then head to wherever Michigan is playing before he starts back school.
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If that beach house had been on Maine's rocky coast, or the smooth, warm coast of Florida's gulf instead of outer banks would you have gone to those?
 
wmheel1287 said:
Why would it sound that way? We will still spend the holidays with both our families. We likely spend far more time with our families than most. Every year we take at least one major trip where we take both sides of the family with us. Every UNC game we attend my parents go with us...Final Fours, football, baseball, CWS, etc. We fly to Detroit at least 4 times a year to see his family and they come and stay with us at least twice a year.
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Was a joke. Will add an emoji next time.
 
I’ve spent good amounts of time in the west coast mountains and the east coast mountains. Give me the NC mountains I love the volume of rivers that cut through. It never ceases to amaze me.

OTOH, the west coast shoreline is quite a bit nicer than NC. The cliff and rock formations similarly amaze me. Plus it’s not as much of a tourist hellscape.
 
ronjon said:
I’ve spent good amounts of time in the west coast mountains and the east coast mountains. Give me the NC mountains I love the volume of rivers that cut through. It never ceases to amaze me.

OTOH, the west coast shoreline is quite a bit nicer than NC. The cliff and rock formations similarly amaze me. Plus it’s not as much of a tourist hellscape.
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The west coastline is ruggedly beautiful but the beaches suck and the water is cold. I lived in LA for ten years and flew back to SC every summer to go to the beach.
 
The beach observations are a good reminder that "vacation" and even leisure activity have incredibly subjective definitions. Do you want waves, corral, wide strand, white sand... isolation/peace vs people-watching..... dogs vs no-dogs... etc etc

ETA this entire thread needs a redo with what people want from their vacation and leisure time ;-)
Do you want to look at perty mtns from afar, or do you only want to be on the mtn while requiring an attachment device that keeps you from falling off ;-)
 
farce said:
The west coastline is ruggedly beautiful but the beaches suck and the water is cold. I lived in LA for ten years and flew back to SC every summer to go to the beach.
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The LA beaches do suck and the water is cold.
 
farce said:
True, but all of the NC population have beaches closer than the Outer Banks.
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yes, the major NC population hubs all have closer beaches although its only about 15 minutes faster from raleigh to the atlantic beach area than it is from raleigh to nags head, so that's really splitting hairs.

the closest population hubs to the outer banks are in virginia - hampton roads region and richmond.

and their beaches suck, so they do indeed flood the outer banks.
 
gregh1 said:
If that beach house had been on Maine's rocky coast, or the smooth, warm coast of Florida's gulf instead of outer banks would you have gone to those?
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I would have at least asked the families if they wanted to do it for those.
 
I love the NC coast. We do at least a week or two there each year, then usually do one big trip per year that requires a flight. It helps that the beach for us is basically free due to family owned accomodations.
 
NYCBlueBlood said:
I'm curious about the Finger Lakes. I've been flirting for ages with the idea of getting a lake house somewhere within driving distance of NYC... Poconos, Catskills, Finger Lakes, etc. But I just don't know enough about any of them to ever get close to pulling the trigger.

As it stands right now, I have spent the same week every year for the past decade in Montauk, driving there with friends. Outside of that week, much like the OP, I only do vacations I fly to... and usually nothing closer than 3 hours flight.

Granted for me, flying is easier. I don't have a car. So unless I'm going with a friend who drives (like Montauk), for me it's much easier to kick my feet back on a flight, have a few drinks, and let the pilot and flight crew worry about everything.
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The Finger Lakes region is beautiful .. at least during the summer and probably during the fall (though I’ve never spent time there in the fall). Not every part of it is beautiful. There are some run down towns that were once attractive, quaint towns that hit hard times and lost their industries and much of their populations. But most of the areas round around the lakes are beautiful.

Different locations around the lakes have different vibes, which makes it fun to explore. And it’s such a vast area, there is so much in that region that I have not yet seen. Also a lot of good hiking with scenic waterfalls.

I always have a hard time leaving after spending our time there in the summer. Life just moves at a very different pace there . I very much look forward to the day when I can spend all of July and August up there, though I l don't want to wish time away.
 
Ddseddse said:
The Linville Gorge views from Tablerock, Hawksbill and Shortoff are right up there, that's for damn sure. There's something magical about that river of air that flows down thought the gorge.

Not to say that a face full of Tetons isn't crazy magical in it's own right, but in a different and somehow less personal way than the the gorge (or maybe it's just my connection to that place that makes me think that way?)
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I love climbing the North Carolina Wall in Linville Gorge - nothing wrong with the climbs on Hawksbill, Tablerock, or Shortoff.

Something about dropping off The Prow into the gorge…….you are often completely alone (well, along with your climbing buddy)……and, it’s old school, trad climbing where a 5.9+ climb might actually be a 5.11 because when the original ascent team first climbed the route, 5.9+ was the hardest rating.

I get what you’re saying about the air in the Gorge.
 
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