Travel Thread

[skullman80]

Spent 6 hours at the Columbus Zoo on Thursday. 4 hours at the Cleveland zoo today....two of the hottest/muggiest days of the year. Pretty beat.

Rock and roll hall of Fame was at least inside yesterday and the football hall of Fame will be inside tomorrow.

[MR25]

10.5 hours door to door with 2 stops. Waze baked an hour of traffic into my estimated drive time only for it to not happen. Can't say I'd complain. Deck time now.

[DigitalGypsy66]

Beautiful. I've had traffic issues the last 3 times we've been to HHI, including in November.

We're in Myrtle for a soccer tournament. It's as bad as that sounds. Two games today and my son is wiped. I've been chugging water and haven't peed since 8 this morning.

[NTP66]

That’s just your body making sure as few orifices as possible are open at once while in MB.

[shafnutz05]

Just got back from Waterville. It was a great weekend up in Pine Creek Gorge. Spent half the day yesterday just walking through the creek finding crayfish with my daughter. Took a drive up to Wellsboro/Grand Canyon in the morning. No cell service, cable or internet. Perfect.

[RonnieFranchise]

Long story but we traveled all over that part of the Northern Tier last weekend, Scranton up to Tunkhannock, Towanda, Troy, Mansfield, Wellsboro then down to see friends in Lock Haven. It is beautiful country. Mrs. F loves the artisan stained glass place in Wellsboro. We have their stuff in our picture windows both in front and back.

Also went to Antler Ridge winery up past Towanda. Good stuff!

[shoeshine boy]

a friend of mine is in Beech Mountain, NC this week. her husband got hassled for "trespassing" here:
https://www.landofoznc.com/

can't believe this was ever a thing much less still is. bizarre.

[DigitalGypsy66]

Yeah, we saw signs for that when we were there in the spring. Bizarre place is an understatement. Evidently, it opens for a weekend or two a year, and that's it.

[RonnieFranchise]

So a couple weeks ago we dropped my son off at PSU and decided to go away for our 25th anniversary for a couple days. I reserved a hotel in the finger lakes, but Mrs. F. decided she wanted something more outdoorsy and found a yurt by a waterfall on Air B&B for a couple nights. I tried to convince her she didn't really want to do that but she was adamant so we did it.

Well, then Fred went through on Weds, we arrived on Thursday and of course everything was wet. Unfortuately the dampness extended into the yurt, the bed was damp, guy had an exhaust fan in there, and basically there was noplace to sit because the canopy in front that was in the photos was not there in reality. We arrived around 8:30 pm and were able to get a fire going and wipe down some chairs for a while, didn't find the damp bed until like midnight at which point we were like- nah we're not going to bug the guy but we're also not staying here another night. In hindsight this was a bad move. We were paying for it, make him make it right.

Fast forward to yesterday, after debating for like a week whether to just let it go, Mrs. F texts the guy and says hey, I know we didn't tell you when we were there, we're not going to put it in a review, but maybe let future guests know the bed's wet inside they yurt and there's no canopy to sit under if it rains.

Guy texts back and goes on a 4 paragraph rant about hey it's an outdoor setting, we get rain in the mountains, canopy got destroyed in previous rain, maybe we should send people instructions and suggestions about weather apps for their phones, etc. Concluded by saying hey I'll give you a refund if you want.

Mrs. F texts back, didn't mention him being a prick, thank you for your kind reply, your offer for a refund was un-necessary and we didn't ask for one but, yes since you mentioned it, we'd like one.

Another couple paragraphs of being a dickweed, maybe we can dehumidify the waterfall, which was kind of funny actually, ending with send me your Venmo.

I mean, yeah, rain was the risk we took but.... isn't the purpose to have a dry place when it rains, and is it really unreasonable after a rain event like that to expect your host is going to say hey, sorry, the yurt is wet inside, up to you but just letting you know when you arrive the bed's and everything else inside is going to be damp and I haven't even bothered to put dry sheets on?

So lesson learned, midnight or not, if you're not happy, wake that effer up and make him make things right.

We got a huge room at the Hilton in Scranton on Friday night and it was awesome.

[NTP66]

She yurt his feelings…

[RonnieFranchise]

She yurt his feelings…

I mean we spent 20 years planning on an Alaska cruise for our 25th and between COVID and having two kids in college at the same time ended up in a yurt in the effing catskills.

[NTP66]

[tifosi77]

Yurt

What the actual f**k.

[MR25]

@DigitalGypsy66 are the cicadas out in Hilton Head? We walked into Publix, it was quiet. Walked out, and the bug noise was deafening.

[DigitalGypsy66]

They weren't when we were down there in late June. Lots of insects down there that aren't cicadas

[The U]

I didn’t see any cicadas at all a few weeks ago. Sharks, jellyfish, lizards, all sorts of other bugs you’d typically see..…yes.

[tifosi77]

Palmetto bugs can f**k right the f**k off.

[shafnutz05]

Palmetto bugs can f**k right the f**k off.

The only encounter I ever had with one was in a Florida Residence Inn. We were laying in bed and I saw a huge one crawling up the wall. Proceeded to hurry and smash it and in a panic ended up killing it with my wallet.

Laid awake for next four hours with lights on.

[tifosi77]

Remember the scene in Temple Of Doom in the bug tunnel, when Willie Scott turns her hand over and there's a giant bug in her palm? That was my first encounter with s Palmetto bug. I put my hand down on the disk drive of my C128, and when I lifted it I had picked up a hitchhiker.

[blackjack68]

Yeah, that’s what I needed to read just as I’m headed to bed.

Thanks

[MR25]

We hit up One Hot Mamma's last night, which I understand is a southern chain, but it was probably the best BBQ I've ever had (not that that's saying a whole lot, given lack of exposure). I got a platter of ribs, pulled pork, and brisket. The ribs fell off the bone, the pork was a perfect combo of juicy and smoky, and the brisket was so tender that I couldn't pick it up with a fork.

Other stops this week have been Frankie Bones (16 oz prime rib, which was great), Hudsons, Crazy Crab, and Stellini's. Everything has been really good.

[NTP66]

We hit up One Hot Mamma's last night, which I understand is a southern chain, but it was probably the best BBQ I've ever had (not that that's saying a whole lot, given lack of exposure). I got a platter of ribs, pulled pork, and brisket. The ribs fell off the bone, the pork was a perfect combo of juicy and smoky, and the brisket was so tender that I couldn't pick it up with a fork.

Other stops this week have been Frankie Bones (16 oz prime rib, which was great), Hudsons, Crazy Crab, and Stellini's. Everything has been really good.

One Hot Mamma's is really good, yeah. I still prefer Smokehouse, if I'm being honest. Funny, you hit up our standard rotation of restaurants, too. Very familiar with them all.

[obhave]

In NYC for the US open. Basically half the restaurants are temporarily closed, and another portion have shorter hours or less working days. Retail has shortened hours, minimal people on the street compared to what I remember. It is so strange being here with stuff shut down when I expected things to be back up and running.

In Boston, things are basically thriving again, so this is a bit of a shock tbh.

[shafnutz05]

@eddy , saw this earlier and thought of you.

https://www.greenwichtime.com/lifestyle ... 448721.php

[NTP66]

Welp, bought plane tickets for my MIL, so she'll officially be joining us for half of our vacation next year.