4cards;1707584 wrote:...I've never had a bad vacation but the best vacation was with my son & we went to Pinehurst. NC for a week to play golf. All the places we played at, ate at, as well as the hotel we stayed at were excellent & hope to do it again with him once he graduates from college.

I've never been to Sarasota, FL but I'm leaving Friday with the wife for a week. Anyone ever been there & is there anything special to do there other than warm up after this fucking winter?

…hey 4cards… We were in Sarasota just last week visiting family for a couple days who live about 30 minutes outside of Sarasota! It was nice being in weather 50+ degrees warmer than NE OHIO! But it was still kind of cold as far as Florida is concerned. We never did make it to any of the beaches this time… too cold and windy! It was more of a "visit the in-laws" thing than a party vacation. We went to Myakka River State Park one afternoon which is pretty cool. The water was high so we didn't get to see any of the alligators but there are some cool trails to hike and a long bird-watching boardwalk. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g34618-d105479-Reviews-Myakka_River_State_Park-Sarasota_Florida.html We also went to the new Mall at University Center in Sarasota. Wasn't my choice of something to do, but...

It's still on the cold side as far as water temperature so getting in the ocean might not be something you'll be doing much of…

sportchampps;1707677 wrote:Spring Break Panama City during college. Our room flooded like 6 hours into the trip. They came and cleaned the room while we went out to eat. The next day same thing happens. We're talking like 6-8 inches of water in the whole room. They hotel manager comes with the repair guy. We wanted a new room but they were more worried about trying to find some weed in our room. They told us multiple times we will call the cops if you don't just give us the weed now. First our room only had less then an 1/8 of weed in it and we could have just said it was there before we got there. They just wanted to steal some college kids weed. One girl on the trip finally called her dad who was a lawyer and he faxed them a letter on his attorney letterhead and we were promptly moved ten minutes later to a new room.

Then on on top of that I had a girlfriend back at college and another girl in the room that was making it almost impossible to avoid hooking up with. I broke up with my girlfriend at home because I knew I wouldn't be able to not cheat. I hooked up with the girl on the trip and we ended up staying in my bed almost every night. She wanted a relationship and to act like we were together while I just wanted to have fun on spring break. She didn't want to let me ever go out alone she had to tag along. I ended up avoiding the relationship and going back to the girl I was with before the trip.

funny part is ... Three weeks later I broke up with the girl again and started dating the girl from spring break and however many years later were married. So it was shitty at the time but ended up ok.

So both of these broads were okay with you just breaking up/coming back to them multiple times?

Apple;1707726 wrote:…hey 4cards… We were in Sarasota just last week visiting family for a couple days who live about 30 minutes outside of Sarasota! It was nice being in weather 50+ degrees warmer than NE OHIO! But it was still kind of cold as far as Florida is concerned. We never did make it to any of the beaches this time… too cold and windy! It was more of a "visit the in-laws" thing than a party vacation. We went to Myakka River State Park one afternoon which is pretty cool. The water was high so we didn't get to see any of the alligators but there are some cool trails to hike and a long bird-watching boardwalk. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g34618-d105479-Reviews-Myakka_River_State_Park-Sarasota_Florida.html We also went to the new Mall at University Center in Sarasota. Wasn't my choice of something to do, but...

It's still on the cold side as far as water temperature so getting in the ocean might not be something you'll be doing much of…

...Hey Apple, glad things are well with you guys. I'm planning (if the weather co-operates) to take in a Pirates game in Bradenton, do that kayac thing, and other than that just veg out & on the beach. Right now the days look to be in the high 70's to low 80's.

kinda, the one girl took me back after we broke up. I was never a couple with my future wife until a few weeks later. I honestly fell for my wife the moment I saw her but the timing was bad because I had been dating the other girl for over a year.


BTW best vacation was Four Seasons Punt Mita Mexico. We were given the pent house by a family friend for a week. It was a place where Britney Spears and the Kardashions had stayed on vacation.

I went up to Traverse City w/ my ex-wife back in 2012. I surprised her with a weekend trip for our anniversary. It should have been an awesome time going wine tasting and seeing the fall atmosphere of Northern Michigan. However, she decided that was a good time to tell me she wanted a divorce and that she was already seeing someone else. It just made for an awkward weekend. All of the wine helped though.

bigkahuna;1707799 wrote:I went up to Traverse City w/ my ex-wife back in 2012. I surprised her with a weekend trip for our anniversary. It should have been an awesome time going wine tasting and seeing the fall atmosphere of Northern Michigan. However, she decided that was a good time to tell me she wanted a divorce and that she was already seeing someone else. It just made for an awkward weekend. All of the wine helped though.

That sucks man. I honestly think I would have took off in the car and left her there to find her own way home. I wouldn't let her enjoy an ounce of wine, hotel, etc. if I payed for it after that.

Fab4Runner;1707590 wrote:I am assuming this is not the broad you married. My boyfriend is going to Orlando to golf with friends next week, and I am pumped. I get the house all to myself, and I can do whatever I want. He's judgy when I want to spend all day in sweats, drinking champagne and binge-watching TV.

Ha! hell no. My wife is awesome. I mean I'm sure she'd want to go to Miami with me too. But she wouldn't throw a fit if I went without her. She's fine by herself or hanging out with her friends.

My worst vacation just happened!

It was Saturday morning (Valentine Day weekend). I bought my son the "Lego Superhero" Movie at Walmart, brought it back and he opens it really excited.

Inside the DVD cover is a FREE LEGOLAND ticket for a kid in Orlando.

The first trailer for this movie is LEGOLAND Amusement Park. "Daddy, Lets go there! I wanna go!" - Continues watching movie.

So Saturday morning at 11:00am we start watching this movie. I am on my laptop and look at Southwest.com - 1 way tickets to Orlando are $139 (leaving at 1:45pm).

Look at weather.com - Orlando will by 75 Columbus will be 5

I say to my wife, "Wanna go to Orlando? Like Right now?"

We buy the tickets, pack, and leave at like 12:30 from Westerville to the airport.

Maybe some Disneyworld on the day we get there and LEGOLAND the next! So many possibilities.

This is when all hell breaks loose, you couldn't even see past you because of the snow. I think God freaked out I was trying to be spontaneous.

I get lucky and am ambulance passes me with his lights on and I follow him as a guide and path to the airport.

We get to the gate at 1:38 (flight leaves at 1:40).

Flight is then delayed until 3:45pm

Get to Orlando at 6:30pm- going to get a car rental and hotel and get to LEGOLAND First thing in the morning!

Hertz Car Rental line literally takes 2 hours to get through to get my damn car.

It's 8:30pm and leaving airport.

I look at Hotwire & Priceline for a cheap hotel to stay at and get ZERO results.

I start calling local hotels and I hear "Sir, we are full and actually I'm checking with other hotels. We can't find any openings in a 75 mile radius of Orlando"

So we drive to Tampa. No Hotels.

1:30am... just driving around calling over 100 hotels. 1 hotel pops up on Hotels.com. A nice exclusive Golf Resort in Ft Meade, FL. (1 hour from LEGOLAND). Cheapest rate was $399/night. LOL.

Go there, (best hotel I've ever been in BTW), check out go to LEGOLAND.

Then the flights I bought for the way back were delayed so I cancelled them. I no longer had a flight back.

After LEGOLAND closed on Sunday we drove back to airport to drop of car rental.

Still not 3 flights on any airline.

We have to rent a Chevy Traverse, because we decided to drive 15 hours back but saw on the weather.com that the drive back would encounter 12'-24'' of snow!

I decided to just leave right then and try to beat the snow.

I got to Charleston before it really came down and we somehow made it without stopping.

Dropped the car off at the airport, which was $300 for a 1-way rental.

Got home and was $1,600 lighter in the pocket for a 1 day vacation.

Won't be so impulsive anymore.

4cards;1707714 wrote:...I saw that you can take a kayac for a couple of hours and paddle through the Mangrove tunnels which sounds fun & we may take in some spring training action up in Bradenton but other than that I just want to veg out on the beach & warm up.

As Apple mentioned Myakka State Park is pretty cool visit. I would strongly recommend Oscar Scherer State Park just a few miles south of Sarasota in Nokomis for Kayaking, they also have some nice trails if your into that. I'm pretty sure that they rent kayaks there too, we have our own kayaks so I never paid much attention as to whether they rented or not. McKechnie Field is in a shitty area of Bradenton so keep your valuables out of sight, crack heads and hookers roam those streets at night. Pirate city off of 27th St. East just south of SR 64 is where the Pirates do most of their practices. Siesta Beach as I said is a must although very crowded, if you want it a bit less crowd you can go south to Turtle Beach but it's definately not as nice as Siesta. There is a beach access that we go to on the north end of Longboat Key that is basically just you and a few others which is why we usually go there. If you decide to go there it's on the last street to the left on the far north side of Longboat. If you get to the drawbridge you just passed it.

I opted out of what most likely would have been my worst vacation ever just last week.
Wife went to visit her parents in Florida so would have stayed with them in their old retirement community. Pretty sure that would have been miserable......
So instead I had the house to myself for a week so it really was almost like a vacation without having to leave home....


Probably worst was a camping trip as a kid. It rained, and rained, and rained, and rained, for 3 full days and we couldnt do anything. Wasnt even like it was near a town/city to go into and do other stuff

bigkahuna;1707799 wrote:I went up to Traverse City w/ my ex-wife back in 2012. I surprised her with a weekend trip for our anniversary. It should have been an awesome time going wine tasting and seeing the fall atmosphere of Northern Michigan. However, she decided that was a good time to tell me she wanted a divorce and that she was already seeing someone else. It just made for an awkward weekend. All of the wine helped though.

Damn man....that wins. Sorry to hear.

Lol Rydawg but I've seen the LegoLand DVD and that park does look fun did it live up to the hype.

No it was cool but I'd compare the experience to the Columbus zoo with a few rides.

1 cool thing was my son has his picture taken and for just $49 they made a lego set of his photo.


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rydawg5;1707849 wrote:My worst vacation just happened! ....

The Hertz at MCO is beyond terrible. Took easily over an hour to pick up our car.

Also, why did your drive home from Orlando to Columbus go through Charleston?

I'm not good with roads but we went through from Orlando to Jacksonville and up through the carolinas and through Virginias.. Pretty sure I saw charleston signs.


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However, Chief Yahoo, you created a memory that will be cherished.





p.s. to friendfromlowery: I think he may be talking about Charleston, WVa............................when you drive by on 77 you get a great look at that awesome golden capitol dome.

Probably took 95-20-77...which takes you right through Charleston WV lol. Charleston SC would've been over an hour from any highway you were on, though you would've seen signs to it I'm sure.

^^^^^ Day late, dollar short, big dawg.

Columbus GEORGIA (Tommy boy)


Definitely was West Virginia haha


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Acknowledged.

Bio-Hazzzzard;1707895 wrote:As Apple mentioned Myakka State Park is pretty cool visit. I would strongly recommend Oscar Scherer State Park just a few miles south of Sarasota in Nokomis for Kayaking, they also have some nice trails if your into that. I'm pretty sure that they rent kayaks there too, we have our own kayaks so I never paid much attention as to whether they rented or not. McKechnie Field is in a shitty area of Bradenton so keep your valuables out of sight, crack heads and hookers roam those streets at night. Pirate city off of 27th St. East just south of SR 64 is where the Pirates do most of their practices. Siesta Beach as I said is a must although very crowded, if you want it a bit less crowd you can go south to Turtle Beach but it's definately not as nice as Siesta. There is a beach access that we go to on the north end of Longboat Key that is basically just you and a few others which is why we usually go there. If you decide to go there it's on the last street to the left on the far north side of Longboat. If you get to the drawbridge you just passed it.

...Thanks Bio-Hazzzzard for the info. If we head up to McKechnie next Monday it will be during the afternoon so we'll be gone b/4 the crack heads show up that night.

rydawg5;1707849 wrote:My worst vacation just happened!

It was Saturday morning (Valentine Day weekend). I bought my son the "Lego Superhero" Movie at Walmart, brought it back and he opens it really excited.

Inside the DVD cover is a FREE LEGOLAND ticket for a kid in Orlando.

The first trailer for this movie is LEGOLAND Amusement Park. "Daddy, Lets go there! I wanna go!" - Continues watching movie.

So Saturday morning at 11:00am we start watching this movie. I am on my laptop and look at Southwest.com - 1 way tickets to Orlando are $139 (leaving at 1:45pm).

Look at weather.com - Orlando will by 75 Columbus will be 5

I say to my wife, "Wanna go to Orlando? Like Right now?"

We buy the tickets, pack, and leave at like 12:30 from Westerville to the airport.

Maybe some Disneyworld on the day we get there and LEGOLAND the next! So many possibilities.

This is when all hell breaks loose, you couldn't even see past you because of the snow. I think God freaked out I was trying to be spontaneous.

I get lucky and am ambulance passes me with his lights on and I follow him as a guide and path to the airport.

We get to the gate at 1:38 (flight leaves at 1:40).

Flight is then delayed until 3:45pm

Get to Orlando at 6:30pm- going to get a car rental and hotel and get to LEGOLAND First thing in the morning!

Hertz Car Rental line literally takes 2 hours to get through to get my damn car.

It's 8:30pm and leaving airport.

I look at Hotwire & Priceline for a cheap hotel to stay at and get ZERO results.

I start calling local hotels and I hear "Sir, we are full and actually I'm checking with other hotels. We can't find any openings in a 75 mile radius of Orlando"

So we drive to Tampa. No Hotels.

1:30am... just driving around calling over 100 hotels. 1 hotel pops up on Hotels.com. A nice exclusive Golf Resort in Ft Meade, FL. (1 hour from LEGOLAND). Cheapest rate was $399/night. LOL.

Go there, (best hotel I've ever been in BTW), check out go to LEGOLAND.

Then the flights I bought for the way back were delayed so I cancelled them. I no longer had a flight back.

After LEGOLAND closed on Sunday we drove back to airport to drop of car rental.

Still not 3 flights on any airline.

We have to rent a Chevy Traverse, because we decided to drive 15 hours back but saw on the weather.com that the drive back would encounter 12'-24'' of snow!

I decided to just leave right then and try to beat the snow.

I got to Charleston before it really came down and we somehow made it without stopping.

Dropped the car off at the airport, which was $300 for a 1-way rental.

Got home and was $1,600 lighter in the pocket for a 1 day vacation.

Won't be so impulsive anymore.

It'll be a fun story to share with your son later. He probably has no idea of the hell you went through just to get to Legoland.

Was on a cruise ship Concordia in 2012 when the captain thought it would be cute to get real close to the coast. The ship hit a sandbar and tipped, thus beginning to sink. My wife and I jumped overboard and swam to shore. Heard later that it made national news and some people died.

Old Rider;1708255 wrote:Was on a cruise ship Concordia in 2012 when the captain thought it would be cute to get real close to the coast. The ship hit a sandbar and tipped, thus beginning to sink. My wife and I jumped overboard and swam to shore. Heard later that it made national news and some people died.

Wow!

So I think my wife (and I to a lesser extent) can make this thread relevant again.

She was a reader at a good friend's wedding in Charleston, SC this past weekend. She had to work all night Thursday so she was going to fly down Saturday morning for a 6pm Saturday evening wedding. Her mom offered to drive down them down there Friday morning and take our 7-month old daughter, since I worked Thursday and Friday night as well I wouldn't be able to watch her (her mom is our babysitter when we both work).

So they leave 930am Friday morning. Suppose to be a 10 hour drive. Around 6pm she calls, and they're just past Knoxville, TN - still about five hours away. Not making too terrible time considering they're traveling with an infant. My wife texts me an hour later saying they made a wrong turn in TN and I'll never guess where they are. I'm thinking Arkansas?? She says they're in Pigeon Forge. I'm not sure how far out of the way that even is. Apparently they dicked around there for a few hours not sure what to do or tried to find out how to go because they weren't back on the road until about 11pm. So they get to Charleston around 4am -- about 18 hours after leaving Ohio. What the hell they did all that time in TN or how you even get lost nowadays is beyond me. Whatever.

Get up Saturday morning for hair/make-up. Wedding apparently was a disaster. Bugs everywhere, crappy food, kind of awkward.

Sunday & Monday they just kind of hang out in Charleston. They were suppose to come back Sunday night but they were still exhausted from the trip down and decided to hang out an extra day. They do leave Monday morning heading back, but stop in Charlotte to spend some time there and drive the rest on Tuesday morning.

Tuesday morning they leave Charlotte. Get on the highway and come up on traffic accident so they start to stop, but get rear ended. Her mom is taken to hospital by squad with whiplash/concussion. My wife calls and wakes me up Tuesday around lunch (I worked the night before) so I drive down to Charlotte because we're not sure if the baby needs to be checked out, what condition her mom is in, or if either of them will be able to drive. So I get to Charlotte around 930pm this past Tuesday. Check into a hotel. Her mom had been released and everyone was fine -- that, of course, was the overall good thing. We leave Charlotte Wednesday morning. The 7-hour drive back is relatively uneventful except for a speeding ticket for each of us in Virginia. SMH.