Vacation this year?

Well, my Alaskan cruise has been cancelled. Just wondered what everyone is going to do for vacation this year. Scheduling Alaska for next year looks to have a much higher price. We are still deciding if we want to do that. It's a big bucket list item.

I was planning on going to Utah and/or NOLA around this time for GF's bday. Covid hit during the planning stages around March, naturally plans didn't materialize.

Next trip that I have planned so far will be Vegas. The Venetian was giving out 50,000 free nights to essential workers (1 night per person). GF and I are both in banking, and considered "essential by The Venetian, so we got consecutive nights for a random weekend. This is happening closer to the end of 2020 though when the weather cools down, and hopefully the pandemic situation improves as well. Luckily driving to Las Vegas for me is only 4 hours, as I sense I'll be wary of air travel for a while so this gives me a little peace of mind.

This will also be my first time in Vegas while being old enough to experience the 21+ attractions. Strangely, I've been to Vegas a bajillion times as a teenager. I'm not much of a drinker these days, so I am mainly interested in seeing a magic show, dining, and a few spins of roulette. Again, this is pending the improvement of the pandemic situation. At the very least, it will be a romantic weekend getaway and I wouldn't mind doing some sightseeing.

We are working around the house this year.

I have a men's fishing trip this fall to northern MN. Mrs. PP and I are hoping we can take a week this winter and do something in the south but holding off on any definitive plans until we see what conditions are like. Otherwise, I may take some long weekends this summer and we will "play it by ear."

We had a beach vacation scheduled for the end of April....of course it was cancelled as Florida was pretty much closed down. However, since they reopened and the condos reopened, we were able to re-schedule and go last week. It's an 11 hour drive for us. I was a bit nervous at first about going, but my parents (who were going with us), were going with or without us! Anyway, we had a great time, the weather was great, most restaurants and businesses were following guidelines. The only thing that kind of shocked me.......the area we visited was PACKED with vacationers. I guess I kind thought more people would be apprehensive (I don't know why I thought that since we went), but the beaches and restaurants were packed. I guess families were ready to get out and about and go on vacation.

We're lucky because we have a camp that's just a couple hours away, so we're fine for summer recreation and it's great to have free time in the summer here. We had planned a trip in April to check out a potential place to retire, which we had to cancel. We will be VERY ready to go someplace warm next winter, though!

I was scheduled to go to Switzerland in early July. That trip was cancelled, but we just re-booked for August of next year. My friends and I also wanted to do Berlin in December for the Christmas markets, but we decided to hold off a year for that. So next year should involve four trips since my niece and I want to go to Finland in February to sleep in a glass igloo and I hope to also add England.

This year has been a real mental trial for a person who definitely has the travel bug! Good thing I find planning a trip just as much fun as going on one.

HRH Okie Banker; Alaska is worth every dime spent. We went in 2018 end of July first week of August, inside passage cruise, bus, and train. Weather was very good one foggy day at sea, one very unsettling turbulent evening at sea at Denali was rainy and the electricity was out one morning.

No big plans for 2020 we have taken two big vaca's two years in a row; need to regroup. Hope to see our kids in TX a couple more times will take our RV there. Maybe spend a weekend at a local lake, no boat, but zoning out under the canopy with a drink is wonderful. If it's not cancelled plan to go to a muzzleloading rendezvous in October.

I was on a two week vacation in Florida when the pandemic crisis exploded. Now I get a little anxiety when I think about planning another vacation.

I'll probably just take a day here and a day there throughout the summer.

We were supposed to spend 9 days in Italy on a Rick Steve's you in July. It is cancelled. I talked the Mrs. into a fishing trip to Canada (at a nice lodge, of course). Right now the US/Canada border is not open. They will decide on June 21st if they will open or not. If not, we may try to go to Napa, but I'm not sure anything's open. We may just stay home, but I'd really like to get away for a week or two. It is needed more this year than ever!

I've been on 2 Alaskan cruises. One was round trip from Vancouver (one of my favorite cities in the world) and the other was one way south from Seward, AL to Vancouver. LOVED them both. If you book an Alaskan cruise, I highly encourage you to go out of, or end up at Vancouver. Then add 2 days to see this amazing city. Grandville Island and Stanley Park are very cool places. They make the Alaskan Cruise even better.

Dave - word is there was a great Cruise at the end of January... those attending were lucky enough to get away (and back home) before the pandemic explosion.
Summer reunion plans in the Black Hills cancelled but hoping to take a few long weekends yet this fall.

Was planning to go to Italy for 2 weeks but that' gone. I think it's a staycation this year if anything. I'm not so sure traveling is as safe as we are being lead to believe.

I also had an Alaskan Cruise planned for July this year. Rescheduling it for August 2021. I went on an Alaskan cruise in 2016 with my husband, liked it so much, that this one will be with my sister. Did the land tour and then southbound cruise to Vancouver in 2016 and plan to do the same one in 2021. So worth the money spent. This year, just to get away, I will be heading to a resort on a lake in MN in Sept. for some relaxing. Sister is going with me.

My mother and I were supposed to be go on a three week tour of Europe in September, that including meeting some of my father's relatives. Trip was cancelled, planning now for next year. Also, our family reunion in Nebraska was cancelled and rescheduled for next summer. Currently have fingers cross that Santa Cruz (CA) will be open in late July, if not then hope to spend some time in Napa.

My nephew's Teluride 7/31 wedding had to be postponed a year due to max people at venues so I'm curious, were any of you that have vacationed concerned about staying in resorts or condos? Gotta say, Bankwoman, the idea of being on a beach packed full of people made me shudder a bit, especially for your parents. Needless to say, we'll be hanging around the here this summer and I'll take days off here and there.

That's exactly what I'm doing. I will be off the week of Labor Day (wedding anniversary), but we won't be going anywhere.

We're all in on staycationing this year. Neither of us feels any urge to go anywhere, I'm retiring on 7/31 and while we were talking about a big retirement vacation a couple of years ago? It's nothing we're remotely interested in doing this year. The good news is that we like our house, we like our neighborhood, we like all of the hiking trails, and we'll just happily relax into retirement. For me, it feels like one unending weekend is going to launching on Aug 1st and I love weekends. Also helps that the kids and grandkids are all local. We've looked at a bunch of options because we're beach bums, but then we see beach pics that make a joke of social distancing and decide it's really not worth it to us. I'd be antsy as heck about staying in a condo because of the pillows and stuff that would be difficult to pack, but very difficult to wash/dry onsite. Otherwise, I think I could handle a condo by disinfecting all of the counters, the microwave, and maybe the fridge? But that takes us right back to crowded beaches. If I had to guess, we'll do an excellent beach trip in 2021 or 2022. Pretty sure they're making good progress on multiple vaccines and that will play into the decision.

This year? We have a great deck.

Truffle Royale, I wasn't really concerned with staying in the condo. Especially after they came out and said that actually getting sick by the virus from touching surfaces was actually pretty low. The condo we stayed in belonged to a friend of my husbands, who was actually in it the week before us. I know they have a cleaning service that clean the condos after every use. I actually felt fine about the condo. I was probably more nervous about the trip prior to leaving on it.....once we got there we tried to remember to social distance the best that we could but like I said, the beaches were busy. The beach chairs and umbrellas that come with the condos were not any further apart than they normally are and there were actually 2 rows of them because of the number of people on vacation. It's not like we got up close and personal with people and like I said, the restaurants, for the most part, wore masks (there were a few that did not). Honestly, considering the number of people there (including families with kids and many older adults), you wouldn't even know there was a pandemic going on. I will say, once there we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, the beach, the sun and just being on vacation. I can tell you, we weren't keeping my parents home. They had been doing really good "sheltering in place" but I think it was even beginning to affect them. I'm in Indiana and we were already on stage 3 of opening, so we had been out to eat at restaurants and seen some friends, so maybe that helped us feel a little more comfortable.

BTW....my dad (who is 70) swears up and down he had the virus back in December. He was really sick for about a week and lost 12 pounds in 4 days. So, he was going on vacation!

Also - the family that normally had the beach chairs next to us while on vacation, the mom was a nurse in Alabama. It did cross my mind that it seems strange to see a nurse on vacation.......but there she was.

My daughter, who is a nurse too, thought the same thing as your father about having covid early on. She got the anti-body test, which is much easier than than the covid test btw, but came back negative. She had all the symptons including lack of taste and smell but no covid. Fingers crossed you all are well in another two weeks after the incubation period is up. Let me know please. It would be a bit of reassurance to know someone who went out and stayed well.

I sure will. I pray we all stay healthy.

I will say, I wondered if I would be required to quarantine for 14 days by the bank I work for. But they did not make me do it. Like I said though, Things have been opening back up pretty quickly here in Indiana, we are actually moving to stage 4 of a 5 stage process tomorrow. So a lot of things are getting back to normal here.

After my trip was cancelled, I took some of the time to work around the house. I've got a few long weekends scheduled to do more of the same, and am thinking about looking for a condo within an 8 hour drive to go to this fall.

We're a week away from going to Stage 2 at work. There's a list of travel locations and methods of transport that you have to report to HR if you decide to travel. You also have to know the status of the location you live and the status of the location you're going to. If you go to certain places, you have to isolate away from the bank for 14 days and if you get sick and run out of accrued time off, you're on your own and could get terminated. That's Phase 1 and it was really tied down at work. I should look at the Phase 2 protocols, but nobody on my team goes back to the office until Phases 3 and 4 (3 has a 7/7 date and 4 has no date). The state let each county decide. Some counties let each mayor decide. My son-in-law works at the college and is home until at least August. My daughter is back in the office 2 days a week so that they're well-spaced. Their oldest son started daycamp last week and the 4 year old went back to the college's childcare center this week when it reopened. City pools (suburbs) are either opening with restrictions or are closed for the summer. Our neighborhood pool changed the lock on the gate to a keyfob and banned all flotation devices other than water wings. It's almost schizo to figure out what's open and what isn't because so many suburbs run together. Cases started spiking back up in the last week or so which doesn't help get things opened any faster. And I'm happy staying home with a brew, TV, and books although I really need pool time whenever it opens at the gym.

my vacation this year was cutting down 9 pine trees in my front yard, then having the stumps ground, picking that stump mess up, and putting down 3 pallets of grass...actually, that was all done on weekend hours as I've been working every day...just the dollars was the vacation expense...

company has decided that we can carry over 1 week in to next year, and sell a 2nd week back to the company. So likely I will take a week later in the year, some individual days, and then sell one. carrying over is not an option, I struggle to get 4+ weeks in now, certainly won't get a 5th week done.

Happy: I'd love to have you vacation at my place. I have plenty of work for you to do.

There certainly was. I'm so glad our Compliance Cruise was not a month later. We really lucked out and, to the best of my knowledge, everyone that attended is healthy. It was a great time!

especially after they came out and said that actually getting sick by the virus from touching surfaces was actually pretty low

One group says low others does not know, After months they still do not know which is not surprising since many other viruses have been around for decades others for centuries.

As for a condo of a friend I would say low anyway.

We had some pretty big trips scheduled for this past spring break and this summer that all got cancelled, all involving flights and cruise ships. As of right now, we're looking at doing a big driving loop up to Mt Rushmore, over to Yellowstone, back through Colorado Springs, down to Taos, and stop at Palo Duro Canyon on the way home. I'm calling it "The Great Outdoors Tour."

We had a week scheduled in Florida in April to visit family, but being from NY even though upstate, we would have had to quarantine for 2 weeks on arrival so that was cancelled. We are now waiting to hear if Sturgis will be cancelled (vote is today) apparently businesses want it to go on locals do not. If that is cancelled, we will just hold out hope for 2021.

We just returned from a weekend mini-cation visit to Cumberland Falls. We walked a few trails but generally kept the river and waterfall in sight. There wasn't too much of a crowd, which is part of the reason we selected it. And its close to home, but we had never been - just 2 hours away. Cloudy night, so we didn't get to see the moonbow, though.

Happy - I have a Sycamore tree you're more than welcome to cut and remove for me! Younger me was in a hurry and said I didn't need to worry about cutting it before I built my house. Older me looks at it and says you screwed up, ole bud. lol

On the sycamore front: i have a sycamore tree on my place that's my favorite tree in the world, but it causes me a lot of work--it loves to shed branches. It has to be 200-300 years old.....i estimate it to be about 200 to 250 feet tall. Beautiful tree.

(I have nothing to add on the vacation front, as i'm not a traveller.)

If your sycamore tree is that tall you should find your local tree specialists as that might qualify as a current record.

It's that tall.....at least by my estimation. I try to imagine it falling over and how much of a football field it would cover. It would cover at least 60 or 70 yards of it.

I had a cabin booked by Glacier National Park for end of July; however, the park isn't opening. Of course in true government way, it said it was reopening, but the eastern park entrances and all services are closed for the foreseeable future. The cabin owner also called it and issued refunds. It might be for the best. Apparently hunting guides are warning clients and hikers that due to past fires and low traffic that bear encounters will probably be high and to expect the bears to be more aggressive this year.

Interesting. My guess (and it is only that) is that the east entrance will open once the entire Going to the Sun Road is open, which doesn't usually happen until mid-July, if I recall correctly. But who knows...

I work for beer and burgers...but no fruited beer, no IPA or wheat, not that bitter, dark stuff either. and I've never been to Nebraska...

So what I hear you saying is that you don't drink beer . . .

LOL! I don't drink much nowadays, but when I do drink it is beer and I am a bit of a snob. There's nothing like a juicy hazy IPA or a barrel aged stout!

Hamms or Hamms Special Light for me. Cheap and cold. An occasional Spotted Cow but I have moved from craft beers to affordable beers as I have aged.

My summer vacation is going to be IPAs on the deck. I'm a total beer snob that checks brews on the Untappd app before buying them to see if they sound like what I like. By winter, I'll move back to a nice, chocolaty porter or stout. There are some sours and goses that I like, but those are hit and miss. Pliny the Elder is still my favorite IPA, but Racer 5 was remarkably close.

Do we need a beer thread???

Shiner Bock is my beer of choice.

Tanqueray is my beer of choice.

fixed

Seeing all these beer posts - I guess I'm just boring. Bud Light is far and away my favorite.

Burk....you need to try some Shiner.....

I would like to stay fairly close to home for vacation but still want to go somewhere. Any interesting places in the Midwest that might be not too touristy?

The Badlands between North and South Dakota are always nice.

Root is my beer of choice.

If they are "between" North and South Dakota, they must be really small and hard to see.

Do you mean near Wall, SD? They extend south toward Nebraska (where I live). Nebraska has some badlands too, but SD gets all of the credit. In Nebraska, there's Toad Stool Geological Park that is very interesting:
https://visitnebraska.com/crawford/toadstool-geologic-park

I had indicated before that my wife & I were headed to Italy this year on a Rick Steve's 9 day tour (mid-July). That was cancelled. Then we decided to go fishing in Canada (great social distancing), but the Canada-US border is closed. We just found out it will not be opening until at least the end of July, so that's out.

I'm going to take 1 week as a stay-cation, but we'd REALLY like to get away and do something. We are exploring ideas.

Instead of fishing in Canada, you could consider Lake of the Woods in Northern MN. The border intersects the lake and the fishing is incredible. Devils Lake in ND is also very good for perch and walleye fishing. (My mom was born and raised in Devils Lake before it became famous.)

Lake Vermillion is also a great fishing lake in Northern MN is also a great fishing lake with several varieties of game fish and it is one of the largest lakes in MN.

Come to the Adirondack Mts in NYS. It's far away from NYC and there are all kinds of nature things to do. Hike, fish, boat.

It's the other New York

I hear Chaz is nice this time of year.....;)

Planned a big road trip up to Mt Rushmore, Yellowstone, and other outdoors sites. Then came the announcement that Trump was going to be at Mt. R. The exact days we were planning for. SIGH. Tore up those plans and currently reworking, hopefully to go around the other way and come back to Mt. R. at a later time.

but but but…

I would be YUGE! the biggest mount rushmore ever. no one has ever had a bigger or better mount rushmore, I promise you that. no one even knew of mount rushmore before you went there! you made people aware of mount rushmore. they should rename it mount EEGB because of the attention you have drawn to it


(the above is a satirical statement and in no way should be interpreted as a political statement)

LOL