I've been on lots of great trips in my life, but have to say my favorite was going to London and spending a week seeing plays non-stop. The hotel I stayed at was so unimportant I no longer remember it, but I can remember every single play and musical I saw that week. It was magical going to the West End every night and seeing plays in a different theater. Where was your favorite vacation? What did you do or see?
That's hard to say. As a child, my favorite vacation was when my parents took us to the Cave of the Mounds in Wisconsin. It wasn't a long trip, but dad only got one or two weeks off a year, and spent one of them at the boy scout camp, since he was a scout leader, so we didn't go on very many family vacations. The caves themselves were fascinating but there was an amusement park of some sort mixed in, as well. Much later, when I was working for Champion Paper Company in California, I had five weeks vacation one year, and was due six weeks the following year. Since we had to take our vacation before our anniversary (hire) date, one year I put in for five weeks in a row for the year that was about the end, then for all six of the weeks that I had due the following year. They were unhappy about that, I can tell you, but it gave me the whole summer off. I was a single parent and my son was eleven or twelve, so I decided to take him to Michigan to see where I had grown up in the Upper Peninsula. Given the amount of time that we had, we could take our time. At one point, we stopped at a place where a stream was coming down off the mountains, found a campground and spent a couple of days in a tent there. Then we went only about twenty or thirty miles before we found another place to spend a couple of days. I had the time, I had the money, and I had a new Datsun pickup truck, so we took out time to and from Michigan, and still had plenty of time to visit. That was probably the vacation I feel best about. Not only did I have fun, but my son did as well, and my father only lived a few years after that so it was nice to spend the time with him. Lastly, about ten years ago, my wife and I went on a Caribbean cruise, which was not something that I thought I'd enjoy, but I did.
Ken, it seems like you and I followed each other across the country! I grew up outside Detroit, and now live in California... I love the story about you taking your son to Michigan to see where you grew up. He got a family history lesson along with a great trip!
My most memorable vacation was to Iceland in midsummer some years ago. I was touring the country with a group of naturalists in a small bus. We stayed mostly in schools, which are used as hotels during the summer when students are back home working on their family farms. The landscape is amazing. There is a plenty of evidence of volcanic activity, a glacier, some hot geysers, Europe's most powerful waterfall and a naturally heated lake. No trees other than dwarf varieties that grow horizontally rather than upwards. At midnight on midsummer night we were outside taking photos of Icelandic ponies with the sun in the background. On the north coast, not far from the Arctic circle, it did feel icy cold, but inland it was quite warm at that time of year.
Yeah, we even managed to find two of the shacks that my cousins and I had built in the woods, still standing. One of them was on an island in the middle of a beaver pond. Since it flooded in the spring, we built it on stilts. I was very surprised to find it still standing because we hadn't used pressure-treated wood or anything. I think it would have come down had we tried to climb onto it, but it was still there, along with three of the walls. I've always thought Iceland would be interesting.
My favourite vacation was in England - London and South Hampton (near Newton) I loved London I saw much there - Big Ben, London Eye, Crystal Palace, Blackheath, Alexandra Park, 10 Downing Street, Buckingham Palace (and much more) And in South Hampton I relaxed a lot and I enjoyed the country side.
My best vacation began in 1999 the day I got married. Being able to share each other's dreams, hopes and desires daily for nearly 16 years is the best vacation that I could ever ask for. (I think I just wrote my next anniversary card verse.)
There are lots of good day/weekend trips a person can take from Washington. I liked Chincoteague and Harpers Ferry. My husband used to have a part-time job in Columbia so we used to make a mini-vacation of the trip up Route 1, Columbia, and Centennial Park. One day he felt stressed and wanted to spend a day fishing at the lake. We didn't catch a fish but just sat on the bank getting sunburned. He said that was the best vacation trip we'd had, meaning the mellowest I suppose, so when I think of "best vacation" that's what comes to mind.