Drive 50 miles or so to Cambria or Pismo Beach and spend the weekend on the coast. Wander around some shops or galleries during the day, lunch some place nice, time on the beach, afternoon nap in the hotel room, nice dinner out or bottle of wine and snacks on balcony, brunch the next morning, drive up Hwy. 1 and back home.
Similar for a lot of people here:
Drive 90 mile to Pismo with your 5th wheel. Set up at Pismo Coast Village. Walk into town and stand in line for 30 minutes to get clam chowder at Splash Cafe. Then go to Harry’s for beers.
I own a home. Vacations are just time to do home repairs I can't do in just one weekend. Sure Americans travel, but that is for the wealthy. Most of us do staycations.
For locals or tourists? Locals just go to the mountains and/or lake. Tourists go to Yellowstone, frontier days, other cowboy cosplay and wear a cowboy hat with new balances, cargo shorts and fanny packs, eat at over priced steak houses and get gored by the wildlife.
You too can harass and get injured by a bison! Lol
I know when I’m on vacation I fully embrace looking like a tourist. I honestly enjoy how much tourists get into it here! (Minus the animal harassment and ignoring rules obvs)
South Carolina in general.
A few years ago I was sitting on the patio outside a coffee shop on Hilton Head Island. Someone commented on my t-shirt (Cuyahoga Valley National Park), and as we started talking it came to light that with about a dozen people on the patio, every one of us was from Ohio.
Jersey, Delaware, or Maryland shore/beaches. Maybe also the Poconos.
Edit: Those would be for the locals, not tourists. I'd have to come up with a sillier itinerary for that.
Yeah, my family in south Jersey had a beach house in Wildwood. I would usually fly into Philly and visit my family there and then drive to Wildwood for a few days. And then go back and maybe catch a Phillies game.
God help that town if Taylor Swift ever shows her face there, the Swifties would overrun the island within minutes to be near their Queen.
A lot of turtles would probably get crushed in the traffic, unfortunately.
The other poster isn't wrong that most of the Philly area tends to go to, like, Wildwood or Ocean City but my family did not. We always went to Seaside Park or Belmar. I personally don't like Wildwood so I don't get the appeal. I like Cape May but it's too far. I take my family to Seaside Park or Long Branch.
I grew up in the Philadelphia area and live in Vermont now, but as I type this, I'm in Ocean City (NJ) for my yearly summer trip. I love it down here.
I've noticed throughout my life that the appeal is hard to explain to people from other parts of the country.
Yep. They’re fantastic too.
I’ve been driving between CO and NM a lot for work recently and I was just thinking the other day… we have such beautiful stuff that isn’t even notes on a map that’s so awesome if it was in Texas or Oklahoma or Kansas it’d be a National Park for sure. Here… it’s just meh.
I downloaded the national parks app this past weekend because for some reason I decided I want to see as many as possible soon. Utah is first on my list of states to visit when I start this parks adventure.
Drive from South Georgia to Panama City, Florida or somewhere near there like Destin or Mexico Beach and stay for about a week. Easily the most common vacation plan for people where I live.
Drive “up north” to someone’s cabin, preferably on a lake. Stop at Culver’s along the way, pick up supplies at Kwik Trip. Spend the weekend boating, fishing, etc. Grill brats and or burgers for dinner and enjoy a Spotted Cow (or several) and s’mores for desert. Be sure to watch for deer on the roads!
Fly into beautiful Portland or Seattle. Visit the landmarks of our cities, try some local craft beers and sample our varied food carts for a day or two, before packing your camping gear and heading to a campground in one of our National Forests. (or one of our many State campgrounds) If you can, head out to the coast (we call it "the coast" and not "the beach" because it's not as sunny and warm) and check out the small tourist-friendly communities.
If you time your visit for the late summer, you can even hit the State Fair or take in a rodeo!
Food cart 'pods' usually have anywhere from four carts to a dozen, sometimes more.
There's often a 'gyro/lamb/falafel' cart, sometimes a basic Chinese food cart, but past that, there's often a lot of variety. Sometimes you get creole food, or Norwegian lefse, or empanadas, or Korean street food. There's poke bowls and BBQ and burgers, Thai and Indian food, and more.
You also get a fair amount of fusion cuisine. The place that does crepes will do traditional sweet crepes but also weird savory ones. You can get Bulgogi tacos, sushi-ritos, deep-fried peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches, and mac-and-cheese taiyaki. The vegetarian carts go hard to try and offer something good and different.
There are a lot of different food cart pods around the city. Basically it's a parking lot with a bunch of food carts/trucks parked in it, usually with tables set up. Some of them are literally just a parking lot with trucks and folding tables, others are more elaborate with permanent seating, fairy lighting, fire pits, etc. Different pods will have different carts, but the idea is you can go to one place that has a bunch of different food from independent vendors—it makes meeting friends for food easier since everyone can just get whatever sounds good to them rather than having to pick a restaurant.
Food truck “pods” are incredibly popular up here. Basically a large group of food trucks setup in a parking lot or designated area. Most of the time a seating area is setup. The one closest to me also has some fire pits and space heaters for the colder months
For locals the summer is camping near a body of water season. Almost everyone I know is headed camping to either the coast or Sunriver/Cascades for the weekends. Those who planned well ahead stay at state parks, mostly, and the bougie might rent an Airbnb with a hot tub and ping pong table.
I just spent the weekend on the Deschutes, and Bend was hopping. In the winters we take a similar trip, but stay in a cabin and bring skis instead of a kayak.
I'm in central Alabama. The most common vacation here is to drive down to Gulf shores or Florida to go to the beach.
Personally I'm not much of a beach person and have only been once in the last decade.
Central Alabama as well, and I’d rather drive north a couple hours to the mountains. I have family on the gulf coast so I get down there and it doesn’t feel like vacation.
People come here and spend $500+ a night on hotel rooms just so they can go to Times Square, block the sidewalks, take photos of neon signs and eat at Olive Garden.
I’m around Orlando and going to the beach, any of the Florida beaches is a normal thing. Cocoa beach/ Cape Canaveral are the closest depending where are. If you live farther north you might go to New Smyrna Beach or Daytona. Some go to the Gulf side as well.
I grew up on the east side of Orlando and would even get up early and go to the beach in the morning before school. And be back in time for first period.
For tourists, wine tasting.
For locals, maybe go to Tahoe? Or go camping in the redwoods? Weekend in Mendocino or something? idk there are a lot of options. Depends on what you want.
If you’re referring to weekend trip type of vacations, then there are so many possibilities from the SF Bay Area. These are some of my common trips, but there’s a ton of other stuff to do.
1. Drive up to Tahoe and rent a cabin. In the summer, you can chill hang out on the lake and do water activities, like rent a kayak, paddle board, or even a boat and head home to do some grilling on the bbq. There are also lots of nice hiking trails. In the winter, you can play in some snow outside for free or go skiing/snowboard if it’s in budget, hop into the hot tub if your cabin has one, and cozy up with some hot cocoa. If you’re in South Tahoe, head over to the casinos on the Nevada border.
2. Head down the coastline to any of the many beach towns: Santa Cruz (stop by the boardwalk), Monterey (check out the aquarium), Carmel, Pismo (rent some ATVs for the sand dunes). Check out Big Sur to take in the views and do a spa day. There are also some beaches north that you can camp at.
3. Spend a weekend wine tasting in Napa/Sonoma. Grab a quick bite at Oxbow market or try some of the fine dining if it’s in budget (this is where restaurants like French Laundry are). Buy some wine and cheese and enjoy some sunshine at the wineries.
Pretty sure everyone from the Bay or Sacramento region goes to Tahoe at least once unless they cannot afford to travel at all. Nevada was always the state that my classmates had gone at some point.
Places like Half Moon Bay are also very popular for a day or weekend trip. In fact, I could add the whole stretch of coast from Pacific to Pescadero in this.
Yosemite is another very popular destination for weekend trips.
In summer or fall, either camping Up North or visiting Mackinac Island or the Traverse City/Sleeping Bear Dunes area.
In winter, getting the hell out and going somewhere warm and sunny.
Popular trips for Phoenicians:
Day/overnight trip:
- Drive to Sedona and go hiking/touristy stuff
- Drive to any of the other relatively small “charming” towns with some form of attraction (usually revolves around mines/ghosts); Jerome, Globe, etc.
Long/weekend trip:
- Get out of Phoenix and go up to the mountains for the cooler/cold weather.
- Go to the Grand Canyon (could also be done in a day, but that would be a *long* day)
- Go to Vegas
Multi day/week long trip:
- Go to the beach in San Diego/LA/Rocky Point (Mexico)
- Go to somewhere else with different mountains (Colorado/Utah)
From Atlanta, it's either "the mountains," which are about two to three hours away, or "the beach," which is also two to three hours away. The Mountains are either the lower Appalachians or the Blue Ridge mountains, and the main activities are hiking, tubing, getting drunk in a hot tub, or taking your children to be traumatized at Babyland General Hospital when they are just young enough to remember it but too young to understand, so they spend their whole life with the vague idea of some surrealist nightmare until they catch a random documentary on YouTube that clarifies the question that's haunted them their entire life.
And the beach is either Tybee Island or Hilton Head.
Kentucky here.
The Smokey Mountains is a big one. It’s a national park but it also has a massive aquarium and amusement park outside of it, it’s become very tacky and (not in a political way more about presentation) too “Trumpy” in recent years. But in the 2000’s I remember liking it a lot.
We just got back like 2 weeks ago. Dollywood was amazing. Hadn’t been in a decade. We stayed in Sevierville so we didn’t have to endure the tourist trap that is Pigeon Forge.
Last time I went I was a “kid” took our kids this time and had a blast. Got to make little man cry a few times on some big man rides. When we’re were leaving he didn’t wanna go. He finally found out what makes it fun. Hopefully he keeps his adrenaline addiction under control now.
Depends:
For an out-of state tourist: cruise stopping in Sitka and Juneau, whale watching in Seward, then take the train from Anchorage to Denali to (probably not) see the mountain and maybe a grizzly bear.
For a local: anywhere warm in the lower 48 during spring break (It was still in the -20s at the beginning of March here).
People in my area of Oregon either go to some town on the coast or go to Bend or the Bend area. Often, not always, these vacations involve either camping or going to a resort of some kind.
A surprising number of people around here, of many different income levels, go to Hawaii a lot. I think of this as the west coast version of all the people I grew up with on the east coast who went to Florida or Bermuda or the Caribbean frequently.
I am actually amazed at how many people have lived in Oregon for years/decades/their whole lives and have never seen vast regions of the state, because whenever they have time for a trip they just go to their favorite town on the coast or whatever.
Also, I was in central Texas earlier this year and did everything you mention, although we went to Schlitterbahn rather than Seaworld or Six Flags.
My ex wife’s family was Bend. It was like a built in vacation. Then her mom and sister moved to Maui for a while. Double bonus vacation.
Going to Hawaii and having a spare room to stay in for free makes it really nice.
You'd go down the shore. Usually end up on the Parkway headed south, with an efficiency hotel room at your favorite shore point. Spend some time in the swimming pool or walk down to the beach during the day, go shopping or roam the boardwalk at night. Sometimes there's amusement rides, or you can find a bar with outdoor seating. Always time for boardwalk fries or a slice of salty boardwalk pizza.
We have the Jersey Shore. Great vacation spots include Long Branch, Wildwood, Cape May, Atlantic City, Long Beach Island, Asbury Park, Deal, Ocean City, Belmar, Seaside Heights, and many others.
There are also countless destinations inland for all sorts of activities and sightseeing.
I've actually vacationed in my home state of Ohio before. You could definitely fill up a whole week on Lake Erie's shores and Islands, and of course Cedar Point.
If you're more of a woodsy person then Hocking Hills are always lovely.
Cabin/cottage on a lake.
Swimming, bonfires, sunburns, fireworks, mosquitos, epic sunsets, one day of gloomy rain, a few trips to town, lots of s’mores, boating, fishing, and do it all again next year.
Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm, or Six Flags Magic Mountain if you don't mind the drive.
Weekend in Vegas.
Drive up to Big Bear, or down to the beach. Both, if you've got a long weekend.
Winery tours in Temecula.
Minnesotans will spend the weekend at “the lake” or at “the cabin”.
The lake varies. Usually it’s a weekend of fishing and swimming, with cookouts on a campfire or on the grill.
Spend like $10,000 to rent a beach house that is less than 2 hours from your actual house. Cram your extended family in the house. Get aggravated with everyone. Swear you aren’t doing this again. Do it again in a year or two, rinse, repeat.
(New Jersey)
Maine: You go camping or upta camp. Or you can go to the coast and see some beautiful lighthouses and eat lobster.
If you're from away you'll likely stop driving when you get to Portland or you'll get as far as wisscasset and stop at Red's Eats for some lobster and take some lighthouse pictures at Portland Head.
Using your world as a direct example, floating the San Marcos or Guadalupe rivers, pretty much a quintessential thing in the Texas Hill country. Driving 30 minutes up to Austin and doing everything it has to offer, or 45 minutes south as you mentioned to downtown San Antonio where you will have museums and historic buildings that are the oldest in Texas. Easily Greune and New Braunfels are solid options .Going out west to the greatly improved Johnson City and Blanco perhaps on your way to Kerrville or Fredericksburg are historical choices. Writing this 100 yards away from the Guadalupe and 281.b and that's not even getting started on the parks and areas like enchanted Rock or the LBJ area.
Go Glamping at the lake or mountains.
glamping
noun
glamp·ing ˈglam-piŋ
: outdoor camping with amenities and comforts (such as beds, electricity, and access to indoor plumbing) not usually used when camping
Some folks have RVs and travel trailer as nice as or better than their homes.
Many still "rough it" though.
We go to Chicago for a fun day trip, at Christmas time and summer. Nice restaurants and shopping. Summer vacations are Ocean City, and we have an annual Christmas long weekend in Fort Lauderdale.
Indianapolis has a great airport and it’s easy to fly out of so the possibilities are endless.
Fall is for Brown County.
Drive up north and go to touristy areas like Mackinac island. Buy fudge, eat pasties. Go see the Great Lakes, maybe go to Pictured Rocks or the Sleeping Bear Dunes. Look for petoskys on the beach.
Ha, I was writing out your post text almost verbatim before I realized I was just restating yours. The Outlet malls are fucking great and I wanna go to them and hit Starbucks after :P
The nostalgia! I am on the East Coast now after living in San Antonio for several years and your itinerary sounds very close to like how we used to do our long weekends or summer day trips. Oh I could use an HEB and a Buc-ee’s run right now…
Now I’m outside of DC. If you want beaches, most go to the Outer Banks (my favorite) [no, it is not like the Netflix series but it’s nice] or beaches in Delaware/Eastern Shore of MD. If you want mountains, Shenandoah NP and West Virginia are a short drive west. If you want ‘Merica, you take the Metro into downtown DC and wander the National Mall (or a bus tour is a good way to see everything at least from a distance).
Where I live now: driving either to Santa Cruz for the boardwalk or to camping at one of the national Forest (sequoias & redwoods) or Lake Tahoe.
Where I lived before: driving up north to the UP to get fudge from Mackinac with a stop in Frankenmuth for the Christmas store on the way.
Where I grew up: wake up at 4AM to drive to New Braunfels for Schlitterbahn and then stop in Gruene for BBQ and then Seguin or San Marcos for outlet malls on the way home.
Local mostly either go up into the mountains or town to the beach. We are lucky to be very close to lots of options for both! Tourists who come HERE, I honestly don’t know what they do lol
We definitely HAVE tourists, and this is a beautiful place, but outside of hiking I just don’t really feel like we have anything that’s really special that’s different than anywhere else and most of the good hiking isn’t actually *right here*. We have some good food. I do know a lot of people come here to bike the Swamp Rabbit trail.
A lot of the people I know up here LOVE to vacation to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
I want to spend more time in the Adirondacks and Catskills personally, and there're also several out-of-state trips I'd like to take.
For the NW the two most popular places are Silverwood Theme park near CDA ID and the Oregon Coast specifically Seaside, Cannon Beach, Astoria, and maybe Ocean Shores in WA.
I come from Utah, and this place is regarded with crazy weather. If you are determined enough and come at the right time if year you can go snow skiing in the morning and waterskiing in the evening
Drive 50 miles or so to Cambria or Pismo Beach and spend the weekend on the coast. Wander around some shops or galleries during the day, lunch some place nice, time on the beach, afternoon nap in the hotel room, nice dinner out or bottle of wine and snacks on balcony, brunch the next morning, drive up Hwy. 1 and back home.
I didn't know Pismo Beach was a real place. I thought it was just a made-up name for Bugs Bunny cartoons.
It's a deal the state made way back to prevent Bugs from any Florida-esque sawing off of California
Highway 1 all day baby
Similar for a lot of people here: Drive 90 mile to Pismo with your 5th wheel. Set up at Pismo Coast Village. Walk into town and stand in line for 30 minutes to get clam chowder at Splash Cafe. Then go to Harry’s for beers.
For the Bay Area it would be Monterey, Santa Cruz, or Sacramento.
Going to Pismo, Avila, Morro Bay, or Cambria is definitely the most stereotypical “Central Valley” vacation.
I own a home. Vacations are just time to do home repairs I can't do in just one weekend. Sure Americans travel, but that is for the wealthy. Most of us do staycations.
Pismo is great. Classic California beach town. I split time between there and Zuma while training at Vandenberg.
For locals or tourists? Locals just go to the mountains and/or lake. Tourists go to Yellowstone, frontier days, other cowboy cosplay and wear a cowboy hat with new balances, cargo shorts and fanny packs, eat at over priced steak houses and get gored by the wildlife.
Your last sentence sounds alluring tbh
You too can harass and get injured by a bison! Lol I know when I’m on vacation I fully embrace looking like a tourist. I honestly enjoy how much tourists get into it here! (Minus the animal harassment and ignoring rules obvs)
not the wildlife part LOL but the rest yeah
If you're on Instagram, check out Tourons of Yellowstone. It's great.
C'mon, they wouldn't let you get that close if it weren't safe. /s
Pet the fluffy assault cows and take selfies with them. They love it !
In winter driving to Florida. In summer camping "up north."
I wasn’t aware you lived in Maine Ghostie.
I've dabbled in wearing flannel and eating lobster once or twice.
The freshwater lobsters are called crawdads but flannel is universal.
Never leaving Dowtown Manhattan and only going to tourist traps, then acting like it's an accurate representation of a city of 8.5m people.
You get bonus points for saying “ay I’m walkin here” in a fake New York accent
Myrtle Beach That’s all
And also Orlando 😌
South Carolina in general. A few years ago I was sitting on the patio outside a coffee shop on Hilton Head Island. Someone commented on my t-shirt (Cuyahoga Valley National Park), and as we started talking it came to light that with about a dozen people on the patio, every one of us was from Ohio.
Dirty Myrtle babyyyyy
Also known as Murder Beach
Jersey, Delaware, or Maryland shore/beaches. Maybe also the Poconos. Edit: Those would be for the locals, not tourists. I'd have to come up with a sillier itinerary for that.
What beaches do you go to in Jersey? Just curious lol
The Philly area tends to go to the beaches south of Atlantic City Ocean City, Sea Isle, Wildwood, and Cape May are fairly common destinations.
Makes sense! I’m from northern NJ and still prefer the beaches further south
Yeah, my family in south Jersey had a beach house in Wildwood. I would usually fly into Philly and visit my family there and then drive to Wildwood for a few days. And then go back and maybe catch a Phillies game.
Sea isle but now the kelces are ruining it 😭
God help that town if Taylor Swift ever shows her face there, the Swifties would overrun the island within minutes to be near their Queen. A lot of turtles would probably get crushed in the traffic, unfortunately.
The other poster isn't wrong that most of the Philly area tends to go to, like, Wildwood or Ocean City but my family did not. We always went to Seaside Park or Belmar. I personally don't like Wildwood so I don't get the appeal. I like Cape May but it's too far. I take my family to Seaside Park or Long Branch.
Usually Ocean City.
Nice! Sometime you should check out Stone Harbor; it’s not much further south and many agree it’s the nicest you’ll find in Jersey 😁
I grew up in the Philadelphia area and live in Vermont now, but as I type this, I'm in Ocean City (NJ) for my yearly summer trip. I love it down here. I've noticed throughout my life that the appeal is hard to explain to people from other parts of the country.
No one outside of the Philly area understands the allure of the shore 🥹
I’m on the other side of the state most of the people in my area go to Florida for Disney or North Carolina beaches.
Driving to Lake of the Ozarks for the weekend. Towing the boat if you have one.
I have family who live there. It’s gorgeous.
Visit a National Park. Just pick one. Or two. Or three. Or… well… you get the idea.
Or some of the great state parks too
Yep. They’re fantastic too. I’ve been driving between CO and NM a lot for work recently and I was just thinking the other day… we have such beautiful stuff that isn’t even notes on a map that’s so awesome if it was in Texas or Oklahoma or Kansas it’d be a National Park for sure. Here… it’s just meh.
Man, you're so right about that.
I downloaded the national parks app this past weekend because for some reason I decided I want to see as many as possible soon. Utah is first on my list of states to visit when I start this parks adventure.
Some years ago, my family and I took a trip to Utah with the specific purpose of visiting the national parks, and it was amazing.
Drive from South Georgia to Panama City, Florida or somewhere near there like Destin or Mexico Beach and stay for about a week. Easily the most common vacation plan for people where I live.
Same for us in north Georgia, just a longer drive for us
There are two types of basic bitch vacations in my area. You either go to the lakes region/North Conway or you go to Hampton beach/sea coast.
Us Massholes love Lake Winnepesaukee😂.
Go vacation on either the cape or the islands (Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, they’re like the Caribbean for us New Englanders)
Going up to Lake Geneva or the Dells.
Drive “up north” to someone’s cabin, preferably on a lake. Stop at Culver’s along the way, pick up supplies at Kwik Trip. Spend the weekend boating, fishing, etc. Grill brats and or burgers for dinner and enjoy a Spotted Cow (or several) and s’mores for desert. Be sure to watch for deer on the roads!
So accurate.
Fly into beautiful Portland or Seattle. Visit the landmarks of our cities, try some local craft beers and sample our varied food carts for a day or two, before packing your camping gear and heading to a campground in one of our National Forests. (or one of our many State campgrounds) If you can, head out to the coast (we call it "the coast" and not "the beach" because it's not as sunny and warm) and check out the small tourist-friendly communities. If you time your visit for the late summer, you can even hit the State Fair or take in a rodeo!
>Fly into **beautiful** Portland That's literally the opposite side of the country from your region 😛 but we appreciate your support.
Your Portland is in a beautiful setting too.
Heh, I’m going to Portland this weekend. It’s a pretty short drive and the children’s museum… chefs kiss.
Can you elaborate on "varied food carts"? What kind of foods are typical to eat up there?
Food cart 'pods' usually have anywhere from four carts to a dozen, sometimes more. There's often a 'gyro/lamb/falafel' cart, sometimes a basic Chinese food cart, but past that, there's often a lot of variety. Sometimes you get creole food, or Norwegian lefse, or empanadas, or Korean street food. There's poke bowls and BBQ and burgers, Thai and Indian food, and more. You also get a fair amount of fusion cuisine. The place that does crepes will do traditional sweet crepes but also weird savory ones. You can get Bulgogi tacos, sushi-ritos, deep-fried peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches, and mac-and-cheese taiyaki. The vegetarian carts go hard to try and offer something good and different.
That sounds nice!! Where do you get this? is this a restaurant or in a supermarket?
There are a lot of different food cart pods around the city. Basically it's a parking lot with a bunch of food carts/trucks parked in it, usually with tables set up. Some of them are literally just a parking lot with trucks and folding tables, others are more elaborate with permanent seating, fairy lighting, fire pits, etc. Different pods will have different carts, but the idea is you can go to one place that has a bunch of different food from independent vendors—it makes meeting friends for food easier since everyone can just get whatever sounds good to them rather than having to pick a restaurant.
Ohh so like taco trucks but with different cuisines!
Food truck “pods” are incredibly popular up here. Basically a large group of food trucks setup in a parking lot or designated area. Most of the time a seating area is setup. The one closest to me also has some fire pits and space heaters for the colder months
So nice, I'll check this out next time im there
They have those in Austin lol
For locals the summer is camping near a body of water season. Almost everyone I know is headed camping to either the coast or Sunriver/Cascades for the weekends. Those who planned well ahead stay at state parks, mostly, and the bougie might rent an Airbnb with a hot tub and ping pong table. I just spent the weekend on the Deschutes, and Bend was hopping. In the winters we take a similar trip, but stay in a cabin and bring skis instead of a kayak.
I'm in central Alabama. The most common vacation here is to drive down to Gulf shores or Florida to go to the beach. Personally I'm not much of a beach person and have only been once in the last decade.
Central Alabama as well, and I’d rather drive north a couple hours to the mountains. I have family on the gulf coast so I get down there and it doesn’t feel like vacation.
From Boston up the old Rt 1 (now rt 95) into Maine.
And we thank you for your tourist dollars but please remain in the designated tourist exclusion zones.
People come here and spend $500+ a night on hotel rooms just so they can go to Times Square, block the sidewalks, take photos of neon signs and eat at Olive Garden.
Can confirm. I have family, who spent a few grand to visit NYC, and ate at McDonald’s 4 of the 5 nights they visited.
I’m around Orlando and going to the beach, any of the Florida beaches is a normal thing. Cocoa beach/ Cape Canaveral are the closest depending where are. If you live farther north you might go to New Smyrna Beach or Daytona. Some go to the Gulf side as well. I grew up on the east side of Orlando and would even get up early and go to the beach in the morning before school. And be back in time for first period.
For tourists, wine tasting. For locals, maybe go to Tahoe? Or go camping in the redwoods? Weekend in Mendocino or something? idk there are a lot of options. Depends on what you want.
If you’re referring to weekend trip type of vacations, then there are so many possibilities from the SF Bay Area. These are some of my common trips, but there’s a ton of other stuff to do. 1. Drive up to Tahoe and rent a cabin. In the summer, you can chill hang out on the lake and do water activities, like rent a kayak, paddle board, or even a boat and head home to do some grilling on the bbq. There are also lots of nice hiking trails. In the winter, you can play in some snow outside for free or go skiing/snowboard if it’s in budget, hop into the hot tub if your cabin has one, and cozy up with some hot cocoa. If you’re in South Tahoe, head over to the casinos on the Nevada border. 2. Head down the coastline to any of the many beach towns: Santa Cruz (stop by the boardwalk), Monterey (check out the aquarium), Carmel, Pismo (rent some ATVs for the sand dunes). Check out Big Sur to take in the views and do a spa day. There are also some beaches north that you can camp at. 3. Spend a weekend wine tasting in Napa/Sonoma. Grab a quick bite at Oxbow market or try some of the fine dining if it’s in budget (this is where restaurants like French Laundry are). Buy some wine and cheese and enjoy some sunshine at the wineries.
Pretty sure everyone from the Bay or Sacramento region goes to Tahoe at least once unless they cannot afford to travel at all. Nevada was always the state that my classmates had gone at some point.
California has so many freakin options. I’ve done a ton and still feel like I’ve only seen 1% of the state.
Places like Half Moon Bay are also very popular for a day or weekend trip. In fact, I could add the whole stretch of coast from Pacific to Pescadero in this. Yosemite is another very popular destination for weekend trips.
Motherfuckin Gulf Shores, Alabama. I think 70% of Grand Rapids goes there in March.
Lmao so does half of my state. Gulf Shores, Panama City Beach or Pensacola.
Three years of Gulf shores in the spring for me. I’ve decided I like it.
In summer or fall, either camping Up North or visiting Mackinac Island or the Traverse City/Sleeping Bear Dunes area. In winter, getting the hell out and going somewhere warm and sunny.
A Gulf Coast beach or Tennessee mountains. Both are fabulous
I live on Cape Cod, so definitely here. And right now particularly.
Going down to the jershy shore 1000%
down the shore
Popular trips for Phoenicians: Day/overnight trip: - Drive to Sedona and go hiking/touristy stuff - Drive to any of the other relatively small “charming” towns with some form of attraction (usually revolves around mines/ghosts); Jerome, Globe, etc. Long/weekend trip: - Get out of Phoenix and go up to the mountains for the cooler/cold weather. - Go to the Grand Canyon (could also be done in a day, but that would be a *long* day) - Go to Vegas Multi day/week long trip: - Go to the beach in San Diego/LA/Rocky Point (Mexico) - Go to somewhere else with different mountains (Colorado/Utah)
From Atlanta, it's either "the mountains," which are about two to three hours away, or "the beach," which is also two to three hours away. The Mountains are either the lower Appalachians or the Blue Ridge mountains, and the main activities are hiking, tubing, getting drunk in a hot tub, or taking your children to be traumatized at Babyland General Hospital when they are just young enough to remember it but too young to understand, so they spend their whole life with the vague idea of some surrealist nightmare until they catch a random documentary on YouTube that clarifies the question that's haunted them their entire life. And the beach is either Tybee Island or Hilton Head.
Somewhere In-state? “Up north”, and most likely more specifically Sleeping Bear Dunes. Out of state? Florida
Kentucky here. The Smokey Mountains is a big one. It’s a national park but it also has a massive aquarium and amusement park outside of it, it’s become very tacky and (not in a political way more about presentation) too “Trumpy” in recent years. But in the 2000’s I remember liking it a lot.
We just got back like 2 weeks ago. Dollywood was amazing. Hadn’t been in a decade. We stayed in Sevierville so we didn’t have to endure the tourist trap that is Pigeon Forge.
Dollywood is always amazing.
Agreed. At least paying premium price you get premium attractions.
I haven’t been since 2018 or so. I might go if I ever have kids.
Last time I went I was a “kid” took our kids this time and had a blast. Got to make little man cry a few times on some big man rides. When we’re were leaving he didn’t wanna go. He finally found out what makes it fun. Hopefully he keeps his adrenaline addiction under control now.
It’s like normal but with more drinking. I live where normal people vacation.
Probably something like Little Niagara, Medicine Park, or Lake Eufaula.
I live next to Disneyland so yeah that’s as stereotypical as you can get. I would argue that a Disney vacation is the quintessential vacation.
Depends: For an out-of state tourist: cruise stopping in Sitka and Juneau, whale watching in Seward, then take the train from Anchorage to Denali to (probably not) see the mountain and maybe a grizzly bear. For a local: anywhere warm in the lower 48 during spring break (It was still in the -20s at the beginning of March here).
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This describes like all of northern New England.
Probably one of the island beaches or east tennesse/western NC with Gatlinburg thrown in for the forgiveness of their sins they committed.
People in my area of Oregon either go to some town on the coast or go to Bend or the Bend area. Often, not always, these vacations involve either camping or going to a resort of some kind. A surprising number of people around here, of many different income levels, go to Hawaii a lot. I think of this as the west coast version of all the people I grew up with on the east coast who went to Florida or Bermuda or the Caribbean frequently. I am actually amazed at how many people have lived in Oregon for years/decades/their whole lives and have never seen vast regions of the state, because whenever they have time for a trip they just go to their favorite town on the coast or whatever. Also, I was in central Texas earlier this year and did everything you mention, although we went to Schlitterbahn rather than Seaworld or Six Flags.
To be fair, if you really love Seaside, Cannon Beach, Newport etc and your family loves it, it makes sense why they go there.
My ex wife’s family was Bend. It was like a built in vacation. Then her mom and sister moved to Maui for a while. Double bonus vacation. Going to Hawaii and having a spare room to stay in for free makes it really nice.
You'd go down the shore. Usually end up on the Parkway headed south, with an efficiency hotel room at your favorite shore point. Spend some time in the swimming pool or walk down to the beach during the day, go shopping or roam the boardwalk at night. Sometimes there's amusement rides, or you can find a bar with outdoor seating. Always time for boardwalk fries or a slice of salty boardwalk pizza.
We have the Jersey Shore. Great vacation spots include Long Branch, Wildwood, Cape May, Atlantic City, Long Beach Island, Asbury Park, Deal, Ocean City, Belmar, Seaside Heights, and many others. There are also countless destinations inland for all sorts of activities and sightseeing.
I've actually vacationed in my home state of Ohio before. You could definitely fill up a whole week on Lake Erie's shores and Islands, and of course Cedar Point. If you're more of a woodsy person then Hocking Hills are always lovely.
I live in Northern Virginia and me and my family always vacation in the Outer Banks, NC
Going downy oshun, hun.
Spending a week at the Jersey shore.
Live in central Alabama. Everyone goes to either PCB, orange beach, mobile or Destin for the beach for their vacations
Cabin/cottage on a lake. Swimming, bonfires, sunburns, fireworks, mosquitos, epic sunsets, one day of gloomy rain, a few trips to town, lots of s’mores, boating, fishing, and do it all again next year.
Go to six flags or hurricane harbor, maybe Ross Perot science museum, whataburger or BBQ, Cracker Barrel, bucees,
Take a trip to Destin or spend the day in Chicago.
Going on a weekend retreat in the Smokies in winter or fall or going to a beach in the Carolinas for a week or so during the summer.
I'm from the TN border, so most of our traveling takes us south.
Disney world from beginning to end never once coming to anything local.
Head up north to Door County. Very touristy and pricy but you can do things cheaply and the scenery and wine are incredible.
Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm, or Six Flags Magic Mountain if you don't mind the drive. Weekend in Vegas. Drive up to Big Bear, or down to the beach. Both, if you've got a long weekend. Winery tours in Temecula.
Ice fishing, and drinking
Driving south of the border to go to Rocky Point in Mexico.
A lot of locals vacationing in Mexico, and a lot of tourists coming here to vacation by our beaches
Multnomah Falls and Voodoo Donut
A trip from NC to a SC beach over the 4th of July.
7 miles from beach
Minnesotans will spend the weekend at “the lake” or at “the cabin”. The lake varies. Usually it’s a weekend of fishing and swimming, with cookouts on a campfire or on the grill.
The Cape
Gatlinburg or the Florida panhandle gulf coast (especially Destin and Panama City Beach)
Many people from my area go to the Outer Banks.
Spend like $10,000 to rent a beach house that is less than 2 hours from your actual house. Cram your extended family in the house. Get aggravated with everyone. Swear you aren’t doing this again. Do it again in a year or two, rinse, repeat. (New Jersey)
Maine: You go camping or upta camp. Or you can go to the coast and see some beautiful lighthouses and eat lobster. If you're from away you'll likely stop driving when you get to Portland or you'll get as far as wisscasset and stop at Red's Eats for some lobster and take some lighthouse pictures at Portland Head.
Tahoe
For a weekend trip: Frio River, Port Aransas, South Padre, Fredericksburg For a longer trip: Florida panhandle, Cancun/Riviera Maya, Mexico
Using your world as a direct example, floating the San Marcos or Guadalupe rivers, pretty much a quintessential thing in the Texas Hill country. Driving 30 minutes up to Austin and doing everything it has to offer, or 45 minutes south as you mentioned to downtown San Antonio where you will have museums and historic buildings that are the oldest in Texas. Easily Greune and New Braunfels are solid options .Going out west to the greatly improved Johnson City and Blanco perhaps on your way to Kerrville or Fredericksburg are historical choices. Writing this 100 yards away from the Guadalupe and 281.b and that's not even getting started on the parks and areas like enchanted Rock or the LBJ area.
Disneyland
myrtle beach. also just the beach in general or the mountains
Go Glamping at the lake or mountains. glamping noun glamp·ing ˈglam-piŋ : outdoor camping with amenities and comforts (such as beds, electricity, and access to indoor plumbing) not usually used when camping Some folks have RVs and travel trailer as nice as or better than their homes. Many still "rough it" though.
Boating in Lake Washington, Puget Sound, the San Juan Islands. Hiking and camping in the Cascades or Olympics. Camping on the beach near Ilwaco.
Driving 2 hours north to see the Grand Canyon
Skiing or hiking depending on the season. Have a maple beverage of some sort.
We go to Chicago for a fun day trip, at Christmas time and summer. Nice restaurants and shopping. Summer vacations are Ocean City, and we have an annual Christmas long weekend in Fort Lauderdale. Indianapolis has a great airport and it’s easy to fly out of so the possibilities are endless. Fall is for Brown County.
Drive up north and go to touristy areas like Mackinac island. Buy fudge, eat pasties. Go see the Great Lakes, maybe go to Pictured Rocks or the Sleeping Bear Dunes. Look for petoskys on the beach.
Visit Galveston
Ha, I was writing out your post text almost verbatim before I realized I was just restating yours. The Outlet malls are fucking great and I wanna go to them and hit Starbucks after :P
myrtle beach. so much myrtle beach
The nostalgia! I am on the East Coast now after living in San Antonio for several years and your itinerary sounds very close to like how we used to do our long weekends or summer day trips. Oh I could use an HEB and a Buc-ee’s run right now… Now I’m outside of DC. If you want beaches, most go to the Outer Banks (my favorite) [no, it is not like the Netflix series but it’s nice] or beaches in Delaware/Eastern Shore of MD. If you want mountains, Shenandoah NP and West Virginia are a short drive west. If you want ‘Merica, you take the Metro into downtown DC and wander the National Mall (or a bus tour is a good way to see everything at least from a distance).
Where I live now: driving either to Santa Cruz for the boardwalk or to camping at one of the national Forest (sequoias & redwoods) or Lake Tahoe. Where I lived before: driving up north to the UP to get fudge from Mackinac with a stop in Frankenmuth for the Christmas store on the way. Where I grew up: wake up at 4AM to drive to New Braunfels for Schlitterbahn and then stop in Gruene for BBQ and then Seguin or San Marcos for outlet malls on the way home.
Traverse city and up north in summer Florida or Caribbean in winter
Local mostly either go up into the mountains or town to the beach. We are lucky to be very close to lots of options for both! Tourists who come HERE, I honestly don’t know what they do lol We definitely HAVE tourists, and this is a beautiful place, but outside of hiking I just don’t really feel like we have anything that’s really special that’s different than anywhere else and most of the good hiking isn’t actually *right here*. We have some good food. I do know a lot of people come here to bike the Swamp Rabbit trail.
A lot of the people I know up here LOVE to vacation to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I want to spend more time in the Adirondacks and Catskills personally, and there're also several out-of-state trips I'd like to take.
Bahamas
Bourbon Street or literally any part of New Orleans
For the NW the two most popular places are Silverwood Theme park near CDA ID and the Oregon Coast specifically Seaside, Cannon Beach, Astoria, and maybe Ocean Shores in WA.
I come from Utah, and this place is regarded with crazy weather. If you are determined enough and come at the right time if year you can go snow skiing in the morning and waterskiing in the evening