Swamp Travel Guide

[DSafetyGuy]

Where are you staying? Haven't been in several years, but can probably still dig up some places, even if I have to ask my old roommate, who lives up there.

[DaveInSeattle]

Will be in Seattle from Thurs-Monday. Staying with a buddy but I'm sure I can zip out on my own for a bit. Anything that's can't miss? Is Dave still in Seattle? We have any other contingent out there?

I'm still around. What part of town you staying in?

[The Sybian]

Will be in Seattle from Thurs-Monday. Staying with a buddy but I'm sure I can zip out on my own for a bit. Anything that's can't miss? Is Dave still in Seattle? We have any other contingent out there?

I'm still around. What part of town you staying in?

What part of town is your basement?

[BSF21]

Will be in Seattle from Thurs-Monday. Staying with a buddy but I'm sure I can zip out on my own for a bit. Anything that's can't miss? Is Dave still in Seattle? We have any other contingent out there?

I'm still around. What part of town you staying in?

You don't have a room ready for me??

TBH I don't know exactly. I'm staying with a buddy who is grabbing me from the airport, but I don't know exactly where he lives. Maybe Belleview? I can report once I get there. I know we're going to the Kraken game on Thursday night.

[DSafetyGuy]

What is there for someone traveling to Raleigh NC (specifically, Cary) to do when they're working every day? Maybe a restaurant or something?

[mister d]

There's definitely a restaurant.

[A_B]

Don't we know someone who lives in, or used to live in, Cary?

[Steve of phpBB]

Don't we know someone who lives in, or used to live in, Cary?

Shirley, right?

[tennbengal]

Yes.

[wlu_lax6]

What is there for someone traveling to Raleigh NC (specifically, Cary) to do when they're working every day? Maybe a restaurant or something?

Check out what games NC State may be hosting (or Duke or UNC)? Maybe the Canes are in town?

[teeteebee]

Timely inquiry DSafe.

Traveling to Raleigh at the end of next week for my daughter’s gymnastics meet.

Was going to try to squeeze a trip to Chapel Hill, to visit the campus. I know Coach Ks last game at Cameron is that Saturday. Tickets are too expensive to even consider it an option.

[sancarlos]

The Carolina Hurricanes play their home games in Raleigh, and they are a very good and entertaining team.

[EnochRoot]

What is there for someone traveling to Raleigh NC (specifically, Cary) to do when they're working every day? Maybe a restaurant or something?

Bond Brothers EastSide - Brewery / music venue.

[DaveInSeattle]

Leaving in a couple of hours for 2 weeks in Italy. Few days in Florence, few days in Siena, one night in Montepulciano, few days in Lucca. Deleted both Outlook and Teams from my phone, and told everyone at work that I won't be answering emails.

[Johnny Carwash]

Leaving in a couple of hours for 2 weeks in Italy. Few days in Florence, few days in Siena, one night in Montepulciano, few days in Lucca. Deleted both Outlook and Teams from my phone, and told everyone at work that I won't be answering emails.

Curious to know how this goes for you. I'm planning to go to Europe next month and hoping to avoid getting covid and the associated hangups. Hope it works out for you.

[sancarlos]

Sounds great. Have fun!

Don’t forget to get a Covid/antigen test the day before you fly home (required by US govt.)

[The Sybian]

Leaving in a couple of hours for 2 weeks in Italy. Few days in Florence, few days in Siena, one night in Montepulciano, few days in Lucca. Deleted both Outlook and Teams from my phone, and told everyone at work that I won't be answering emails.

I'm getting anxiety just thinking about this. My boss has told me not to respond to her emails when I'm on vacation, but I find it so much less stressful to keep up with work than to let it pile up and stress about not knowing what I'm missing, or worse, seeing emails and thinking about responding for a week.

On the flip side, I hope you don't disconnect from the Swamp so you can entertain us with your travels.

[DaveInSeattle]

On the flip side, I hope you don't disconnect from the Swamp so you can entertain us with your travels.

Of course not!

Got here last night, met up with my daughter who took us to an amazing place for dinner. Had rigatoni with ossobucco ragu sauce. Soooo good.

My daughter turned 21 while she was here, so it was fun to sit and have wine with her at dinner. And then lemoncello afterwards.

About to head out for some coffee and a pastry. The AirBnb host told us that the place on the corner has been there for over 100 years, and it amazing so that's good enough for us. And then to here: Mercato Centrale Firenze to get some groceries for our place (its about a block away).

This afternoon we are doing the Duomo tour, and then another dinner out with my daughter.

[Square Rob]

Jealous! Have a great trip.

[pruitt2]

Incredibly jealous.

Try the wine.

[P.D.X.]

Italy has a drinking age?

[Nonlinear FC]

Heading to Savanah for a couple of nights this weekend, then off to Tybee Island.

As always, I'm open to any suggestions from my Swamp Bros.

Huh. I don't like that I typed Swamp Bros, but I'm going to annoy the rest of you with it so I'm not alone.

[The Sybian]

Heading to Savanah for a couple of nights this weekend, then off to Tybee Island.

As always, I'm open to any suggestions from my Swamp Bros.

Huh. I don't like that I typed Swamp Bros, but I'm going to annoy the rest of you with it so I'm not alone.

Can we convene an emergency quorum of the Swamp Elders to consider banishment for using the term Swamp Bros?

[Nonlinear FC]

* Checks join date*

Hey, I'm old, too!

Bro.

[sancarlos]

Death by Ooga Booga?

[DaveInSeattle]

So....Italy. Got back yesterday afternoon. Not much wrong with spending 11 days in Tuscany.

Highlights:

• So much damn good food. Fresh handmade pasta at almost every dinner. 'Walking' gelatos while returning to the AirBnb at night. And an absolute bananas 'last night in town' meal of Bistecca Florentine.

• The tradition of the late afternoon/early evening 'apertivo' of salumi and an Aperol Spritz while sitting outside is fantastic

• Easter Weekend, especially Easter Monday, is a crazy busy time. Lots of Italian tourists in the smaller Tuscan hill town. We stopped in Volterra on the drive between Montepulciano and Lucca and it was really busy (but still awesome)

• Driving the little Lancia hybrid on the twisty Chianti roads was bananas, especially with motorcyclists passing within about 4 inches on blind curves

• Damn, there's a lot of churches in Italy

The itinery:
4 days in Florence
3 days in Sienna
1 day in Montepulciano
2 days in Lucca

Lucca was probably my favorite. Very relaxed (probably helped by being after the Easter holiday), and much less crowded. Fun town just to wander through the medieval streets, and to rent bikes to ride on the path built on top of the old city walls.

Couple of best things we did:

- We did an e-bike ride out of Siena that took us into the countryside and to an awesome little winery, where we got a tour, tasted wine, and had charcuterie. http://www.sienabiketour.com/
- In Lucca, we did a cooking class with a Chef who took us shopping for ingredients, and then back to his house (an apartment in a 17th century palazzo) to cook a 4 course lunch, complete with wine pairing. Amazing. His website is https://www.extravirginlucca.com/, and a nice writeup of the experience is here: A day with an Italian chef in a 17th-century palace [Lucca].

All in all, an absolutely amazing trip, and a great vacation. We are already planning on returning when my younger daughter does her semester at Gonzaga-Florence in a couple of years. When we return we are definitely going to try and learn some Italian. We didn't have any trouble with most everyone speaking English, but it would be nice to not be such stupid American tourists.

Covid stuff:
For the most part, Italy is still very serious about the covid restrictions. Everyone was wearing masks indoors, and on the flight back yesterday the airport and the flight were both 100% masked. CDG in Paris was not at all as masked (probably about 40%), but our flight from CDG to SEA was about 80% masked.

We had to get a negative PCR test to come back, but it was super easy to pop in to a Farmacia in Lucca on Wednesday morning and get a test, with results in about 20 minutes.

[Giff]

Enjoyed the pics man!

[DaveInSeattle]

Enjoyed the pics man!

Thanks! The GF (and daughter) were much better than I was about taking/posting pictures.

[rass]

That sounds great DiS

[Nonlinear FC]

Even though Savannah is my mom's childhood home, I really hadn't ever spent a substantial amount of time there. A LOT more time in their sister city, Charleston.

Boy, what a great place! If anyone ever plans on heading down that way, I've got some pretty solid reps. We ate our way through there from Friday-Sunday.

We then headed out to Tybee Island, which is only about 25 minutes away. Another great find!

I'm not going to write it all up, as it's a bit of a waste if folks aren't planning a visit. But we stayed on the South End of the island and (in theory) didn't really need to use our car. Lots of bars and restaurants, and an IGA (Krogers) with enough staples to get you by.

And with the new normal, yes I have to work tomorrow, no, I don't have to schlep into HQ until Tuesday.

[HaulCitgo]

You are correct. Great times can easily be had in Savannah. Tybee less so but beach so still a great time.

Oh and please don't ever compare Kroger's to IGA.

[rass]

I’ve taken multiple day trips to Savannah over the years when we’ve stayed on HHI and always have a great time.

[Nonlinear FC]

I’ve taken multiple day trips to Savannah over the years when we’ve stayed on HHI and always have a great time.

You can see HH from the northern point of Tybee.

[Nonlinear FC]

You are correct. Great times can easily be had in Savannah. Tybee less so but beach so still a great time.

Oh and please don't ever compare Kroger's to IGA.

Curious... Are you ranking Tybee against other GA beaches? I've been to a lot of beaches on the EC and haven't found many with the number of quality dining choices right off the beach as Tybee.

[HaulCitgo]

Against everything within driving distance from Atlanta. So maybe obx to Daytona to St Pete and Pensacola/Alabama.

Florida beaches are all way better in terms of beach and most towns. Probably not Jacksonville. I've enjoyed panama city way more in terms of town and the nicer destinish areas west to Pensacola. Had fun there too. Partial to Morehead city area and tourist NC areas south to Wilmington as home beaches. Probably not Wilmington though. I'd also sooner myrtle and Hilton head and certainly folly and other Charleston area but also the other Georgia sea islands. Perfectly good time just dirtyish and georgiafied.

[Nonlinear FC]

Yeah, different strokes I guess. We really enjoyed our stay in Destin, but in general, I like to drive to our beach vacation so FL is mostly a no-go. (And I've been to JAX many times due to BIL living down there and I REALLY don't like that city or the St. Augustine beaches.)

I've been to a bunch of beaches from NJ (Avalon, Stone Harbor) on down to Tybee. We are looking for beaches (and corresponding towns) that aren't incredibly crowded which rules out everything until you get to central NC.

Almost goes without saying, but Lewes, Rehobeth, Bethany, Dewey and Ocean City are my "local" beaches. They are gnarly. Super crowded (not Lewes, to be fair) and very expensive. We only go there for quick hitter trips or when invited down by our rich friends to their (parents) beach houses.

Not a fan of Va Beach - too crowded and kind of grimy sister beach to OC. Just not our scene.

OBX is OK, but 1) shitshow in season and 2) might just be bad luck, but I've been down there a half dozen times and we've only had good, non-windy weather once. I get that these are barrier islands, but I'm really not down with constant wind kicking up sand almost all day. There's a reason just about every house down there has a pool (exaggeration). I don't go to the beach to hang out at a pool.

We have enjoyed our trips to the Wilmington area beaches (Topsail, Wrightsville, Carolina). I think because they're spread out along the coast, but have the sound behind them, it somewhat limits the overall population. (Carolina is a little run-down at this point.) Wilmington itself is quiant little city with decent food options, but that's definitely a bad weather option, as it's a bit of drive from most beach spots.

We loved our (many) trips to Pawley's, but Myrtle Beach is an absolute shit show in terms of traffic and overall congestion (that was our destination for over 10 years, I know the area pretty well.) We REALLY like the Charleston beaches (Isle of Palms, Sullivan and Folly). Again, they are set up geographically to limit the number of people, but you have great restaurants and Charleston is really close, especially from IoP and Sullivans.

I've only been to HH once for spring break. I really didn't enjoy it -- might've been short-staffed due to the timing, but it was just really annoying trying to find non-shitshow food service and in general, getting around was very annoying with traffic. I really don't know what an in-season experience would look like. To

I'm intrigued by Sea Island and St. Simons... Just looking at geography and Sea Island looks set up to be pretty sparsely populated, but it also looks like restaurants and shopping aren't all that convenient.

ETA - I've been to Daytona 3 times as a kid (granma took me) and while I liked it at the time, I know for sure it's not what we're looking for, per the criteria listed above.

[elflaco2]

the boy is going to a track camp at Duke on Jul 10th -- about an 8 hour drive from cnj --
we want to drop him off and then go vacay for a few days.. myrtle is 3hrs south, an option but being were going to have to pick him up and bring him back, rather not throw a 6+ hr rt in the mix on top of it all- would consider lakeside cabins .. any recos? don't really know anything about the immediate area around durham (or nc for that matter)

[Nonlinear FC]

That's a straight shot down I40 to Wilmington... Very easy 2.5 drive (at most) that I've done a couple of times over the years. See my post above... Wilmington and its beaches are pretty nice. Wrightsville is the beach for UNC-Wilmington kids, so it has a bit more of a bar/restaurant scene than Topsail and Carolina. (The kids, obviously, won't be there for the most part... but the town/beach is set up for them while they are around.)

Topsail is probably the most chill and has nice accommodations than Carolina or Wrightsville, but it's a bit of haul to get into the city or to grab dinner. Same thing with Surf City and North Topsail.

[Square Rob]

Against everything within driving distance from Atlanta. So maybe obx to Daytona to St Pete and Pensacola/Alabama.

Florida beaches are all way better in terms of beach and most towns. Probably not Jacksonville. I've enjoyed panama city way more in terms of town and the nicer destinish areas west to Pensacola. Had fun there too. Partial to Morehead city area and tourist NC areas south to Wilmington as home beaches. Probably not Wilmington though. I'd also sooner myrtle and Hilton head and certainly folly and other Charleston area but also the other Georgia sea islands. Perfectly good time just dirtyish and georgiafied.

Pensacola is by far my favorite of the panhandle beaches. I guess Gulf Shores/Orange Beach second. We’ve had good time in Panama City, but to get to best beach requires a boat (shell island).

The public beach in Pensacola is wild, so we stay away from there. But there is a nice Springhill Suites we stay at if we can’t get a nice condo. The Beach Club is where we will buy a condo one day.

[HaulCitgo]

Nonlinear about right. Straight shot to Wilmington. Beach options there and both north and south 30 mins.

As for lakes I heard people talk about Jordan lake in the immediate area but I never made it. There's a much larger kerr lake(?) about 45 mins north of Durham on the Virginia/NC border. Not much there but I've done Clarksville a couple times.