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1, Banff
2. Whistler
3. Monte Carlo
The first two obviously because they are two of the most beautiful places on the planet but also because the range of outdoor activities over four seasons is diverse and exciting. I wouldn't get bored in a playground full of hiking, climbing, golf skiing, snowmobiling, snowshoeing.
Monte Carlo is attractive for the range of cultural activities (F1 race, film festival, boating) and using it as a base to explore the Alps. Besides that the opportunity to put on my tux every night and stroll through the Casino acting like I'm 007 for a couple of hours without actually sitting at a table and losing money is a guilty pleasure.
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But the challenge with Banff is getting away from the kajillion tourists at Lake Louise and Moraine Lake and the other popular more picturesque locations.
The pic I posted is about 4 miles up the mountain from Lake Louise in the Plain of Six Glaciers. I prefer the areas up above the tree line where the tourists don't venture and the scenery is a bit more stark.
I've wanted to take my wife there on an anniversary trip. Amazing place.
IF I had a year to toss - I'd like to live in Firenze and study the Italian language, read, visit as many towns and cities for architecture and art as is possible and drink vino. Resorts bore the shit out of me. Two weeks tops and I'm done.
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Telluride looks cool.
I could work a coffee shop in Zion, and be quite happy.
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Never understood it, never will.
I don't do any serious diving - just 20-30 feet. But it's the closest thing you can get to flying. And most of the time in clear waters of St Thomas, a snorkel is all you need.
Can't get enough of the Caribbean.
Why anyone wants to go to any of those overcrowded tropical areas where you sweat just sitting there has always been a mystery to me. Except if you're a 70 year-old widow, of course. You couldn't pay me to go to any of these places. Telluride, Banff, St. Moritz...now that's taking a proper vacation for a non-geriatric.
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I told my children about renting a VCR machine and "tapes" from the public library, they seemed horrified...
From the local donation/drop off stores (Good Will, St. Vincent DePaul), 5 for a dollar, or something like that. VHS.
They keep trying to give me VHS tapes to watch...God love 'em.
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but that would be my choice as well.
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I lived in a sleeping bag in a room with 3 other med students - we paid 10 bucks a night in rent & we almost didm't need blankets it was so perfect in temperature. The windsurfing in Kailua Bay is considered one of the best spots in the world, but not the best place for a beginner like me to learn. My only complaint with it was that it was always cloudy. But, a 25 minute drive over to Waikiki was all it took to find the sun.
We subsisted on Mai Tai's and the pineapples that came form them as the main part of our diet. The bars didn't close until 3AM, and a couple of hours sleep before going off to be trained by the cream of the Army medical crop. My first day there, I encountered my old RA from ND who was my chief resident. I was doing a radiology rotation, and the teaching went on from 8 until noon and it was fabulous.
We were in the library at about 1 PM studying after our first morning, and he came in and asked me what I was doing there. When I told him, he said,"don't worry, we'll train you to know everything you need to know in the AM, but the beaches are filling up, so you better get going".
We ended up sleeping in the sun until evening, Mai Tai's for dinner, bars until 3AM short nap, off to work - rinse lather repeat.
The most fun time of my single life.
When not on two WESTPAC deployments, spent many relaxing Sundays at Lanikai Beach. Once threw on the flippers and swam out to the islands depicted in the photos. Fancy free and fearless.
The shark attacks there are not well publicized because of the effect it might have on tourism, but big Tiger Sharks are not uncommon.
Not sure if there are many attacks in that bay, but that was gutsy.
There was a great bar restaurant on the Kamehameha on the way up to the North Shore called The Crouching Lion. Have you ever gone in there? They have an incredible drink called a "Spider Lily" - but really strong - designated driver recommended.
I remember one weekend going up to the North Shore and we made friends talking with some local guys who were filming the tourists on the beach. We asked why & he said, "Just watch".
Sure enough a newlywed couple heads down to the surf and of course the girl is in a bikini. The first big wave hits her and off comes the bikini top. In goes the husband to save the day and help her cover up and get out of the water with her dignity, but they turn their back to the ocean. Bam, a big wave crashes down on them and they are both scrambling wobbly to the shore.
The guy says he played the films for fun at the locals bar (to which we were not invited).
He taught us the two rules of the North Shore - never wear a bikini into the water there, and never turn your back on the ocean.
When I lived there, Hanamaua Bay was not known by tourists. There were no lifeguards or public parking or snack shacks. Very dangerous waters, which we respected.
But, we would hike along the perimeter to the toilet bowl. That was dangerous, but wild. See attached link.
Before the built the H3, it was just the Pali and Likelike highways connecting the two sides of the island. We used to hide up the stairway to heaven to the top of the island. Pretty cool views.
Spent almost every weekend morning at Pyramid Rock, which was on base. Took me 3 months to learn how to paddle out past the breaks to the lineup. Sometimes when I got flushed by a big wave, I would sit out there for an hour trying to muster the courage to ride a wave home.
Great times. We did our drinking at happy hour, and I was usually conked out by 9:30 PM, but up at 6:00 AM on Saturday and Sunday mornings to boogie board.
About once per month, would go to Waikiki. Hung out at an Australian bar. Rose 'n Crown???
It was a terrific part of my life.
Link: Toilet Bowl
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......Hawaii is to the Caribbean what the Caribbean is to Toledo.
I always remember what a colleague from those days told me over a beer once.
We were talking about several beautiful beaches we had seen during my 1st deployment throughout Asia and Africa. He was older, had traveled a ton after college and before the Marines and had been on a previous deployment that went to Australia. When I asked him where is the most beautiful place he had ever seen, he answered "Hawaii" and added something along the lines of " . . . . everyone assumes that there are exotic and magical spots in the orient and throughout the world. There are. But, I have seen 'em all . . . . Europe, the Caribbean, all over the Pacific and Asia, Africa, Australia, and hands down, . . . . nothing beats Hawaii for beauty."
I took my family back there in 2000 and again in 2005. Oahu had changed -- more developed and modernized and regulated. When I was stationed there, the base and much of the island still had that WW II "From Here To Eternity" feel to it. Local polynesian people lived in tents along the road that headed up to the north shore. It all seemed natural and wasn't an eyesore. Haleiwa was a small fishing village where the surfers hung out, minus the press and tourism. Honolulu was still very historic in many regards. Waikiki was simpler.
All that was gone by 2000, but many of Oahu's best kept secrets were still there.
For travel nowadays, the Big Island (especially Kona area) is much better than Maui -- never been much of a fan. Love all the different looks of The Big Island.
If we ever meet at a tailgate, I will confess some of my sinful tales from those fun filled years. I was blessed with a very forgiving guardian angel who truly "had my back."
time or two as well.
It is sad what happened to Oahu, and it seems to be happening to Maui.
I couldn't agree more about The Big Island. We stayed north of Kona. When we first flew in to Kona, i wonfered if I had made a big mistake because it looked like we were landing on the moon.
But the resort north of Kona was spectacular. The Island has so many different environments!!!
A 10 minute drive up the mountian, and you come to a town that looks like it might be in the midwest.
You drive to the eastern side, and the lava tubes look like Maui's Road to hana stops. And Hilo was just restful and beautiful and low key. The Black sands. Heck, there's even snow on Mona Loa and Mona Kea!!!
Since I keep getting suprised, I hope to explore Kauai and maybe even Molokei now that it is open. but those days on Oahu were special for me too. I thought that you were younger, but it sounds like we might have been around the same time at ND....what yr did you graduate?
We stayed there on both trips.
What's not to like?
Had same feeling landing at Kona Airport.
First trip to Big Island was in 1984. We flew military aircraft from Oahu to Hilo and then took trucks up to PTA -- the military training area below Mauna Kea, along Saddle Road.
It was the moon. Hot like a desert on the day, very cold at night. Because there was no property or people, there were no live fire restrictions. It was the annual "big shoot out" and we fired everything, including artillery, and attack jets dropping live ordinance. Night exercises were the best, with tracer rounds bouncing off the "lava dogs."
After 5-6 days, they trucked us west to Kona, where we took Navy ships back to Oahu. But, it was the fascinating drive from the top of the Big Island, thru the Parker Ranch, and then down the lower elevations that wowed me, big time. Just as you describe in your post.
Everyone had the same reaction. Could not fathom how much of it looked like the Midwest or Pennsylvania or almost anywhere on the continent.
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