Kevin's Watch

I'm going on a trip to Florida in a couple of weeks for a vacation involving golf and fishing, so I think it's a good time, for me at least, to ask the question - When you get away, where do you like to get away to? And what do you like to do when you get there?

Anywhere where there is beach and ocean. We relax - no schedule, no planning - we just wing it from day to day. We`re actually having a few days break over the Easter long weekend. Very much needed as my hubbie is starting to look like . And I am looking like

I tend to plan ahead but they all seem to fly out the window after about the first 5 mins

I actaully find holidays to be tiring....

My wife REALLY likes to plan out every hour of the day, but I like to have no schedule for vacations. Just a few main goals is good enough for me.

But my favorite place in the world is Mystic, Connecticut. Actually, a tiny village a couple miles away called Lord's Point. Chasing crabs through the water, trying to catch them without getting pinched; jumping off the dock at high tide. Mystic is also great though. The acquarium is always a big hit with us and the kids. And there's a shopping village next to it where there's a Scandanavian gift shop, a pewter shop, a Native American shop, candy shops, and other neat stuff.

I love camping. Preferably someplace with lots of pine trees. And mountains! Only been there once, but I'm in love with mountains. Give me a campfire in the woods, and a tent, and someone playing guitar (I can't) and it doesn't get any better. DFW is just so bloody flat. And treeless, except for the residential neighborhoods. Blech!!

We rarely go anywhere. I have found that in the past, when we'd vacation, we'd come back tired and broke with nothing to show for it. Sooooo, we buy movies, music, and we bar-b-que a lot. At the end of the summer, we have a lot of movies and music to show for our summer months, and we've had a lot of friends over for bar-b-ques (or we go over there). We have no memories of a vacation to some place, to be sure, but we have ourselves and our friends, and we watch the movies over and over (or play the music again and again). Is that weird?

Not weird at all. My idea of a vacation is to live in my tree-house(It has plumbing, for heavens sakes) for about a week. It has a great view, and a fridge. And soon I'll have my laptop, so I can communicate with the lot of you.

It took two months to build. It has thick fluffy carpet and its own vacuum. The carpet is a pain to keep clean though. I keep most of my books up there. I'm glad someone envies it. All the other kids like playing in the rock quarry.

Wow... all mine has is a platform with a wooden guard so I don't fall out and a pulley and a basketball hoop.

For vacation, I'm happy anywhere there's water or snow.

hey cool tree houses!! I live in my tree house!! way up in the tree tops with the noisy possums and chattering birds!!


well seeing that we are a low budget get-away type folk .. we camp .. in the mountains .. visit the snow in winter .. on the cheap and have a ball ..

we miss the beach!!!!! .. we're so far from the beach now it hurts!!

we used to live on the beach in summer .. its the only way to survive the hot australian summers! but now we're inland .. we have to endure without being able to bomb through the clean surf .. and settle for the murky river and lakes here!!

found a great water hole tho' .. so its not all ... sad ..

we trek occassionally into Sydney .. or a major hike to the coast ..

a perfect holiday would be .. azure blue skies .. white sand and pristine water .. a bit of surf .. or in the mountains .. in a cabin .. snow lined tree tops .. amazing views and .. did I mention money??

yeah .. more money than we got now .. so we can really live it up ..

holidays for us .. are few and far between .. I would love to travel .. go overseas maybe .. or travel around oz .. its all good.. or just stay at home .. and enjoy not having to worry about the usual stuff.

yeah .. really like a holiday right now

Florida sounds good .. so you paying Damelon??

I'd love nothing better than to you and yours down to the beach at Siesta Key, Sky. The sun setting on the Gulf there is something to see. But, alas, I work for state government, so I don't have that much disposable income.

I wish we could head down there with you, Damelon. I don't golf and boats make me sick to my stomach, but laying around in the sunshine with a good book would be wonderful!

When we go on vacation we usually go camping either in the western USA in the desert or the Rocky Mountains or in northern Michigan on a beach or in the deep woods. We also occasionally head down to Kentucky or West Virginia and go camping or rent a cabin in the mountains down there. We go hiking, and I take lots of landscape pictures.

Every few years we save up enough money and go to Disneyworld, and that is always a lot of fun!

When we have a bit of extra money saved up we'll hit a big city like Chicago or Toronto and stay in a nice hotel for a long weekend and eat at cool restaurants and maybe see a show...

Duchy wrote:boats make me sick to my stomach

so a kayaking expedition is out of the question? I guess that puts the kybosh on the surf skiing trip I had planned for you duchess when you get yourselves down to Oz! .. and probably even the paddling expedition around Hindmarsh Island .. and that bit of wind-surfing!! or fishing for whiting from the back of the boat LOL ..

well you can throw a rod off the end of the jetty!! dont reckon' you'll catch much whiting but

oh well .. we can throw a rucksack on our backs and landlubbit like we do now camping and hiking are fun ..

but we'll have to factor in a little rock climbing and abseiling just for fun ..

how are you with heights??

Damelon it seems that insufficient funds is a common impediment shared by many of us here at the Watch! What do you do in local government?

I'm OK with small boats like canoes, it's boats out on the ocean or on the Great Lakes if the water is rough that make me sick. Actually, I get sick to my stomach on a lot of amusement park rides and in cars, too. I guess I just have a tendency for it.
I would love to come to Oz someday, but I doubt I'll ever have the money!

I'll keep my fingers and toes crossed just incase .. ofcourse I dont have them infamous phallic shaped toes .. that would probably .. almost certainly .. at some point .. who knows? .. one day .. bound to guarrentee much greater luck!!!

I used to have a tree house but it caught fire - something to do with a dry thatch roof and candles....and we were in it at the time and quite high off the ground as well

I fear I too cannot handle the 7 seas - I turn a lighter shade of green

LOLS hehe .. well all nautical adventures are out for you too then

I must admit I am not partial to really rough seas!! I am partial to a bit of rough surf tho' .. but not body crunching sand scraping life threatening surf .. I'll leave that to those with a serious death wish

so is it just damelon and me up for a nautical adventure??

gosh darn it folks .. there's nowt more serene than being miles out from shore .. in a boat .. with blue blue water all around you .. blue blue skies above .. the sun belting down on your un-sunblocked face and body!! burning to a crisp or at the very least a very radiant shade of rouge ..

I recall going windsurfing in similar conditions and got sooo sunburnt .. I couldnt move!! and I had a flight to catch to New Zealand the very next morning .. and I had to wear clothes to boot!!!! soooo painful when all you want to do is lie in ice water or have tomato smeared all over you .. to cool the still sizzling skin!!

there's nothing like it

you cant beat the outdoors

then hiking - there's the leeches .. but you all know about them

I dont know why they allow lawyers outdoors ~ I really dont lols

Skyweir wrote:so is it just damelon and me up for a nautical adventure??

gosh darn it folks .. there's nowt more serene than being miles out from shore .. in a boat .. with blue blue water all around you .. blue blue skies above

It sounds WONDERFUL!! I've never had the pleasure. Reminds me of those folks who retraced (more or less) the Endeavor's route. They even got stranded with no wind for at least a few days.

Skyweir wrote: .. the sun belting down on your un-sunblocked face and body!! burning to a crisp or at the very least a very radiant shade of rouge ..

I recall going windsurfing in similar conditions and got sooo sunburnt .. I couldnt move!! and I had a flight to catch to New Zealand the very next morning .. and I had to wear clothes to boot!!!! soooo painful when all you want to do is lie in ice water or have tomato smeared all over you .. to cool the still sizzling skin!!

Well, you just lost me! There aren't too many things I enjoy less than a serious sunburn!!

I don't really like rough seas myself, though I never get sea-sick. I think I was 4 when I first went out on Lake Michigan, 7 when I first went out on the ocean. It's never bothered me.

When we go out to fish, we'll go out about 30 miles to where the shrimp boats are. We'll bring out some extra beer, because with the shrimpers, you can trade a case of beer for large bag of shrimp. They get thirsty out there.

Sky, as for my job with the State, my job is to work to attract companies, mostly manufacturers not retailers, to either locate or expand in Illinois. The number of people a company is willing to hire determines, to a large extent, what the State will do incentive wise for a company. There are other parts to my job as well, but that is the most important part. So in essence, my job is to try to "sell" Illinois to business. It's an interesting job because no two projects are the same, and I'm not tied to the office - I'm usually out two or three days a week meeting with someone in my region of the state.