just_like_dtel Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 Anyone got travel plans coming up? Summer is approaching, just wondering where the "hot vacation spots" are this year! Perhaps someone in the Dtel clan (besides me) can inform us of their quickly approaching travels????? I'm not telling but I will tell you that my six year old is completely excited to be going with her Maw Maw and Paw Paw!!!!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuzzzer Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 Vacationing in Wisconsin for a week in June. Great fishing lake and as long as the weather is decent it should be a lot of fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CECAA850 Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 Florida in July!! New Smyrna Beach, just south of Daytona. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.4knee Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 Just got back from Kauai about a month ago, other than that nuttin is in the works until the end of Sept, then maybe off to Washington for AWMA nationals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted April 23, 2008 Moderators Share Posted April 23, 2008 I'm glad Allie is coming with us she will have fun, but Riley I couldn't handle, too little and too fast. Maw Maw Christy says: "Buddy and Allie are going to have a great time, especially snorkeling. Buddy is really excited about teaching Allie to snorkel. They can't wait to go to Jamaica!!!! mon!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesV Posted April 24, 2008 Share Posted April 24, 2008 Going to NYC in June for the weekend to see the Mets play, the last year for Shea. Second time to NYC in as many years. James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted April 24, 2008 Share Posted April 24, 2008 We (Verna, Ms Rose and I) are spending a week this summer at a cottage we've rented off-and-on since the late 1970's in northern-lower Michigan called Houghton Lake. It's only about a 2-1/2 to 3 hour drive from our house. It's the largest inland lake in Michigan, but of course, no match for the great lakes. We started going there when our kids were little. Now our son brings his wife and their kids and rents the cottage next to us and our daughter comes up and stays in our cottage usually over a week end. The cottage is near the water and it resembles a little 2-bedroom log cabin. The interior is all logs and chinking of course on the outer walls and knotty pine everywhere else. There are plenty of windows to catch that wonderfully, pine-scented breeze. It has a living room/dining area, a full kitchen and a bath with a stall shower; all the comforts of home! There are 9 cottages in all of various sizes and the resort-owner has a bonfire for guests every night on the beach. The fishing has always been good (walleye, perch, bass, pike, crappie, sunfish and bluegill) and we're on the north shore so our beach gets sun nearly all day long. There's also high-water quality, trout fishing for browns and other trout in the nearby Cut River which connects Houghton Lake to neighboring Higgins Lake just to the north. Kodak Corporation has placed (Higgins) the deep, spring-fed, clear lake on it's top 10 list of the most beautiful lakes in the world many times because of Higgin's turquiose-colored water, which resembles that of Lake Tahoe in Nevada and California. Divers love it. In comparison, Houghton is a shallow lake with an average depth of only 7 feet, but it's great for families with kids and although all sorts of boats abound, pontoon boats are extremely popular around the lake because of how gradual the water deepens from shore. We'd love to own a place of our own up there, but then we'd have to worry about it when were aren't there for most of the year. Renting has worked best for us all of these years. My parents began taking me for week-long stays at Houghton Lake when I was just a boy back in 1961. We can't wait to go again! -Glenn Grandson Andrew on the beach at Houghton Lake about 3 years ago: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arky Posted April 24, 2008 Share Posted April 24, 2008 Have fun dtel. I'm broke after Vegas last month. The golf courses we play are $400 a pop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted April 24, 2008 Moderators Share Posted April 24, 2008 Arky, at that price they must really nice golf courses ! I only played once and the way I played I would need to stick to the cheap course to pay for all the balls I would loose. Picky that looks like a big lake, I love log cabins, we try to rent them when we go to the mountains if we plan ahead enough. So it's been at least 4 generations for your family going to that lake, probably won't stop there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arky Posted April 24, 2008 Share Posted April 24, 2008 Arky, at that price they must really nice golf courses They are but I included $50 for the beer girl. They're usually hotties. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimer Posted April 24, 2008 Share Posted April 24, 2008 Ok arky I'll spend $50 on the beer girl and skip the golf. Much like basketball, God hates golf.[] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted April 24, 2008 Moderators Share Posted April 24, 2008 Arky, at that price they must really nice golf courses They are but I included $50 for the beer girl. They're usually hotties. Well of course, that would be listed as a requirement not a luxury. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted April 24, 2008 Share Posted April 24, 2008 Vacationing in Wisconsin for a week in June. Great fishing lake and as long as the weather is decent it should be a lot of funThere's not enough good lakes in Minnesota? Hmmmm...[*-)] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLSamuel Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 ... We (Verna, Ms Rose and I) are spending a week this summer at a cottage we've rented off-and-on since the late 1970's in northern-lower Michigan called Houghton Lake. It's only about a 2-1/2 to 3 hour drive from our house. ... The cottage is near the water and it resembles a little 2-bedroom log cabin. ... plenty of windows to catch that wonderfully, pine-scented breeze. ... bonfire for guests every night on the beach. The fishing has always been good ... and we're on the north shore so our beach gets sun nearly all day long. ... trout in the nearby Cut River which connects Houghton Lake to neighboring Higgins Lake just to the north. ... the deep, spring-fed, clear lake ... turquiose-colored water ... We can't wait to go again! ... Dang Glenn, that sounds wonderful... and all the amenities from home is the least appealing (does this mean I'm getting old?). Besides the boating and stuff the kids might like they'd be happy if all the ammenities of home included hi speed internet. So is the real reason you haven't bought a place is that you're afraid you might not make it back to the real world? Other than to pack up the things you'd miss too much. Or is it far enough further north to make the Detroit winters seem rather balmy be comparison? So is northern-lower Michigan considered up north? We lived in the Detroit area for about 18 months when we were first married and nobody could really tell us where up north begins. My guess was somewhere north of Flint. (felt like Detroit without the amenities the couple of times I went there for meetings). A lot of nice communities in the Detroit area and in Detroit but my brief exposures to Flint was not the good parts. Did meet someone who worked in Flint and he said the outlying communities were pretty nice but didn't say much nice about Flint. Got lost around Hamtramck once tyring to find Oazas bakery to get my father in law some dark pumpernickel bread, Kowalski kielbasa (excellent) and kiszka (is this fit to eat). The kielbasa is very good stuff. I turned really green when my wife's family made me try some kiszka... my family did get even, a little anyway, when they made her try the lutfisk (is that Swedish for rotting fish found on beach?). The cool thing about Meijer expanding to Indiana is the local Meijer almost always has Kowalski kielbasa available in the deli but you've got to ask for it. I think they usually have had kiszka too. My wife and younger daughter love it though it turns our oldest daugher's and my stomach. Our youngest daughter's even taken it to school in her lunch. I think she enjoyed grossing out her friends. [+o(] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLSamuel Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 Vacationing in Wisconsin for a week in June. Great fishing lake and as long as the weather is decent it should be a lot of fun There's not enough good lakes in Minnesota? Hmmmm... So wuzzer, you going to northern Wisconsin away from all the FIBS that overrun the overly touristy Dells area? (PM if ya can't figure out FIBS). With all due respect, the Wisconsin cheeseheads, meant in a nice way of course, ask for it. I kid you not, when we lived in the Chicago area, the Wisconsin tourism board or something like that frequently ran adds touting Wisconsin as Chicago's playground... come play in Wisconsin My aunt and uncle lived in northern Wisconsin near Solon Springs about 50 miles south of lake Superior... there's some beautiful unspoiled country up there... unfortunately only got my girls there once before my aunt and uncle were ran over by a semi and taken from us but am thankful we at least got there as a family as I don't think I'd been able to get there since after my senior year in high school shortly before my mother passed away Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLSamuel Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 My wife's aunt and uncle has invited us to spend a week with them again somewhere in North Carolina in a large house on a beach. One of those huge places built to rent to tourists for obscene weekly rates, naturally several times as much during peak vacation season compared to the off season rates. Last year was at Kill Devil Hills, the home of the Wright Brothers' National Monument which is a fascinating place to visit and I hope to go again. Recall that the Wright Brother's first flight was near Kitty Hawk North Carolina. It was at Kill Devil Hills though there was no town then. Just good conditions. All kinds of cool things. A replica of the 1st plane. Markers and a track where they're pretty sure the 1st flight took place.... I think they originally started this within 25 years of the first flight. And a life sized sculpture of the first flight including the guy who took a picture of the 1st flight. Image what he and the other locals who came to help when requested, I think signaled by lantern was thinking .... '.... did I really see what I think I just saw?... ' and they didn't know the flight had been captured I think until they returned to Dayton and developed the plate? Was that even before film. Not sure that gentleman had ever taken a picture before. Very cool stuff. This'll be the 4th year they've done this. We missed year 2 around the 4th of July as I had to work and my wife and daughters wouldn't go without me (yes, I shouldn't complain too much) . Our oldest daughter may be going on a mission trip to Philadelphia that week but I think it's the week before so there might still be a chance that will work out. She was hoping to go on a mission trip to Jamaica also sometime in July as well but just doesn't have the required funding especially with college starting in the fall though there might be hope with that economic stimulus check that's to arrive in May... probably need that for her Mac laptop that's required in her major ... or any numer of other things. Probably need to get her passport processed in case we able to get the funding as i'd be a shame if she couldn't go because her paperwork wasn't ready. So a week on the beach on someone else's dime. ( I feel like such a freeloader but uncle Paul is usually very emphatic about getting the check, asks for it early and discreetly and the wait staff can probably easily tell that he can probably afford a better tip then the rest of us). Can't say no to an offer like that. They were genuinely disappointed 2 years ago when we couldn't make it though I feel guilty my wife and girls wouldn't go. I think the pool is bigger at the house they've rented this year. I hope the stereo functions better but I don't miss music too much when I can be a beach bum. The $&*# outdoor speakers were either blown or the the volume control / amplifier pad had severe issues. Huge houses like these just scream for some big Klipsch. Would be a great marketing position. These homes rent for a few thou a week so people renting them could afford some large Heritage or Reference models if they really wanted them. Hmmmm.... anybody need a pair of Heresies transported to or from NC sometime in July? (heehee) But if our oldest daughter can't go maybe we'd take our Sebring convertible. It's a 97 but gets at least in the mid to high 20's and maybe even around 30 mpg on the highway. Back seats kind of small even for 1. But it would be nice to have at the beach house. Had to replace the top this spring and I'd like to enjoy it a bit before we sell it or our dauthers 94 Saturn or both and get our daughter something in between. Just can't see a college freshman taking a convertible to school in Indiana. The freshman parking lot is so far off campus where she's planning to go (Ball State University, probably best known now days as being Davide Letterman's alma matter - also mine and my wife's, in Muncie Indiana). Did find a stereo store there that had a couple of pairs of Klipsch reference on display and a sub or 2 but were closing them out as they were focusing on car stereo and selling off the home stereo equipment. That said, the Klipsch were what they were playing when I stopped in. I feel kind of spoiled... no money but get to hit the gulf beaches near Venice FL usually around Christmas and Spring Break the last few years when we visit the father out law and North Carolina beach in July 2 of the last 3 years.... there's something that's just so right and relaxing about hanging out at the beach... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldbuckster Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 I Don't need to go anywhere ................. I already live in God's Country ......... The ADIRONDACKS !!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 R I C O L A ! Old Buckster teaching a neighborhood kid the fine art of Adirondack Horn-Blowing! LOL [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 Picky that looks like a big lake, I love log cabins, we try to rent them when we go to the mountains if we plan ahead enough. So it's been at least 4 generations for your family going to that lake, probably won't stop there. dtel: Yeah, that lake is pretty large and the picture is a bit deceiving because the background only shows a nearby shore that reaches out to a small peninsula (point) in the lake. To the extreme right the far eastern shore is visible. From the north shore where we are standing, the opposite shore (south) is about 7 miles across the water at this point. The farthest distance in the lake is from the tiny town of Prudenville in the lower south-east corner to the North Bay in the north-west corner of the lake. Those shores are about 11 miles part. It's about 32 miles to drive around the lake and that takes about an hour. It has 22,000 acres of sandy bottom.HOUGHTON_LAKE.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picky Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 Besides the boating and stuff the kids might like they'd be happy if all the ammenities of home included hi speed internet. So is the real reason you haven't bought a place is that you're afraid you might not make it back to the real world? Other than to pack up the things you'd miss too much. Or is it far enough further north to make the Detroit winters seem rather balmy be comparison? So is northern-lower Michigan considered up north? We lived in the Detroit area for about 18 months when we were first married and nobody could really tell us where up north begins. My guess was somewhere north of Flint. (felt like Detroit without the amenities the couple of times I went there for meetings). A lot of nice communities in the Detroit area and in Detroit but my brief exposures to Flint was not the good parts. Did meet someone who worked in Flint and he said the outlying communities were pretty nice but didn't say much nice about Flint. blsamuel: I should have specified that the cottages have no phone or internet service (a welcome break), just limited cable TV which barely gets watched anyway. My reasons for not buying a place up there are pretty simple: Economics. A nice private spot on the shore up there starts around a quarter of a million dollars and escallates quickly. If you 're lucky, that will get you a one-bedroom shack that needs lots of work on a lot with maybe 20-30 feet of frontage. That's not my idea of paradise; going up there and spending my vacation repairing an old rickety shack on a postage stamp. Also, I still must earn a living and jobs up there are even more scarse than around Detroit and they pay less than half a much and I am too young to retire. Renting works great. Yes, their winters are usually much more severe than what we see around here and it does not get nearly as humid there in the summer as does Detroit's Metropolitan area. I think each family here has formed their own idea of where Up North begins. For me it's north of Flint, Saginaw and Bay City along a east-west line that divides the lower mitten along highway U.S. 10. To me, everything north of US 10 is "Up North". That is also about where the rifle line begins for firearm deer hunting. Below that only pistols and shotguns are allowed for deer. BTW: Next time you are here, try some kielbasa from Dearborn Sausage Co. You can buy that and Kowalski just about anywhere around here now. -Glenn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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