posted by SportsAndLady

The entire state of california is a shithole. Worst state in the US easily. 

You are forgetting Florida.

Personally I'm a big fan of California succeeding from the union and becoming our own state. About time rest of the ungrateful southern states stop leeching off our tax money.

posted by Commander of Awesome

You are forgetting Florida.

Personally I'm a big fan of California succeeding from the union and becoming our own state. About time rest of the ungrateful southern states stop leeching off our tax money.

Secession is racist.

Florida is up there but Cali is the worst. 

Cali

florida 

Missouri 

Indiana 

New Jersey 

Airports are horrible places. I dont know how ppl who travel weekly do it.

posted by justincredible

Secession is racist.

yes, but is succession?

posted by Commander of Awesome

Supposed to fly into Newark today for work, didn't want to get in late so schedule and early flight (9 am local time). Flight is canceled due to weather and I'm now on a flight to JFK at 2 PM QQ. yeah, JF fucking K, the airport I was trying to avoid as I'm staying in fucking New Jersey for the night. No flights to newark today from my airlines, but JFK is fine? Makes no sense. /QQ story.

Newark has been having a lot of issues canceling flights the last two weeks.  I had several friends who were flying out of Newark after my wedding a couple weeks ago and their flights got cancelled.  They said because of "weather," but it was perfectly clear.

posted by SportsAndLady

The entire state of california is a shithole. Worst state in the US easily. 

When I was younger I used to want to live in LA, but I have 0 desire to ever live there now.  Crazy how having a career and paying taxes changes your entire outlook.  It's not secret why California and Illinois are amongst the top 5 when it comes to the rate of people moving out. 

posted by Commander of Awesome

You are forgetting Florida.

Personally I'm a big fan of California succeeding from the union and becoming our own state. About time rest of the ungrateful southern states stop leeching off our tax money.

I am a big fan of it too.  If it is on the ballot, please vote multiple times for it if you can.   

posted by Commander of Awesome

Airports are horrible places. I dont know how ppl who travel weekly do it.

I think this might be why you thought I don't like flying.  The whole dealing with airport bullshit can be a pain in the ass.  I still would take flying over driving any day of the week.

Does work make you travel a decent amount?  If so, i would either ask them to get you a priority pass membership, or get a credit card with the priority pass as a benefit.   Those lounges are very nice to stay in.

posted by justincredible

Need to get serious about planning my Boundary Waters trip as it's coming up in just over a month and I've done zero planning so far. I usually buy my permit and reserve my canoe in early June but keep putting it off this year.

If my buddy who lives in Chicago will be around that weekend, I'll be spending Friday and Saturday night in Chicago and heading to Ely, MN first thing on Sunday morning. If he won't be around, I'm thinking of driving to Eau Claire, WI on Saturday doing a Sunday morning tee-time before heading to Ely. It's on the way, only about 4 hours away from Ely, and this course looks nice: http://www.wildridgegolf.com/wild-ridge/

I could also drive to Madison on Saturday and do something in the evening, but I probably wouldn't be able to golf on Sunday as I'd be 3 hours farther away from my destination.

This fell together rather quickly. Booked my entry permit last night, secure my canoe rental today, as well as purchased the I-Pass that should get here well before the trip starts. Looking forward to relaxing for 5 days in the wilderness one month from today.

"succeeding from the union"

rich

My daughter was on business in SF last week and liked it. Said it did have a stench of weed and piss in some places, though, but not as bad as NYC, which she says is hot trash. 

I flew into Newark today and here were no issues?!? Weather has been gorgeous all damn day lol. 

As for airports, I have ones I’ll try to avoid, but I know so many of them like the back of my hand I don’t really have problems with them. Flying itself is pretty calming for me. 

posted by Commander of Awesome

Work in SF on the daily, and can confirm. It seems awful and human feces around the city is becoming a WORSE problem. https://www.dailywire.com/news/32668/20-pounds-human-feces-left-san-francisco-sidewalk-paul-bois

Oakland is much nicer, but homeless and mental health is a massive crisis in SF.

Last time (admittedly, nine years ago), I was down in Silicon Valley, and that was nice.  It was clean.  The streets didn't smell like unwashed pets and ass.  I had no idea the whole city wasn't that way.  I sincerely hope to never go back (though, on that note, I start a job for a company in Santa Clara on Wednesday, and I'll be out there regularly, so who knows?).

posted by vball10set

good lord--so much for my wife and I taking a trip there--ughhh!

Yeahhhhh, I wouldn't go there for pleasure.  It's not a pleasurable place unless you can get your jollies to the smell of stale urine.

posted by Commander of Awesome

Yeah I always tell ppl, SF is alright. Parts of it are cool and the trains are cute I guess. Outside of that, the embarcadero is a tourist trap, it's VERY expensive, walking over the GG is not a pleasant exp (it's always cold and windy AF, plus 85% of the time there is t h i c c fog so visibility is near zero [lol]). However, Marin/Muir Woods/Half Moon Bay, Carmel, Napa/Sonoma, & Santa Cruz are amazing. Go there instead.

The fog blows me away.  I'd forgotten about that, but MAN, it's intense.  Felt like I was in Stephen King's The Mist.

posted by justincredible

This could go in the restaurant thread, but I'll post here since we're talking about SF. Ever been to House of Nanking? I went based off of feedback from a co-worker (it's been 6 years since we've been there) and it was great. We walked in and the tiny old Asian lady gruffly pointed to a table and said "You sit there." Food was very good.

I went there last time.  For the life of me, I couldn't remember the name, but yeah, the food was solid.

posted by SportsAndLady

The entire state of california is a shithole. Worst state in the US easily. 

La Jolla is fucking heaven on earth.  You shut your whore mouth.

posted by SportsAndLady

Cali

posted by BRF

My daughter was on business in SF last week and liked it. Said it did have a stench of weed and piss in some places, though, but not as bad as NYC, which she says is hot trash. 

See?  I don't get that from New York, but then, I know Brooklyn and Manhattan are different.  I spent a few days in Manhattan awhile back, and everything outside just smelled like rain (even though it wasn't raining) and car exhaust.

lFinally made it to Hilton Head for a week. Nothing much but haven’t had a real vaca in a year. I’ll take the view. 

posted by iclfan2

lFinally made it to Hilton Head for a week. Nothing much but haven’t had a real vaca in a year. I’ll take the view. 

we love it there, and as a Buckeye fan, you have try this place out!

http://www.hhipizza.com/menu.asp

Back to work today after 11 days off. Fuck.

Barcelona was fun, but Mallorca was amazing. 

In short:

Partied my ass off at DGTL Festival

Got robbed, master pick pocket stole my phone.

Ate like a king. 

Drank gallons of sangria and cava

Drank many many Estrellas

Ate more

Rented a car for two days and explored half of Mallorca. Beautiful island, I will be going back.

Learned how to wakeboard.

The end.

posted by iclfan2

I Finally made it to Hilton Head for a week. Nothing much but haven’t had a real vaca in a year. I’ll take the view. 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/videos/south-carolina-woman-walking-her-dog-killed-in-rare-alligator-attack/vi-BBMdPwE

I start my Minnesota trip on Saturday. Very much looking forward to it.

Don't we have a few Florida members here?

Anyone familiar with this Red Tide happening on the gulf?

I recently booked a house (Siesta Key) and flights to Tampa the last weekend of November, but when reading up I see the Red Tide is actually getting worse. It's not as bad in Siesta, but not ideal. I'm thinking of changing the trip to Clearwater if I can get the deposit back.

Red tide should diminish as water temps dip heading toward winter.

Worst of it ends near southern part of Tampa Bay …….Clearwater should be decent.

https://www.news-press.com/story/news/2018/08/07/red-tide-sanibel-caloosahatchee-river-lake-okeechobee-fort-myers-cape-coral/914744002/

I've read a few articles stating it could last "well into winter."

Sanibel and below seem to be the worst, but I had a friend living in Sarasota who said Siesta has recently been gross. My sister will be 5 months pregnant when we go, so she's been getting worried the more she reads. I'm totally fine with making the switch to Clearwater.

Our February Vegas trip is coming together. We're flying in on a Tuesday, heading to the Grand Canyon for two nights, and then spending three nights at the Flamingo. My galfriends and I are going to the Backstreet Boys show on Friday. 😁

I’ll be doing the Waste Management Open in Scottsdale on Thursday and Friday this year. Then we are driving to Vegas and doing the Super Bowl there before heading home Monday. Pumped.

Got a few questions, also, about Florida. I plan on making a week long trip next year with my dude (he's an avid bass fisher).

1.) Has anybody stayed at or around Lake Okeechobee? If you fished, did you use a guide or just GPS?

2.) What's fun to do other than that? I'm not into fishing and would rather do other things, even if it's just being lazy in the sun while reading. But I'm up for other activities also.

Separately: I also want to make a week long trip to "somewhere" in Europe, mainly Ireland/Scotland. Any recommendations? (we're already planning on hitting up the Jameson brewery).

MIGHT even hit up Sicily at another week or main Italy. Did you use a travel agency or book everything on your own? So, any recommendations on that too would be greatly appreciated!

posted by CenterBHSFan

Separately: I also want to make a week long trip to "somewhere" in Europe, mainly Ireland/Scotland. Any recommendations? (we're already planning on hitting up the Jameson brewery).

MIGHT even hit up Sicily at another week or main Italy. Did you use a travel agency or book everything on your own? So, any recommendations on that too would be greatly appreciated!

I have been to Europe about 4 times with my family, and we have booked it ourselves every time. My Dad loves the Rick Steve's books because he tends to point out the less touristy places. I really enjoyed the week we spent in Scotland. We stayed in Edinburgh but then did 2 tours with Rabbie. One was a day trip to St. Andrews and then the other was a 3 day tour to the Isle of Skye (which is beautiful).  The guided tours fit us because of how spread out things are there.

Italy might be one of my favorite countries and Florence may be my top city so far, so you can't go wrong there, have not been to scicily though. Also really enjoyed Cinque Terre. 

posted by CenterBHSFan

Got a few questions, also, about Florida. I plan on making a week long trip next year with my dude (he's an avid bass fisher).

1.) Has anybody stayed at or around Lake Okeechobee? If you fished, did you use a guide or just GPS?

2.) What's fun to do other than that? I'm not into fishing and would rather do other things, even if it's just being lazy in the sun while reading. But I'm up for other activities also.

Separately: I also want to make a week long trip to "somewhere" in Europe, mainly Ireland/Scotland. Any recommendations? (we're already planning on hitting up the Jameson brewery).

MIGHT even hit up Sicily at another week or main Italy. Did you use a travel agency or book everything on your own? So, any recommendations on that too would be greatly appreciated!

I have zero experience flying with them, but I've seen some crazy cheap flights from Pittsburgh to Dublin via WOW Air.

Stops through Reykjavik, which could be a cool 2 day addition if you can extend the layover. I know you can do that with Icelandic Air, not sure about WOW.

Got back into town from my Minnesota wilderness trip on Friday night around 2am. It was another great trip, but I'm still exhausted from it. I'm very glad tomorrow is a holiday.

Long weekend in Orlando, wedding at Four Seasons Resort (fabulous), stayed at Orlando World Center Marriott (also great).  Recommend Johnnies Hideaway nearby, and The Ravenous Pig in Winter Park.  Wait a few weeks as there may be a short-term gin shortage in Florida.