QUESTION
 

1. Los Angeles. I will likely lose all rights to live in the Bay Area, but I LOVE Los Angeles - the beaches, laid back nightlife, great restaurants, and everyone there thinks they're hot shit and their life is a movie... because I love people watching, I consider this the ultimate free entertainment spot. Hopefully my fellow NorCal denizens won't boot me out of the city with recommendation #2:

2. Sonoma/Russian River Valley. Hands down, a fantastic vacation spot, especially in spring or fall. In the summer it's hot and overcrowded (though not nearly as bad as Napa). Great wineries, gorgeous scenery, fabulous hiking or biking. Spas galore if you'd like a massage.

3. Sedona. One of the more breathtaking parts of the country. The Red Rocks are extremely cool, and everyone is pretty chill.

4. Las Vegas. 'Nuff said. [note to self - look into trip... been too long since I've been there]

5. I'd say NY, but that wouldn't help you. So.... Ft. Lauderdale/Miami/South Beach. South Beach is better for a 3 day trip, though as it tends to be sort of exhausting. But if you like eye candy, it's a great place to go. I am more partial to Ft. Lauderdale because it's more sedate and great for just lounging and enjoying a beautiful sunset while sipping a glass of wine or a margarita (at least, that's what I call vacation). If you want more nightlife, head to Miami.

C(there are also good deals to Hawaii now as they're getting hit hard by fewer people traveling due to the war and the economy not recovering quickly enough)deuced

Vacations
 

Some random locales that I've enjoyed:

1. For inviting a bunch of friends and hanging out for a week or so -- rent one of those ramshackle homes on Outer Banks, NC (or, you can go to the other extreme and stay at Pine Island, which is not at all ramshackle). Fill it with friends, cook, read books, play poker, sit on the beach, drink. Repeat.

2. For your preferred mix of skiing/boating/riding/gambling/randomoutdoorsportingtypeactivity, try Lake Tahoe (I enjoyed Incline Village).

3. Charleston, SC. Beach, golf, architecture, and lots of colonial history stuff, if you're in to that.

4. Carmel, CA. If you see Clint, tell him I said hi, and that he still owes me money.

Gattigap

best vacation and worst music
 

Ah, but you weren't in Oregon, you were in the state of Jefferson. For more than 100 years, denizens of southern Oregon and northern (really northern; SF is technically in the middle of the state) California have had a secessionist movement going because they think the lawmakers in Salem and Sacramento (damn environmentalists) just don't understand them and their (logging, ranching, farming, etc.) way of life. Imagine my surprise last summer, driving south on I-5, and somewhere south of Eugene all of the sudden I was listening to Jefferson Public Radio. Native Oregonian, and I did not know this even existed. Amazing.

tm

Kids today.
 

Moving into? Clear Channel bought SFX like 3 years ago. SFX controls a large number of venues and is also big into management. Do you see the monopo...er...synergy?

TM

QUESTION
 

Spent 4 days in The Canyonlands in Arches Nat'l Park. Amazing. I never knew you could actually SEE the band of stars known as the Milky Way...

Kids today.
 

I am assuming this is directed to me. I do not listen to any commercial radio stations. They are all owned by Clear Channel anyway. The only radio station I listen to Radio K (770 am), the U of M radio station. Unlike many college radio stations, it is not stuck in an all indie rock all the time format. During the week, there is a decent variety of music. On the weekends, there are specialty shows, including an excellent hip hop show Saturdays at noon, a good ska show Saturdays at 10:00 a.m., a great world music show on Sunday mornings, and a punk rock show that is on I think at 4:00 Saturdays these days. I say these days because Radio K has a weird problem - due to archaic FCC regulations, it literally can only be on the air during sunlight hour. Thus, in December in Minnesota, it goes off the air sometime between 4 and 4:30. The webcast is 24 hours, though - www.radiok.org. I actually buy new records based on what I have heard on this station which, these days, is shocking. I buy a lot of new music these days based on internet research and the listening booths in the back of the Electric Fetus.

QUESTION
 

1.) Akumal, Yucatan, Mexico. About halfway between Tulum and Playa del Carmen. About 100 km south of Cancun. Discovered it about 20 years ago. Was originally a coconut plantation, and over the years, condos and small hotels were built around it. Too developed for the big hotels and resorts to move in, not developed enough for it to be overrun with tourists. Three small half-moon bays in a row. Southern most is Aventuras, which has a sort of big hotel, and isn't what I'd recommend. Northern most is the Half Moon Bay, and that's where most of the condos are. On the most northern tip of that bay, there is a river that meets the ocean and the formation of an enormous lagoon. It feels like you're swimming in an aquarium. It's a private lagoon that is only available to people who are staying in Akumal, unlike Xel-Ha, which is the more prole lagoon down the road. Finally, there's the bay in the middle. This is the one with the snow white beaches, the blue, blue water that you can see not only your toes, but the dirt in your toenails, and the heavenly, great for hanging out all day, beachside bar that probably hasn't changed in 40 years. There's a coral reef at the mouth at the bay, so the bay is calm, and the snorkling is great. It's a no-frills sort of place. A few restaurants, where your meal was probably caught that morning. Maybe a nightclub. A dive shop. But it's one of my favorite places in the world.

2.) Taos, New Mexico, U.S.A. I have a thing for this town, and if I could figure out how to keep the Displaced Dog in the style to which he has grown accustomed, I'd try to move there. The sky seems to be a different color blue than anywhere else I’ve ever been. Mountains, river, desert. Rafting in the spring and summer. Hiking at all times of the year. Hot air ballooning. Skiing (this year is supposed to be great). Funky in town with lots of interesting characters and people. Good food, fair shopping, and not as done up as Santa Fe. Talking Film Festival is next week.

3.) The Bay Area. More recently my home than a vacation spot, but lordy are there things to do there. The last week that I lived there, I was able to go skiing near Tahoe, spend some time basking in sunlight in the wine country, spend a day at the beach, drive to Yosemite and spend some time in the city. Dramatic natural beauty pretty much everywhere. It was sort of cool that last week to have the actual time to enjoy the place.

4.) Road trip from Houston, Texas to Burlington, Vermont and back. Despite an accident outside of Albany* it was an excellent trip. Started in Houston, drove to Austin, then Nashville, where we spent a few days. Went through eastern Tennessee and ended up on the Blue Ridge Parkway and in a great little National Park Lodge called the Inn at Beaver Creek. Hiked a bit, and then continued up the Shenandoah National Park. Hershey Pennsylvania, then Ithaca, New York for a graduation, then Burlington. It’s a beautiful country that we live in, and it’s very cool to see from the open road.

5.) The great state of Texas.
:D

Vacations
 

Vancouver is a way cool city. Very young and international crowd in the summer, beautiful, and relatively cheap with US dollars.

Lassen National Park has geological features and a (little) mountain to climb, and doesn't get nearly the traffic of, say, Yosemite, or Grand Canyon.

I don't shared C2'ed opinion of LA, but had some good times in San Diego. Nice beaches, fun zoo, like the city park.

What happened?
 

Just for a moment, I thought this was vacation advice.

What happened?
 

It could be. I guess it depends on what you are into.

QUESTION
 

Your avatar's theme of radiation extending out from Texas tends to undermine this message.

Rampant Wild Boar Surprises Couple in Bed
 

Rampant Wild Boar Surprises Couple in Bed
Wed Apr 16,11:30 AM ET

BERLIN (Reuters) - A rampaging wild boar wrecked an elderly German couple's afternoon nap when it broke into their house and leapt into bed with them before biting the man and fleeing, police said on Wednesday.

"The boar expended considerable criminal energy in committing this act," said Ute Bort, spokeswoman for police in Minden-Luebbecke in western Germany.

QUESTION
 

The Department of Homeland Security's precognative powers do not really do much to promote tourism, huh?

Music and vacations
 

Playing catchup here...

It’s hard to fathom that We Built This City came from the same (well, same-ish) group that gave us the number one best drug song ever, White Rabbit. The first record I ever bought was a K-Tel collection called Dynamite. I think it contains my nomination for Worst Song Ever—Seasons in the Sun.

Billy Joel was my very first concert, so he will always have a special place in my heart. Madison Square Garden. Dad drove us and waited outside.

When I was a kid, my parents listened to the 50s oldies station, so I grew up with “Stay” and “Oh Donna” and “Blue Moon.” And the Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel. And show tunes. And we all hated Elvis.

Vacations—TM, you would not enjoy Sedona. Find some place you can drive to and go antiquing and stay in a B&B.

Vacations
 

Okay, my $0.02 on best vacation spots:

1. Vegas. No matter what you're into, be it food, golf, shopping, gambling, partying, live entertainment (wink wink), watersports, sightseeing, whatever, you can do it Vegas. And you just feel free and hedonistic when you step off the airplane. There is no other town like that one. Thankfully.

2. New Orleans. French Quarter. Again, another place to let go and be free. Great food, interesting sights, fun nightlife, DRIVE-THRU daiquiri shops (where they serve them in big plastic cups that have neck straps and straws, because it's such a burden to have to use your hands to drink). Beignets covered with powdered sugar with coffee at Cafe du Monde; Muffaletta sandwiches from Central Grocery (the best damn sandwich in the world); so much more...

3. San Francisco Bay Area. Lots of scenery, food, places to go and things to do. More tame than 1 or 2, but nice with the right travelling companion....

4. Home. Often the nicest vacations I've ever had were the times I told people I was going away, yet we just stayed in town, no obligations, no nothing, and just acted like we were on vacation--splurging on things we normally wouldn't, living the high life, resting, having fun, taking the time to do things we normally don't get the chance to during work. It can be pretty good if you can pull it off.

Best of luck TM, have fun and give reports.

Flinty