"Vacation! All I ever wanted..." - the Go-Go's

Super fantastic, a new topic to discuss just as I had everything caught up.
1. Midwest Roller Coaster Road Trip
2. Sailing the Bahamas
3. Las Vegas to Los Angeles Adventure
4. Washington, D.C. to New York City (an East Coast bonanza!)
5. Northern Michigan Wilderness Excursion

First and foremost, prior to my explanations, I'm going to continue my spirit up bucking the rules and just kind of going off on my own tangent...I put no time limit on these trips - when I'm done, I'm done...most of them are scheduled out though, from one week (2) to two (5) and anywhere in between, so I'm not drifting off into la-la land quite yet.

Midwest Roller Coaster Road Trip
So we leave on Friday night and drive to Sandusky, OH, we stay in a wonderful little hotel on the other side of the bay and then in the morning, we hit Cedar Point. Now, ideally, I'd be at Cedar Point on a Wednesday, but given this schedule, that'll have to work. So we spend Saturday and Sunday at Cedar Point and Sunday night we hit the road again towards Cleveland and kick it in another hotel. Monday morning we go to Geauga Lake and since there will probably be time, the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame. We stay in Cleveland again and in the morning (Tuesday) we wake up and drive down straight through Cincy to Louisville for a day at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, then we return to Cincinnati for the night. In the morning (Wednesday) we go to King's Island for the day and then we drive off again over to (seriously here) Santa Claus, IN. We stay in the only hotel (thankfully it's bitchin') in town and in the morning (Thursday), Holiday World. Now they only have three coasters (all of them world class though) so not long after we are on the road again to Indiana Beach for the only two coasters there (not quite world class, but pretty damn good). That night, we stay in Monticello but wake up early on Friday and drive to Chicago for a day at Six Flags Great America. That night we eat at Bob Chinn's Crabhouse and on Saturday we hit up the museum of Natural History and the museum of Science and Technology before driving home - but wait, we're not done yet! We still have Sunday before we have to return to work so fuck it, keep driving up the Michigan coast to Holland, spend the night there and in the morning - Michigan's Adventure (again - would prefer a Wednesday for this one as well, but again, that blasted schedule). So there you have it - my Midwest Roller Coaster Road Trip and I don't think I really need to explain why - and if I do, 73 roller coasters. Thank you.

Sailing the Bahamas - the only one of these that I've actually already gotten the opportunity to do and believe me, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Basically, we just rent a sailboat for a week and kind of drift around aimlessly throughout the islands, we can scuba dive, dock and explore on some islands or just chill and play cards, enjoying the cool breeze and gorgeous sun. Bonus - sleeping on the deck is a must, nothing like being woken up every night around 3 by a quick torrential downpour of refreshing rain that ends as soon as you realize exactly what just happened. We only need a week, I'm sure, but honestly I could probably live like that.

Las Vegas to Los Angeles Adventure - this is probably the least planned out trip seeing as we'd fly into Vegas, kick it there for...let's say four days, three nights and on that fourth day we'd drive across the desert to Valencia, just north of LA. The next two days would be spent at Six Flags Magic Mountain (Tuesday and Wednesday if we do it right), then it's into the Valley to see, well - just about everything. Probably spend four more days, three nights there and then fly home. Day trips to Mexico and other local hot spots would be a necessity. If we really do it right, we could make it a full two week thing, planning it around Coachella and spend three days there as well. Man, that does sound like fun.

Washington, D.C. to Maine (an East Coast Bonanza) - this one has a similar theme as the Midwest Roller Coaster Bonanza except the first two days are spent at various Smithsonian's around D.C., then it's up the coast - we'd hit King's Dominion, Busch Gardens Europe, Six Flags Great Adventure, Dorney Park and finally, Coney Island before spending about three days enjoying the Big Apple before we head straight up the coast to Maine and feast on some breathtaking scenery and fresh Maine lobster. On the way home we go through Six Flags Darien Lake and Kennywood to complete the trip (sensing a pattern here with at three of my five trips?)

Northern Michigan Wilderness Excursion - this is exactly what it sounds like, we head up to my family's cabin and relax, however throughout our two weeks away we take short day trips out to Sleeping Bear Dunes, Mackinaw Island, Whitefish Point, Sault St. Marie, Drummond Island, Tahquamenon Falls and other points of interest in the upper peninsula or the northern section of our mitten. Call it pride, call it a waste - this and probably sailing the Bahamas are the only two I can see keeping up pace for the entire vacation - after all, vacations are supposed to be about relaxing, not keeping a breakneck schedule.

Runner up - Atlanta/Myrtle Beach/Orlando - why not? More roller coasters, and bonus - a day trip to New Orleans, anyone?

My next topic - tell a story about yourself that you believe shaped who you are today. Tricky, I know, I have no idea what I'm going to write either. Ta.