where have you been

[Don]

My brother goes to Portland, ME, about three times a year for vacation. He swears it's one of the best places in the country to spend a couple lazy summer or fall days.

[NJHalo]

1 hour ago, mrwicked said:

We're members of Essex Yacht Club in Connecticut. If you go there let me know and I can probably get you in for a day of sailing (or just do cocktails and lunch at the club). 

We are members of the Rolling Lakes Yacht Club.  I can talk to Judge Smails about getting you a day pass.

[JAHV76]

1 hour ago, mrwicked said:

We're members of Essex Yacht Club in Connecticut. If you go there let me know and I can probably get you in for a day of sailing (or just do cocktails and lunch at the club). 

Or you could say your a guest of the Underhills and charge your food and drinks on their tab. I'll have a Bloody Mary a steak sandwich and a steak sandwich.

[Tank]

2 hours ago, NJHalo said:

We are members of the Rolling Lakes Yacht Club.  I can talk to Judge Smails about getting you a day pass.

hey buddy, you scratched my boat.

[Homebrewer]

[Stradling]

Leave for Italy tomorrow afternoon, I can not wait. 

[notherhalo]

Spending next week in DC for the first time, any good restaurants or tourist things that should be skipped?

[Blarg]

When we were in DC we decided a good Italian restaurant sounded good for dinner. So I do a quick look on the webs and this place pops up in Foggy Bottom next George Washington university. I phoned in reservations,  "Notti party of 2. Do we get a family discount?" Turned out they just picked the name cause it means white nights. No discount on the meal but they threw in two desserts on the house. 

Nice place, dress well. 

That isn't me in the picture. I dress better. 

There is a nice French restaurant across the street from Ford's theater, next door to where Lincoln passed away. Good food as well and if you are smart take in a show at the theater, it is kind of awe inspiring to sit below the presidents box where a tragic part of history took place. For breakfast you could hit Lincoln's Pancake house. It's a little bit of a rundown dinner (I have a weakness for those)  but what the hell, better than cold cerial and a day old muffin at the Ramada. 

Forget about the Spy Museum except for a point of reference where you are in the city,  everything seems to lead back to it and the subway. 

Don't skip Smithsonian but warning,  you can get lost in the main art gallery where your senses will be over loaded with artwork you only thought were in picture books. You could spend the week there and not canvas the entire collection of exhibits. 

Do a sunset or night tour of the monuments. Somehow they are just a little more awesome then. 

We stayed at a B&B outside of Washington proper in Woodley Park where the subway line was two blocks from this house built in 1850. The cherry blossoms were in bloom making the entire area almost other worldly. Except for the Starbucks on the corner. 

The Capitol mall is just a mall with a lot of chain stores,  boring. Stay the hell away from the north east side of town where BLM but yours doesn't.  

[NJHalo]

[ten ocho recon scout]

On 9/22/2016 at 4:37 PM, mrwicked said:

We're members of Essex Yacht Club in Connecticut. If you go there let me know and I can probably get you in for a day of sailing (or just do cocktails and lunch at the club). 

You rock wicked!

[ten ocho recon scout]

On 9/22/2016 at 6:29 PM, JAHV76 said:

Or you could say your a guest of the Underhills and charge your food and drinks on their tab. I'll have a Bloody Mary a steak sandwich and a steak sandwich.

Mrs stanwick!

[ten ocho recon scout]

On 9/22/2016 at 10:28 PM, notherhalo said:

Spending next week in DC for the first time, any good restaurants or tourist things that should be skipped?

LOVE DC. I'm a history buff, so the monuments and museums are my thing. Can't remember the name, but there's a restaraunt outside of the main area that supposedly George Washington used to eat at, and they keep it looking colonial. That was kind of cool (if you're a nerd like me)

[Blarg]

George Washington's Pancake House? 

[ten ocho recon scout]

12 hours ago, Blarg said:

George Washington's Pancake House? 

I think it's called the "avoid international houses of pancakes"

[mrwicked]

13 hours ago, calscuf said:

We may have been over this before, but has anyone spent time on Catalina?  Is it worth going for a night or two?  

i grew up in OC yet have never been, but want to check it out as well.

is that a day trip or do you stay there? 

i'm also curious what folks have to say about it.

[Tank]

been there a couple of times, staying over once and doing a day trip once. day trip is good if you want to play golf. overnight, well i did that when i was about 7 or 8 and can't recall much about it except it was fun and scary to swim in the water because there was a shark net and i hoped like crazy there wasn't some renegade herd of wild great whites on the other side.

[Homebrewer]

Catalina is pretty damn nice. As a long time boat owner and liveaboard I used to spend lots of time over there. I preferred the quiet of Two Harbors, but there is more to do and see in Avalon.

If you want to have a relaxing and quiet couple days check out the Banning House in Two Harbors. It was owned both by Wrigley and the Banning families. If you decide to go let me know, I'll clue you in on a couple other things.

[Don]

22 hours ago, calscuf said:

We may have been over this before, but has anyone spent time on Catalina?  Is it worth going for a night or two?  

Catalina is solid for a weekend date sort of thing with an SO. Take the boat over, rent a golf cart and drive around (there are some excellent views), check out some shops, grab dinner, and get a couple drinks. It's nothing terribly exciting, but it's pretty and will score you a few relationship points.

[nate]

Even more fun to go on an overnight fishing trip around Catalina.  They take off from Oxnard/Camarillo.  

[gotbeer]

20 hours ago, mrwicked said:

i grew up in OC yet have never been, but want to check it out as well.

is that a day trip or do you stay there? 

i'm also curious what folks have to say about it.

If you are certified, then the nature preserve off of the Casino is great for scuba.  Good for snorkeling also.  There is a minature golf place in Avalon.  Not sure if it's still there, but it was one of the more challenging one's I've ever played.  There are food places, but not much to do at night.  At least that was my impression outside of Avalon.  Not sure how good the tram tours of avalon are.  But they would take you around the island.  Never been to the other town on the island, I think it was called twin harbors or something like that.  And not sure if there are private boats you can charter/rent to see the real beauty of Catalina, their coast all the way around.  The golf course was a 9 holer if I remember right.  Never played it, but looked interesting.

I think it's close to offseason for Catalina.  So you could probably get a good deal on an overnight thing.  Again, I'm pretty sure Avalon closes up at night.  Especially in the offseason.  So if you do overnight.  Get a place with a kitchen.  They have a supermarket on island.  But you may want to take supplies with you from the mainland.  I don't remember how expensive the supermarket was, but it definitely wasn't the same price as the mainland. 

[red321]

I've hiked to the older side of the island, backpacked overnight and stayed at Little Harbor. At least back then (30 some odd years ago) they had buses that would drop you off, and pick you up. (we hiked out and took a bus back). Think we stopped by the Conservancy in the middle of the island. Was a long time ago.

[NJHalo]

On one of my trips to OC, we were staying in Newport Coast. I was standing in line at the Bruegger's Bagels, and the guy in front of me was having a conversation with the guy behind me. He was complaining that his kids are tired of taking the boat over to Catalina, so he was going to take them in the helicopter! 

Talk about stress!

La Bella Vita

[ten ocho recon scout]

1 hour ago, NJHalo said:

On one of my trips to OC, we were staying in Newport Coast. I was standing in line at the Bruegger's Bagels, and the guy in front of me was having a conversation with the guy behind me. He was complaining that his kids are tired of taking the boat over to Catalina, so he was going to take them in the helicopter! 

Talk about stress!

La Bella Vita

Hopefully his helicopter got eaten by a shark, like the guy with the Abe Lincoln beard in jaws 2. Almost all the boats lived in that movie...

[Tank]

i'd go just for the fun of the boat ride. don't really care about staying overnight or any of the restaurants.

[Homebrewer]

The museum in the Casino has lots of memorabilia from the days when the Cubs held ST on the island (when it was owned by Wrigley) The Wrigley Mansion is worth seeing and the golf course is kinda cool.

The Bald Eagle breeding program has been a huge success, with many established pairs nesting and breeding on their own now, all over the Channel Islands. The IWS (Institute for Wildlife Studies) has a center near Avalon where you can see one of their Eagles that was injured a few years ago and has been raised there as an ambassador. They give tours to the nesting sites on the island.

Just taking the "bus" up to the airport and over to Two Harbors is well worth the time. The island is really quite wild and rural (buffalo were brought over early in the 1900's for movie props, and a large population remains) They've pretty much culled all the wild goats, but even in my time going over there, there were 100's of them. There are wild boar. 

Two harbors is where I liked to stay...Doug's Harbor Reef (outside bar and inside restaurant) Live music every weekend and a very "Island" atmosphere. There is a store there too, but that's about it. A 1 room schoolhouse is still in use. You can walk "across" the island there (the area is know by locals and regulars as "The Isthmus")

One of the main buildings between the two shores was originally built as a fort and housing for Union soldiers during the Civil War.

I sound like a PR guy ...but I've spent a lot of time over there. One of my favorite places anywhere.