What was the best/worst place you ever went on vacation when you were growing up?After you left home? With your own fam? Have you been back since? What made it memorable? Would you recommend it to a classmate? Keep it PG rated.

I was tipped off to this place, by a crusty sea captain,  when I was in the service....stationed in a pleasant backwater in South Carlina.  Hunting Island State Park...on the SC coast.  Secluded and beautiful....like a South Sea Island.....it's truly a "paradise lost".  The terrain is a mixture of Palmetto trees and Slash Pine...a willife preserve,  deer and other creatures abound.  The rustic wood cabins are just a few feet from pristine white beaches yet still tucked into the Palms and Pines.  The atlantic ocean is clean there...no garbage like the gulf coast.  Dolphins cruise by and smile.  I almost went AWOL the first time I stayed there.  It's the kind of place you hate to leave ...and find yourself running away too in your daydreams the rest of your life. Although day visits are an option ...only about a dozen vacation cabins exist there ...so the reservation competiton is fierce.....today nearly impossible to secure unless you are a South Carolina native ...and slip someone a large envelope under the table.

Cuba:

Before the last administration took office eight years ago, we were able to sail to Cuba and spent many wonderful days there with some of the greatest people in one of the most beautiful countries in the Caribbean.  Along the north coast an offshore reef provides a fantastic archipelago of small cays and coastal communities such as Cayo Guillermo and Cayo Coco, and the great bay at Nuevitas where in the town square an interesting plaque commemorates this as the location of the Russian missiles from the 1960’s missile crisis.  Further east towards the Dominican Republic crossing is the isolated Humboldt National Park, a wildlife preserve with beautiful deep inlets.  The Bay of Angels/Golfo de Ana Maria on the south side of the island has some of the clearest waters and radiant fish life available anywhere and fantastic sailing.  Inland the bass fishing in the mountain lakes is unbelievable, and I was always able to hitch hike around the country with no problem just like the old college days here in the U.S. Official resort areas like Varadereo also exist, although the properties are pretty tired and filled up with Canadians and Europeans during the winter months.  Havana with its Spanish colonial buildings is always interesting; however the abject poverty can be overwhelming where girls my daughter's age were trying to sell themselves on the street for $10 which just left a really ugly feeling in your gut. 

 I spent most of my time there with the fishing communities and rural communities, and met some great people, even the poor bureaucrats who were more concerned with the massive paperwork that my foot loose itineraries would create for them rather than any concerns of Yankee spying!.  The one thing I heard most often with the many people I met however was “why don’t you like us?”.  Our job was to convince them that we did.   I met a great gal who I spent a fair bit of time traveling around the country with who first came to our boat in the marina offering to wash it so she could support her family without having to turn to prostitution in the city – and she had a degree from the Havana university in electrical engineering.  Cuba has a free education system through college, a universal health care system, and is a country as big as the State of Florida where I live.

Now that we have a new administration that is open to sharing ideas and communication, hopefully soon the curtain that surrounds Cuba will come down and residents from both sides of the Florida Straits can become friends again.  Even during these past 8 years there has been a daily “charter” flight to Havana from Gate G3 of the Miami airport and many of us can still travel back and forth under “cultural exchanges”, “journalism”, and in my case, “architectural studies”, or go through Nassau or Cozumel to reach Cuba, but with the new change, I hope many more will take the time to visit this beautiful country.  Skip the cities and tourist traps – the Europeans and Asians have built them already – and instead travel around the varied country and meet the people who were unduly isolated over policies not of their making, and understand the wealth of Cuba.  I’m so looking forward to hopping in the Cessna or once again taking the boat across the short distance of the Straits just like we do now to the Bahamas, and sharing again in the culture of a country here long before we were.

 I have many fond memories of parties on the beaches, long games of dominoes or checkers with local fishermen, exploring new bays and inlets, and staying with local families just like I do in traveling Italy or Southern France, and look forward to many more visits.  This country is over 700 miles long from end to end, has everything from flat lowlands to steep hills and inland lakes, and a population with the highest literacy rate in the western hemisphere – far higher than our own.  They may have been impoverished by government policies most of the rural residents don’t comprehend, but their culture and pride in their country shows every day in the outlying communities I travel to.  And I never had to worry about being robbed or who I was thumbing a ride with or sharing a rural bus seat with, only about avoiding cheap rum and getting whipped at checkers!   It’s an experience that should be shared by all, not just everyone but U.S. citizens.  I spent a lot of time in the Caribbean and after some of my favorite islands like Bequia and Dominica, Cuba always draws me back.  It's a wonderful place when you can separate it from the politics.

I couldn't agree about Cuba more

Growing up a favorite place was Garner State Park and the Frio River. The evening dances were a hoot. In H/S I remember going on a trip with Randy Dietz and his Dad somewhere. We stopped for Pomac (a first for me) and I really can't remember much else, other than fighting for "shotgun".

There is too much to tell to get into Port A trips, wouldn't know where to start, or end...

We've (Jeanne and I) never traveled much outside the US and that is something we are hoping to do later in life (it's already late isn't it?)

Jeanne and I took a camping trip throughout New Mexico for our honeymoon in '71. We could only take a week off, so we made a different campsite everynight, sleeping in our tent, haulling our bikes on the back of the Dodge Charger and hiking our butts off. You'll have to ask Jeanne about the latrine I made at one site...Young and adventurous...

Worst vacation idea ever was going to McKinney Falls State Prk O/s Austin when it first opened. We were in Bryan at the time. It rained on our poor tent the whole time until the leaks were so massive we couldn't stay, and packed up all our gear in the rain and left.

Dave...all I can say is Cuba and the Keys sound like paradise.  You've got the world by the tail on a downhill pull.

Thanks Roger.  They're both magical places.  I chose a different life and I've been lucky enough to be able to live it.  I wish I could tell the stories about these places like you do however.  When I read your leads it's like sitting around the campfire listening to a reincarnation of Mark Twain.  I want to meet that "crusty sea captain" from South Carolina and the rest of your characters!  Mac wasn't much to me but a step on where I wanted to be, but I'm hooked now reading these stories and profiles.  My kudos to you, Ken, Barbara and everyone else putting this web page together and contributing to it. 

Thanks Dave...you are too kind.  With my broke down body and addled mind I can't do much else but ramble aimlessly.  I'd much rather be doing the Jimmy Buffet thing out yonder.

I went camping twice at Grand Tetons National Park. If you go horseback riding, you get to see areas you might not ever see, and its fun. I didn't think much of the restaurant at the time. We spent a fortune on trout dinners as we had heard about them, but it didn't taste as good as Texas catfish fried with cornmeal and hush puppies on the side. Can't get that here in Washington.  The only down side to the Tetons is the forest fires. They tend to have a lot of them.  You do have to watch for bears - we set up our tent then asked what the iron cage was for. It was a bear trap as the night before a bear had wandered into camp and destroyed several tents (probably looking for donuts).  Here in WA they bait bear traps with donuts. Works every time. Right now they are following a small black bear, or trying to, as he wanders through areas near downtown Seattle (Queen Ann neighborhood).  If you go thru Bryce Canyon and go on a ride, pick a mule not a horse. The terrain is dangerous and mules are more sure footed on them. If you just stop and don't camp there, you have to be there for a sunrise or sunset. Just sit and watch those formations and how they change as the sunlight changes. Fabulous, especially if you are an old rock hound like me.

My favorite vacations were all at Big Bend National Park. I went on several trips with the Geology Club of Eastfield College (outside of Dallas where I got my Assoc degree). There is so much to see there. Visiting the hot springs at night is a real hoot. When I was there, some Germans showed up nude. Another bunch passed around some extra beers.  Terlingua is a short drive away, but its a ghost town if no chili cookoff going on. There you have to watch out for abandoned mine shafts.