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I need a few vacation ideas, post hurricanes.


jame
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Our destination was to be San Juan in February, but now, that's obviously out.  Any other tropical paradise that's not afflicted with hurricane damage is now either fully booked, or price inflated to the point that it's unaffordable for us.

 

So, without boring you with incredible detail, other than the fact that she wants to go somewhere warm, we've become somewhat limited to Phoenix, Miami, or Vegas.  Of those three, where would you go?  And if you wouldn't do those three, but had decided to stay stateside, where would you go?

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Well, all three of those locations can be chilly in Feb. In Vegas, you'd likely be spending more time indoors anyway, so that wouldn't matter as much. There is a lot to do in Vegas, but if you have done Vegas very often, the shine rubs off of the place fairly quickly, for me at least.

I lived in Phoenix for years. It is an ok place I guess, but other than yearly events that take place, I never really thought about it as a tourist destination. There are cool things to do both north and south of Phoenix though. About an hour north of Phoenix is a little town called Campe Verde. It is around 5,000 feet, so it will be colder, but there is a place there called Out of Africa that is a hell of a lot of fun to visit. http://outofafricapark.com/ I really love going there. South of Phoenix, you have Tucson. There, you have Old Tucson, which is kind of an Old West destination. It isn't a theme park. I'm not sure what else to call it. They have filmed dozens of western movies there. They have the Old West main street, with storefronts, saloon, stagecoaches, shoot-outs, etc. It is fun to visit. A few miles from there is the Saguaro Desert Museum. It's a fun place to visit. https://www.desertmuseum.org/ There is the centuries-old San Xavier Del Bac Spanish mission, which is nice to tour. Mt Lemon is on the northern edge of town and it is a fun afternoon to drive up it. Kitt Peak Observatory is just out of town as well and that is a fun place to tour. They have (Or had when I last visited there) the largest refractory telescope in the world. My favorite place to visit in Tucson though is the Pima Air Museum, near the Tucson airport. I have more than 200 pictures taken there posted here on TBS's Photo Gallery. All of these pics and I still didn't get shots of everything. It is a huge collection. If you like aircraft, don't miss an opportunity to tour this collection.

 

Among the hundreds of other cool aircraft they have there, they now have this big mother in their collection:

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South of Tucson about an hour is Tombstone, AZ. It is a bit touristy, but I enjoyed visiting there. Arizona is a great state to visit. I almost forgot. In Phoenix, actually Scottsdale, is the Scottsdale Gun Club. That place is amazing. They have a lot of things to do, including full-auto rentals. Great place. https://scottsdalegunclub.com/

If it were me though and I had the choice of the three places to visit, that you mentioned, I would go with Miami, FL, hands-down. I love that town. There are tons of things to do and see there. The weather should be accommodating. I love the architecture. I'm sure there are others that could do a much better job of listing the tourist attractions there, as I have only been there once, but I had a lot of fun on that visit. I intend to go back and stay longer, the next chance I get.

Your three choices aside, another southern city that is as likely to have temperate weather in Feb as the others is San Antonio. There is one hell of a lot of great things to do in San Antonio. It is one of my favorite cities in the country. I lived there for years and loved it. Ask @Rabbi to give you a rundown on all the great things to do there. You will be impressed.

Good luck with choosing and have a good time, wherever you end up. :599c64bfb50b0_wavey1: Eric

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23 hours ago, Rabbi said:

San Antonio rocks. :)   (Hey, @Eric I am talking about San Antonio AGAIN today ;)

 

The wife and I go on vacation about every three months.  We leave tomorrow for Florida.  I am very much so looking forward to it. 

 

Well hell.  It looks like Texas is out.  We're leaning pretty hard on Miami, as it turns out, so we'll see how it goes.  

Eric and Rabbi, thanks for the input.  It's good to here from those with the experience of actually being there.

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15 minutes ago, jame said:

 

Well hell.  It looks like Texas is out.  We're leaning pretty hard on Miami, as it turns out, so we'll see how it goes.  

Eric and Rabbi, thanks for the input.  It's good to here from those with the experience of actually being there.

I am not usually the kind of guy who likes doing the tourist thing, but I thoroughly enjoyed the tours we took in Miami. We did the tour by boat in the bay, that showed all the oceanfront mansions on the man-made islands. We did a bus tour of the town as well, that took us around to most of the destinations in town. It was a lot of fun. We spent most of our time down on South Beach though. We did the Everglades Swamp tour as well, including the airboat tour. That was great, that is where I took this pic:

Aligator.thumb.jpg.9b4cd41d746cf9916a025a6ea6ae6064.jpg

This little guy was right beside the airboat. My camera was maybe two feet away. The mama gator was floating in the water eight or ten feet away. My aunt and her son had a hold of my belt, so they could pull me back if mama took exception to my proximity to here youngling.

It was a great vacation.

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48 minutes ago, Eric said:

I am not usually the kind of guy who likes doing the tourist thing, but I thoroughly enjoyed the tours we took in Miami. We did the tour by boat in the bay, that showed all the oceanfront mansions on the man-made islands. We did a bus tour of the town as well, that took us around to most of the destinations in town. It was a lot of fun. We spent most of our time down on South Beach though. We did the Everglades Swamp tour as well, including the airboat tour. That was great, that is where I took this pic:

Aligator.thumb.jpg.9b4cd41d746cf9916a025a6ea6ae6064.jpg

This little guy was right beside the airboat. My camera was maybe two feet away. The mama gator was floating in the water eight or ten feet away. My aunt and her son had a hold of my belt, so they could pull me back if mama took exception to my proximity to here youngling.

It was a great vacation.

What time of year were you there, Eric?  Your advice is running strong.  I think I'd especially like the art deco district, just because.

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1 minute ago, jame said:

What time of year were you there, Eric?  Your advice is running strong.  I think I'd especially like the art deco district, just because.

I was there in late July. The temp and humidity was miserable. February would be a lot better time of the year to visit, for my taste anyway. I don't like the heat. Miami has a temperate climate all year though. It is likely to be warm as any city in the southern US, I would think. 

Im a big fan of Art Deco as well and that is the town for it. It is a beautiful city. 

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8 hours ago, jame said:

 

Well hell.  It looks like Texas is out.  We're leaning pretty hard on Miami, as it turns out, so we'll see how it goes.  

Eric and Rabbi, thanks for the input.  It's good to here from those with the experience of actually being there.

If you go to Miami, you might check out Zoo Miami (formerly the Miami MetroZoo).  I haven't been for quite some time...but it's huge, and Feb should be cool enough that it's not too unbearably hot to see a large portion of it.

Feb probably isn't the best time for it...but if you go just a little further south (upper keys), you could probably go snorkeling or scuba diving on a shallow reef.

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25 minutes ago, Wishoot said:

Just sayin'...  He was looking for something warm and tropical.  

My last words of my last vacation were "I can't believe 10 days have already passed". I prefer those to "Oh my god and I really going to bleed out in this shithole"

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