I didn’t take any fancy or enlightening vacations this summer. My wife and I had four weddings to attend in a five-week stretch, plus our daughter’s first birthday extravaganza. That was enough fanfare for one season.
So let me live vicariously through you guys. Where did you jet off to this summer? Do you recommend it? What cool stuff did you learn?
While we wait for globe-trotting readers to fill up the comments with interesting stories, here’s a look back at a brief vacation I did take and blog about—a 2007 trip to Utah.
Things I Learned in Utah
June 26, 2007
I started this post three weeks ago, on the way back from a whirlwind weekend in Park City, Utah. If you’re looking for stuff to do in the Beehive State, a better source of suggestions came from readers in response to my initial entry, “When in Utah…” For now, let me offer a few tidbits picked up on my journey, live on tape delay.
If you’re reading this near the Wyoming-South Dakota border, I’m 37,000 feet above your head. My left foot is tapping furiously to Rick Allen’s contagious and odds-defying drumbeat from Def Leppard’s “Let’s Get Rocked.” This is one of 1,600 songs made available to me through Delta’s in-flight entertainment system.*
This foot tapping was not a problem until the in-flight beverage service placed a Coke precariously close to my trusty iBook. I’m very worried about a spill and the subsequent stickiness.
Let me pause to pound my soda.
This rendition of “Let’s Get Rocked” is from Rock of Ages, a Def Leppard anthology I didn’t know existed. My last Def Leppard CD was Adrenalize, off which “Let’s Get Rocked” was the first single. They played this number at A Concert for Life, the 1992 Freddie Mercury tribute – a strange choice for an AIDS benefit unless you think “rocked” means “educated on the finer points of HIV transmission.”
I know I possessed this album from 1992 to 1997, but don’t remember bringing it to college. Ten years is a long time to not own something, and so I’ve ascribed Adrenalize a possibly unwarranted sense of nostalgia.
Adding to the list of entities about which I’m overly nostalgic: the state of Utah. I was only there for parts of three days, and only left an hour ago. Most of the weekend was dominated by scripted activities: rehearsal dinner, wedding ceremony, cocktail hour, reception, passing out completely winded seconds after returning to our hotel, brunch. These were all a great deal of fun, but not fodder for an article on a trivia website. We did manage to squeeze in some sightseeing between family obligations, so let me show you what I saw.
Utah’s state bird is the sea gull. As the legend goes, these birds saved Mormon pioneers from the horrors of crop-eating crickets in 1848. There is some debate over this story’s legitimacy, but it’s a far cooler reason to anoint a state bird than my own state of New Jersey’s reasoning. In 1935, the Eastern Goldfinch earned this status because, as the NJ Senate resolution puts it, “Forty-four of the States have already designated State birds.”
Utah has some interesting alcohol laws. According to FortOgden.com, “if a restaurant derives more than 30% of its profit from alcoholic beverage sales, it can lose its (liquor) license.” Real beer can only be purchased at state-owned liquor stores – and is marked up 75% (a six-pack can cost $10). More widely available is “near beer,” with 3.2% alcohol by volume. This drives a lot of traffic to Wyoming, where prices are normal. (By the way, that is not my hand holding the Polygamy Porter. I found that image on Allan Willis’ blog, “Are You My Wife?”)
A luge is tiny. As Jerry Seinfeld joked, “The luge is the only sport I’ve ever seen that you could have people competing in it against their will, and it would be exactly the same.” One of many lessons learned at Utah Olympic Park, a shrine to the Games of the Nineteenth Winter Olympiad.
Ski jumping is just as cool without snow. I spent much of my free time watching the Australian Ski Team doing flips into a swimming pool during practice. I submit that this variation on ski jumping be incorporated in the Beijing Games.
Dumb & Dumber was actually filmed in Park City, not Aspen. Though we now know the beer here does not, in fact, flow like wine. The Aspen scenes were a combination of Park City, Utah, and Breckenridge, Colorado.
Fellow mental_floss writer David Israel is a great novelist. During my trip, I read Behind Everyman – and you should, too. Worthy of all the great press it received. Polish this off before the movie comes out.
Thanks again for all your recommendations and advice. We did get to see the Mormon Temple, the Great Salt Lake, Saltair and Karl Malone Toyota. But I’ll have to make it out that way again.
*This might sound like paid product placement; I assure you it is not. I would much rather be watching the Yankees-Red Sox game, but the satellite TV portion of the in-flight entertainment package is not working right now. Nevertheless, Delta landed sky miles ahead of my expectations. Before last week, I did not know they were still in business, let alone streaming Def Leppard’s greatest hits..
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I went to California for the first time back in June. Did a ton of touristy stuff and got that all out of my system. I’m hoping to move out to LA in 2010, and spending four days there didn’t cause me to change my plans.
Oh, and I think I saw Drew Carey on the street, or maybe it was a Drew Carey impersonator.
posted by travis on 8-23-2009 at 10:31 pm
My husband, our three kids and I went to New York for a week. They really wanted to see the new Yankee Stadium. We went to that 15-inning game that Alex Rodriguez won with a home run at like 2 in the morning. I left with two kids in the 7th inning. My husband and our oldest son (who’s 16) stuck it out for the whole game.
Next year, I get to pick the vacation.
posted by Courtney on 8-23-2009 at 10:37 pm
I was planning a very mental-flossy roadtrip to hit a bunch of presidential libraries this summer, but my wife is pregnant and wasn’t feeling up to it. Probably not the kind of trip we’ll drag a 9-month-old on next summer.
Anyone ever take a themed roadtrip like that? Baseball stadiums? My neighbor and his kids went to four state capitals in a week.
posted by Brad on 8-23-2009 at 10:51 pm
I went to Europe for the first time this summer. It was a trip I’d been planning for over year. Not only did I learn more Spanish and French, but I also learned why the houses in Amsterdam are so skinny: tax purposes. The skinner the house the less tax you have to pay, but their is no law saying the house can’t get bigger as it recedes from the street. So most houses in Amsterdam are trapezoidal. Also you might notice that most of them are leaning out towards the street and have a pulley system hanging from the roof, both of these features were employed to get furniture into the skinny houses that naturally had skinny staircases. Ah, the Dutch.
In response to Brad’s post I felt like my trip was subtly themed by cathedrals. I found in my pictures no less than four look-a-likes to the Notre Dame in Paris. Though by far the most fantastic cathedral was in Barcelona, though still under construction and the architect dead, it was the most unique structure I have ever seen. It is called the Sagrada Familia (Sacred Family) and it was designed by Antoni Gaudi.
Um…summing up it was an amazing, educational trip.
posted by Abby on 8-23-2009 at 11:17 pm
This summer, other than my son’s first Cub Scout summer camp (he loved it and it wore me out!!), I ended up having to visit Wisconsin and Iowa because of ailing relatives.
Because I had alot of time on my hands and I love to drive, my son and I drove 5500+ miles from CA to WI and back. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the time or money to stop and see stuff along the way, other than relatives, so it was ALOT of driving for me…. whew!!!!
Along with good times visiting many relatives we had some snafus along the way like locking my keys in the car in Grand Island, NE in my rush to get out of the car to use the bathroom while my son was complaining he couldn’t get his shoes back on and couldn’t get out of the car when I couldn’t leave him alone to take care of my (very urgent) business. Fortunately, the tow truck company was very quick and it didn’t take more than 30 mins from placing the AAA call to being on our way.
Oh yeah, and I left with strep throat which turned into an ear infection by Utah. It was so painful that I went to the ER in Rawlins, WY to get meds. The trip to the ER and pharmacy reinforced my experiences that the people of Wyoming are AWESOME!! So nice and friendly.
I also had problems with the memory stick for my camera and lost all my pictures :-(
But… I did get to visit with my favorite aunt and this time there were no tornadoes!!! As opposed to last summer when it was during a brutal storm that spawned many tornadoes and killed some boy scouts at camp a couple hours north of us while we endured hail, lightning, thunder and constant tornado sirens… all while being in a mobile home park! I am really surprised we didn’t get hit ourselves.
We went to the Omaha Zoo and spent our last night at Circus Circus Reno where I won a bear in a Circus Circus Reno “sweatshirt” shooting hoops. I was sooo proud of myself that it didn’t take $$$$$ to get enough in the basket to trade up for the bear, it only took about $7 :-D
posted by Sarah in CA on 8-24-2009 at 12:46 am
After a few years in the military, I was released back into the civilian world in late may. I decided to have my first summer vacation in years. And so I did what I would have done as a kid..nothing. I slept late, stayed out late, saw movies, ate horrible junk food. went to six flags, and the beach. I learned how to relax and enjoy doing nothing again!
posted by Megan on 8-24-2009 at 8:24 am
May 29: Sold my house.
June 12 (morning): Was rear ended at a srop light and pushed into the car in front of me. Totaled my car, hurt my back.
June 12 (early afternoon): Closed on new house. I was thrilled at the prospect of having a higher mortgage and a new car payment.
June 28th: Bought a new car.
July 15th: Second son born. High point of my summer.
July 21st: Was rear ended by a Cement mixer in aforementioned new car. Insurance company said it would have been totaled if I had bought a 2008, but since it was a 2009 they would rather fix the $8k worth of damage. Made back pain worse, caused numbness and tingling in legs. I was supposed to start Physical therapy the next week.
August 8th: After fresh rounds of CT Scans and MRIs I was cleared to start physical therapy again.
August 10th: I start flipping out about hospital bills from two car wrecks and a birth all in a summer while my father in law tells me all the reasons government intervention in health care is bad.
Tomorrow: I finally get my new car back from the shop.
posted by Witty Nickname on 8-24-2009 at 9:56 am
I spent 3 weeks in Australia as a Delegation Leader for People to People Student Ambassadors. Toured Sydney, got to spend a day with Aboriginies, fed crocodiles and kangaroos, held a koala, and much much more! Well worth 24 hours a day with 40 high school students!
posted by Holly on 8-24-2009 at 9:57 am
My fiance just finished a summer internship with Boeing, so I took a quick weeekend trip to Seattle to visit him. (We live in Indiana.) I absolutely loved it and want to go back so badly!
I learned:
-that one man was responsible for burning the original Seattle down to the ground, and that the decision to make the pipes for sewage go downhill to the Sound proved to be bad during high tide; it was reported to have caused up to 6′ geysers of raw sewage to shoot up from the early toilets (much to the shock of anyone sitting on one when that happened).
-that Lake Union is a mere 38′ deep, and the Space Needle is privately owned by the Wright family.
-Seattle is laid out just like Cleveland, and topographically looks identical to it.
-During the gold rush, women with very elaborate hairdos would go to bars to try and scam miners. They’d put a lot of pomade in their hair, and ask to touch the gold nuggets the men found. Then they’d play with their hair, go back home and remove the gold dust to cash it in. Eventually, miners were told to avoid women with big hair (which I guess could still be applicable today for different reasons.)
-Lawmakers decided to ban having flowerpots on ledges above the first floor because prostitutes and thieves would drop them on unsuspecting men wandering through alleyways, then rob them blind. (Insert your own pothead joke here.)
Needless to say, I learned a lot in one weekend!
posted by Krie on 8-24-2009 at 10:21 am
As we lived north enough to mind the winter weather, we have opted for winter vacations rather than summer ones. In February, we went to Costa Rica for a week. We hung out some in San Jose (the capital) and also went to a beach resort, and then a resort near a volcano. I highly recommend Costa Rica as a vacation destination. The weather is perfect and there is a lot to see and do.
My only getaway this summer was a long weekend in San Francisco. I love that place!
posted by Hyacinth on 8-24-2009 at 10:25 am
I spent seven weeks in Asuncion, Paraguay on a missions trip.
posted by Rebecca on 8-24-2009 at 10:40 am
@Witty Nickname
:-O
:-(
Congrats on the baby boy!!
posted by Meri on 8-24-2009 at 10:52 am
Went to the Montreal Jazz Festival and fractured my collarbone (the two are not related).
posted by Nick on 8-24-2009 at 11:08 am
I jetted off to China from May through August. I enjoyed myself in Jimei (northern district of Xiamen) for two months, studying the language at Huaqiao University. I’ve traveled to China many times before, but this was my first time in Xiamen – it is such an amazing experience getting to know another city for the first time. I could write pages and pages of stories about each little place I found on my adventures in an around the city – needless to say, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
After Xiamen, I traveled to Fuzhou where I stayed in an orphanage run by an organization I work for. I’ve been traveling there for the last five years, and watching all the kids growing up & helping them along life’s path is one of the most fulfilling experiences in the world. This was the first time I was able to communicate with them well, so we had lots of fun having little conversations with each other.
After coming back stateside from these adventures, I was off to DC for my brother’s wedding – I’ve been there many times before, but being there with wealthier relatives opened up many doors that previously I had not noticed. ;) Also at one point during the bachelor party we played bocce in front of the Washington Monument, drawing a pretty decent crowd. Heh.
Overall, an excellent summer.
posted by A.Yellis on 8-24-2009 at 11:24 am
@ Nick I went to the Montreal Jazz Fest as well AND fractured my collar bone also!
I live in Montreal so I see the Jazz fest every year. Breaking my collar bone sucked but… I only spent an hour in emergency and spent nothing so yay.
Also, in May, after exams ended, my two friends and I went on a three week trip to Europe. I’ve been to Austria and Germany before with my parents but this time I got to go to Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague and Vienna with no parental supervision. Very fun. I got to practice my german and use my french. Also many, many art museums! The Kunsthistorishes Museum in Vienna is amazing.
posted by karina on 8-24-2009 at 11:36 am
I road-tripped up the Pacific Coast Highway from Los Angeles to Seattle in 7 days. I wanted to have a nice drive by the sea, and I certainly got it.
Highlights – ATVing the sand dunes at Pismo State Beach. Big Sur and Elephant Seals at a beach just before it. Seeing bald eagles and bears from a mailboat on the Rogue River in Oregon. 100s of miles of bendy PCH.
I also did a bit of a tour of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas locations, since I visited two of the three cities in which the game is located; LA and San Francisco. Included Santa Monica beach (easy to steal a helicopter here, and there’s a nice house you can buy), Lombard St in SF (another nice house location), SF’s pointiest building and the headland on the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge.
posted by Matt on 8-24-2009 at 11:48 am
My hubby and I are both teachers, so with our large amount of summer vacation, we decided to drive cross-country. We drove from Delaware to Washington and literally drove coast-to-coast. We kept a blog, which was a great way to journal the month-long trip since I’m horrible at journaling on paper, and allowed our families to keep in touch and interact with us.
Some highlights:
-Chicago: Loved it. Everything. And that’s saying something from an East-Coast Philly girl.
-The Black Hills of South Dakota (forget Rushmore and go hiking!)
-The Experience Music Project in Seattle (They had a Jim Henson exhibit at the time which upped the coolness factor 100%.)
I think I was most shocked by the openness that still exists in most parts of our country and by the very-true stereotype that Mid-Westerners are so nice! It’s easy to become jaded with people when we’re so crowded together on the East Coast.
posted by Gretchen on 8-24-2009 at 12:11 pm
Spent the college summer break half a country away from my girlfriend, I live on the Jersey Shore, she’s in Austin, but I flew down there for a week at the end of July. This tension from lack of girlfriend dominated most of my summer.
In between that, I wrote some short stories, almost got arrested, and made sixty bucks doing stand up comedy.
posted by Zach on 8-24-2009 at 12:27 pm
I had a baby in April, so this summer was spent trying to figure out how to be a parent. All the adventure I could want without leaving home!
posted by Lori on 8-24-2009 at 12:32 pm
I moved to Los Angeles from Ohio.
posted by Mandy on 8-24-2009 at 12:52 pm
This summer’s unintentional theme – getting too close to excellent fireworks!
1 – Montreal’s International fireworks competition at La Ronde – the breeze blew fireworks debris down on us, the audience! Burnt cinders of all the nasty chemicals that make fireworks pretty colors – toxic cadmium, mangnesium, etc..
We stood up and shook cinders out of our hair! We smelled burnt, like we’d returned from a quick trip to fire-and-brimstone circle of Dante’s Inferno.
2 – Saw July 4 fireworks in Maine from a boat – very close to them, but safe.
3 – More fireworks in Massachussetts – not as close, but with VERY loud cannon blasts that accompanied the 1812 Overture.
What? What? Speak up!
posted by John W on 8-24-2009 at 2:32 pm
My brother-in-law paid for an Alaskan cruise for my husband and me, as a desperately-needed vacation after a year and a half of us taking care of my stroke-paralyzed mother and her recent death. We got even more “rest” than we expected when we were confined to our cabin for 24 hrs after getting some gastrointestinal bug…but still a beautiful experience. (Though the masseuse I threw up on might not agree.) Especially the floatplane tour over Misty Fjords shore excursion, the boom of a glacier calving, and the salmon ceaselessly leaping in the harbor of Ketchikan.
posted by VM on 8-24-2009 at 3:32 pm
1. Had baby #2
2. found home to move into from Utah to Nebraska
3. packed up home and moved
4. home #1 not good for family.
5. hunting for home #2
6. found home #2 and moved in
7. register kids for school
8. register hubby for school
9. what, you mean summer is over now?!
posted by Ashley on 8-24-2009 at 3:48 pm
I recently got back from a 4 day cruise to Cozumel, Mexico. There, I got the chance to swim in the Caribbean Sea and visit ancient Mayan ruins.
On the cruise, I went to a class on how to make towel animals, where I learned how to make an elephant and puppy. I also went to a country line dance class lesson. Cruises are a trip I would recommend to anyone.
posted by Monica on 8-24-2009 at 4:46 pm
I just got back from Dubai, visited my family. It was fun and an experience, although I don’t think I’ll go back. All there was to see were malls unless you went to the old Dubai which was interested but at 110 degrees and no air-conditioning, I don’t think so!
My family is moving to Johannesburg later this year though, so next year I’ll visit South Africa! :)
posted by Pink Coat on 8-24-2009 at 4:49 pm
I took my 10 year old grand-daughter with me to Chicago to suprise my son for his birthday. I lived out there for 8 years so I wanted to re-visit my favorite places. We bought City Passes and went to Adler Planetarium, Shedd Aquarium, the field Museum, The Museum of Science and Industry and the (aka) Sears Tower. We did the lucite walkouts which were very cool. And with all the great thing my grand-girl got to see it was very educational too! Didn’t have time for the Bean but I had seen it before. Fun fun fun
posted by JaneM on 8-24-2009 at 4:50 pm
I went to Indiana this summer…the Indianapolis Zoo is awesome, but there’s not much else. Then again, I was with a friend who I don’t like spending extended periods of time with.
John W. – I made it to the fireworks in Boston for the first time this year (I live south of the city) and the 4th of July at the Hatch Shell was by far the best 4th ever.
recaptcha: johnny opossum. Funny thing about that…my friend’s sister asked me what an opossum was, not knowing that it was the same thing as a “possum”. That was an eye roll right there.
posted by Megan on 8-24-2009 at 5:04 pm
This summer I had online grad school, and my Mom visited me here in Germany (thank you USAF). We did a Rhine River Cruise for my birthday, and we had a girl’s weekend to Austria. We went all over Altstadt Salzburg, including the fortress, a wonderful dinner concert with a string quartet and two opera singers who performed the works of Mozart- heavenly food, wine and song! We also did the obligatory Sound of Music Tour, and Herrenchiemsee on the way home. We’re planning on going back next year with my husband and two girls, plus our new baby due in March, since they also had a Kinderfest going on at the same time. Totally worth going, just for a break from school and family responsibilities (we’ve been here a year and a half with no real break or vacation, thanks to my school and hubby’s work.) I highly recommend it if you ever have the chance!
posted by Tamsyn on 8-24-2009 at 6:41 pm
I didn’t go anywhere this summer.
The farthest I went was a town about 20 minutes from where I live.
However, I did take English IV during the summer.
posted by Ellie on 8-24-2009 at 7:07 pm
This summer was without fun trips (unless two trips to visit my ailing parents count & the educational journey of starting round 2 of grad school). The best summer vacation I ever had was in May of 2001 when I flew to southern Germany to visit a friend studying abroad there. The day trips I took (Munich, Dauchau, Heidleberg, castles at Fussen, Stuttgart, Rothenberg, Tubingen) were amazing! The best thing I saw was an original Calder mobile…I think it was in Munich & it took my breath away! Walking along the town walls and looking at the arrow & gun turrets in Rothenberg was pretty cool too!
@Courtney – I’m not even a baseball fan and I remember that Yankees game. I was with friends at a bar who wanted to see a movie after the game ended, so I showed up in the 5th inning, not realizing that the game would go on forever. There was no movie that night:-(
@Witty Nickname – I’m sorry to hear about your car wrecked summer! My last car was totaled 3 months after I paid it off. When I was able to pay my current car off early, I almost didn’t for fear I’d be jinxing myself and asking for another car wreck. I hope you and your wallet feel better! On the kinda neat side, I share a birthday with your second son!
posted by Christi on 8-24-2009 at 10:33 pm
didn’t leave Delaware. Spent my summer (as usual) in rehearsal-as actor & director- for the annual Chrysalis One Act Play Festival, an adjudicated festival, put on by the youth theater group of Wilmington Drama League. We have kids writing, directing, acting, and on the Chrysalis board of directors (although each “kid” board position is partnered with an adult board position)These kids put on quality shows. These kids are incredible and it’s a privilege to be working with them. They each me a lot.
posted by Catherine on 8-24-2009 at 10:41 pm
I took my family and a piece of door hardware (a panic device) on a 17-day, 3500+ mile road trip and wrote about all the doors and hardware I saw along the way on my blog – http://www.ihatehardware.com/?p=1370.
Strange, huh?
posted by Lori on 8-24-2009 at 10:56 pm
I live in Juneau and went out fishing in a skiff one day and encountered a beautiful pod of orcas. They are much better fishers than we mere humans, so we caught no salmon, but enjoyed watching the orcas. They stayed in the area for some days and we saw them again from a bluff overlooking Lynn Canal while hiking some days later. They are amazing to watch. A few weeks later we were out boating and encountered humpback whales involved in bubble feeding. Incredible. All this in my own “backyard.”
posted by JMB on 8-25-2009 at 4:24 am
Paris and Belgium for me.
Learned more about Napoleon than I ever knew I didn’t know- really loved this part.
Also learned that you need to live in Paris for an extended period of time to really get to see Paris. Amazing city.
I live in Ukraine so the summer included stuff here- which is always interesting… wild wild east!
posted by ann on 8-25-2009 at 4:44 am