Roody

I especially like to hear tales of carfree tales, but tell us about your vacation even if it involved an automobile.

Roody

Unfortunately, my vacation this year did involve car travel. I drove up to Traverse City, MI with my son and 11 year old grandson. We stayed in my late dad's house. He died just six weeks ago, so it was an emotional trip for me to have the next three generations there together.

I drove up with them from Lansing. We also took one car trip to the Sleeping Bear Dunes yesterday, bringing the total number of beaches visited to six. (It will take me a month to lose all the sand!) Every day we have taken at least two walks in the neighborhood. We took late night walks, and I had fun scaring them both with a ghost story about a mannequin that is posed in the window of a tower in a Victorian house near my dad's house. My grandson keeps talking about "the so-called mannequin," suggesting that he isn't buying the adult's logical explanation.

Today we walked to a little hamburger stand that my dad used to love. I couldn't believe that I'd been there with him for the last time just two months ago--it seems like so long ago now. I was a little quiet at times, I think my son knew why and my grandson didn't really notice. But it was a great trip, and we all had fun. The grandson is new in my life, so it was good to discover that we travel well together. Tomorrow it's back to the city.

Newspaperguy

Most of my vacations are car free, but not all.

In late June, I took half a week and spent some time on Vancouver Island and some time in Seattle. I took the car for this trip. The purpose was to meet with friends in both locations and I figured the meetings were worth more to me than trying to go car free at that point. (I think this is part of the reason I'm car light instead of car free.)

At the end of summer and beginning of fall, I'll have two separate one-week breaks, both of which will be car free vacations. I'm planning to load the bike and go for a bike tour, starting and ending at home. I've done those before and they're immensely rewarding. Cycling up and over a mountain pass, especially on a cool and rainy day, is not just good exercise. It also takes on almost a spiritual quality. Stopping in small towns, staying at rough campgrounds or cheap motels and meeting the locals or other tourists can enhance a road trip.

Roody

I highly recommend BC for a vacation. Not only for the incredible scenery and the outdoor activities, but for the interesting people who are always telling you stories about the history, geography, wildlife and so on. Nowhere have I encountered people more knowledgeable about their location, or more willing to share their knowledge.

Robert Foster

From the time I was a small child I have been interested in the pre history of the Hopi, Zuni and Ute native Americans. We have always wanted to take a vacation where we simply went to places we always wanted to visit as we passed by on our way to see one relitive or another. We hooked up the travel trailer and spent a week in Gallup. I took my bike and spent several days riding throught the old town along old route 66. We did drive to Window rock, the Hubble trading post, and Canyon De Chille and Chaco Canyon. we also went to the Zuni reservation. We then packed up and moved to Cortez Colorado and once again I spent time riding my bike in the area and we did drive to Mesa Verde and was surprised to see a sign at the entrance saying, Bicycles and Motorcycles not reccommended. Turns out there are some roads they are working on that are all gravel and they worry about two weeled vehicles falling over. On the way home we stopped in Williams for a few days and yes I rode my bike in that little route 66 town. But we stayed there to visit the Grand Canyon. We did drive to the canyon but we took the shuttle busses everywhere once we were there.

Did just under 2400 miles and with the 600 miles I will add for a short one week vacation the end of August to the Redwoods and back that will be about the limit to the use my Truck and trailer will get for the year.

wahoonc

I am still on vacation, summer's not over yet!

I get 3 weeks paid vacation and 5 paid holidays a year, but try and get them off, plus I am SUPPOSED to get comp days for Saturdays and Sundays worked. The curse of being a salaried employee in an hourly world.

First vacation this year was to Denver, CO and it was great. The main cause was my brother's 25th anniversary. Unfortunately due to work schedule I ended up having to drive from Iowa City to Denver . But once in Denver we primarily used the light rail and bus service. I did do a bit of cycling along the various paths and streets in the Highlands Ranch area. The entire family group (30+) took a ride on the Royal Gorge dinner train, I highly recommend it. I also spent some time at the Colorado Railroad Museum, fascinating and well worth the trip.

Next vacation is coming up in a couple of weeks I am heading for the Boston, MA area. My DD is completing her Americorps service and they are having a big ceremony out in the middle of nowhere western MA. (Hallockville) So that trip will not be car free either We are going to spend a couple of days at a B&B that is part of a working farm. Then we do plan to spend a few days in Boston with my DS and that will be car free

And that dear forumites is how I am spending my summer vacation.

Aaron

NoRacer

I rode to Ocean City, MD from Baltimore:

https://bimactive.com/ba/journal/post/10783/34341 - Part 1
https://bimactive.com/ba/journal/post/10783/34342 - Part 2
https://bimactive.com/ba/journal/post/10783/34343 - Part 3
https://bimactive.com/ba/journal/post/10783/34344 - Part 4

DX-MAN

Since they now have a word for it, I don't do vacations -- I take 'staycations'.

For most of the last fifteen years, I've taken Labor Day week as time off; I will do so again this year, and my plan is what it's been for the last decade: ride.

The local MUP (RiverGreenway) has expanded from 32 main miles, with a 7+ offshoots east and west now. I do the whole thing, as much as I can, in one shot. The east offshoot is currently blocked due to a road-building project, so I'll do the main and the new west section. It'll end up around 50 miles.

At least 2-3 days of that week will have 3-hour-plus rides. It's one of the few weeks of the year I can indulge myself.

wahoonc

I quit doing those...they ended up being workcations...

Unfortunately I spend most of my working days on the road so when I do get home there is usually a substantial honey do list to work on.

Aaron

sevenhills

Hi

Butlins (Skegness England), we went by train :-)

Newspaperguy

Unfortunately, that concept doesn't work for me. I'm a highly visible person in a small town. If I'm around, someone will ask me to bring my camera and show up for a picture somewhere. Or, I'll be at the grocery store and someone will want to take the time to discuss local politics with me. When I get out of town, I can be anonymous for a few days.

Spudd

We're not taking a proper summer vacation, but for labour day weekend we'll be doing a 4-day bike tour: ride, camp, ride, hotel, ride, camp, ride, home. This is both a mini-vacation and a practice session for the month long tour we're planning for next summer.

gerv 

I am planning two carfree mini-vacations... mostly bike camping trips to parks within 50 miles of my house. I'm hoping to do these on Mondays and Tuesdays in the fall... hoping that the parks have been cleared of RVs and party people.

I also plan a vacation to Toronto and Newfoundland. This is an airplane trip, so no great carbon footprint savings. But I have bikes in both places. I want to borrow my son's bike for a day and make a trip along the lakeshore to Niagara or St. Catherine's.

ndbiker

I agree with the staycation problem. I would love to stay at home and not work but something about being home makes one (especially if that one is female) want to do all those things that are not done when your about your day to day life. For some reason however, no matter how much I get done the list is not shortened. The only cure is to leave home.

cycleobsidian

This summer we drove from Toronto to Cape Breton Island, stopping in Montreal, Quebec City, Halifax, etc. We rode bikes in the cities, (except for Quebec City--not suitable in the old town unless you are part mountain goat )

Anyway next vacation will be car free. I was so stressed from the driving. Via rail is starting to catch on in Canada, offering to take your bike (for a fee) without it having to be boxed up. Next summer I hope to take the train and the bike only.

gerv 

How far east can you go by train? I thought it ended at Quebec City?

cycleobsidian

Yes, Gerv, you are right. Those special train destinations that allow you to take bikes without being boxed do not go any farther east than Quebec City.


That's ok; that's about as far east as I can afford to go next summer!

I would like to take the train to Quebec City then cross the river on my bicycle on to Hwy #132 along the St. Lawrence River, part of the Route Verte. I am not exaggerating when I say that when my husband and I drove along it this summer, we must have seen about 100 touring cyclists along the 200km route to Riviere du Loup. It is beautiful, not too hilly, with scenic and historic towns along the St. Lawrence River spaced about 10 kms. apart. They have a wide paved shoulder that is marketed as being bike friendly, and the traffic is not too heavy. It would be nice to take the train back to Toronto from a point further east, but as you aptly noticed, you can't without that bike boxing thing again. Maybe by next summer they will offer more routes, who knows?

johann

Living in Europe, pretty much all of our vacations are car free, many involve some combination of trains and a bike tour.

So back to "car free" vacations in America... a few come to mind, although they involved using a car to "get there".

- The Mickelson Trail was an awesome experience, through some very beautiful and scenic country (with a side trip to Mt. Rushmore). The owner of the hotel we started from (in Deadwood) picked us and our bikes up at the end of the trail (in Edgmont)

- Island hopping with ferries and bikes in British Columbia. Started in Victoria and rode north to a ferry which took us into the Gulf Islands.

Pedaleur

I took my bike on the train to Lausanne (job interview) and made it all the back to Duisburg before getting back on the train and heading home. If anyone wants a tour suggestion in Europe, it sure is hard to beat the Wine Road in Alsace.

Lots of words (a few worth reading) and lots of pictures here:

https://o-slashy.blogspot.com/

(open up the posts for July and start at the bottom)

tsl

This year the choice was buy more bikes, or travel. Buy more bikes won.

I still went on my cheap trip, a week at my family's cottage in the Rideau Lakes region of southeastern Ontario. All it costs me is a tank of gas in my parents' Buick, and groceries for three dinners for three.

I take two bikes. The Portland leaves its fenders and road tires home and wears its cyclocross tires fenderless for riding the dirt roads. One roadie comes along for pavement. This year, my 1996 Litespeed Classic went.

There are no shoulders on the paved roads there, so on the weekends I try to avoid weekender traffic and stick to the dirt roads, doing 30 to 50 miles a day. During the week when there's less traffic, I ride the roads, usually 50-70 miles a day.

Maybe next year we'll take the Amtrak out west again. I want to do Glacier National Park and Alberta, or Western Colorado and Moab, or New Mexico and Colorado. Trouble is, each of those trips costs about as much as a bike...

chasm54

I'm leaving in a week's time for a nine-day tour by bike, part credit-card, part camping. Ride from home, get into the Scottish Borders on day one, then through Edinburgh and a big loop into the Cairngorms, back into lowland Scotland, through the border country and Northumberland back home. Likely to cover about 600 miles or maybe a few more, depending on how I'm feeling. Balm for the soul.

Torrilin

This year my partner and I took two vacations.

One was a week long visit to Los Angeles. We camped out on a friend's futon, saw just about everyone we love in LA (not absolutely everyone... one of my best friends was head down in her college finals, and another was sick). We played Rock Band and had arguments over who got to sing. I had to call my mom and reassure her that our buddy's new fiancee was not utterly terrifying... my mom has a regular weekly computer game with a lot of my friends, and she doesn't get to see them in person very often. I dragged our host out to the Getty Villa and we had a blast arguing history and making long lists of books to read. My partner and I hiked all over Pasadena. It was really disturbing seeing all the damage from the Station Fire last year.

Vacation #2 was the annual family camping trip up in the Boundary Waters. It looks like that tradition is ending. My mom is doing much better than she was last year - we were at a platform tent site instead of in a cabin, and she got in a lot more walking every day than she was even up for at Thanksgiving. But she really isn't in the kind of shape where the Boundary Waters is a vacation for her. My dad is also not as capable as he used to be, and he's covering for it by being a bit of a prankster. The rest of the extended family really isn't interested in spending time with them, so my partner, sister and I ended up doing everything. I learned a *lot* about camping and cooking over an open fire, but I also wore myself out. It is not good when you end up so mosquito bitten that you start fantasizing about scrubbing yourself with sand and icy water.

I am going to try biking to Wisconsin Sheep and Wool this year so I can camp out at the fairgrounds... that is probably a lot more reasonable style of camping for my abilities and tastes. All out wilderness stuff is waaaaay more than I'm ready for.

Newspaperguy

The worst thing about vacations that involve a lot of driving is the driving itself. On the highway, when I see a cyclist, I wish I was on my bike instead of in a car. And in a strange city, navigating, trying to keep from getting lost but ending up confused and disoriented isn't fun. And it's even less pleasant during rush hour. A vacation is supposed to be relaxing, but that experience does nothing to relax me.

wahoonc

Tell me about it! The whole time I was driving out to Denver I kept looking over at the river a few miles away and wondering how the trip would be on a bicycle running up the old US highway instead of trying to make time on the Interstate. Interesting thing about the exits out there...if you went to the north you went towards towns, the south side of the exit quite often literally ended in a cow path!

That part of Nebraska and Colorado is on my list of places to visit on a bike.

Aaron

Artkansas 

I just got back from a trip to L.A. for the Siggraph convention. I took a bus to the airport, flew to L.A. and a shuttle to my hotel. Mostly I walked around downtown L.A., but the first day I took a bus to Santa Monica Beach and back, and then took the Metro to see Chinatown and Hollywood.

My hotel was 2 blocks from one place I used to work, so I was familiar with the neighborhood. I am impressed with how many more bicycles there are now than when I was working there. The bike racks on the buses and allowing people to take their bikes on the Metro really seems to encourage it. I also noticed that there are a lot more people actually living in downtown L.A. There is even a very popular Ralph's grocery market now.

At the end of my stay, the X-games were ramping up next to the Convention Center and suddenly, there was a bunch of guys on BMXs on the streets as well. I had a little extra time at the end, so I took an express bus to the airport. Nicer and cheaper than the shuttle.