vacation plans

chrondog wrote:you best believe i'm gonna be at the cult of Aphex Twin on Saturday 

https://mobile.twitter.com/telefontelaviv/status/1116585803696594944?s=11

what is going on in this

I don't know but Aphex Twin really sucks.

Spent the last few days in Calabria with family. This is the place for me. Every time that I come it just knocks me straight on my ass. The city that I am staying in isn't the prettiest in the world, nor is it the cleanest, and it's actually quite poor by American standards. But the people are amazing. My Italian is finally good enough that I can actually communicate with the locals this time and it's just been the most wonderful experience.

This is my fourth visit. Whenever I leave this place, I always cry because it's such an amazing experience for me (it's also really emotional because my family emigrated from here). I expect this time won't be any different.

Surf city. It’s a place to be.

Next week we are headed to NY, gimme some clothes and food suggestions if you could bros.

what should i do in toronto and montreal next month

it's been like 5 years since i been to canada

Leaving for Napa Valley tomorrow morning and staying through the weekend. Have some wine tastings booked, a couple of dinner reservations and plenty of time to just hang.

I’m spending the week in Northern Wisconsin. Hiking, kayaking and leaving behind email and work shit.

Last night we drank a bottle of wine and watched the sunset on Lake Superior. This morning I watched it come up on a walk listening to John Cale.

Love it. I've been losing my mind lately with how mundane and repetitive everything is starting to feel so I go on biweekly hikes to different state parks in the area. The midwest sucks for this type of shit but we have to make do.

Wtf are you talking about? Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota all have huge and amazing state parks. Illinois has some decent ones too but they are up in the northwest corner where the 4 states meet along the mississippi. Sure, not great for a day hike but if you’re going for a day or longer you can find a ton of small towns with decent wineries/breweries near hiking trails. Seriously, if you have a day or longer check out the La Crosse area of Wisconsin, the scenery reminded me of the European countryside.

Thanks! I will check that out. I was probably too dismissive of the region as a whole but it's definitely the case that there aren't very many options in a day's drive from the Chicagoland area. When I was living in San Francisco for a little bit it was amazing to me that you could just walk out of your front door, cross the Golden Gate Bridge, and start hiking around Sausalito. I also got pretty spoiled living in Tuscany...

Yea man, Wisconsin has some of the most amazing hikes in the area. You can basically drive 3-4 hours and have some incredible options to get outside and connect with nature.

Just spent the morning hiking on Madeline Island!

Yeah, I have no idea what the fuck any of you were talking about. I have been really struggling with my concentration these last few weeks and just generally feeling very, very bad. I decided it would be a good time to go for a hike so I drove down to Matthiessen State Park. I was all excited about it too. I woke up early, got my morning cup of coffee, and immediately got in the car. To get to the park I had to drive through some shit fucking rural town with one general store and a diner that was covered in Trump 2020 Keep America Great flags.

The park itself sucked. It was overcrowded so I had to wear my mask basically the entire time, which totally prevented me from actually getting to really enjoy myself and unwind. After four hours of just aimlessly walking around and being underwhelmed while listening to A Winged Victory and some of my friend's ambient music, I got back in my car and went back home. At least I made it back to watch the second half of the Bears game.

This entire region is a fucking armpit. It has the social politics of Afghanistan without any of the natural beauty or scenery.

You basically went to the most famous state park on the weekend, what did you expect? Also, you went into a region of the state which is redder then blood so... you gotta expect some of that dumb trump shit. Why do you let it effect you so much?

I’d recommend going during the week if you can. Try the Michigan dunes next time. It’s far prettier than the Indiana side and the dunes are larger and more wooded vs Indiana where the park is bookended by factories. If you feel like driving a little further try the sleeping bear dunes. In general the area near Grand Rapids Michigan is pretty nice. Mackinaw island. Traverse City. These are all less then 5 hours away. I already recommended La Crosse, but I’d also recommend New Glarus, Wisconsin. Obviously the brewery but also the town itself is a small old school German town surrounded by woods. There are some killer mountain bike trails around the area. I have a million suggestions for this region, PM me if you’re interested in some more details.

Yeah, weekends anywhere are going to be hell, sorry but those are the breaks.

This place is the only secret garden you're going to find.

I was supposed to bring my son on the fishing trip of a lifetime this year with my dad, who is gettin on in years. Eagle Lake, Canada. Normally, we get almost all Walleye, and this was gonna be the full gamut of fishing possibilities. But, then they shut down Canada.

I can't imagine what it's like for all those seasonal industries right now. But, guessing "very bad" is a decent barometer.

I’ve never hiked Matthiessen but have heard mixed reviews. Starved Rock is OK but similar to your experience it can be extremely crowded.

You can drive to places like Kettle Moraine or Devil’s Lake in Wisconsin and find more space hiking and a better overall experience right now. Especially with the leaves turning color. It’s worth the drive time.

Fucked a chick just off the trail in Devil's Lake, one time. Really plumbed the depths!

My friends used to climb cliffs out there. Shit I could never handle in a million years. Fucking rad: loved it up there.

I will hike around Devil's Lake in a couple of weeks and report back.

My 101 year old grandma died a couple years ago and in her will she put a chunk of money aside for her kids and stipulated they use it for a family reunion trip. On our way to a lake resort in Kentucky to spend 5 days with all the aunts, uncles and cousins I haven’t seen in like a decade. Should be rad. A bunch of them are my older cousins’ gen z kiddos I haven’t seen since they were babies so interested to see what sorta humans they’ve turned into.

We forgot about time zones so we were running way ahead of schedule and decided to just start pulling into random roadside attractions. Mrs. Braden sees a sign and she’s like, “We want to go to the Everly Brothers museum right?” and you bet your ass we did.

Place was actually called the Muhlenberg County Music Museum and they had a ton of Everlys, John Prine, and Merle Travis stuff, and the best part was the old lady at the front desk who works there whenever she can “cause it keeps me goin’” offered to give us a tour and she just talked about the history of the town for like 45 minutes and showed us every music and/or Everly Bros family-related thing that’s ever happened there including the one time she was working at a diner when she was like 16 and “those two boys who were famous came in and they were super polite and ordered burgers and cokes and I remember it to this day it’s clear they were raised right,” and if this entire vacation is a bust it was worth it just for that random stop.

Going to Costa Rica in a couple weeks. Pretty fucking excited it’s the first time leaving the country since the pandemic. I’ve been to Canada since then but I don’t count that lol.

We’ve got a longer layover in the Mexico City airport. Does anyone have recommendations for the Mexico City airport?

Been in Costa Rica since last Saturday and can confirm it is wonderful here.

Going to Tokyo in January. Anyone on LOPP traveled there? Interested in any and all recommendations.

LOL I just love that the first half of this page is everybody throwing negs at WP for talking shit at the Midwest.

Never been to Tokyo but Ive always wanted to go and Japan fucking wails and I hope you have a hell of a time, Raj.