I'm loving this thread! DLM - I forgot about your possible move! We LOVE that area and have visited many little cities/towns in NC. Also enjoyed the quieter beaches up through the Outer Banks. Maybe one day we will run into each other! How funny would that be! LOL AWM03 - we also love small town America. Most place we go we will explore the area and surrounding towns. There is a little town in NC (can't think of the name) that is Mayberry, TN!! We love road trips and do not fly. I guess I should mention we are neither one really interested in international travel. So much here in the US to explore. We have been up through Canada and that is beautiful country. Bumble, you said, "I don't really like sitting doing nothing even with a spectacular view, unless I have a great book to read or at least moderately good conversion. The view alone enthralls for about half and hour then I'm bored." I don't have a problem with that. We both lead busy lives and vacation is one of the times I do make time to read. There is also great conversation as there is no one I'd rather travel with than my husband. We can talk about anything and everything - or simply sit in silence. As for the view - it's not just the view for me - it's the surroundings and the sense of peace it brings me. Water soothes my soul like nothing else. An inn where you can cook? I've never heard of that. Gibby - you are right there in my spot! Kiawah Island!! We actually prefer Seabrook - and through VRBO found a couple in NJ with a lovely villa and a private dock. We have rented from them several times. She and I even email. I have found several good rentals from VRBO. We prefer condos, villas, etc. to hotels. On the islands I mentioned, hotels are few and far between. Our small dog accompanies us many times, and last year we even rented a LOVELY little cottage in the Highlands (NC) full of antiques. It was heavenly. Same thing last fall, we rented a cottage in Mt. Pleasant (inland but near Charleston and beaches) with a fenced in back yard. We will probably be renting that place again next spring. Stinky, you are NOT peculiar. Different strokes for different folks. I understand about your cat (see above). I am very, very particular about who I would leave the pup with. She travels with us much more than not. Thankfully she has been doing that from day one, so she is used to it. If she were not able, I would not be going. I meant to say in the other thread though, that we are opposites on the big city thing. I am a country girl till I die, and while I have enjoyed visiting some big cities, I am not completely comfortable in big cities. I have visited NYC and loved many things, but the hustle, bustle, the crowds, etc. are so not me. Loved New Orleans, but felt unsafe there. Have visited DC many times and have enjoyed much there, but we have always stayed outside the city. I remember my first trip there and how weird it was hearing sirens so often! And to whoever mentioned vacationing at home - we did that two different weeks this spring! We did camp 2 or 3 days one of those weeks, but we enjoyed having more time to take the boat out, visiting sites in our own area, lolling around in our backyard, etc. haha I often joke that I work so we can vacation. tina

I think it's fun looking at the muscle cars, since I am so old I actually remember those! I remember about as far back as '55 Chevies (even though I was 7 when they came out, I can't remember any cars before that). JoanMN

Kewl... though, I was kinda hopin' for the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders. ;)

Mary - We Californians are still waiting for an apology. In the wake of the awful fires that recently ripped through Southern California (I'm in San Diego), your comment seems particularly insensitive. I don't know if it was a lame attempt at humor, but it would be like my wishing a tornado would blow through your town, or hoping for a hurricane to hit New Orleans, or another terrorist attack to take place in New York. Horribly insensitive to say the least. " I'm with Talley_Sue on the aging in NY thing. New York City is - in my opinion - a wonderful place to spend a significant part of one's early adulthood, esp. if one is single/newly married (no kids), starting a career and/or in graduate school, etc. It's not such a wonderful place to: (1) grow up in (I did), (2) have kids in (I didn't, but know plenty of people who do with whom I spend a significant amount of time with when I frequently visit with my 9 year-old daughter), or (3) grow old in (my mother is 86 and lives in Manhattan). Unless you're uber-rich and have private cars with chauffeurs, and people to schlepp for you, public transportation requires a level of mobility than many aging people (or younger people) do not have (lots of walking and lots of stairs). Talley_Sue's adjective is spot on: NYC can be a harsh place (Having grown up in NYC (Manhattan) and having lived there all of my childhood and most of my early adult life (I left at age 35, but had lived there pretty much continuously with the exception of college and study abroad), and as someone with limited mobility who visits frequently with a young child, I feel that I'm qualified to pass judgment on this. (Unlike patty_cakes, I'll never "take the beach, weather, and other things for granted," and beg to differ that it's "over-rated." Besides, compared to NYC, it not any more expensive and the quality of life is *way* better) The chances that I would want to a small town in rural America for more than a day are somewhere between slim and nil. But different strokes for different folks, I suppose.