NCTigerFan

USA Today Article

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Former Arkansas running back and two-time Heisman Trophy finalist Darren McFadden once said of Death Valley: "The fans are relentless.” That’s especially true for night games, when "the sun has found its home in the western sky," as the public address announcer says inside Tiger Stadium. After LSU fans spend the day sucking down hooch, they're in no mood to take prisoners.

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:geauxtigers:

I agree with Vic's on the River. You can make a reservation online HERE. I like their crawfish beignets with Tabasco syrup.

I like farmers' markets and street fairs. My husband always hits the spice aisle at a grocery store (he's the cook in the family) and a sporting goods store/department (says he likes to see what they use to hunt and fish there).

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At Abingdon you can do a bike ride down the mountain on the Virginia Creeper trail - it's an old railroad line.

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I'll second this. It's a lot of fun.

One of the best weekends we had was inspired by this YouTube video. We stayed at the Western Front Hotel in St. Paul, VA. They have a hangout area called the Roost and a big backyard area with lawn games. My teen really enjoyed the opportunity to hang out with other kids. Rented ATV from the hotel one day and had a blast on the Spearhead Trails. Next day went tubing on the Clinch River. Stopped off and did the Creeper Trail on the way back home to NC.

Wil you ask her to do Memorial Tower, please? If she ever does, please post. I have a pair of Memorial Tower / Tiger Stadium prints that I'd like to replace with hers.

Definitely get insurance. I now carry an annual policy through Allianz, but when I shopped for individual trip coverage, InsureMyTrip was a good resource with comparison tools (though I usually ended up selecting Allianz then too).

My $1MM umbrella policy is $307.62/year through Allstate.

We went this summer. Grabbed a taxi from the airport to the hotel (I think that was a flat $50, which was cheaper than what I saw on the Uber/Lyft apps upon landing). Hotel had a shuttle (sign up in advance) from the hotel to the port (I think it was $10/person). Took Seattle Express from port to airport (it was right at $25/person booked online with an AAA promo code).

Hotel was La Quinta Seattle Downtown, 2224 8th Avenue.

ETA: Make sure to note there are 2 different cruise terminals in Seattle so that you book the right transfers. Bell Street Pier Cruise Terminal at Pier 66 (currently, NCL and Oceania) and Smith Cove Cruise Terminal at Pier 91 (currently, everyone else).

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Anyone ever make this decision and regret it? Wish you would've stayed in the smaller, more inexpensive house?

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Me. Not so much pining for a more inexpensive house, but definitely a smaller house.

Lived in a 3000 SF house when we bought acreage and designed our "forever" house. Sold the 3000 SF house and lived in a 1500 SF house for a year while we built. Now live in that 5500 SF "forever" home.

I'd sell it in a heartbeat to go back to something smaller. I've always said that, if I had lived in that 1500 SF home before designing our current home, it would have been a lot smaller (probably somewhere between the 1500 SF and 3000 SF houses, maybe in the 2500 SF range). But, to my husband, this really is a forever home, so there's no point in me thinking of anything different.

I know you're not talking about building a 5500 SF house, but you are talking about a big jump in size from your current home. So I suppose my recommendation would be to, maybe on vacation one week, rent a house similar in size to what you're planning to build and both of you spend the time really thinking about how you feel in and about that much space. I don't like my family being so spread out. I wish we had focused on solving our storage issues and kept the rooms smaller and more proximate to one another.

You've gotten some good feedback on the financial aspects of this. So just weighing in on the non-economic considerations since you asked for "life feedback".

Good luck either way!

Here's 6-day portion of a road trip we did in 2018 (but, opposite of you, this starts in SLC and moves east to SD). This pace certainly isn't for everyone, but it worked for us for this particular trip. Hope it helps.


Day 1
- Start in SLC
- Great Salt Lake State Park
- Drive to Lava Hot Springs, ID
- Tube the Portneuf River and visit the hot springs pools

Day 2
- Take Pioneer Historic Byway to Jackson Hole
- Teton Village to ride aerial tram
- Explore Jackson

Day 3
- Grand Teton National Park
- Jenny Lake shuttle boat to Inspiration Point hiking trail
- Yellowstone National Park (stay at Old Faithful Lodge)
- Old Faithful

Day 4
- Spend day within Yellowstone National Park
- Exit at East Entrance and head to Cody, WY
- Cody Nightly Rodeo

Day 5
- Drive to Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, Crow Agency, MT, visit Visitors Center and take the 4.5 mile Tour Road (cell phone audiotour)
- Drive to Bowman, ND

Day 6
- Drive to Custer State Park
- Take 16N Iron Mountain scenic drive to Mount Rushmore
- Crazy Horse Memorial
- Picnic at Sylvan Lake
- Needles Highway and Wildlife Loop scenic drives