Popular places you have no desire to visit

I have a friend who has lived in NYC for four or five years, so I had a guide to a lot of cool places. Even went to bars I'd seen mentioned on Law & Order, including The Dead Rabbit, which was cool for me. We saw a three-piece band in a little bar window playing Whiskeytown songs, including one I requested. Loved MOMA and The Starry Night, which is so much more impressive in person than a photo can ever capture. Seeing the pieces of brush in the painting transported me.

Got an ulcer from that trip, though, because all the drinking tore up my gut.

 

Duly noted.

From the perspective of being an out-of-towner? The Valley is far more convenient to anything I want to see in SoCal than Orange County is. And I've stayed in both.

And based on my experience in the summer of 2018? They were both fucking hot as hell. I was there when the temps hit 108 in L.A. There was zero discernible difference between the Valley and Orange County temps wise. It was miserable as fuck. I also know it was an aberration. Unlike Phoenix, which is like that all the time.

 

Even though I am only 15 minutes away, I have no desire to visit Tahoe.

 

How did we make it 15 pages without this?

 

That's a misconception about Phoenix. It's not 108 all the time.

It's fucking 111 as I type this.

(I grew up in Orange County. I like Orange County. As a tourist spot, unless you're in Newport or Laguna Beach it's going to be pretty damn boring.)

 

The hottest I've ever felt was at a Phoenix wedding.
It's bad enough walking around in those temperatures in shorts, it's infinitely worse when everyone's wearing monkey suits.
And if you're hung over - game over.

 

Seems like a good setup to lead into this:

 

But it's better than the Valley, across the board. I once was of the opinion that if I had to work in the Valley, my career was a failure. If I had to live in the Valley, my life was a failure. Yes, I realize those are both a little harsh. In O.C., you're 20 minutes from the beach regardless of where you are. In the Valley, you're an hour and the people you encounter at the beach don't want you there. Geez, watch "Saved By The Bell." They knew.

 

I wouldn't really argue with any of that... but if I'm visiting L.A. the valley is a lot more convenient. I mean, I was there a few weeks ago and drove from the Santa Monica pier to Balboa and it took me three hours.

 

Been to Nassau twice and I agree. Not much there.
Atlantis rocks though! Def. would go back. Really expensive, though. I walked into town and bought a case of sands beer (terrible beer, BTW) and kept it out ice in the sink for the 4 days. Wife had a medical conference several years ago and we spent a 5 days there. One day it rained - it was still 82 degrees - and everybody went in. I nearly had the whole complex to myself. I was running around like a 10-year-old kid on those slides. No lines.
Also saw Patrick Ewing in the casino. And my wife got food poisoning (order salmon for lunch at a restaurant near the market).

I love going to the Caribbean. The DR was nice, but not much outside the resort. El Presidente Light is awesome!!
Like @PCLoadLetter I like to explore and find stuff off the beaten bath. Places the DR, with armed guards patrolling the hotel property boundaries kind of suggest it is not wise to leave. Still took the bus into town and walked around.

LOVE, LOVE, Love Puerto Rico. Spent 10 days there pre-hurricane and thought it was amazing.

 

When I was in L.A. last year -- stayed in Culver City -- I drove to Long Beach, my hometown, for a few hours to putz around. It was a Monday. Come 4 o'clock and decided to drive back. I knew that the 405 was probably going to be a shithole of congestion but decided to do it anyway and if it was as bad as I thought it might be then I'd just get off at the next exit and wait a few more hours. Amazingly the traffic wasn't that bad for a 4 o'clock Monday afternoon and I made it back to Culver City in 25-30 minutes with some strong fast bursts in and out of lanes which seemed to open up for me at just the right time every time. It was one of the best experiences I've ever had on the 405 ... Long Beach to Culver City in a half-hour DURING rush hour.

If you love to drive then L.A. is worth the experience for at least a week.

Sunday morning between 7 and 9 from Long Beach to Huntington Beach along PCH, windows down and volume up, inhaling the smells of the ocean, is one of those things you should do once. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

 

I was in Orange County last week. I liked Huntington more than Newport and it also took me 2.5 hours to get to Venice. The 405 is awful.