Hurricane has cancelled my vacation

any ideas of a nice place to visit

[bghtn]

My wife and I were going to spend 5-6 days in Fort Walton beach. We are located in Tennessee - Any ideas of nice places to visit instead? We are considering Charleston or Hilton Head but are not sure if we can find a room on such a short notice.

[vincevincevince]

What's your range? Statewide - national - internnational - intercontinental...?

[bghtn]

5-10 hours driving time from northeast tennessee.

[PyrettaBlaze]

Gulfport, Mississippi (beach, fun, and sun)
Biloxi, Mississippi (casinos)
New Orleans, Louisiana (assuming you didn't go to the conf, in which case, nevermind)

Or you could always go to Graceland and have an Elvis holiday:)

That's all I can think of from places I've actually been to.

[Webwork]

Hilton Head looks nice. I've researched it and plan to visit sooner or later.

Outer Banks of North Carolina - very nice wide beaches, good dining, warm water, nice place to bike.

Myrtle Beach. Sort of like the beaches in southern New Jersey; Built up, commercial. Warmer water than NJ. More a kids/teens town, except if you both like golf, in which case there's plenty to do.

I imagine the surf will be messy whereever you go due to the hurricane.

Last minute - jump on a jet and head to Aruba if you can find a deal - or even further south. Just a beach, no bed to make, no dishes to clean and guaranteed sun and beautiful waters.

Plan B: Cheap airfare to everywhere can be found these days. Go someplace totally out of the ordinary: San Francisco. Seattle/Vancouver is a lovely area, especially if you're a seafood fan. SanDiego?

The possibilities are limitless. I wouldn't sweat the hotel issue too much. In a worst case scenario you simply move away from the prime location - at least for day 1 and once you arrive you seek to move closer.

My family (wife, 11 and 14 year olds at the time) grabbed a last minute bargain flight to the UK, without any reservations. Of course we arrived on Valentine's Day weekend, where everyone grabs a hotel for a little R&R, and we had to hunt around . . . but we used a booking service and found a decent place at the 11th hour. Besides, the adverture wasn't about the lodging. It was about exploring London, Stonehenge, etc.

Bottom line: Are you adventuresome and adaptible and flexible? Then have an adventure trip to any place. Hit a map with a dart and go. On the other hand, if you are stressed and need a total relaxation vacation then I'd book into a resort anywhere, including inland resorts.

Greenbriar in Virginia also looks lovely and is another place I plan to visit (once both kids are in college . . . if I have any money left).

For last minute travel I'd also check the regional airlines, which in my experience are more inclined to cater to the last minute traveler. For example, SpiritAir flies from Atlantic City to Myrtle Beach and many other locations.

[MatthewHSE]

How about Shawnee National Forest? Our family was there for a few days many years ago and had a good time.

[bghtn]

Thanks for all the responses. All the places we considered have a dismal looking forecast for the next week so we have decided to stay home for now. We decided to do our usual mountain biking at Bays mountain park before the rains hit here. We had a great time but are in extreme need of some sand and sun...maybe in a week or two.

[hannamyluv]

Mmmm... I just got back from Chincoteague Island, VA [chincoteaguechamber.com]. It was very nice. Not crowded, plenty to do and it has still managed to retain its "small fishing town" feel. They are having their famous Pony Swim at the end of the month. I thought for sure we were going to get nailed by the remnants of Cindy, but it rained at night and cleared up by the AM.

[PhraSEOlogy]

bghtn,

The storm has passsed in a few days Pensacola will be ready to invite guests back. Spend some money there and the local will be grateful of the support.

If you are really adventurous try THE SWAMP in Fort Walton/Destin. Pretty cool place for people with a youthful mentality.

I am going to stay here and clean up the debris in my yard. I moved to Mississippi from florida because of the hurricanes - DOH!

[lgn1]

The remains of Dennis is supposed to stall over the
ohio valley for a week 'can you say flood', so hopefully you live on high ground.

If you don't like rain, nows a good time to leave town.

[MatthewHSE]

Hope some of Dennis makes it up my way. We're in "Extreme Drought" right now and some rain would be very welcome. It will need to be a long period of soaking rain to do any good, as the ground is baked so hard by now that water isn't getting absorbed very well.

But it looks like Dennis is going to stall a few counties South of our part of Illinois, so I guess the farmers can get ready to cash in on their crop insurance...