Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with coast

Coast Guard Reserves?

tryniti — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:26:20 -0800

What are the Reserves (specifically, the Coast Guard) really like? I am looking into the Coast Guard Reserves, and am curious if anyone has experience with military reserve programs.

I am most interested in the environmental protection and disaster relief aspects of the Coast Guard. I work as an environmental consultant in south Louisiana, and feel that being a part of the USCG Reserves will allow me to do more for my state and country and maybe gain valuable experience. Before I jump in and make an appointment with a recruiter, I thought I'd see if anyone might have some insight. I guess my main questions are:

1) What is being a reservist like (USCG specifically, but stories from any branch are also helpful)? What types of things are done on drill weekends?

2) How often are reservists called to active duty? Is there somewhere to find hard numbers on how often certain branches or divisions are called up?

3) For someone with an already-established career, what does the reserves have to offer other than extra cash?

4) I would most likely qualify for a 'straight-to-officer' type program. Any experience with these types of programs?

5) Anything else I should consider?

music suggestions needed

lanita333 — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 06:13:08 -0800

I desperately need music suggestions for a slide show featuring the Pacific Northwest. It can be anything-- vocals, instrumental etc. Please help.

Single man on vacation not seeking wife

evil_esto — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 03:15:01 -0800

I have a week to spend in Queensland (or Nthrn NSW) (I live in Brisbane). I want to chill out and be near beach and rainforest. Dont need nightlife, perfect cafe lattes or room service. Trying to keep the cost down... any ideas from aussie mefites? The amount of info on the web is well... overwhelming. I'm looking for recommendations. I have several weeks to make my reservation. I have no car and cant drive but would like to hire a bike. And I will be alone. The obvious option is camping but I have no camping equipment. Whale watching could be good

I'm 34, fit, need a break and will be doing this after 5 days living it up in Melbourne. Need to chill out. Please help.

Where does Sally sell sea shells by the sea shore?

cooker girl — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 03:46:14 -0800

Send us on a mid-week seaside break in England! "Us" being me and my two kids, ages 12 and 9 (boy and girl respectively). We're in London for the summer (until August 16) but my husband had to go back to the States this week, leaving us all alone. He is, literally, allergic to the sun so I thought I'd use this week for a short (two or three days, tops) seaside trip for the kids. Where would you send us that's family-friendly, not run-down, and has stuff to do besides splashing about in the ocean? We don't have a car but I do know how to book a train journey.

p.s. My daughter thinks she'll be able to actually swim in the ocean. She's crazy, isn't she? It's quite cold, right? We'll still go, I'd just like to get an idea of how likely it is that they'll be in the ocean.

East Coast Surfing

gonadostat — Sun, 24 May 2009 07:37:42 -0800

Where is the best place to learn how to surf on the east coast? I have no significant experience, but three days of vacation at the end of next week and would like to go somewhere warm to take some surfing lessons in the eastern time zone. Any recommendations for geographic locations and/or instructors?

We can't stop here - this is jellyfish country!

TheNewWazoo — Mon, 18 May 2009 16:30:10 -0800

Have you ever been to the beaches in the Charleston, SC, area in May? Is the water warm enough to swim in, and how clear is it (jellyfish? seaweed? etc)? Should we instead go further down the Atlantic coast to Tybee Island? Is our attempt to find a new beach hopeless? Should we just go back to the Redneck Riviera (read: Gulf Coast)?

Help troubleshoot and enhance my move / road trip from Lawrence, Kansas to Eugene, Oregon.

Derive the Hamiltonian of... — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:27:01 -0800

Help me troubleshoot and enhance my roadtrip / move to Eugene, Oregon. I will soon depart Lawrence, KS for adventures that will eventually leave me in Eugene to begin graduate studies with UO. I'm going to outline the planned itinerary in the hopes that the hive mind can suggest areas to visit at our planned stops, beautiful or interesting routes to take between them, and interesting pit stops to make. Also, warnings of potential trouble spots or situations will be greatly appreciated. The Participants:

A mated pair of chemical engineers and myself. We all love the outdoors, interesting technology, interesting architecture/engineering (especially anything energy efficient, otherwise green, or enormous), anything that will increase our nerdlore, and any delicious food of almost any variety. We're all in very good shape, although my 270 lb ass will not be running up any mountains.

The Vehicle:

A 2007 Volkswagen Rabbit, so no unimproved roads.

Itinerary:

Day 1:

Leave Kansas and pick up two friends at Denver International, thus officially beginning the road trip. Drive to Great Sand Dunes National Park and set up camp. We're thinking about stopping at Garden of the Gods on the way down. I'm kinda torn between driving down on 29 so that we can see Garden of the Gods and driving out on 70 and then down on 24/285 to get some awesome mountain highway action in.

Day 2:

A hurried attempt at acclimation for days 3 to 4. Play around on the Dunes and see other interesting things in the area. So far, besides the Dunes, I know of Zapata falls, although I cannot remember the exact location.

Day 3:

Get up very early, drive to the Mt. Blanca/Ellingwood trailhead, and pack in to Lake Como. Set up camp and enjoy the lake, trees, and canyon walls. I should mention that I've done the Blanca/Ellingwood combo before and that we are all experienced hikers. I'm not enthusiastic about doing this two days after getting to altitude, but this is the portion of the trip I'm most sure of. One question; on my previous trip, we were in Jeeps and easily made it to the beginning of the serious incline before we got out and started hiking. Are there spots on the sandy, car-navigable part of the road where I will be able to pull over and park without going into the bushes and rocks? 14ers.com seems to indicate so, but I want to be sure that I'm not going to have to park within sight of the highway.

Day 4;

Summit Blanca and Ellingwood, head back to the vehicle, and drive off into the midday sun. Head out to Black Canyon of the Gunnison and make camp. For the drive to Gunnison, we're currently set for doing 285 to 114 to 50, but 149 looks really fun and twisty.

Day 5:

See what we can in Gunnison during the early morning, drive to Arches National Park, see what we can in a few hours, and drive to Great Basin National Park to camp for the night. This is a very rushed portion of the trip, but we want to have several days in SanFran later on and are constrained by plane tickets.

Day 6:

Drive from Great Basin to Grass Valley, CA, where we will apparently be hanging out at some awesome bathing holes near some awesome waterfalls.

Day 7:

Drive from Grass Valley to San Francisco and crash with friends. We will be staying at an apartment in what my friend calls the McBaker Heights neighborhood, although I'm not sure whether that name is colloquial. The intersection of Baker and Golden Gate gives you a general area. My understanding is that the area requires some sort of special neighborhood permit and has no off-street parking, so I need to figure out a safe arrangement for parking my car. Non-exorbitant garage parking would probably be fine. We'll reach SF on a Saturday afternoon, so I'm hoping to avoid doomtraffic.

Days 8 – 9:

San Francisco! Oh, what shall we see?!? Our friends in the city have plans already, but suggestions would be great. Bonus points for godlike sushi and any other kind of interesting ethnic food.

Day 10:

Drive up the coast to Redwood National Park. We're not sure about the route yet, although we would love some awesome coastal highway action. We also aren't sure of what portion of the massive park to camp in.

Day 11:

Drive to Crater Lake, check it out, drive to Eugene and crash at the co-op I'll be living in. Any suggestions for awesome places to eat dinner or night scenes to check out?

Day 12:

Get the other two to Portland for a 10 am flight.

What is the best studio in Manhattan and/or Brooklyn for learning Swing/Lindyhop and WC Swing?

wildrain2008 — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 19:23:22 -0800

What is the best studio in Manhattan and/or Brooklyn for learning Swing/Lindyhop and WC Swing? Also what are the best boards where I can find a partner if I choose to later compete? I used to take ballroom lessons back in HS but had to stop when college started. Would love to get back into it concentrating on Swing/Lindyhop and WC Swing. I recently visited a gem in the city called Swing 46 and it just put me over the edge! So now I’m seriously looking to learn Swing! The music is also amazing - Brian Setzer Orchestra, Big Bad Voodoo Daddies as well as the plethora of fantastic Rockabilly music ranging from Elvis to modern!

Moving to Wilmington, NC

sara is disenchanted — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 09:28:56 -0800

We're moving to the beach! But, I would like a few specifics about life in Wilmington, NC. Hope me Wilmington Mefites! I was offered a career position with the City of Wilmington last week, and now my husband and I have three to four weeks to relocate from Winston-Salem, NC to Wilmington, NC.

I grew up on the Delmarva shore and my husband spent most of his summers and free time visiting the coast from Wilmington down to Myrtle, so we have a decent understanding of coastal living. We're even familiar with where we like to fish and eat and drink and visit when we're in the greater Wilmington area.

What we would love to have is information regarding "lifestyle and living" questions.
-What neighborhoods are best for a married couple (who does not plan on expanding the family any time soon) that earns combined $60K? We're going to live in an apartment from 6 months to a year just to become oriented and save some money, but we would like to purchase a single-family house in the future.
-Any recommendations as far as apartment/condo complexes that are safe, comfortable, and dog-friendly? Any to avoid?
-Does anyone have a suggestion for veterinarians and/or doggie daycare? My schedule is so that we would only need to take the Rocky dog to daycare up to 3x per week. He's 5 years old, healthy, and blind (he gets around just fine, but sometimes we think we should buy him a little helmet!).
-What is traffic like on a regular basis? Is this a bicycle-friendly area (i.e., will I have trouble riding my road bike to work?)?
-What tasty vegetables and fruits can I grow in my garden?
-Best tackle/fishing shops in the area?
-Safe running trails and areas? Good mountain bike trails? Or will I be riding my road bike more with the terrain?
-We're both interested in hopefully joining an adult sport league (he's looking for flag or contact football, I'm more interested in ultimate, soccer, or tennis), and I've found some interesting leads, but do you have any clubs/teams you'd specifically endorse?
-Is there anything that you wish you would have known before you made the move to Wilmington?

Thank you in advance...this totally might be an excuse for a meetup.

Super-romance for a night in California?

YoungAmerican — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 21:46:05 -0800

Where should the lady and I stay on our (one-night) honeymoon on the Central Coast? So, my sweetheart and I carefully scheduled our wedding so that we'd have a week to honeymoon before law school started back up... then we found out that there's going to be a pre-school orientation for three days of our honeymoon week. Blech.

We're getting married in San Francisco on a Saturday night in August. Orientation starts on Tuesday morning in LA. Can anyone recommend a beautiful, romantic spot (inn, hotel, b&b, cabin, whatever) that's between the two where we can spend the night Sunday? We're thinking somewhere in the Central Coast (Carmel, Monterey, whatever) or perhaps as far south as San Luis Obispo or something, but we're open to pretty much anything. Price shouldn't be insane, but several hundred dollars would be OK, since, well... the real honeymoon's off.

One catch: they have to allow (small) dogs. We have one, and unless we decide to FedEx it to LA, it'll be along for the ride.

In conclusion, never, ever go to law school.

Freighter passage from Gulf Coast to Mexican coast?

caveatz — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 14:54:53 -0800

Freighter passage from Gulf Coast to Mexican coast? Ideally, I want go from Mobile, AL to Merida [only 674 miles]. But Pascagoula, Pensacola to anywhere in Mexico is fine by me. All I've been able to find is the Schepers Line which goes from Houston to Veracruz and then onto Central America. Driving all the way to Houston. there's the carnival cruise but I'm just looking for one-way, no-frills trip.

Where to stay and how much to pay on the West Coast?

wackybrit — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 17:22:49 -0800

Have I got the right budget for my LA->SF drive? What are the hotels / motels really like? Are there any "bargain" towns or price blackspots? My wife and I are planning to fly to Los Angeles, hire a convertible, and do the clichéd drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco over a period of about a week with stays in LA and SF at each end. There are 12 total "nights" to budget for. Dates are approximately Oct 30 -> Nov 11.

I've budgeted $2800 ($233.33 per night) for the accommodations. But.. looking around the net, all I can find is marketing bumph and hot air (and overpriced "luxury" hotels). Is it practical to drive the coast, and find a reasonably comfortable non-seedy place each night without bookings and spend $233.33 per night on average? If we can spend far less than that, all the better, and we'll spend the difference on better hotels in LA and SF.

Basically, if you know these areas, or have done this trip before, we're looking for any and all advice on the accommodation front that you can give :) Thanks in advance!

(Note: We have no particular places we want to stay at on the drive, other than Santa Cruz for at least one night.. so your suggestions could shape our whole trip)

On the road again....

purplefiber — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 12:05:45 -0800

What should I do/pack to prepare for my first solo roadtrip? I'll be leaving tomorrow to drive from San Francisco to Victoria, BC. I'm excited- it'll be my first time doing the drive solo. I'm planning to spend two nights on the road, one in Arcata, CA, and one in Portland, OR.

I've had all my fluids checked, will get my tires checked. I'm making some mix CDs and looking for some good podcasts to download. I'll go and buy lots of snacks for the road.

Anyone have any other suggestions of things to pack, things to watch out for, places to stop at, or any other advice to make my trip as fun, easy, and adventuresome as possible?

Thanks!

Australia road trip advice please!

Joh — Tue, 01 May 2007 15:16:33 -0800

Planning a motorcycle ride up the east coast of Australia - advice needed! Posting for a friend, who is planning to spend a vacation in Australia, driving a motorcycle up the east coast from Sydney to Cairns. He flies into Sydney, rents a bike, then spends 10 days riding up the coast, drops the bike off in Cairns and flies back down to Sydney. Its a 14 day vacation, so he will be able to spend a day or two relaxing en route (I have advised him to go north of Cairns up to Cape Tribulation if possible, since I did that and loved it there).

His preliminary route plan is as follows: Sydney - Sawtell - Brisbane - Booral - Rockhampton - Townsville - Cairns. He is aware that this is a lot of driving (and has driven such distances on his bike here in the US), but wanted feedback on whether his route is feasible, being unfamiliar with the roads there. Any advice or tips, better places to stop instead of the towns he chose (somewhat at random)?

Also, should he be booking hotels ahead of time in order to be able to find a bed for the night (he is open to camping too), or is accommodation easy enough to find that he can wing it? He will be traveling in June this year. Thanks!

FlavorCrystalFilter

lain — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 13:15:28 -0800

Why aren't there any White Castle locations on the west coast? Is the White Castle franchise just coastists?

Driving from Seattle to San Francisco

kirkaracha — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 11:11:04 -0800

What's a good 2-3 day route for driving from Seattle to San Francisco? I'm going to be driving from Seattle to San Francisco with my mom and sister this weekend. My basic plan was to take the interstate from Seattle to Portland, turn right, and drive down the southern Oregon and northern California coasts.

Since it's one of those once-in-a-lifetime deals and we can take our time over a couple of days, I'm looking for suggestions of things to see along the way.

Where did I eat this cod?

MasonDixon — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 07:19:25 -0800

North of Boston on the coast. There was a crumbling fort, a small beach and a cute little restaurant. My wife and I often take daytrips during summer to towns and parks on Massachusett's North Shore, and have been doing so for few years. But we have no idea where this place was:

As I remember it, this location was an island, an overlarge spit of land, or a peninsula --a relatively small self-contained sort of area. It was reached by a narrow out of the way road, which at the time we went was blocked for a voluntary toll by fundraising local firefighters.

The outstanding features were a crumbling stone/brick fort which was a couple of hundred yards away from a cute restaurant with pretty decent fish and chips. The restaurant was adjoined by a small shop or convenience store and was right on/overlooking the beach. A beach and a narrow road stretched between the restaurant/shop and the fort. It was fairly crowded, parking at least was somewhat difficult.

I am fairly certain it was in Massachusetts though there is a very small possibility it could have been in coastal New Hampshire or in Maine, but certainly no further north than Portland.

Beach? Coast? Shore? Also: is Puget Sound part of the ocean?

jdroth — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 13:15:51 -0800

Waterfilter (heh) — so, I have a couple of water-related questions born of a drunken debate among friends. First: what is the difference between a coast, a beach, and a shore? Second: is Puget Sound part of the Pacific Ocean, an entirely separate body, or some freakish combination of the two? Finally: when Seattleites go down to the Sound, are they going to the coast, the beach, the shore, or something else? Most of us agree that "shore" is the East Coast term for what we West Coast people call a coast. (Except then why don't Eastcoasters say "East Shore" and "West Shore"?) Maybe "shore" is actually East Coast for beach? What's the difference?

As for Puget Sound: I maintained — steadfastly in my drunken state — that the Sound was not a part of the Pacific Ocean, but rather some entirely separate body of water that opened onto it. Days later, and sober, I can't recall my exact reasoning, but it still feels right. Is it? Doesn't the sound contain brackish water? Brackish, to me, is not equal to oceanic.

This all started when one of my friends said she had gone to the coast while in Seattle. I was confused (and would have been even while sober), and thought she had driven to the coast, as in along the Pacific Ocean. But no, she meant they'd gone down along the Sound someplace. Does the Puget Sound have a coast?

Good UK coastal villages for holidays

blacksky — Sat, 12 Nov 2005 07:33:29 -0800

I am looking to go away for a long weekend with friends and hire a cottage. We want to go to somewhere coastal ideally and find a village to stay in that has a some pubs and places to eat. We have been to Robin Hoods Bay in North Yorkshire a few times and are looking for somewhere quaint and pretty like that where you can have a few walks on the beach and a few pints. Any ideas for anywhere good? Any recommendations for cottages would also be appreciated. Cheers.

Like, totally?

slimslowslider — Wed, 27 Jul 2005 10:46:15 -0800

California stereotypes: What do East Coasters really think about Californians? We are moving from Northern California to Providence, RI, and I am curious what assumptions people will have about us. Will my car get keyed with its CA plates? Do people know there is a big cultural difference between Nothern and Southern California? I've never lived outside of California and I really don't know what to expect!

San Luis Obispo

luriete — Fri, 06 Aug 2004 13:08:37 -0800

My wife is driving with a friend and out 11-yr old god-daughter from our home in Sacramento down to San Diego, leaving Sunday evening. They expect to be near San Luis Obispo when it's time to pull over and go to sleep. Can anyone suggest a good, interesting, fun or otherwise worthy hotel/motel/inn/b&b in the area?

I hate to ask 2 questions in one day, but you are all so very helpful! Please forgive me.

What venues in the East half of the US can my band play?

drezdn — Sun, 11 Jan 2004 23:30:17 -0800

My band is going to go on a tour from the Midwest to the East Coast in Late March. What small clubs (Cap 100- or less) or basements- geared towards noisey indie rock- would you recommend playing in between Milwaukee and The Atlantic Ocean? If possible, contact info or a link would be appreciated.