Bear Down Wildcats

Chicat wrote:

scumdevils86 wrote:I think lakes are gross and generally trashy. That's my only specific opinion.

Not every lake is Havasu.

I've been to lakes in the Midwest too and it was about the same. Murky, gross water and trashy people.

scumdevils86 wrote:

Chicat wrote:

scumdevils86 wrote:I think lakes are gross and generally trashy. That's my only specific opinion.

Not every lake is Havasu.

I've been to lakes in the Midwest too and it was about the same. Murky, gross water and trashy people.

No matter where you go,..... there you are.

My sister lives near Lake Michigan, and the beaches in her area are every bit as nice as any SoCal beach I've visited.

ASUCatFan wrote:My sister lives near Lake Michigan, and the beaches in her area are every bit as nice as any SoCal beach I've visited.

Beach is different than the water. I've never swam in a lake and don't plan on it. Just so gross.

ASUHATER! wrote:

ASUCatFan wrote:My sister lives near Lake Michigan, and the beaches in her area are every bit as nice as any SoCal beach I've visited.

Beach is different than the water. I've never swam in a lake and don't plan on it. Just so gross.

These comments about lakes really should have some anchoring (see what I did there?) is which the particular lake(s) one is talking about. Most could not tell the difference between the shore of Lake Superior vs an ocean shore.

Also, there's a huge difference between man-made lakes and natural lakes.

The Great Lakes are bigger that most bays that one might go to. And, many folks who are used to "good" lakes find the ocean shores to be creepy....

And then, there's quarries to consider....

From some angles, certain beaches on Lake Michigan look like they're on the ocean. When you really take in the experience at a tactile, fully-immersed level, they aren't gross at all, but they're fake, and everything has that pond smell, and all the textures and densities and depths of nature you get on an ocean beach aren't there.

Most other lakes I've been in are an exercise of trying to pretend you're having a pleasant experience with slimy mud, pokey sticks, algae lips, insect bites, and dead floating moths.

Check out Flathead lake in Montana.

Eww, lakes are gross...

Yup they are. Most ocean beaches are too. But lakes and rivers are just awful trashy places to swim in

The twins are weird dudes.

Probably has a lot to do with most lakes I've been at smell like sewage and are filled with dudes sporting Oakley's, jorts, sleeveless t-shirts and swigging Busch or natty while jetskiing holding an American flag. Or some variation thereof. The lakes in Arizona are truly repulsive. Wisconsin and Kansas and Missouri and Florida were basically the same. Went to swim in Lake Erie once, definitely not as bad but still notmy favorite place to be.

There’s nothing like floating on a Midwest lake on a warm summer day. And that’s coming from someone who has lived on both coasts and spent plenty of time on the Gulf of Mexico.

Chicat wrote:There’s nothing like floating on a Midwest lake on a warm summer day. And that’s coming from someone who has lived on both coasts and spent plenty of time on the Gulf of Mexico.

Floating on what on a Midwest lake?

ASUHATER! wrote:

ASUCatFan wrote:My sister lives near Lake Michigan, and the beaches in her area are every bit as nice as any SoCal beach I've visited.

Beach is different than the water. I've never swam in a lake and don't plan on it. Just so gross.

What's gross about it? it's water, and it doesn't make you feel sticky like salt water. if anything, I prefer to swim in fresh water.

This is an awfully strange aversion you and your brother have.

Well if you want to know gross, go to the shores of Lake Michigan in the late 1960's like I did on a family vacation. The beaches were just full of dead fish. Just awful. Never forget that smell.

Lake Erie at the time was a dead lake. Pollution was unregulated back then. Look at it now.



I remember polluted rivers actually catching on fire, the Cuyahoga river in Ohio for one in 1969, and this wasn't the first fire.



Celebrating 50 years with no fires.

Longhorned wrote:

Chicat wrote:There’s nothing like floating on a Midwest lake on a warm summer day. And that’s coming from someone who has lived on both coasts and spent plenty of time on the Gulf of Mexico.

Floating on what on a Midwest lake?

A boat, a floaty, my back...

I've never had a bad time at a lake.

Lake Superior is absolutely stunning.

For me, I think it comes down to the feeling that the west coast is beautiful, and beauty continues inland. Utah, southern Arizona, northern Arizona, Colorado New Mexico, Wow. Even Nevada. Obviously Idaho and Montana and Wyoming, but I've never been there.

But beauty dissipates in West Texas and the panhandle. Oklahoma is rough, and when you pass into Missouri, it's all behind you. And you just do the best you can with what you have to work with. On Sunday you take your little drive out of Chicago into "nature" and try to enjoy yourself like all those pasty locals who just don't know anything else.

Longhorned wrote:For me, I think it comes down to the feeling that the west coast is beautiful, and beauty continues inland. Utah, southern Arizona, northern Arizona, Colorado New Mexico, Wow. Even Nevada. Obviously Idaho and Montana and Wyoming, but I've never been there.

But beauty dissipates in West Texas and the panhandle. Oklahoma is rough, and when you pass into Missouri, it's all behind you. And you just do the best you can with what you have to work with. On Sunday you take your little drive out of Chicago into "nature" and try to enjoy yourself like all those pasty locals who just don't know anything else.

Yup. IMO draw a line north from Big Bend up through the Black Hills. Stay west of the line.

Yep, never ever go East. Too ugly for your delicate sensibilities...

dirty redneck pond

I've seen some nice looking areas in Virginia, New York, Tennessee etc for sure. And the coastal areas are great. But definitely doesn't compare to the natural beauty of the west.

You two could not be more American.

Been nowhere, yet still declares their corner of the earth the greatest.

Chicat wrote:You two could not be more American.

Been nowhere, yet still declares their corner of the earth the greatest.

I've been to pretty much every part of the US from Hawaii to the east coast and back and the West is absolutely the most scenic without a doubt.

Virginia is quite beautiful. I imagine Maine is too, along with coastal Carolinas.

When I was a working man, my central coast of Cali commute took me by rolling hills, pastoral farmland, vineyards/wineries, and beautiful ocean views. All in one trip. Where else can you see that?

That's exactly why the film industry is based out of LA. You can get almost every possible outdoor filming locale in less than 2 hours. Snow up in Big Bear, deserts out east of Riverside, along with everything up here.

Recall reading somewhere that you can see mountains from every spot in California, assuming visibility is good.

Growing up in Michigan, and driving through Indiana and Ohio to see relatives, all I see is miles and miles of this. No mountains, and very few hills.

Merkin wrote:Virginia is quite beautiful. I imagine Maine is too, along with coastal Carolinas.

When I was a working man, my central coast of Cali commute took me by rolling hills, pastoral farmland, vineyards/wineries, and beautiful ocean views. All in one trip. Where else can you see that?

Virginia

It took me 12 years but I finally developed a “prairie eye” that allows you to see the beauty of Illinois. I can explain it if anyone cares.

But then I flew to Tucson one November night, woke up to a sunny morning, and drove past Gates Pass and remembered what it’s like to take in amazing scenery that doesn’t take 12 years to learn to perceive.

I've been to every corner of the country and I still keep coming back to the west. Pretty much the only redeeming qualities of Arizona are it's natural beauty and nice winters. Otherwise I've never thought that "my corner" was the greatest. All the time I've spent in the south or Mid-Atlantic or Chicago or New York etc...yea it was fun for a vacation and saw a lot of great stuff but I would not enjoy living east of the Rockies. Just what I've realized after 30+ years.

Merkin wrote:Virginia is quite beautiful. I imagine Maine is too, along with coastal Carolinas.

When I was a working man, my central coast of Cali commute took me by rolling hills, pastoral farmland, vineyards/wineries, and beautiful ocean views. All in one trip. Where else can you see that?

That's exactly why the film industry is based out of LA. You can get almost every possible outdoor filming locale in less than 2 hours. Snow up in Big Bear, deserts out east of Riverside, along with everything up here.

Recall reading somewhere that you can see mountains from every spot in California, assuming visibility is good.

Growing up in Michigan, and driving through Indiana and Ohio to see relatives, all I see is miles and miles of this. No mountains, and very few hills.

Yea the main thing I always don't like about going back east is not being able to see for miles and having mountains all around.

Well this thread took a left turn in Albuquerque!

We’ve had so much rain and flooding that they just reversed the flow of the Chicago River so that it now flows into Lake Michigan. I can think of only one other time in the last twenty years that they’ve done that.

What's a river? Like, is there actual water that flows in it?

Can't tell you how many times I've talked to non Arizonans who think the rivers on maps here actually have water in them and then I have to explain it. I'm the weird one of course because whenever I travel anywhere else I get excited seeing flowing water.

hey the Rillito had water running in it for a good week straight back in March

azgreg wrote:

I am in coastal NC right now. Not too bad and expected to stay good.

This is the third May in a row that Chicago has seen the wettest May ever.

This is the third year in a row we've had a tropical system develop before the hurricane season officially starts.

It's almost as if . . . the climate is changing.

Last May was the coldest and wettest in over 40 years in Tucson. This year it is one of the hottest and driest.

Second year in a row that I picked the weekend when I giant snowstorm envelopes Mt Shasta.

This year, I bailed on the trip a few days prior.

My neighborhood late yesterday.

Major props if we get a picture of you using that grill in knee deep water. Even if you're not actually cooking.

Phylek wrote:Major props if we get a picture of you using that grill in knee deep water. Even if you're not actually cooking.

Luckily that’s not my backyard. I bought the house at the top of the hill.

This May was the hottest ever recorded in Tucson. Last year's May was the coolest in something like 45 years.

Chicat wrote:

Totally normal

Third straight day of thunderstorms in Anchorage. That’s never happened before.

They usually only get 1-2 thunderstorm days per year.

Expected to hit 111° today.