Best Places to Road Trip
1. FGCU .................. Gulf Coast beaches and warm weather
2. Jacksonville/UNF .. Atlantic Coast beaches, big city and fun St. Augustine
3. Lipscomb ............ Nashville
4. NJIT ................... Access to NYC
5. Stetson ............... Warm weather and close to the ocean
6. Kennesaw St. ...... Close to Atlanta
7. North Alabama .... Close to historic Muscle Shoals
8. Liberty ............... Edge of the Blue Ridge Mtns. and beautiful campus

That’s just my personal shot in the dark.

(12-30-2018 12:22 AM)army56mike Wrote:  Best Places to Road Trip
1. FGCU .................. Gulf Coast beaches and warm weather
2. Jacksonville/UNF .. Atlantic Coast beaches, big city and fun St. Augustine
3. Lipscomb ............ Nashville
4. NJIT ................... Access to NYC
5. Stetson ............... Warm weather and close to the ocean
6. Kennesaw St. ...... Close to Atlanta
7. North Alabama .... Close to historic Muscle Shoals
8. Liberty ............... Edge of the Blue Ridge Mtns. and beautiful campus

That’s just my personal shot in the dark.

FGCU
Lipscomb
Stetson
Liberty
UNF/JU
Kennesaw St
NJIT
UNA

Have yall been to all, or is this a in order of visiting in the future?

I have been to all but Liberty and NJIT, so my order of favorites would be

FGCU
Stetson
UNA
Lipscomb
JU/UNF
KSU

My next I want to visit is Liberty, then I can put them on the list somewhere. Honestly, I dont care about visiting NJIT, I have been to NYC, dont care much about it, but i am a southern country boy, and not used to huge city's.

Anyone wanting to know anything about Florence and the Shoals area I will help all I can.

Fun fact, since yall mentioned historic Muscle Shoals, the F in FAME, (the major recording studio that the movie was about) stands for Florence. The studio was in Florence in the beginning and recorded most of the earlier hits in Florence. Also, just because of ignorance, and the fact that locals have twisted some of the facts to make things sound better, Skynyrd didnt record an actual album here, they wanted to but some backstabbing between recording studios made it impossible. They did write about 90% of all pre crash material in Sheffield (part of the Shoals area) and recorded rough cuts in Sheffield.

The Shoals area is 4 cities, Florence, Muscle Shoals, Sheffield and Tuscumbia. If you visit, if you dont see the signs or the river, you probably wont notice its 4 cities. It should really be 1 city. The Tennessee River separates Florence and the other 3. Florence is in Lauderdale County and is the biggest city with a census population of about 40k, and Lauderdale is about 95k rural. Muscle Shoals is the second biggest with a population around 18-20k. Sheffield and Tuscumbia are about 8k respectively. Colbert County is were Muscle Shoals, Sheffield and Tuscumbia are, and rural populations is around 30k.

I worked in Sheffield for about 12 years as a firefighter before transferring to Florence Fire Department 2 years ago. I have lived in the area my whole life, so I can answer almost anything about the area.

I’ve been to Atlanta, but I hope to visit the other areas in the near future as the conference grows. Also, Lynchburg a.k.a Hill City is growing little by little, but there might be a boom in a few years.

(12-31-2018 12:19 AM)lion1983 Wrote:  Have yall been to all, or is this a in order of visiting in the future?

I have been to all but Liberty and NJIT, so my order of favorites would be

FGCU
Stetson
UNA
Lipscomb
JU/UNF
KSU

My next I want to visit is Liberty, then I can put them on the list somewhere. Honestly, I dont care about visiting NJIT, I have been to NYC, dont care much about it, but i am a southern country boy, and not used to huge city's.

I have been to none. I ranked mine on what I think would be the best overall experience. Location and game day environment were high on my list.

I’m interested, why do some have Stetson ranked so high? What makes that campus/area special?

(12-31-2018 12:51 PM)army56mike Wrote:  I’m interested, why do some have Stetson ranked so high? What makes that campus/area special?

For me, Deland is old school Florida. Not as much commercial as most of Florida now. I like that.

(12-31-2018 05:23 PM)lion1983 Wrote:  

(12-31-2018 12:51 PM)army56mike Wrote:  I’m interested, why do some have Stetson ranked so high? What makes that campus/area special?

For me, Deland is old school Florida. Not as much commercial as most of Florida now. I like that.

They easily have one of the nicest campuses. They are located close to destination places Daytona and Orlando.

Speaking as an outsider: Lynchburg itself is a nice little river town. It doesn’t seem like there’s a whole lot to do there. The downtown is okay. I like the painted pianos all around on the streets. Monument Terrace and the museum were nice. Walking the stairs with all the war memorials was cool. The actual riverfront wasn’t very nice. Liberty’s Snowflex was a LOT of fun. Appomattox Courthouse is close, as is Natural Bridge, and the Blueridge Mts.

(01-07-2019 11:13 AM)army56mike Wrote:  Speaking as an outsider: Lynchburg itself is a nice little river town. It doesn’t seem like there’s a whole lot to do there. The downtown is okay. I like the painted pianos all around on the streets. Monument Terrace and the museum were nice. Walking the stairs with all the war memorials was cool. The actual riverfront wasn’t very nice. Liberty’s Snowflex was a LOT of fun. Appomattox Courthouse is close, as is Natural Bridge, and the Blueridge Mts.

There’s a lot to be done but it’s slow progress. Hopefully things will change in the council and Liberty can gain more freedom to develop the town/mini city.