Looking for Great Vacations for 2009/10

I am in the finishing stages of planing vacations for 2009 for me and my husband and the kids. Each year we try to add a new place for the kids and for us that we have never visited and going to this year. We usually do an adult only trip 2 times a year, and one kids trip where we fly to, and the others we can drive to in no more than 14 hours from Maryland. Here are the places we have visited: Nashville, TN, Fairfield Glade, TN, Kaui-Maui-BigIsland-Ohau (Hawaii), Aruba, Puerto Vallarta, Myrtle Beach, Outer Banks, Virginia Beach, Williamsburg, Orlando (who hasn't), West Palm Beach, Ft. lauderdale, Bahamas, South Padre Island in Texas, Vermont, MA.

Please indicate where to go with the kids, what places are best for me and DH to go alone and what to do there! Thanks so much!

The last two years we old retired folks have begun visiting some of our nation's national parks. We saw a lot of families there with children of all ages. It made us wish that we had visited the national parks while our children were still at home. Among the parks I'd suggest are the Grand Canyon, Bryce, Zion, Rocky Mountain, and Carlsbad Caverns. There are many more, of course, but I'm not including them because we haven't been there yet.

I'd recommend the Dakotas, Montana, Wyoming stuff: Yellowstone, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Custer's Last Stand, Glacier Park, Devil's Tower, and similar. There's a LOT of stuff in that region that many folks never see. Kids love it, but adults enjoy it, too.

Dave

Time of year?

What season or time of year do you go?

My family will never forget the week we spent in Whistler, British Columbia in the summertime. It is a magnificent ski village, but we don't ski. There are so many summertime activities there and the scenery is breathtaking. Besides fishing, horseback riding, ATV trails and just scenic rides walking the village is very enjoyable too.

Sedona, Arizona is another family favorite that we've visited in the winter. Although I believe they have 4 mild seasons. Being surrounded by red rock country that changes in every direction is awesome! The pink jeep tours, the railroad train ride out of Clarkdale and nearby mining town of Jerome were very enjoyable. A day trip to the Grand Canyon is not to be missed.

I applaud you for making these family memories. I have never regretted the time, money and planning we put into ours. The payback of having the memories is worth it.

Those are some great ideas that I never considered. We usually travel 5 day weekends in Jan/Feb with the kids to cold places for MLK and Presidents Day weekends (Thurs-Tues). Then March or April for Spring Break (not to picky where its usually for 9 days), and July 4th week, and 1 other summer week, then the Friday before Thanksgiving (9days) and week between Christmas-New Years. And believe it or not we do work (ha ha). We do little mini 4 day trips for Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends

Atlantis with the kids. Its Disney in the Bahamas.

Arizona with/without the kids. Stay at Kierland great resort for kids. visit Sedona, Flagstaff, Indian Cliff Ruins, and the Grand Canyon.

Cancun with/without the kids. Fun in the sun, snorkling, visit the ruins, visit Mayan villages. This was one of kids favorite vacations ever.

For an adult trip, how about a winery trip to Sonoma or Napa counties?


How about Quebec with the kids? Show them a different culture, and there's a big fort. Kids love forts.

try St. Augustine

Quebec sounds wonderful. The fort reminds me of St. Augustine, FL. St. Augustine is different from the touristy beaches of Florida. Besides their fort they have wonderful cobblestone lined streets with pubs and sidewalk cafes. The Lightner Museum is full of interesting historical objects, like the most fascinating antique store you could ever hope to walk through! There is history and a feast for the eyes at every corner of Old Towne. I believe there is an alligator farm in the general area which always appeals to kids.

And St. Augustine has the prettiest black & white striped lighthouse, similar to Cape Hatteras, N.C. Lots of photo opportunities there!

If your family would drive to St. Augustine try getting some information on Fernandina Beach. I beieve it would be on your way down there and even though I've never been there I've heard magical things about it.

Assuming you exchange via RCI, I highly recommend you take your kids to Gamboa Rainforest Resort in Panama. I went years ago and am eager to return. If you and the kids love seeing rainforest critters up close and personal, you will not be disappointed. They even have a cool aerial tram right on the property and their own marina where they'll take you to "Monkey Island" where your kids can give banana chunks to white faced monkeys. We went during Thanksgiving and it was not too hard to get in (request way in advance to improve your chances, RCI #5776). It's awesome for kids and romantic for adults...check out their website: http://www.gamboaresort.com/

Ooooooooh, now you have me thinking! We're a big vacationing family too.

Here are two ideas for you for FAMILY trips.

Driving: Do "the big drive" Out West. I know it's a heck of a long way from Maryland.....it was a heck of a long way for us from Detroit! The alternative is, you could fly to Rapid City, SD and then drive from there. We did this 2 summers ago and the kids loved it and learned SO MUCH. I think it's important for kids to see just how big our country truly is and what an obstacle the prairies were for the Pioneers. Look at a map and trace I-90 out of Chicago.....up across Wisconsin, Minnesota, into South Dakota. My kids adored the Badlands in South Dakota....also the Missile Silo near there that can be toured. There are Lakota Indian sights near Chamberlain SD (along the Missouri River) as well as Lewis & Clark sights. If you have Little House on the Prairie fans, those are also in SD (Minnesota too, maybe?). Near the Badlands you can also see historic sod houses. Amazing!
Close by is the Black Hills of South Dakota which is a family wonderland of Mt. Rushmore, Custer State Park, spectacularly scenic family hiking, caves, wooly mammoth bone sites, more fossils than you can believe, horseback riding, wildlife wildlife wildlife.....you name it. The whole place has a very "wild west" feel to it. Google "Black Hills Travel & Tourism" and you will get a wealth of information.

If you want to stray further west in your travels, you can visit Devil's Monument, Oregon Trail sites (swing south and west into Wyoming) and Custer, Wyoming and Grand Tetons National Park and Yellowstone (all a solid day's drive west).

FLYING: Costa del Sol in Spain. This was recommended to us by another Tugger family (Sydney) and was a dead-on recommendation. It is an easy trade in the winter months. We went in February and had a great time and had very pleasant weather (right around 70 in the day). For a February break, you would have your choice of condos to trade into. We traded our 2 bedroom for a huge gorgeous 3 bedroom in Estepona. If you're considering this, find the Rick Steve's Spain guidebook and look it over for ideas. In a week there we visited Granada and the Al-Hambra, the Rock of Gibraltar, the Pueblos Blancos of Spain (Ronda was close by and spectacular!), more Moorish castles than we could count, caves caves and more caves with cave paintings (wow!) and Neanderthal skeletons, wonderfully picturesque towns, a day trip to Morocco, a visit to the southernmost town in Europe (Tarifa)....I could go on and on.

These are great ideas. We don't mind driving at all, with 4 kids airfare is something we try to avoid, although we do budget for one flying trip a year with the kids. KEEP um coming!!!!:whoopie:

I did some research on Europe with the kids and found some fun things to do with them, they are called Eurocamps ... http://travelwithkids.about.com/gi/..._&tt=2&bt=0&bts=0&zu=http://www.eurocamp.com/

Judy said:

The last two years we old retired folks have begun visiting some of our nation's national parks. We saw a lot of families there with children of all ages. It made us wish that we had visited the national parks while our children were still at home. Among the parks I'd suggest are the Grand Canyon, Bryce, Zion, Rocky Mountain, and Carlsbad Caverns. There are many more, of course, but I'm not including them because we haven't been there yet.

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I would agree with Judy..... When you went to Hawaii and visited the National Parks, did the kids enjoy them. I think its very educational and it brings our history alive.

Cancun would be good too. Chichen Itza is amazing.

Carol C said:

Assuming you exchange via RCI, I highly recommend you take your kids to Gamboa Rainforest Resort in Panama. I went years ago and am eager to return. If you and the kids love seeing rainforest critters up close and personal, you will not be disappointed. They even have a cool aerial tram right on the property and their own marina where they'll take you to "Monkey Island" where your kids can give banana chunks to white faced monkeys. We went during Thanksgiving and it was not too hard to get in (request way in advance to improve your chances, RCI #5776). It's awesome for kids and romantic for adults...check out their website: http://www.gamboaresort.com/

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Thanks for the tip Carol - we want to visit Panama anyway - we have friends there now, in Panama City...

ronandjoan said:

Thanks for the tip Carol - we want to visit Panama anyway - we have friends there now, in Panama City...

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Cape Cod. Hilton Head. Mountains of N C. Hershey Park.

How about a California trip? There is so much variety here and the parks like Yosimite are amazing with the huge granite cliffs and giant redwoods close by too. San Diego is the ultimate family vacation city. So much to offer everyone and it's not that far from Los Angeles and that whole area. So much to choose from, so little time. There are some great T/S properties close to the coast if you can exchange into one. Newport Coast is great but so in Lawrence Welk near San Diego.

I am in the same boat as you. We have 2 kids, live in central NJ, which is not far from you, and we do 2 family vacations a year and try to make the second trip a driving trip, so we don't have to pay for airfare and car rental.

Here are some ideas:

We stayed at Massanutten in the Shandoah Mountains and loved it. Its should be a 4-5 hr ride for you and there is so much to do there. As a bonus, it is an easy exchange.

Fairfield Plantation (Lake Tara III is part of the same development). We are staying there in August. It is located on a Lake in a mountaineous area, which is supposed to be very beautiful and is about 1/2 hour outside of Atlanta. There are many things to do in the city, plus many outside. There is the worlds largest aquarium, Stone Mountain, MLK stuff, Coke & CNN tours,etc. It should be a 12-13 hr drive for you.

Wisconsin Dells - My SIL's family and mine are sharing a presidential 4 bedroom unit at Fairfield Glacier Canyon. I think, but am not sure, that the drive is about 17 hours from me. Wisconsin Dells is the water park capital of the world. The fairfield resort we are staying at has 6 water parks, plus restaurants, etc.

Good luck with your planning.

Joe

Don't forget Hilton Head Island! That is a great vacation spot for families with children. You can do bike riding throughout the island and take day trips to Savannah or Charleston. It's a tough trade in summer but it is enjoyable all year round.

Enjoy.

I saw this on MSNBC and saved it. I'm going to try to do as many of these as I can with my kids.

15 Places Every Kid Should Visit

joestein said:

Wisconsin Dells - My SIL's family and mine are sharing a presidential 4 bedroom unit at Fairfield Glacier Canyon. I think, but am not sure, that the drive is about 17 hours from me. Wisconsin Dells is the water park capital of the world. The fairfield resort we are staying at has 6 water parks, plus restaurants, etc.

Joe

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I truly believe this is our FAVORITE resort at the Dells - Wilderness. We LOVE going there! The pools/water parks don't seem that busy, because there are so many different ones to go to. There are 3 different indoor parks, 3 different outdoor parks, plus a ball-shooting area. My kids 12 and 14 love going there - we've been going there for at least 5 years and they keep adding new things to do.

keep it coming....

sdwrdt said:

I truly believe this is our FAVORITE resort at the Dells - Wilderness. We LOVE going there! The pools/water parks don't seem that busy, because there are so many different ones to go to. There are 3 different indoor parks, 3 different outdoor parks, plus a ball-shooting area. My kids 12 and 14 love going there - we've been going there for at least 5 years and they keep adding new things to do.

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Been there several times/highly reccomend it with kids, it is like Myrtle Beach/Branson with Water Parks on steriods....

The Kalahari resort is another good one. Plus the town has tons of shows/etc...

You can also combine this with a stay in Chicago (3 1/2 hour drive)