Family vacations?

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-14-2000
Family vacations?
8
Tue, 11-22-2005 - 9:57am

Has anyone been on a family vacation that has been really memorable?

Pam
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-21-2005
Tue, 11-22-2005 - 10:18am

Pam,
Our most memorable family vacation was when we went to Hawaii to celebrate our 25th anniversary. Dd was twelve and it was the perfect age for a trip like that. She was old enough to go off on her own and young enough to play in the surf with her dad. We stayed away - for the most part - from the tourist traps. We spent five days in Maui and two of those days were in Hana, a beautiful remote village with one resort (they don't have televisions - at the resort, that is) and we also went to Lanai and Kauai. When we were planning, dd could not understand why we weren't going to Honolulu, but when we flew over it she said "It looks like Akron." We saved for TEN YEARS for this trip and every moment of it was magic. Even the part where we missed the plane from Lanai to Kaui!!

Anyway, it was the trip of a lifetime. We usually go to Fla every summer, also. Our family (my sisters and us) have a condo there (inherited from my parents). The only way we can afford it is to rent it in the winter, so we can only go in summer!

ALL of your destinations sound terrific. My family would be happy at any of those places.

jt

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-20-2005
Tue, 11-22-2005 - 10:40am

My girls would say the beach at North Carolina - either Kure or Okracoke. They are clean, not crowded and relatively inexpensive. There are some wonderful aquariums there.

I personally love the Ozark Mts. simply b/c they are fairly close to home, not too hot, peaceful and nothing to do. My girls even like short trips b/c they can canoe or hike. I like the quiet.

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-22-2003
Tue, 11-22-2005 - 10:50am

Hi Pam!

We all love to travel here and have taken quite a few memorable trips. Tops on the list is London. It is such an amazing, fun city. DH and I have been a few times and we took the kids a few years ago. They absolutely loved it. You don't need to rent a vehicle because you can get just about anywhere in the city/country in a taxi, on a bus, the Tube or a trains. The trip inspired DD to want to attend college in England.

I took both kids to WDC this past summer. (DH had been many times and declined to go, but met us up later in GA to spend time with his family.) WDC is an awesome city -- so much to see and do. We were there about 10 days and didn't do/see everything I wanted. You can just about OD on museums and history. I was in awe most of the time. We stood in the same tavern George Washington and Thomas Jefferson ate! You can take lots of little side trips into MD, VA, etc. (I had a ghost encounter in a graveyard in Alexandria that was a little creepy.) We all agreed that seeing the original Declaration of Independence was the highlight of the trip. Like London, the mass transit network is huge and effecient, so you wouldn't need a car here, either. It was VERY humid when we went there; pretty sucky actually.

One trip that we have actually repeated a few times is one to the White Stallion Guest Ranch in Arizona. You don't have to be horsey to go, but it helps. We've always gone over Spring Break and there are tons of families with kids of all ages. My kids were pretty young the first time we went and they thoroughly enjoyed the freedom and comraderie with other kids they met there. Once you get there, just about everything is included -- with the exception of soda and alcoholic beverages. There's also a pool, tennis courts, nightly activities, etc. It's very fun.

I'm a native Californian and there is lots to see and do here; you can find just about anything you're looking for somewhere in the state I was born and raised in Northern California, but now live in the opposite end. It's a very pretty state, but pretty crowded and driving can be very stressful.

Well, I hope that helps a little! Let me know what you end up deciding -- it sounds like fun. But ... vacations always sound fun to me! We've actually just booked a trip for after Christmas to go snowmobiling for 3-days in Yellowstone National Park. I honestly don't like snow or being cold, but this just sounds like too much fun.

Julie

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-29-2003
Tue, 11-22-2005 - 11:19am

We went to Puerto Vallarta 2 yrs ago, and it was the MOST awesome trip. My family had NEVER taken a true vacation---and thanks to the generousity of my family (especially my father) we were able to spend a full week there. There is so MUCH to do----it is very commercial, though, so I don't want to make it seem as if the things to do aren't for the profit of the people there.......there are whale watching tours, swimming w/ dolphins (in a contained setting AND in the ocean itself..........we didn't get to do that, but we sure wanted to do the ocean swim w/ the dolphins.......they guarantee a certain percentige rate of being able to do so.....it's a high percentage, too) There are dune buggy tours, there is horseback riding, zip lines above the jungle, beaches, I could GO ON. There is tons of shopping....lots of hidey holes (I can tell you how to find a website that gives what the LOCALS like----)and great food. There are of course all inclusive resorts----but we didnt'stay at one, so we were out and about every day---away from our lodging, etc. They shot a couple of movies there--Night of the Iguana, and one of Arnold Schwartzaneggers.....so those sites are for tourists. There are water sports and deep sea fishing................it was absolutely the most awesome time I've ever had.

Good luck on your vacation choices. Sounds like there are lots of good ones!

Shels

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-18-2005
Tue, 11-22-2005 - 11:22am

The last two years we've done wonderful vacations in Canada. We did Montreal and Quebec City on one vacation, and Nova Scotia this year. It has the advantage of being in another country, but still familiar enough. Quebec City and the surrounding area are very French - Montreal had more people who spoke English - and lots of fun. Nova Scotia was BEAUTIFUL and your outdoors loving family might like it alot. Other than the city of Halifax (which was a nice city), it was very un-developed and remote. Cape Breton Highlands National Park is one of the most breathtaking places on earth! Nova Scotia also has alot of Scottish/Irish history, which was interesting (and different from Quebec).

Sue

Avatar for suzyk2118
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-30-1997
Tue, 11-22-2005 - 11:44am

What kind of vacation are you looking for? Relaxing on the beach? Museums? Historical places? Geographical wonders? You might want to narrow that down and then go from there.

We've done a few of those as families, and I've done one of another type way back with my boyfriend once I was working. I'd recommend them all.

With the family, we've done Disneyworld - with older kids, going to Downtown Disney is great. It's always been spring break so it's always been mobbed, but they are very clean and we loved the Port Orleans resort. We have done the parkhopper passes twice, and now those fast passes are invaluable to the cooler rides. DH wants to go again! Stay for a few days and then go across to NASA and see a shuttle on a pad, and get a hotel right on the ocean, or stick around Orlando and do Universal Studios.

We've also gone to San Diego and seen sights there. Some of the old missions are very cool, as is the one hotel that is known to be haunted.

We've done San Francisco and that's awesome. The Exploratorium is great, as are the tours of the bridge and Muir Woods - those redwoods are incredible. The museums along the coast are free and great.

We did Boston this year as ds wanted to check out MIT. We explored the campus, went to their museum, walked all over Harvard and checked out their incredible display of glass plants. The science museum is pretty good. Legal Seafood is always a favorite spot to stop, but also ask the locals for good spots for pizza and such to get a flavor for the area. There are duck tours, the Freedom Trail (at your own pace, so you can get as much out of it as you want), tours of the Constitution and many other historical buildings, shopping and snacking at Faneuil Hall, etc.

If you want more rustic, old boyfriend and I went to Seattle and Vancouver. We spent a few days in a B&B in Vancouver so that they could tell us what's cool to do and see based on 'local' perspective (we had some things in mind, but wanted the true flavor of the area as well). Then we camped on Vancouver Island at Little Qualicum Falls (cold, but just incredible - incredible scenery that you can ONLY see if you camp), and hiked and drove around the island, looked at salmon hatcheries on the mainland, toured their college campus (known for its architecture), went to some museums on their native people, visited their gaslit part of town trying local pub food, etc.

My mom and I spent 11 days in England and Scotland on a bus tour - anywhere from Oxford to Stratford-Upon-Avon, Coventry, up to Edinburgh - went to a Scottish festival after visiting Edinburgh Castle, saw where the Queen stays when not in London, back down to York (my favorite), saw the Shambles, then spent some time on our own in London (not part of the tour), had a wonderful time and it was on a shoestring budget - but we were treated and fed VERY well by this tour company and I'd use them again as a family.

Lots of good choices from others too - wish I had time to try them all!

Sue

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-03-2005
Tue, 11-22-2005 - 11:59am
Pam,
If you have never been to DC, then that would be a great vacation to take your boys on. They are old enough to really learn a lot. We have never been and would love to do that with the older boys (18& 15) but since our baby is only 6, I think it would not be fun for him. However, we took a long weekend trip to NYC last spring and all the kids loved it! We saw 2 shows on Broadway (again, plenty more to choose from if you just have teenagers. My oldest especially has asked if we can go back next summer for our vacation. We are still trying to figure out our vacation for next summer also. We are considering somewhere out west, possibly Oregon, because my inlaws live there and we thought they could meet up with us somewhere for part of the vacation. After I get through the holidays, my goal is get a vacation lined up for summer!
Shar
Avatar for heartsandroses2002
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 11-22-2005 - 12:31pm

We've had several!

Last year we went to California, San Francisco area. We stayed near my H's sister in Petaluma, but explored SF, a national Redwood Forest, we drove along the Ocean HWY and stopped in towns along the way, such as Monterey, Santa Cruz, & Carmel by the Sea - all gorgeous. We stopped while driving to see and take pictures of the Pacific Ocean, which was absolutely breathtaking, breaking against the huge rocky cliffs. This vacation was more busy, but it was fun.

The year before that we went to the Tampa, Florida area and we skipped the whole Disney thing and instead enjoyed relaxing days on the Gulf coast beaches, with day adventures that included driving along the gulf coast and stopping in little towns, such as Madeira Beach where we went shopping in all these little shops. I forgot to add that we went on a boat ride where we saw the dolphins playing in the wake of the boats - very cool. We also went to an aquarium, also very cool. We also went to the famous Clearwater beach piers. Another day we went to a water Park - can't remember the name. Anyway, that was a really nice, relaxing time.

Another year, my personal favorite, we rented a lakeside cabin up in Maine and just hung loose. We went boating, we took local tours, we drove up to NH, the Kangamakus Hwy, which is famous, and went swimming in little coves and waterfalls; we spent a day down in Portland Maine and walked along the historic area which is all cobblestone - we ate in town at a local pub and visited cook shops. We also got to see a small town Independence Day parade, which was so much fun. We BBQ-ed chilled by the lake - there was a raft out in the middle that we swam to and hung out. We didn't have any phones, tvs, radios or clocks so we ate when we were hungry, slept when we were tired and it was the MOST relaxing vaca I have EVER had.

We've taken a vaca on Cape Cod that was also very fun. We rented a house and there were bikes in the garage for us - so we biked a lot. We went canoeing at Nickerson State Park just near Orleans, Cape Cod, we went hiking, we walked around the cool little towns, we went to the beach and chilled. It was not high energy, but it was fun. There's lots to do on the Cape.

This year, we're toying with the idea of a cruise, but my 18dd doesn't want to go if she can't bring a GF, which is really okay, except that none of her friends can go. We're still trying to work out the details. So far, the best deal and the cruises that look like the best fun for our family is Royal Caribbean.

Good luck finding the vaca that fits you!




Edited 11/22/2005 12:35 pm ET by heartsandroses2002