Favorite Vacation Spots?

[tammyw]

Anyone want to share their favorite vacation spots? I feel like I've typed this post before, but I would be so quick to buy a travel book based on good  vacation recommendations for homeschoolers :)

[fritz]

Are you looking for vacation spots within the continental US?  Or elsewhere?  Beach?  Mountains?  Historical sites?  Is there a particular time of year you'd like to focus on?  (Suggestions for summer destinations will probably be different than suggestions for winter ones.)  If you can narrow the scope a bit, you'll probably get more replies.

[tammyw]

I actually want all sorts of responses - all sorts of places! I just think it would be a cool thing for people to share their favorite "homeschooling" vacations - I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd make use of this information ;) I just know there are loads of vacation ideas that I've never even considered, some probably right in my backyard of California. And coming from homeschoolers, I figured we'd get some great ideas, and years worth of ideas!

[Lisa1970]

Can I suggest South Dakota? There is so much rich history and culture there and I rarely hear of anyone going there. To the east you have Laura Ingalls Wilder Homestead and such. To the west, you have the Black Hills. You can see and learn so much. It is a trip I would only do in summer. But we love it. There is gold mining, and an old train ride....there is so much there.

[phathui5]

We had a great trip to the Outer Banks in North Carolina last year and are planning to go back this September. Since we went the week after Labor Day, we got a huge discount on a beach house rental.

Every day, we took the kids to the beach for hours. We saw shark eggs for the first time, washing up on the beach. I didn't believe that's what they were, so we looked them up online and learned more about sharks.

We took the kids to the Wright Brothers Memorial, where we heard a park range give a talk about flight and the Wright Brothers. My oldest ds got a "Flight" science kit at their gift shop, which he played with back at the rental house.

We also went to the Grave Digger garage (monster trucks!) and saw where they build the trucks.

[zebra15]

St Louis!  yep tons of museums (BIG FOOT, monster truck is there), the 'arch'   just tons and tons to do.  Plus about 4 hrs sw are the only 'drive thru' caves... the best tour ds and i ever took... I so wish we could get back there...

Other then STL DS wants to get to Washington DC ....

[fritz]

Well, I used to live in Los Angeles, and some of the things I loved doing (as both a child and an adult) would include:  concerts at the Hollywood Bowl (nosebleed seats are very affordable; park at a distant lot and take the shuttle bus in early so you have time to enjoy a picnic dinner before the music); the Museum of Natural History (fabulous architectural details inside); the La Brea Tar Pits; the Getty art museum; the Griffith Observatory was neat, if rather small; the Santa Monica Promenade and Pier, and Venice Beach Boardwalk are fun to walk (but avoid the Venice Boardwalk at night); the Pacific Coast Highway is a winding, gorgeous drive full of lovely coastal views (but check traffic before you go).  And I think I remember going to a Civil War battle re-enactment in/near the Tujunga Pass.  There's always something interesting going on, year-round.

San Francisco has a lot to offer (except parking spots), too.  The San Francisco Bay Bridge is amazing, but beware of peak traffic times.  Alcatraz is interesting, if slightly depressing.  Riding the trolly at night can be chilly, so bring a sweater or jacket.  Incredible variety of restaurants.

Everything in Hawaii (well, we visited Oahu and Maui) seemed exotic and exciting to my 12-year-old self, particularly the horseback ride through the pineapple plantation on Maui.  And the volcano.  Do not drive the Road to Hana unless you have an iron constitution and are doped up on Dramamine (or similar anti-carsickness meds).  Gorgeous vistas, and we stopped off at a beautiful black sand beach, but we were all ready to puke by the time we reached the top...and then we had to go all the way back down, in the rain.

Any major city usually has a decent selection of museums and aquariums or zoos.  It really depends on what your family's interests are.

For what it's worth, I like Baltimore's aquarium better than Boston's, but that's probably because of Baltimore's neat rainforest exhibit.  The Maryland Science Center at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore (basically next door to the aquarium) is a great place for hands-on learning/exploring for kids.  I enjoyed the variety of displays at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts.  When I was a kid my family walked the Boston Freedom Trail, which was certainly interesting/educational.

The Virginia Air & Space Center was a total blast for our geeky family in 2009.  We also enjoyed Jamestown, VA.  They've got a new, slick (air conditioned!) museum.  Go out to the ships (farthest from the visitor's center) first, then work your way back in and cool off inside.  It's mind-boggling how small those ships were (they have recreations there) that they sailed across the Atlantic hundreds of years ago.

The Montshire Museum of Science in Norwich, VT was lots of fun for my 5yo DS (Norwich is headquarters to King Arthur Flours, btw).  Quechee Gorge is breathtaking...there's a small scenic overlook next to a shopping center with some interesting wares.  One place has an elaborate model train set running in a huge display case down in the basement.  They were planning to build a visitor's center, but I'm not sure if they've moved forward with that yet.  We were last at Quechee Gorge in 2008.

The Kancamagus Highway in NH is amazing in the fall, when foliage is at its peak...but it also gets rather crowded from all the other leaf-peepers, and the hotels in the area are booked up far in advance.  A winding mountain road, so those with motion sickness should take precautions.  Mt. Washington is another fascinating destination in NH.  There's a scientific observation post at the top, and it's one of the windiest places in the world.  You can hike up, drive up, or take the cog railway up (which is slow, but it is a very steep incline).

We spent a pleasant afternoon at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, then grabbed a bite to eat at a place in the nearby (but very small) Little Italy.  While growing up, I visited Serpent Mound, which was neat.  We've also been out to Amish country in rural Ohio.  Oh, and Squire's Castle is a cool little building to explore (for kids--it's too small to get lost in) at a nice park.  Gorgeous greenery on the drive there in summer.

Brookgreen Gardens was a fabulous experience on our last Myrtle Beach, SC trip in 2010.  There's a neat Ripley's Aquarium at the shopping mecca Broadway at the Beach (which isn't at the beach; it surrounds a man-made lake).  It's a little on the small side, but there was a neat moving sidewalk through the shark display, so there were sharks next to you and above you at one point.

When I was really young, my parents took us to Niagara Falls (US side).  I can remember going into the locker room to put on a bright yellow slicker and some sort of fuzzy slippers.  Don't know if they still do that.

We visited a number of forts (Fort Sumter for sure).  I also remember a trip to Pueblo, NM.  And once we went to New York to see the Statue of Liberty.  On a different trip we went to Washington, DC.  I remember the metal detector at the White House, and that we couldn't get into the Washington Monument due to a lightning storm.  Ooh, and I remember touring Mark Twain's house in Hartford, CT.

Ahem.  Yeah, took a lot of road trips as a kid, although I was public-schooled--Dad was a history buff.  Can't take as many now b/c DS gets incredibly carsick.

Is that more along the lines of what you're looking for?  HTH!

[tammyw]

Great ideas so far! I just love getting new inspiration for vacations!

We lived in NC, very near the outer banks and sadly never went because our children were so little and we just weren't up for it. I wish we had! We also lived on Oahu for three years and saw everything it had to offer and also went to the Big Island (loved) and Maui.

Now we're in San Diego and I know there are some cool road trips from here. But I'm looking forward to thinking about some of the ideas presented so far.