Swanky?
Sunny?
Sight Seeing?
We are trying to plan a little vacation during spring break, it's a rare opportunity for us to get away while the kids are out of school. School vacations are Gray's busiest times at Super Great Doll Place, so most of our vacations have involved Lulu and Deke missing a week of school during non-holidays. Now that Lulu is in high school we are going to take a vacation like regular people. Budget will be our number one consideration. I don't want to have to stay at the Kabul Intercontinental Hotel, so I am frantically researching affordable places to visit.
Our last vacation was to Paris and London last spring. Did you know that the dollar has the same value as pocket lint? Yikes!
Any ideas?
Our last vacation was to Paris and London last spring. Did you know that the dollar has the same value as pocket lint? Yikes!
Any ideas?
12 comments:
I must put a good word in for my own great state: NEW MEXICO! If you've never visited Santa Fe, it's worth considering! The oldest city in the US. There are swanky things to do (check 'Ten Thousand Waves' or 'Ojo Caliente') very nice hotels, a zillion restaurants, cafes, ART GALLERIES omg yes... *ahem* ...forgive me, I love it here!! !! It is beautiful, exotic, spiritual, and yet still small. You can also visit Native American pueblos on the little reservations and they sometimes have feast days or dances that are open to the public. Taos is about an hour or so away, too.
Okay there's my 2 cents for a swell spring break!
Planning for a vacation is half the fun. When I took my 3 1/2 week trip to the big island of Hawaii, I planned for weeks. Have a great time!
Teresa
I apologize in advance for a long comment. But I have an idea for you.
I have not traveled out of the country so no suggestions there. But, if your heart is not set on that, the best vacation we ever taken has been driving Route 66. We have had the chance to see a lot of it many times on our way from here (CA) to visit my dad every summer in Missouri. One year in particular we took the time to REALLY see it. The year Ford released the new Mustang, they set up some geocaches along Rte 66 along with AAA and a website to journal about the route. Two guys made the trip in a new Mustang and logged daily about the very cool things to see and do along the route. That year we followed their suggestions and found the geocaches and saw so many many cool things off the beaten path.
Geocaching is an activity that uses a gps to find hidden caches or stashes of cool stuff - a technological treasure hunt so to speak. Often geocaches take you to special or very interesting places you might miss otherwise.
I have collected many books on Route 66 and have been fortunate enough to visit many of the historic sights and off beat Roadside America. If you love vintage, these giant vintage nostalgic sights are there for the taking in. Sadly, many of these treasures are quickly fading away. We saw a huge difference this last summer vs. the last 20 years we have driven the route. It may not have much left to see years down the road. It is a shame because it is truly a national treasure to me.
There are some websites that offer the best of Roadside America. One is called just that. I have collected finding the world's largest things for a long time and many are listed there. I have slept in one of the last wigwam motels and stood in downtown Winslow singing the Eagle's song that mentions it. I've stood at the edge of a giant crater and the Grand Canyon and Canyon Diablo where the skeleton of a very interesting former roadside attraction once was during the height of Route 66's use. (it was cursed by Indians 100's of years ago and there is quite a story there.) I have stood in the mouth of a whale and seen climbed in a petrified forest. There is just so much to do!
I know the thought of driving scares some away. But my kids actually have learned to love it now - with ipods and laptops and built in dvd players traveling has gotten much easier for kids.
Thank you all for such wonderful ideas!
linda
How about historic Boston? You've got the Museum of Art, Museum of Science, the New England Aquarium, Faneuil Hall, Fenway, the Freedom Trail, Boston Common, tons of fresh seafood, the South End for Italian...mmm mmm!
Good luck planning! Sounds fun.
Well, I used to work in the travel industry, so I definitely have some ideas. However, I don't know where you've already been...
So, internationally I would recommend Central or South America. Especially Costa Rica or Peru (Machu Picchu!) Or, a yacht cruise of the Galapagos Islands. Not sure what "on a dime" means to you, but South America is much more reasonable than Europe!
Stateside in the spring, I agree with hope505, New Mexico or Arizona would be great, or possibly the Carolinas or Savannah, Georgia...
That's my 2 cents! Have fun planning!
Looks like I have some Googling to do.
Linda
Take your gang to the Wisconsin Dells--stay at the Wilderness in a cabin and enjoy the gigantic indoor waterparks--and go the 2nd weekend of Feb. when I'll be there and we can meet for drinks! (Did you see the ulterior motive coming?)
How about Mexico? Great weather, amazing food...much more affordable than Europe.
Key West is awesome. You can walk all over the island and it is great. If you go be sure to visit Ernest Hemmingway's home.
There are so many wonderful things to see there... I went last Feb and didn't want to come home.
Coco
Having traveled to Rio de Janeiro two times in the past two months I simply MUST recommend it to you! I have loads of info I could send, but as long as you stay tight as a family you'll be fine - this wouldn't be a trip where the kiddos could run off by themselves for a day. But Ipanema & Barra are great beaches and there's the Christo to see and Sugar Loaf! Also hanggliding, bicycling, jungle tours, etc. Seeing the favalas first-hand was amazing too!
Wherever you end up I'm sure it will be fun!
Take care!
We travel so much by train to seattle the cost really adds up quickly. So we did some research on the benifits of an Amtrack credit card, which is a reular credit card. The difference is with each use you acquire travel points that can be redeemed for a train tickets. It's awesome. If you put utilities or groceries on the account then there no added spending to gain points. you must maintain a zero balance. It all works great for us. We can also purchase tickets for our family. We haven't paid for a train ticket for a couple years. We're now planning a family trip to the coast of Santa Barbara Calif.
I highly recommend it. It's a very scenic way of travel.
Sweet wishes,
Sara
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