Do you like camping? You could go to any of the National Parks. I’ve been to Yosemity (beautiful, but crowded), and Lassen (not quite as nice, but there’s practically no one around). Lassen’s good if you like Volcanos, and if you go to Yosemity, you can tell all your friends “See that cool picture of Half Dome? I’ve been there.”
pssst, it’s Yosemite
Lassen is fantastic, I’ve hiked it two or three times (I was little, so I’m not quite sure if I did it one time or not, can’t remember at the moment) I loved staying there too. There are tons of places in northern california that are fantastic for camping. I’d recommend Lassen, the Shasta area, Juniper Lake, and Yosemite. Great fun.
Oh, and if you visit Yosemite, go in the summer, theres a 2~ mile walk up to a fantastic waterfall that has a semi-closed off section upstream with natural granite waterslides (so fun). It’s on the same trail as you take to get up to half-dome, can’t remember the name right now, but I loved going there.
Washington’s good…the monuments and museums at least are all free.
Or maybe…the U.S. Air Force museum in Dayton, Ohio? Good place to see an SR-71, that.
Cancun. I went here.
Unlimited food, drinks, and sun.
The best weekend holiday I had was in Chicago. (Yes i know thats where you are) But hear me out. It happened that Cirque du Soliel was in town so we took a train down from Milwaukee and rented a hotel room in that hotel across from The Mart. We went to the Shed and the Lincoln Park Zoo and the The Field Museum. Just stepping a bit out of our ordinary days made a huge difference
Many hotels in Chicago have reduced fairs for the weekend you can go pretty upscale for what you don’t spend on the air fair. There should be some show or something going on in town you wouldn’t otherwise go to that you would like to see (there alway is in Chicago). Make it an event. Eat in restaurants you haven’t tried and play tourist. Dont take your cell phones or lap tops or even tell anyone where you are.
The other option is go see the Cirque in Vegas ( I like Cirque du Soliel, can you tell?)