Vacation ideas needed

In My Humble Opinion
1

OK, we’re planning on taking a vacation this year, but I’m kinda running out of ideas. Two adults, no children. Vacations we’ve been on in the past:

DisneyWorld (most recent was November of 2002)
Backpacking and Hiking (Big Bend National Park and Guadalupe Mountain National Park)
Caving (well, sorta; Carlsbad Caverns; enjoyed it but let’s face it: they’re a bunch of rocks)
White Water Rafting (Durango, CO; I LOVED this; he liked it well enough to do it again)
Bahamas + 6 hour cruise (honeymoon almost 10 years ago; didn’t like it much and hated the cruise)
Las Vegas (free trip; stayed in the NYNY Hotel; fun but we’re not gamblers so it was a bit difficult to find stuff to do)

A few things to note: we’re not really drinkers and we’re not at all clubbers, so anything that emphasizes nightlife-type activities won’t interest us. We have to do something. We don’t want vacations that have us lying/sitting around and doing nothing but talking. We’ll almost certainly be driving, though that could change. Cost should be less than $2000 total.

So, any suggestions?

2

KellyM and I went to the bad lands the year before last. It was great. There is the kitschy Wall drug that had really good roast beef, free ice water, and 5 cent cups of coffee. The corn palace in Mitchell too! Then there were the bad lands themselves. Breathtaking views. If you like to hike more than we do it is even better. Lots of wildlife too. I loved Custer state park–the buffalo and burros walking up to the car on the wildlife trail, and then the places with prarie dogs. Lots of birds, too. The view from sheep table mountain was the best. The book roadside geology of South Dakota tells where to find the best views. Lots of daytime sites and activities in the area ranging from caves, and the stave church, to the flintstone bedrock city thing. Camping, fishing, etc. are available in the Black Hills and then you can always visit the heads.

3

Canoeing in the Ozarks. This can be done on a day-trip basis, possibly floating on several different rivers on different days, or as multiple days on the same river. With daytripping, you can stay in the canoe outfitter’s campgrounds or motels. With a multi-day trip, you carry your food and gear in the boat and camp on the riverbank (which is usually splendid camping). It won’t be whitewater, but most rivers have some exciting parts now and then, peppered among otherwise tranquil cruising.

Route 66 road trip. There are numerous points of interest along this legendary highway or what’s left of it. One of these is the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo. Books are available that describe various interesting things to see, often with intriguing history behind them.

Depending on the time available, the above two things could be combined.

4

How about a trip up towards TN/north Georgia/SC? There’s whitewater rafting and all the touristy stuff in Gatlinburg/Lookout Mountain.

5

Hmmm. You are in Ft. Worth, I see, so this is a bit of a trip, but I still suggest Colonial Williamsburg, VA. It is a reproduction of a colonial town, circa 1750 or so. The entire town has shops, craft houses, crafts men, and other areas with people trained to reproduce the life of that era. You wander around, stop in, watch them make barrels, wigs, musical instruments, jewelry, paper, newspapers, etc. in the same way they did in the 1700s. There are special events at various times during the day. They can see the way muskets were loaded and shot, visit the gaol (that’s jail), see where the House of Burgesses debated the Declaration of Independence, have lunch and hear ballads of the era, watch a horse being shod, take a carriage ride, visit the Governor’s Palace, see how the various areas are excavated (it is still an active archeological site). It can easily take a week to do. If you want to vary your eras, you can go down the Colonial Parkway and see Jamestown (a hundred years earlier), see glass being blown, hear what it was like to build a stockade, go down to Yorktown and see the surrender of the Revolutionary War. End the evening in one of the Colonial Restaurants, with peanut soup and authentic colonial dishes.

If the kids give up and want real rides, Busch Gardens is right down the road. Almost as good as Disney World, but not quite. Divided into three parts, Germany, France, and Italy. It’s quite a drive from Texas, but you can fly into Richmond or Newport News (either about an hour away), or into Washington Dulles and drive about two and a half hours and catch the sights in Washington as well if you want to stop over. Or fly into Norfolk, spend some time on the beach (Virginia Beach is really one of the country’s best) and then to go Williamsburg.

The second best restaurant in Virginia is the Trellis, in Colonial Square (used to be — I understand it has gone down a bit, but it could go down a lot and still be great).

It truly is a great vacation.

6

Thanks for all the advice, everyone. I’ll mention these to Mr. Deadly and see if he’s interested in any of them.

7

Just to refine this suggestion a bit, may I recommend Chattanooga? You might not realize it, but Chattanooga’s become quite a wonderful place to visit in the last decade or so. The downtown area has been (and is being, in some cases) transformed into a thriving area with lots of attractions, shopping, and dining. The catalyst, of course, is the Tennessee Aquarium, a wonderful and unique institution, focusing as it does on freshwater species. The special limited-time exhibits are usually quite good as well – recent years have seen exhibits on jellyfish, seahorses, snakes, and others. There’s also an IMAX theater affiliated with the aquarium. The downtown area also includes a hands-on children’s science museum that’s also fun for adults and the Hunter Musueum of American Art, along with several other museums.

All of the downtown attractions are in easy walking distance of each other, and there are free electric shuttle buses that run back and forth from the Aquarium at the river on the north side of downtown to the Chattanooga Choo Choo (the wonderful old downtown train station that’s now a Holiday Inn hotel) at the south end. The riverbank area near the aquarium has sidewalk walkways that wend along the bluff up to the Hunter Museum and to the south end of the Walnut Street Bridge, which is closed to vehicle traffic but open to pedestrians (it’s supposedly the world’s longest pedestrian bridge), and serves as a link to Coolidge Park on the north side of the river, which is home to a huge old-fashioned carousel with hand-carved wooden animals, housed in a wood-and-glass gazebo-like building. There’s also a small shopping/dining area along Frazier Avenue around Coolidge Park. Also downtown is Bell South Park, the fairly new home of the Southern League (Class AA) Chattanooga Lookouts baseball team. There’s so much stuff to do and so many good places to stay just in the downtown area that my family and I have made several weekend trips up to Chattanooga and spent two whole days going from one activity to another without ever getting in a car.

If you do get in your car, however, there’s even more to do and see within an easy drive. The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum is great (you can even take the train between the Chattanooga Choo Choo downtown and the TVRR Museum outside of town). Lookout Mountain, including the Incline Railway, Ruby Falls, and Rock City are worth the visit, albeit somewhat touristy (at least Ruby Falls and Rock City). There are lots of places to go whitewater rafting or canoeing nearby (including the Ocoee River, site of the whitewater events for the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games), and there are plenty of caves in the area. There’s lots of Civil War history, with Lookout Mountain, Chickamauga, Resaca and other sites nearby.

You could easily fill two weeks with things to do in the Chattanooga area. We’ve been probably fifteen times in the last ten years, and there’s still things we haven’t gotten around to, like the Chattanooga Zoo (I’m told it’s small, but nice). Since your profile says you’re coming from Ft. Worth, it’d be a long but workable drive to take I-20 straight to Atlanta, then I-75 north for another hour and a half to Chattanooga. You could even make a Grand Tour of Tennessee by taking I-24 up to Nashville and the I-40 west to Memphis on your way home – though maybe you’d want to do the other way round. As much fun as Memphis and Nashville can be, they might seem disappointing after spending a few days in Chattanooga.

8

Last June, we very much enjoyed a trip to Seattle (nice city) and the drove around the Olympic Peninsula. We drove to the top of a mountain, played in the snow (it was 72 degrees!), visited the beautiful rocky Pacific coast, ate lots of seafood, visited the Hoh rainforest (relatives of the redwoods), and the Pike Street Market in the city.

Seattle has an aquarium that words cannot described… seahorses (… have you ever heard of the seahorse called a sea dragon? They come in “leafies” and “weedies”. I never had.), otters, starfish (pet them!). I went in thinking “Well, I don’t care that much about aquariums.” Boy was I wrong. Muy fantabuloso.

We rode the ferries, but did not ride the ferries to Canada, though.

We planned well and spent around $3500.00 dollars for 3 adults and two kids over 7 days.

Happy planning!

9

I LOVE Chattanooga, just to second that. We’d had a whole day planned around going to the Aquarium and then out to Rock City and such and wound up going to the Aquarium all day, then eating in a microbrewrey (with great beer) for dinner. The Aquarium itself is a site to see.

10

rackensack, thanks for all that information.

I, too, am planning a vacation, and was considering the SE United States. I’m definitely going to consider Chattanooga now, based on all your links and stuff.

11

South Dakota’s really fun. I’ve been there a few times. My dad and sister and I always stayed in Rapid Springs (Falls? Er . . . a big city in SD).

Lotsa caves, Reptile Gardens, Mt Rushmore not too far away, same with Devil’s Tower.

Chicago’s fun, too, if you want a big city.

12

Rapid City, SD. It is a big town for that area.

13

I wish you weren’t so far from Maine. My husband and I went for a short vacation to Coastal Maine and were really charmed. The landscape was neat (plenty of hiking if you’re into it) and the towns were historic and distinctive. Shipbuilding, whaling, lighthouses, lobstering–you don’t get that everywhere!

Speaking of which, I hate lobster, but my husband (who likes it) was in heaven.

14

I would look at a train trip that starts in Toronto and goes???. Toronto is an interesting city to bounce around in for a day and I think a train trip to someplace that you could camp at.

Since You’re in Texas you could go South and visit some pyramids. I personally like to indulge in living history so a trip through the Panama Canal would be interesting. You said you don’t like to sit on your ass but an ocean cruise gives you time to read some books, take in some good food (in moderation), and see some sights.

15

Saint Augustine is nice. Also check out Key West.

16

I can’t believe that no one has mentioned Carhenge

One of the many great cultural icons of western Nebraska and only a hop, skip, and a jump from the Lance Creek fossil area in Wyoming.

17

It isn’t unheard of to be able to go out of the country for that amount of money. Mark and I went to Sweden for under that. Not for long… heh, but we went. Package deals can make a difference and its usually worth your time and money to check out the discount sites.

18

DeadlyAccurate,
As a fellow Fort Worthian, may I suggest the following:

Petit Jean Mountain (near Morrilton, AR). Beautiful lodge, beautiful waterfall, hiking trails, etc. Really neat display of the Rockefeller’s car collection (it’s amazing). Close by and cheap (check out Mather Lodge with a search engine; they have a website).

Lake Ouachita State Park (near Hot Springs, AR). They have nice A-frame cabins that are fairly cheap. Plenty of room for family with a deck (kinda) overlooking the lake. IIRC, you can rent a boat and explore the lake (it’s huge with a jillion islands to explore, cookout, etc.). My kids love it (we’ve been there at least a dozen time, and have spent 3 weeklong vacations there).

Mountain Harbor (same lake in AR). They rent houseboats (I think you can do a week within your 2K budget). I’ve never done this, but co-worker’s have, and they loved it. I think you can rent houseboats equipped with jetskis on the back. They have a website too, (I think it’s mountainharbor.com).

FWIW: we’ve done roughly the same vacations you mentioned in your post. Hated the cruise, hated Dismalworld (really hated it; we refer to it as Uncle Walt’s Wallet Vacuuming Emporium).

Hope some of this helps

19

You know, that’s interesting. I grew up in Chattanooga and I don’t think of it as a tourist spot - I think if it as a dull place I have to go to see my family, but I do know how much effort they’ve put into improving the city. Next time I make it down there, I may actually have to check out the city again (I left in 1991, and haven’t really been back for a significant amount of time since 1997).

DeadlyAccurate, I’d go with their opinions here, because I’m a little biased. :slight_smile:

20

Found the links to the places I mentioned:

Petit Jean Mountain:
http://www.petitjeanstatepark.com/lodge/default.asp

Mountain Harbor (Lake Ouachita):
http://www.mtharbor.com/