A vacation you took within our borders that you really enjoyed…

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  2. PNW with friends. Exploring Seattle and the area around it was fantastic. It’s beautiful and we had plenty to do. We spent one day in the city and then went on hikes and visited beaches and parks. Definitely a place I’d go back to again and again.

  3. Guam 🇬🇺

    It’s far enough away it’s like going to a foreign country but everything is still to the American standard like currency and driving signs/laws.

  4. My wife and I took a road trip starting here in southwest Colorado and going up to Glacier National Park. We went through Moab, Salt Lake City, Jackson Hole, Yellowstone, Missoula and Bozeman. It took us two weeks and I wanted to end it by driving to Seattle and coming back down the coast but we ran out of time.

  5. I’m not sure that you’d necessarily call it a vacation but it was a road trip nonetheless. I helped my cousin move from Florida to Augusta, Maine. We drove all the way up the eastern seaboard. I’m from the west coast and have never seen that part of the country. New England is a very beautiful part of the country. I don’t know why but I did not picture it anywhere near as mountainous as it is.

  10. My family used to go camping at a fairly unknown lake in Western Maine. I loved it out there communing with the trees and moose.

    All the regular fun camping stuff, with the added benefits of swimming all day (my favorite thing when I was a kid) in a clear lake and being in one of the most beautiful spots in the US. We would stay up at night listening to a radio station being broadcast out of Québec while making s’mores and catching fireflies. Sometimes we would use felled trees to build forts or climb up rocks and hills to see if we could see any civilization. We knew a couple of the other regular campers in the area, so we would sometimes see who brough horseshoes, badminton, frisbee, whatever and set that up by the lake when we needed to get out of the water. I didn’t have it in me to eat any fish I caught, so we realized I’d have more fun rowing an old, leaky rowboat than casting a line.

    We would sometimes take a daytrip to the coast where we would visit lighthouses and boat around or see who could stay in the water without turning purple (we were dumb kids). We always liked going back to the less busy woods, though.

    The most exciting bits of those vacations were when my parents stopped to pick up disposable cameras for all of us on the way there. It was the *best* having my own camera and then eventually seeing my own photos (I suppose I’ve aged myself a little).

    That was a long time ago and I have no idea if this place even still exists. I’m afraid to look, honestly, because I’ll be a little crushed if it doesn’t.

  11. For me, it had to be Boston and cape cod on the weekend of July 4th. So much historical stuff and driving around the coast was really fun. The food was great and the Red Sox game we went to was amazing. And we saw a great fireworks show over the river with the skyline behind it in Cambridge. Wondering if any of yall had amazing trips you were willing to share.

  12. I grew up in a small town in Texas, so going to Los Angeles and actually experiencing a real big city for the first time was pretty awesome and eye opening, but also kinda sad because alot of the people I encountered were generally cold and unfriendly.

  13. From Cincinnati west to Denver then Grand Junction, Colorado to see the Grand Mesa and the Colorado national monument. Stopped in Vegas for a few days for rest and good food then on to Mammoth California (summer off season, 700 dollar rooms for 89) and the backdoor to Yosemite (up route 395). From there to Visalia and backdoor to Kings Canyon and Sequoia national park. Back to Vegas for more rest/partying then Grand Canyon for a week of camping. Threw in the Painted Desert/Petrified Forest then a week in Iowa with my daughter. Over 5 week road trip and 6000 miles. The year before was somewhat similar but mainly the Canyon and Utah parks

  15. Chicago during the summer. Great food, weather, views and easy to get around by foot. Good mixture of sightseeing and local spots too.

  17. Before kids:

    **West/Northwest baseball/camping trip.**

    Drove from SLC through Tetons to Yellowstone and camp. Yellowstone is just so majestic *and* varied — from boiling pools and geysers to northwestern wildlife to beautiful rock formations and waterfalls. I’m so glad I made it to this park.

    Drove from Yellowstone to Seattle. Air BnB, saw Mariners baseball, (at the time, they had HAPPY HOUR! At a ballpark! I knew I was going to like this town). Went to the fish market and the Boeing Museum (SR-22, Concorde, and Airforce 1 walkthroughs!) grabbed a coffee. 😉

    Drove from Seattle to Eugene. Stayed with friends. Drank LOTS of beer and wine. (I wish we had a little more time — we probably would have gone wine tasting in the Willamette valley.)

    Drove from Eugene to the Bay Area. On as much of the 1 or 101 as possible, but we had to take larger highways because of time. Detoured to Santa Rosa to stop at Russian River Brewing for a Pliny the Elder. (If we would have had more time, we would have spent a couple of nights in Napa or Sonoma–that’s one of our favorite extended weekend trips.)

    Stayed on the beach at Stinson Beach, on the bay. The wind was incredible, but so were the views in the morning and in the evening.

    Headed into the Bay Area. Went to a Giants game (with wine tasting beforehand, of course). We got to drive on Lombard street and see downtown SFO, drive the Golden Gate and take obligatory pics. On the Oakland side (where we stayed), we got to explore downtown, and then took BART to an A’s game (probably tied for worst MLB ballpark I’ve ever been to — but we got AMAZING seats for cheap!),

    Drove to Reno (meh, it wasn’t quite as bad as I’d expected–kinda fun gambling and an OK atmosphere) and then home.

    ***

    I love vacations that mix outdoors (nature, hiking, camping) with exciting city activities (nice hotels, culture, sports, museums), and drinking. :).

    If I did it again (and still, probably without having kids), I would have stayed one more day in Seattle (just to see a bit more of the city), one more day in Eugene (wine tasting in Willamette), probably two more days driving the 1 or 101 and camping in NW California around the redwoods or Muir woods.

    ***

    **Runner up** (we did it with one toddler, but children older than that are buzzkills till they can swim well and hike a reasonably long way without complaining, I think)

    **Hawaii — O’ahu & Maui**. Food, beaches, shopping and zoo in and near Waikiki, hike Diamondhead, snorkeling in Hanauma Bay, Snorkeling in Molokini, drive (some of) the Road to Hana, sit and enjoy time at resorts.

    Again, some nature + some city stuff. Relaxing, great weather, beautiful, and I love the island spirit.

  18. Up north(not the UP for non-michganders). You’ll see some pretty things up there

  19. Fossil Rim in Glen Rose, Texas. It’s a nature preserve with self-guided tours where you can go around and feed the animals. The variety of animals they have is amazing: gemsbok, rhinos, giraffes, maned wolves, and more! It really feels like you’re going on a safari!

  20. A road trip from Minnesota to Canyon lands national park in Utah, off-roading/backcountry camping along the white rim trail and in the needles district. The trip also included a stop at Arches and Moab. With a three year old even.

  24. Snowmobiling in Maine was awesome. Locals were so friendly and welcoming. Trails were absolutely awesome

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