Favorite Vacation Ideas?

[sassafras]

Pretty self explanatory. My husband and I are brainstorming for a summer vacation and while there are things/places we enjoy, there isn't anywhere or anything we absolutely MUST do this year. So I am throwing it out there in the hopes that some little corner of the world we've never heard of or considered but someone else loves will strike our fancy.

I'm not going to put any qualifiers on it as far as destinations, activities, or budget because I just want to see what everyone comes up with. We'll whittle it down to fit our personal constraints, but for now anything goes!

[GipsyQueen]

We're heading to Tennerifa in September. I can't WAIT. Its supposedly so beautiful Hiking, Beach, sun...
It's not too expensive for us though, because the flight is within Europe, no idea what it would be from the US

[Beanie]

Well, like I said in another thread, my dream vacation would be to go to Hawaii... do some island hopping... hike around through nature... swim... forever.


Realistically, though, I would like to pack the dogs up and drive to a place on the east coast where I can stay with the dogs and take them to a dog friendly beach so we can all play in the ocean!

[tzigane]

I'm heading to the mountains for a vacation - Asheville, specifically. It's not terribly far (a few hours drive), but it's my kind of city: hippie, local food friendly.

[DJEtzel]

We went to Corolla, NC this past summer/fall... rented a house right by the ocean... The beaches were dog friendly as were many attractions and shops, and many of the houses, too.

It was beautiful, great scenery, very relaxing and not *that* expensive, either, for being an "upscale" area.

[~Jessie~]

One of my favorite vacations was what we did last year- rented a house on the ocean with a pool in San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua. It's a laid back surfing town with a bunch of restaurants. We spent most of the time swimming, eating, and drinking, which was a huge win.

Renting a cabin in the Smoky Mountains makes for a nice vacation with dogs. There are a handful of trails in the Smoky Mountains National Park that allow dogs. Most of the cabin companies offer really nice cabins with great views and hot tubs- perfect for relaxing with a beer after a long hike

I really enjoyed Ireland and Scotland. We did B&B driving tours with both. County Wicklow (right outside of Dublin) in Ireland was beautiful- rolling hills, lush scenery, and Glendalough was one of my favorite places I've ever been.

Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard are really nice in the summer months. Provincetown (the tip of Cape Cod) is a colorful, fun place with good shops and good food. If you did either of those, you could combine them with a couple of days in Boston.

The White Mountains in New Hampshire are gorgeous, as is coastal Maine in the summer.

[sassafras]

I'm bumping this for Monday morning.

[JessLough]

Somebody I know is going to Curacao, and it sounds really nice. I know like nothing about it though LOL

[Psyfalcon]

I tend to like the more active ones.

Boundary Waters
Loop of Arches/Canyonlands/Zion and so forth. Maybe Grand Canyon.
Warm/beaches? Hawaii is easy from the west coast, but you also have Fl, or some place in the Caribbean.
Colder? Go visit the Polar Bears near the Hudson Bay

[milos_mommy]

Well, I LOVE to talk about traveling.

My dream vacations include (realistically) NoLa, Quebec, and more of California (maybe San Diego or San Jose), and (idealistically) Borneo, Paris, and Argentina.

Places I've been, divided by category:

CITIES:

New York - if you've never been here, come here. It IS expensive...but you can find lots of ways to save and there's a zillion free or low-cost things to do. It's definitely only fun if you want a city vacation, but past the fact that it's not a relaxing beach vacation, there's stuff for everyone...really cool historical sites, great art and science museums, fantastic shopping, shows, amazing food, botanical gardens/parks, nightlife, etc. Very dog friendly - most stores that don't sell food allow dogs, many hotels allow dog, there's very little breed/size restriction.

Boston - lots and lots of history, which is really cool, beautiful old buildings, they also have some impressive art museums, and some cool shopping. It's kind of hard for me to compare the restaurants/nightlife/etc. to New York, but it seems like there are some good places. The downsides are public transportation is slow and terrible and if you drive, good luck figuring out how the roads work.

Los Angeles - Also fun and kind of caters to lots of people...obviously there's less historical stuff and old architecture there. It might be *slightly* geared towards the younger, more night-lifey crowd, or families. On the plus side it's close to both the beach and mountains, and there's tons of hiking/swimming/etc...within VERY close distance to the city, you can walk to whichever you're closer to. The flowers are gorgeous. The weather is gorgeous. There's lots of neat art museums and shows, and the shopping is so great you need an extra suitcase for all the cool stuff you'll want to buy.

Washington DC - I've only been here for short weekend/overnight trips and it never seems like enough time. Lots of history/politics/and tons of fabulous museums (even better than New York!)...but not a whole lot of shopping, nightlife, etc. You can get to things like hiking/canoeing/kayaking/outdoorsy stuff, but it's not that convenient to someone staying in the city (especially without a car). Public transportation is easy/safe/good.

BEACHES:

Cape Cod - Cape Cod is ADORABLE. I've actually only been there off-season, and the stores/restaurants/bed and breakfasts/etc. are all really fun and cute then. I'm not sure if in summertime it gets horribly overcrowded or something, but I don't think so. The landscape is beautiful, there isn't really any crazy nightlife but there is a small bar scene and stuff like local cover bands/small outdoor concerts. There's lots of whale watching. And fishing/kayaking/beaches.

Ok I'll write more later! I'll tell you all about The Hamptons, various beach areas in Florida, and all the camping/mountainy/lake vacations I've done.