OK, listen up!
I need everyone's help coming up with ideas for little family vacations. I am not talking about week long visits to Disneyland. I am talking about 3 to 4 day mini trips. The places to go would have to be within an easy day's drive and the cost within reason. I feel like there is nothing to do but go to Sin City, but we hate it there ~ especially now that the boys are older and more observant. I need specifics, like what to do once we are there - wherever it is. Get your creative juices flowing (mine are empty at the moment) and leave ideas! The winner with the best usable idea will receive a special prize!!!
8 comments:
Okay, so I don't live near you and really don't know how far things are for you or what you would consider an easy drive with five children. :) Anyway, my suggestion is Colorado Springs, CO. Look it up, there's tons to do. I think we'll head there sometime soon.
Dawn
You could always go to Yellowstone Park & Grand Teton National Park! No matter what Zack says, we only had one "camping trip from hell". ;-) Our family went to yellowstone a few times a year & didn't have very many "bad" experiences. There are geysers, TONS of animals, ie buffalo, elk, ducks, cranes, maybe a moose or 2, & if you're lucky a few bears & big horn sheep! There is a place at Old Faithful that has WONDERFUL ice cream!!! Grand Teton is also fun, with lots to do: there are lakes you can take boat rides in, skip rocks, wade, catch tadpoles, plus there are lots of trails that you can go hike on & a museum with lots of Native American artifacts. My favorite lake is Jenny Lake. If you go, make sure to hike up to Inspiration Point! Beautiful & breathtaking! There is a lodge in Yellowstone, (I don't know about pricing,) but there are tons of camp grounds in both parks, or if you aren't wanting to camp & do the "outdoorsy" thing with 5 kids, my parents live 1 1/2 hour drive away & I am positive that they would love to have you guys stay with them!!! They love to have family come visit, especially now that they are empty nesters! Ryan & Sarahi also live in Idaho Falls & have a house of their own. Also kind of on the way to Island Park/Yellowstone, there is Mesa Falls, which is beautiful. These are some of my very favorite places to go, that are fairly inexpensive. There is tons of stuff to do for 3-4 days! As kids, we always used to keep "count" of how many animals we saw & the states we saw license plates from. I could go on & on about Yellowstone & Grand Teton! People come from all over the world to see these parks!
Jackson, WY: western shows and dinners, swimming, skiing, Elk Refuge (5-6 hour drive)
Yellowstone, WY: Old Faithful, bears, elk, stinky but cool geysers (6-7 hours)
Sun Valley, ID: resorts, activities(4 hours)
Bryce Canyon, UT: Fremont Indian State Park and Cove Fort (on the way), horse back rides, ATV rides, hiking, swimming (4-5 hours)
Richfield, UT: Scenic Highway 89 (3 hours)
St. George, UT: Temple, swimming, lots of fun kids' activities, Dinosaur Land, golfing, etc. (4 hours)
Park City, UT: Olympic park, resorts, Alpine Slide, eating, swimming (less than 1 hour)
Daniel's Summit, UT: Snowmobiling, horse back riding, Strawberry, scenic Highway 40 (1 hour)
Cedar City, UT: SUU, plays, fun activities, Zions, Arches (3 hours)
Cortez and Durango, CO: Great national parks closeby, Monticello Temple (5 hours)
Malad, ID (2.5 hours)
Idaho Falls, ID (4 hours)
Boise (5-6 hours)
Reno, NV (Sin City #2 :-)(8 hours)
We have a new favorite place - Lo Lo Mai campground. Here's the link: www.lolomai.com
This place was amazing! There is so much stuff for the kids to do. The Standard cabin is perfect size for your family. There's a loft that could possibly sleep all your boys, plus another queen sized bed and a double bed with A/C!!! The campground itself has an outdoor pool and tons of trails for bike riding that are open pretty much all the time. We went in the middle of the summer and every area is shaded enough to keep cool, even for a skinny guy like me. We would love to go back - if you're interested, let us know. There are a bunch of hiking trails within 15 miles of the campground, too. Check it out - we loved it. The kids talk about it all the time.
St. George is Beautiful right now. Perfect weather. When we went in January we went hiking at "The Crack" and up "Snow Canyon" There are lot's of little mini hikes for kids and the crack is so fun. If you go we'll tell you more about it.
I would definitley say St. George in the Winter, Early Spring, and Late Fall....Summer is too blasted hot.
I was all in until you said homework.
then my brain shut down, my rebellion kicked in and I could only think about sluffing.
:)
Well I'll tell ya what we did for some family reunions:
Cherry Hill Water Park. There are Camping Grounds & we had a blast Swimming & Sliding, then coming back to the camper to eat & Barbecue & play Volleyball. Some family stayed for a few days in a row with a Week Pass. It was a fun memory.
Lagoon in Ogden. There are also Camper Grounds Nearby. I absolutely loved reunions at Lagoon. My Grandma would sit by the Ice Cooler under the Barbeque Pavillion (inside the park) while we all rode rides. We'd stop off & get some food & drink in-between rides. I loved having ready-made food available the entire day long! (I'd always ride the whimpy girl rides until I got older.) I know some people think Lagoon is boring, but for a whimp like me I love it. The Farris Wheel is even scary to me. I HOPE to have a family outing there when our kids are older.
Payson Lakes...& then there is real Camping. I love it if we come prepared to camp with all the goodies. & Floaties for the Lakes & bikes for the as fault paved trails. Campfire stories make for great memories.
Thats all I can think of for now!
Oh yah...theres also 7peaks water park, but thats just a one day thing ussually.
Come to Denver! Or Colorado Springs like your friend Dawn said. There is a ton of stuff to do around here. For example: There are gold mines where you can pan for gold, lots of museums, great zoos, fossil areas where you can learn about all the old life in CO, cave dwellings in Colorado Springs that you can climb all over, 3 castles to visit between there and Denver, state parks to go hiking and walking through, and best of all, US! We would get to possibly see you! I think it's like an 8 or 9 hour drive. Does that count as easy? Choose us and come out here!
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