Vacation Suggestions
 

I’ve been traveling on business for the better part of 4 months and I’ve racked up quite a few freebies – 100,000 Marriott points, 2 free rental days with National Rental Car, 2 $300 vouchers with United, thirty thousand frequent flier miles with US Air – all since January 1, 2010. I’m exhausted. It’s time to plan a vacation.

I’m going to parlay all that stuff into a cheap vacation for me and the wife. The real question is…where?

Details/Specifics (please read)

Our last vacation without the kids was 5 years ago (Las Vegas). Our last vacation with the kids was Chattanooga, TN (and we had a great time, believe it or not).

Our newest addition will be only 9 months old, so it’ll have to be a relatively short vacation. We’re in Charlotte, NC and we’re going someplace domestic – don’t bother suggesting anything outside the USA. We’re both in our 40s and so the adventure/whitewater/hiking type vacations – stuff we love to do – are a little impractical. We just don’t have time to train for anything remotely strenuous. We’re not big partiers and so going out every night to get blitzed has no appeal. It’s going to be a mid-summer vacation, probably 4 (5 max) days including travel days. At 4-5 days, I can’t afford spending an entire day in the air, though direct flights can make things easier.

Forget the beach. We used to live at the beach.

I have a few ideas: Vegas (again), New York, Chicago, Niagara Falls, Santa Fe, Denver/Boulder, New Orleans and San Fran (though that’s probably impractical for the distances involved). The wife hasn’t gone many places – Vegas and Denver are the only two on that list. I’ve been to them all except New Orleans and Santa Fe, but most of that has been on business. For example, I’ve never been to New York on pleasure, but I did get to go to the NY DA’s office the last time I was there. 

Money is always a consideration, even with the freebies above. Since I had to pay for the birth of my daughter out-of-pocket, our vacation budget isn’t robust…consider it non-existent this year. We both love nature, hiking, aquariums, planetariums, some museums, great food that I don’t have to dress up for, cheap flea-market type shopping (we wouldn’t be caught dead in a Sax 5th Ave) and a bunch of other stuff. Frankly, we’d rather have a cheap but tasty cheesesteak than dropping $200 at a stuffy restaurant. It’s just not our style. Spending a day riding around Charleston, SC looking at old homes would bore me to death, but spending 90 minutes on a trolley checking out New Orleans is something we’d both like. We both dislike crowds, but that’s not going to be easy to avoid at the height of vacation season, so we’ll deal with it.

So, where do we go? I’m up for any and all suggestions and they’re appreciated more than you know. And since you’re making suggestions, what do we do when we get there? Where are the local, cheaper, great places to eat? What attractions do you recommend?

P.S. – Just to give you an idea what we did on our last trip to Chattanooga, we hit the aquarium, saw Rock City (always wanted to say I’ve seen it), checked out Ruby Falls, did a bit of shopping in small shops, saw a movie, panned for gems in the mountains of NC, did a bit of hiking and relaxed. On our last trip to Vegas, we stayed at the MGM, toured the casinos, gambled very little, ate at PF Changs, went to the overpriced Mandalay Bay aquarium, saw a Cirque de Soleil show, went to a comedy club and saw Hoover Dam.

EDIT: Just in case I wasn't clear, this is just a trip for me and the wife. No kids.

NY is out I'd say, based on disliking crowds & not wanting to spend insane amounts of $$.

Never mind, just saw the blurb about the beach. :D

I would say Boston. Lots to do for adults and kids.

+1

I've only been to Niagra falls out of that list. But I think it's certainly enjoyable for a few days.

Spending a day riding around Charleston, SC looking at old homes would bore me to death,

Well there went my first idea, because it was really the place that jumped at me from your criteria. But there is more to C-town than the old houses (which are awfully good ones if you do happen to like that kind of thing). Their aquarium is small but fun, Spoleto is May 28-June 13, and I love Patriot's Point (featuring the USS Yorktown). And it can be doubled up with 1-2 days in Savannah very easily. It's relatively convenient from Charlotte. About the only thing it fails on is cheap (which it generally isn't, at least not by my standards).

Nashville was a great trip. Wife was put off by the idea initially thinking that most tourist sites were going to be country music oriented, but we managed to fill a four day vacation there without going to a single country music tourist site. Some very cool museums, college town atmosphere around Vanderbilt, homes of President Polk and Jackson, riverboat cruise, several wineries, Jack Daniels Distillery, etc. Not sure about flight cost from where you are, but it was a good time and the hotels can be found for pretty cheap.

New Orleans could be fun- but in mid summer it gets really hot...but with the Aquarium, Insectarium, Zoo, D-Day museum, french market, there is a lot to do for a 4 day trip

We've been to Colorado Springs twice in the past 7 years, and absolutely loved it. First time was the wife and me with our 3 year old, and last year it was with a 9-year old, 4 year old, and my parents. My parents were skeptical about it, but loved it so much they want to go back again next year.

Plenty of outdoorsy stuff to do without having to be an athlete, TONS of kid stuff to do, great weather, amazing scenery, etc. Highly recommended.

And all that didn't even include a visit with Bucc!

It's a good idea, but I used to live there (along with Washington D.C.). ;)

Since you enjoy nature and the outdoors, I'd recommend looking into a lodge at a National Park. There is a highly regarded lodge in the Shenandoah National Park -- Big Meadows, IIRC -- which isn't too far from you.

The only one I can personally vouch for is Lake Quinault Lodge in Washington. My wife and I had a good time with her folks out there. I expect that one is farther than you want to go for a long weekend.

Pigeon Forge/ Gaitlenburg?

Portland, Maine.

It's quite walkable, with smaller but quite interesting museums and plenty of good food & drink at reasonable prices.

If you rent a car with your points you can hit even more neat museums outside of Portland (Maine Maritime Museum, Farnsworth Art Museum), drive up and down the coast, and also do as much (non-strenuous) hiking as you'd like (on the coast or inland). Maine also has a ton of flea markets.

You could also probably use your points to stay here: http://www.marriott.com/hotels/trave...wn-waterfront/

New Orleans will be hot, but I think that you can get away with doing it on the cheap.

There are great places to eat that will break the bank, but there are places to eat that are amazing and reasonable. And if you are into pretty much any type of music, you will be able to find clubs playing it. Most locals would say at night to avoid Bourbon Street and go to Frenchman street to hear music--but that might be a bit of a long walk at night back to your hotel.

Look in the thread SkyDog recently started to see some eating recommendations. Po-boys are a good cheap option.

I would note that a great date is to go to Cafe Adelaide for lunch and eat good food while each getting three 25c martinis. Then, walk along the river or in the quarter while you work off your buzz.

Also, if you want to go to Jacque-Imo's uptown, you can take the streetcar down to it and get to see the city that way. It isn't a far walk to the restaurant from the streetcar tracks. There tends to be a wait a J's, but you can try to hit it on a non busy night and there is a bar right next door to it.

On your way back, you could maybe stop by the Columns hotel for a drink. That's a fancy uptown bar/hotel in a nice area.

Also, this might help you: Index To Over 300 Restaurant Reviews From The New Orleans Menu. You will have to do a bit of research to find the prices, though.

Oh, and I would not bother with a car rental. Just get a hotel downtown and take a cab or shuttle to it.

Just use Orbitz to find a good price on a hotel.

Thanks for the ideas so far!

If you go to Chicago, for $70 you get admission to the Shedd Aquarium, the Field Museum, Adler Planetarium, Museum of Science and Industry, and your choice of the Sears Tower or John Hancock Observatory. Pretty good deal. And you don't have to wait in lines to get your tickets. For example, the last time I went to the Museum of Science and Industry there was a 2 hour line to get tickets. Of course there's no shortage of places to eat, whether you want fancy or something cheap.

And the Lincoln Park Zoo doesn't charge admission, so that's another thing you could do.

Austin/San Antonio is another choice, but if you are looking at July/August, then temps might be an issue.

San Antonio has of course the Alamo, Riverwalk, the other missions, Hemisphere Park, Sea World and Fiesta Texas. Austin has the Bob Bullock State History museum, LBJ library, many other things on the UT-Campus (clock tower, Blanton Art museum, Ransom Center), the State capitol. In the surrounding areas there are a ton of vineyards to visit, and many small towns with myriads of attractions.