Right now, they only thing planned is a trip to DC. I hope to go to India twice this year for work and go through either London or Singapore again. First choice would be Hong Kong but not sure it’ll be calm anytime soon there.
I can’t get my boyfriend to plan travel which is annoying. We also have issues with the almost 17 year old being difficult. I want to take her somewhere international but I also don’t want the whining to ruin the trip. She being in college is also a problem. We need to figure out how long we can leave her alone for. I figure maybe a week at this point. But maybe this summer a bit longer.
He really wants to do Peru but we need to have some planning.. more than just a few weeks at least. We will probably end up in Europe if we can’t figure it out anytime soon.
Right now, they only thing planned is a trip to DC. I hope to go to India twice this year for work and go through either London or Singapore again. First choice would be Hong Kong but not sure it’ll be calm anytime soon there.
I can’t get my boyfriend to plan travel which is annoying. We also have issues with the almost 17 year old being difficult. I want to take her somewhere international but I also don’t want the whining to ruin the trip. She being in college is also a problem. We need to figure out how long we can leave her alone for. I figure maybe a week at this point. But maybe this summer a bit longer.
He really wants to do Peru but we need to have some planning.. more than just a few weeks at least. We will probably end up in Europe if we can’t figure it out anytime soon.
We loved Peru. Let me know if you want planning help, I still have my info.
We’ve been to Acadia twice now, and the kids really surprised us on the last trip with how well they hiked and climbed some pretty decent trails. We’re itching to do more national parks in the future with them but it seems so overwhelming with needing advance passes to some and in park lodging, any resources for where to start? What was your favorite so far?
With kids, Great Smoky Mountains might be a good one. It's the first park I ever went to. There is no in-park lodging (unless you want to hike way up a mountain to get to it, lol) but there are so many VRBOs and AirBnBs and cabins nearby (as well as regular hotels in the town of Gatlinburg). It's a free park, lots of family friendly trails, the town of Gatlinburg really caters to families and kids as well. It's also close to the Blue Ridge Parkway if you like scenic drives. This one was a pretty easy one to plan and I think doesn't need such advance booking because no one can stay in the park anyway and there are so many accommodations in gateway cities.
I really really loved Grand Tetons. Combining that with Yellowstone was an amazing trip. You CAN stay in gateway cities if you can't get in-park lodging or don't want in-park lodging (none of the lodging in Yellowstone has TV, Internet, and many don't have cell service. I didn't mind it, but not sure if you want to do it with kids or not). I'd do Jackson for GT if you don't want to stay in the park, though we really loved Colter Bay in the park. For Yellowstone, it's so massive that you'll probably want to move around. We did two nights at Canyon and two at Old Faithful. If you want to say outside the park, you could do Gardiner, MT up north and then West Yellowstone which is kind of near the OF region.
If you want in-park lodging for Yellowstone, go through the Xanterra official website and check back often if you can't get what you want right away. It's free to cancel reservations so stuff opens up all the time. It was a lot easier to get the in park lodging for Grand Tetons. That would probably be my suggestion for two parks you hit up close together that both just have insane beauty, amazing wildlife, cool thermal features, etc.
For all my national park planning, I typically start with the official NPS website for each park. They are a gold mine of great info. They will also link you to the official websites for any in-park lodging available. After that, I like checking out the Trip Advisor forums for each park; local experts are great on answering questions. If there are guide books for the region/park like Moon or Fodor's, I also buy them or read through them at Barnes & Noble. I keep a spreadsheet of hikes we want to do and info on each hike, for Yellowstone and Tetons I also kept a spreadsheet of all dining options, where they were, and the hours they were open.
Grand Tetons are so awesome. I think it’s better than Yellowstone because of the lack of people and amazingly beautiful.
Post by litskispeciality on Jan 6, 2020 17:45:18 GMT -5
In theory if all goes well DH and I will probably go to San Diego in the fall, but I don't know if work will approve the time off I want, around a built in holiday for an extra day off. Also have to wait to have another contract July 1 and beyond. This will be the first summer in a long time that I can take a vaca so I'm tempted to look into Nova Scotia, but only if we really get a good deal on CA including using built up hotel points etc. to cut costs. We talk about going to Niagara Falls every summer, but DH's schedule is so difficult we can never find a 4 day weekend to go (I won't use a full week of PTO for it). Of course all of that also falls on me being on the bottom of the poll at work trying to get the week DH has reserved and can't move in the summer off.
RoxMonster, thank you so much for your insight about Yellowstone and GT. I am in the beginning stages of planning that trip and the information you posted is very valuable to me.
Post by fivechickens on Jan 6, 2020 18:39:41 GMT -5
We have two trips planned.
1. To my aunts beach house in Canada. I am hoping it continues to be an annual thing.
2. DD3 is getting a service dog and he/she should be ready to graduate in about 6 months. We will have to travel to the program training him/her for our own training/graduation. I am hoping that will happen sometime this summer, well before the new school year.
RoxMonster , thank you so much for your insight about Yellowstone and GT. I am in the beginning stages of planning that trip and the information you posted is very valuable to me.
I loved both parks so so much! I can't wait to return.
A heads up if you plan to go in the next two years: construction is closing one of the major roads in the park (from Tower to Chittendon). You can still access everything in the park basically, but for some things you'll have to go a pretty long way around. You might keep that in mind when booking lodging.
We’ve been to Acadia twice now, and the kids really surprised us on the last trip with how well they hiked and climbed some pretty decent trails. We’re itching to do more national parks in the future with them but it seems so overwhelming with needing advance passes to some and in park lodging, any resources for where to start? What was your favorite so far?
With kids, Great Smoky Mountains might be a good one. It's the first park I ever went to. There is no in-park lodging (unless you want to hike way up a mountain to get to it, lol) but there are so many VRBOs and AirBnBs and cabins nearby (as well as regular hotels in the town of Gatlinburg). It's a free park, lots of family friendly trails, the town of Gatlinburg really caters to families and kids as well. It's also close to the Blue Ridge Parkway if you like scenic drives. This one was a pretty easy one to plan and I think doesn't need such advance booking because no one can stay in the park anyway and there are so many accommodations in gateway cities.
I really really loved Grand Tetons. Combining that with Yellowstone was an amazing trip. You CAN stay in gateway cities if you can't get in-park lodging or don't want in-park lodging (none of the lodging in Yellowstone has TV, Internet, and many don't have cell service. I didn't mind it, but not sure if you want to do it with kids or not). I'd do Jackson for GT if you don't want to stay in the park, though we really loved Colter Bay in the park. For Yellowstone, it's so massive that you'll probably want to move around. We did two nights at Canyon and two at Old Faithful. If you want to say outside the park, you could do Gardiner, MT up north and then West Yellowstone which is kind of near the OF region.
If you want in-park lodging for Yellowstone, go through the Xanterra official website and check back often if you can't get what you want right away. It's free to cancel reservations so stuff opens up all the time. It was a lot easier to get the in park lodging for Grand Tetons. That would probably be my suggestion for two parks you hit up close together that both just have insane beauty, amazing wildlife, cool thermal features, etc.
For all my national park planning, I typically start with the official NPS website for each park. They are a gold mine of great info. They will also link you to the official websites for any in-park lodging available. After that, I like checking out the Trip Advisor forums for each park; local experts are great on answering questions. If there are guide books for the region/park like Moon or Fodor's, I also buy them or read through them at Barnes & Noble. I keep a spreadsheet of hikes we want to do and info on each hike, for Yellowstone and Tetons I also kept a spreadsheet of all dining options, where they were, and the hours they were open.
Thank you thank you thank you!! I think we have a few years before we hit any of the serious parks out west, so we have time to plan and hopefully book something sweet in park ahead of time!
Post by litskispeciality on Jan 7, 2020 11:23:28 GMT -5
I haven't read all of the responses yet but I'll add that Acadia is a beautiful area. We were there just for a night at a hotel, but it was awesome. My friend camped for a week, said there was a lot to do. Not a national park, but probably 2 - 3 hours south in the Old Orchard Beach ME area there's a lot of camping, water slides, a cheesy small amusement park, lots of kid friendly stuff.
Not sure if it counts, but Santa Fe National Forrest was beautiful. We went to try to star gaze, but it was off season. Santa Fe is amazing if you can ever get there.
I have been struggling with this. I want to travel this year for my 40th birthday. Costa Rica has been on my list forever and I have researched it so much but my husband doesn't seem thrilled with it. So I am not sure if that is where we will go. But I can't find anything else I really want to see and any suggestion I make to DH doesn't interest him either. He really wants somewhere like Fiji or Tahiti and both seem way to far and I have no interest spending that kind of money or time.
I have been struggling with this. I want to travel this year for my 40th birthday. Costa Rica has been on my list forever and I have researched it so much but my husband doesn't seem thrilled with it. So I am not sure if that is where we will go. But I can't find anything else I really want to see and any suggestion I make to DH doesn't interest him either. He really wants somewhere like Fiji or Tahiti and both seem way to far and I have no interest spending that kind of money or time.
If your H doesn't seem interested in any location and this is a trip for YOUR birthday, go where you want! I will say, I went to Punta Islita for friends' wedding and it was unbelievably beautiful. We stayed at Hotel Punta Islita