Vacation Planning

[saraml13]

I’m stumped on vacation planning and looking for suggestions for Midwest vacation spot with little kids.

My boys (1.5 and 3.5) are off for a week in August, and we’re looking to do a vacation for at least most of the week. My sister is interested in joining us with her 9 month old, but BIL probably can’t take the week off.

We’re all in the Chicago area and looking for a drivable trip. My sister has vetoed camping, although we generally like out doorsy stuff. We frequently go up for weekends at my parents’ cabin in SW Michigan, so we want to go someplace different. The kids aren’t really old enough for water parks / amusement parks. I feel like it’s too late in the season to find any decent rentals in the most obvious vacation spots (e.g. Door County). So basically, I’m stumped.

Help me figure out where to go so that we don’t just end up doing a staycation.

[sandandsea]

Have you looked into the Great Wolf Lodge? They seem pretty great and I think there is one in your area.

[waverly]

Lake Geneva, Madison, Green Bay, Milwaukee.

Traverse City, Mackinaw Island, Petoskey

Galena, Davenport, St. Louis.

Nashville and KY areas.

Cleaveland and a Ohio state park.

[covergirl82]

saraml13, have you been to the west side of Michigan, or Northern Michigan, along Lake Michigan? I might be partial, being from MI, but there are SO many lovely places to visit in the summer!

Here are a few:
-Ludington (my personal favorite because my parents grew up there)
-Traverse City
-Sleeping Bear Dunes
-Charlevoix
-Mackinaw City / Mackinac Island (I guess this would actually tie as my favorite - we go every year)

You should be able to get delicious MI blueberries and cherries in August.

If you don't want to go quite so far north, a lot of people also like South Haven, Holland, and Grand Haven.

[waverly]

I am guessing Pittsburg and Toronto are too far a drive, but throwing them out there. Pittsburg is super cute, and I love Toronto. The east coast of MI and west coast of Ontario around Lake Huron are often overlooked, and more remote if you don't want a lot of people around. You need to get north of Bay City though which is a longer drive.

[erinshelley21]

Brown County (Nashville), IN is a nice little getaway. Not for a week but you could do a couple nights there and a few in Indianapolis. There is a great children's museum, really nice zoo and the surrounding suburbs all have lots to do with kids of all ages. School will be back in session for a lot of the areas around Indy so you might not have to deal with crowds during the week.

[polecat8]

waverly, saraml13, I am in Pittsburgh and there is a ton of stuff to do here! Zoo, aviary, children's museum, Idlewild or Kennywood amusement parks are good for little kids. Pittsburgh is an 8 hour drive from Chicago. Not sure if you were looking for that long of a drive...

Great Smokey Mountains (Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge TN) are fun. Plenty of activities for outdoors or indoor stuff.
Cleveland and Columbus OH - great zoos and museums
Wisconsin Dells
My family is going to Niagara Falls and Toronto in early August. We're also doing a stop at the Great Wolf Lodge up there for 2 nights.

[2chatter]

Big Cedar Lodge in Missouri? I’d honestly just pick a lake, rent a lake house and kick back for the week. We rented one with a fenced yard when we had toddlers.

[saraml13]

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone! I’m going to run through them with DH and my sister and see if anything sticks.

We’d probably like to keep the drive in the 3-5 hour range, so Pittsburgh’s too far. Smokey Mountains are on my general to-do list, but I’ve been worried about August being too hot and humid, and it’s also on the far side for this trip.

Great Wolf Lodge and the Dells are on my list for a couple years from now, but I think would be too overwhelming for our group. DS1 would love it, but would need constant close supervision. DS2 likes to splash in a beach, throw rocks in a pond, or dip his feet a little into a pool, but does not like to go all the way in a pool. And my niece is too young to do much of anything.

Exploring more of Michigan has been one general idea I’ve had in mind. We’ve never gone much north of St. Joseph, so I didn’t really know what specific towns/areas to explore. covergirl82 do you have any specific recommendations there? Would you stay in one spot or move towns every couple days?

[waverly]

You can easily stay in one place and do day trips. I don’t tend to like to pack up too much with kids. Maybe do two places max.

I was thinking you went farther than St. John’s. So really anything up the coast is nice South Haven, Sagatauk, Holland, Grand Rapids has a cute city feel. Holland is smaller and is known for the tulip festival which has already passed. Muskegon has the submarine. I probably wouldn’t stay in Muskegon.

Do you want beach or city feel? I might do half way up and then maybe Traverse City. So maybe Sagatauk and Traverse. Or South Haven and Traverse. Unless you want any a big city in a small town feel then I would add Grand Rapids to the list (museums, bars etc). Although Traverse seems kind of big but only because of tourist season.

[sweetptater]

I was coming in to suggest Michigan since it's the must beautiful place ever, but I see covergirl82 and waverly have it covered.

[saraml13]

Jun 12, 2018 20:16:00 GMT -5 waverly said:

You can easily stay in one place and do day trips. I don’t tend to like to pack up too much with kids. Maybe do two places max.

I was thinking you went farther than St. John’s. So really anything up the coast is nice South Haven, Sagatauk, Holland, Grand Rapids has a cute city feel. Holland is smaller and is known for the tulip festival which has already passed. Muskegon has the submarine. I probably wouldn’t stay in Muskegon.

Do you want beach or city feel? I might do half way up and then maybe Traverse City. So maybe Sagatauk and Traverse. Or South Haven and Traverse. Unless you want any a big city in a small town feel then I would add Grand Rapids to the list (museums, bars etc). Although Traverse seems kind of big but only because of tourist season.

We’re not really the types to spend all day at the beach for multiple days, but we’re not really looking for a city experience, either. Our typical MO would to do some type of activity in the morning (hike, visit a farm, explore a cute town) then spend an hour or two at a beach or pool later in the day.