For those of you that have kids or have already raised kids

Keep in mind that you can definitely have a 2-week vacation and head West from Michigan. We've done it many times when the kids were younger and they still talk of the trips. You just have to pick one or two places to visit that are close to each other and not try to see the whole West in one trip.

A highlight that they still talk about 40 years later is the horseback ride early morning and having the cowboys ready to serve a hearty breakfast out in the boonies in Yellowstone and the one kids' horse farting all the time.

Another one was getting snowed out (we were in a tent) in Rocky Mtn. Nat'l Park and the forecast didn't look good so we did a very unplanned thing and drove to Mesa Verde Nat'l Park. They absolutely loved the ranger-led tours of the ruins and climbing the ladders and scooting through a tunnel to get to them.

Yet another was just the fact that we rented a small Class C and they had the cabover bed as their little private space for the two weeks.

Kids enjoy simple things!

You can also cruise if you only have 2 weeks including driving time to get there. There are many short cruises.

I've only seen Crater Lake mentioned once. That and the Columbia River Gorge left more of an impression on me when I was young then anywhere else. That's why I live where I do now.

The biggest impression any place has left on my daughter is the campus of Washington State University. We were exploring Eastern Washington and she is considering going there when she graduates. She is even more excited about it now. She wants to be a vet, specifically a horse vet.

There are definitely other places I've been that I'd like to take my family. We've been to Moab and Arches (don't miss Dead Horse Point State Park if you do go there), Crater Lake, Craters of the Moon, Leavenworth WA, Redwoods, and most of the volcanoes and beaches in the Pacific Northwest. The places we want to go:

Charleston SC area (I was stationed in the Navy there)
Orlando, FL
Key West
Yellowstone, Tetons, and Glacier (I've been, family hasn't)
Grand Canyon (Ditto)
Bryce, Zion, Cedar Breaks (Grew up in Utah and never saw them.)
Lake Powell
Yosemite
San Antonio (Wife's been, I haven't)
Nashville
Upper Great Lakes
Banff
Victoria

The great part about this country and Canada is there is so much to see that it would take a lifetime.

We did Branson, Badlands, Wisconsin Dells, Devils tower, North Leech Lake MN, St. Louis Botanical gardens and zoo and the arch, Mt. Rushmore, House on the rock. Tried to do places that were a days drive or less away to have more time exploring. Good luck!

We have always taken time throughout the year to travel and explore. Our daughter is now a freshman in college and still thinks the parents are cool:W We have been many memorable places together, some of the more popular:
-Tahoe
-Death Valley
-Lake Mead/Hoover Dam
-Grand Canyon
=Crater Lake
-Disneyland, and Disney World
-Entire Oregon coast
-Little Big Horn
-Yellowstone
-Grand Tetons
-Spain
-France
-Hawaii
-NYC (time square...wow)
-DC
-Gettysburg

This summer we are headed up to Banff/Jasper. We are lucky to have our entire summers free (both teach), along with various other holiday's through the year. Our daughter is an education major so luckily I see our adventures being able to continue:C

I'm not disregarding anyone's limitations. I worked a 22 year career in the private industry, having no more than 2 weeks a year. I know all about it. :) My point was that my wife only has 2 weeks a year and she got the summer off because we asked. Many times, people don't ask. Of course, we sacrificed 2 months of her salary during that summer (the largest part of the cost of our trip).

michigansandzilla, all this time I assumed I was talking to your husband. :)

GaryWT wrote:
The kids love to cruise so we took them on about 6 cruises.

I've thought about this as well. Who wouldn't like to cruise? Plus we haven't been on a cruise in 17 years and the kids have never been on one.
We just need more time off so we don't have to bump an RV trip.

Yellowstone, Niagra, and the Keys are at the top of our list. We don't keep a list or have deadlines, but we try to knock out a few bigger trips each year. This year is Charleston, SC (March) & and Tennessee (September) in addition to our more regional trips. Our kids are still pretty young, so we have time to whittle down the list over the next 6-7 years.

michigansandzilla wrote:

tragusa3 wrote:
Regarding the above comments...it is a crime against humanity if a family can't, at least once, take an extended time off to be together. If you thought outside the box, is it at all possible to make it happen once? .

Not at all possible unfortunately. Your situation is extraordinary. I've told my husband that if we were teachers, we would not be home all summer and it would be awesome! I'd go to the Pacific coast if I had that much time. Everything we plan has to be 16 days or less.

I'm a nurse and we get a max of 2 consecutive weeks off, no exceptions. And I can only do a 2 week trip at most every other year. We have to keep a certain number of employees staffed at all times and if we all left for 2 weeks in the summer, people would have no health care! We have to take turns as to who gets 2 weeks off, when they get to go, etc. I have one week off to go to the Black Hills this summer and even that was difficult to accomplish.
I can see us getting to the Utah parks, 3 days there and 3 back. But I don't see the Pacific coast area as feasible. The sequoias won't be seen by children but there is a lot of other stuff we can do.

Agree 100% with michigansandzilla.
Time and distance are limiting factors, with kids or without kids. I've been working all my life, and have never had time off longer than 2 weeks. Unless we flew somewhere, there are parts of this country we'll never see. That's why, if the kids (now adults) REALLY want to see some of these sites, they have the options now.

My daughter now lives in Kansas City Missouri. She now has a much better chance of taking her kids to some of these sites westward for her. For us, living in Indiana, much farther than Kansas is just not an enjoyable trip. I can't drive 20 hours straight any more. I need some sleep sometime!

My daughter, on the other hand, will probably never be able to take her (4) kids to Washington DC, or Virginia, or back to Norfolk or Charleston, SC where she was stationed in the Navy to show them some of the exciting sites there, (and there's a lot), simply because of the distance vs. time constraint. And flying a family of 6, is pretty much impossible for a young family with kids under 1 year old, 2, 4, and 6.

So just saying, as some have stated above, not everyone has the availability of unlimited time to travel for weeks on end. We do have constraints. We pick our vacation spots wisely, based upon time, location, and available funds. Some places will never be seen. Those who are fortunate to visit, we appreciate your photos. That's about the closest we'll ever get.

tragusa3 wrote:
Regarding the above comments...it is a crime against humanity if a family can't, at least once, take an extended time off to be together. If you thought outside the box, is it at all possible to make it happen once? .

Not at all possible unfortunately. Your situation is extraordinary. I've told my husband that if we were teachers, we would not be home all summer and it would be awesome! I'd go to the Pacific coast if I had that much time. Everything we plan has to be 16 days or less.

I'm a nurse and we get a max of 2 consecutive weeks off, no exceptions. And I can only do a 2 week trip at most every other year. We have to keep a certain number of employees staffed at all times and if we all left for 2 weeks in the summer, people would have no health care! We have to take turns as to who gets 2 weeks off, when they get to go, etc. I have one week off to go to the Black Hills this summer and even that was difficult to accomplish.
I can see us getting to the Utah parks, 3 days there and 3 back. But I don't see the Pacific coast area as feasible. The sequoias won't be seen by children but there is a lot of other stuff we can do.

When our kids were young (up until 10-12 years old), we kept trips relatively simple and fun. We mostly stayed at "resort" campgrounds with all the stuff - pools, mini golf, playscapes, etc. I would usually try to plan some sort of day trip to see something, but always kept in the back of my mind just staying at the campground if that seemed like the thing to do.

Early teens, then we started really hitting the historic areas and scenic areas. And... Disney World! I kinda lean towards Disney World really being for 10 years and up to really enjoy it. Certainly young kids have fun there, but ask any 20-something who went to Disney World as a 3 year old if they remember it.

"Must see" places... Really, there is usually a reason why someplace or thing is a "must see". Even if you only see it once (Niagara Falls sort of fits that for me).

Otherwise, as so many have posted, just camping with the family is worth it. Growing up, my family never camped. I am glad my kids have had the adventures we've had.