Brand new & young family need some ideas

[Justinb2688]

Hello all this will be a first time for the family and I want to surprise them with our first own vacation just us 4. I'm going to rent an rv and we're going to head out from Tampa, Florida. I plan on doing a 8-10 day vacation on the road and completely open to going anywhere. Me and the wife just want to get out of town and go somewhere. Was thinking Grand Canyon but probably to far to enjoy the road trip and we have a baby so no white water rafting. Thinking possibly Tennessee smoky mountains blue ridge mountains. Like to see some small towns possibly and just enjoy the sights and see new things. So if there's some routes done by anybody out there and anybody that knows of places that are a Must See please tell me all about it. Thank You

[rockhillmanor]

Justinb2688 wrote:
That's awesome the way you planned that see that's what I'm talking about is that right there.
And I've been all over Florida myself

it's flat

lol ......

Ahh but Florida DOES have it's very own 'Mountain'!

Take a drive over to Minneola to view Sugarloaf Mountain.

Road leading to the summit of Sugarloaf Mountain


View of the western horizon from the summit of Sugarloaf Mountain


:B:W:B

[ken56]

The Smoky Mountains/Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge have a wide range of activities from hiking to dinner shows to museums. You have a number of full service campgrounds to choose from some being in town and others outside of the crazy busy traffic. If you are renting a class C then I am going to assume you are not going to pull another car behind it. There is a shuttle that serves the area so you can get around fairly well without driving yourself. If you have never been to the smoky mtns. then I think you will be pleased with that choice.

[garmp]

To me, it really depends how much you want to drive and how many times you want to move. Do you want to get to a destination and be there? Do you want to drive to a point of interest and then move on the next day or two to another?
We can take a 10 day trip from the midwest to the gulf shore and spend 3 days getting there, 4 there and 3 returning. Taking in 7 different campgrounds all told.
Plan your destination and then your stops along with alternatives.

[2gypsies1]

I'd suggest not driving too far (300 miles tops to your destination) but instead, spend four days in two separate areas and explore those areas. You want to experience RVing, not driving long days. Rent a small Class C motorhome to do this since you won't have a car to drive around siteseeing.

We normally don't make reservations but for your first trip, I think you definitely should do so. Get a full hookup site so you can use all utilities freely.

Pick your area and then go to http://www.rvparkreviews.com/ plug in your town and you'll get a list of campgrounds nearby.

Best of luck and have fun on that first RV trip...you get hooked on it!

[Matt_Colie]

Drew's experience was very different than ours. We were on the BRP in late April 2010, and had cold weather for the first few days. We started at Cherokee and went east. It was cold and there was a lot of fog.
We got shunted off the BRP at Pisgah. You don't want to get off the BRP except at highway crossings. The road down from Pisgah is a 1500 foot drop in 1.8 miles of map for 4 miles of road. I could have check the taillights from the driver's if I hadn't been trying very hard to stay on the pavement.
When we got to Craggy Garden, there was a warm fire in the visitor center and that was good. It was high 20s outside. The Garden (of trees) is at about 6000ft MSL and it was clearly still winter up there.

Do the Natchez Trace, 444 miles of easy driving. Get the book, and plan to go off for Vicksburg. It will be better for all of you. As the trees will not have filled out, you will actually be able to see the original trace in the woods along side the roadway. There are lots of stops and more than a few campgrounds. There are 200+ historical markers along the way, you really have to read the book and decide which will be best, but remember to read the book and pamphlet before you go. We have run the Trace 3 times and it is a great drive.

Matt

[sdianel_-acct_c]

We like Vogel State Park in NE Georgia. We also like the Big Stone Gap area in Virginia. There is a new campground called Jessie Lea that looks good. We haven't stayed there (yet) but the area is beautiful. Fall Creek Falls State Park in TN is beautiful. Another favorite is Levi Jackson state park in London KY. If you need kids activities maybe Jellystone campgrounds or KOA's?

[Peg_Leg]

The first week of April the road will be packed with snowbirds heading home. Enjoy what ever you do and don't try to stretch to much driving. If you have any problems just ask someone in the campground. RV'ers are the friendliest bunch of nomads you'll ever find.

[Justinb2688]

That's awesome the way you planned that see that's what I'm talking about is that right there. And I've been all over Florida myself it's flat lol and I live in Seminole fl right now and I can throw a rock and hit ocean plus I travel over to Daytona about once a month as well. Want more of a landscape and with an rv you gotta hit the road lol. But I do like both 1 and 2. Think 1 may sound a little better as I live NC a lot very beautiful.

[fla-gypsy]

rockhillmanor wrote:

Justinb2688 wrote:
Hello all this will be a first time for the family and I want to surprise them with our first own vacation just us 4. I'm going to rent an rv and we're going to head out from Tampa, Florida. I plan on doing a 8-10 day vacation on the road and completely open to going anywhere. Me and the wife just want to get out of town and go somewhere. Was thinking Grand Canyon but probably to far to enjoy the road trip and we have a baby so no white water rafting. Thinking possibly Tennessee smoky mountains blue ridge mountains. Like to see some small towns possibly and just enjoy the sights and see new things. So if there's some routes done by anybody out there and anybody that knows of places that are a Must See please tell me all about it. Thank You

Take the Natchez Trace trip. Being from Florida you will enjoy the beautiful scenario there. Easy trip not to far.

Actually if you are born and raised never been out of Tampa just come to the North central of Florida!!

The beautiful crystal blue Rainbow Springs, and Crystal River area would make for a really nice family vacation. Rock crusher is often posted to be a nice CG as a base camp for the area. Depending 'when' you are going to take you vacation seeing the Manatees in Crystal River is a nice attraction also.

If your vacation is in the winter months all RV'ing bets are off north of the Florida/Georgia line because of the weather.

You are a perfect candidate to see some of the "Real Florida" without spending all of your time driving. Check out Rainbow Spgs in Dunnellon and Salt Spgs in the Ocala National Forest, maybe a side trip over to see the Suwanee river at Stephen Foster state park in White Spgs. Ft Clinch on Amelia island is also quite nice. Slip up to the Okefenokee Swamp in see the primordial wilderness.

[TyroneandGladys]

IMHO since this is your first time and you "just want to get out of town and go somewhere" why not explore Florida?
`

[padredw]

Here are two examples of trips with these assumptions: Around 250 miles per day and at least 2 days at each stop. I think these are good limits especially with a baby and young child. There are many variations possible, but it helps to see how a trip could be made in 10 days from Tampa and back.

Trip One:

Tampa to Brunswick, GA; 260 miles Jekyll Island area. 2 nights
Brunswick, GA to Hartwell, GA; 265 miles. 2 nights
Hartwell, GA to Whittier/Cherokee, NC; 108 miles. 3 nights
Cherokee to Perry, GA; 245 miles; 245 miles. 1 night
Perry to Suwanee River, FL; 160 miles. 2 nights
Suwanee River S.P. to Tampa; 190 miles. Home.

This would be 10 days. It stops on the North Carolina side of Great Smokey Mountains National Park. It should be very nice in April.

Trip Two:

Tampa to Suwanee River S.P.; 190 miles. 2 nights
Suwanee River to Theodore, AL; 330 miles. 2 nights (Balengrath Gardens)
Theodore to Pine Mountain, GA; 284 miles. 2 nights (Warm Springs)
Pine Mt to Savannah, GA; 263 miles. 2 nights
Savannah to Manatee Springs, S.P.; 260 miles. 2 nights
Manatee Springs to Tampa; 125 miles. Home

This would be a beautiful trip in the springtime as there are gardens. The 2 nights at Manatee Springs could be made 1 night and one of the other stops made 3 nights.

These are just two examples of the way that stops should be planned. I think either could be a pleasant trip, but I wouldn't extend either one to more distant destinations.

There are good campgrounds at each stop I have listed on each trip.

[AdirondackJack]

You might think about Myrtle Beach. Plenty to see and do or just get in some quality beach and family bonding time. Huntington Beach State Park is beautiful, (http://www.snowbirdrvtrails.com/huntingtonbeach.htm} inexpensive and wildlife abounds. It's also just across the road from Brookgreen Gardens. We take I-75 to U.S. 301 to I-10 and up I-95 to pick up U.S. 17 near Savannah.

[DrewE]

I also think the Blue Ridge Parkway (and adjoining National Parks) and/or the Natchez Trace could form the basis of a fine trip. The BRP should be basically past weather-related closures by April, I think. There are a couple of tunnel repair projects that have sections of it closed through "spring," and I don't know when they would reasonably be expected to be complete. The campgrounds on the BRP proper don't open until sometime in May.

From the southern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway, it's not that long of a trek over to Nashville and the northern end of the Natchez Trace. A round trip doing the length of both parkways from Florida would be rather ambitious in a week, particularly with small children.

[lj2654]

Go to Dandridge Tennessee to Anchor Down RV Resort. I promise you will love it there. It is on Douglas lake and you can see the Smoky Mountains behind the lake. Beautiful place to see and visit!