<p>We might be able to squeeze a vacation into our summer afterall. Our window of time is Sunday, August 9 - Friday, August 14. (It doesn’t have to fill all those days, that’s just our window.)</p>
<p>The family includes me, Husband, Son (rising HS sr.), and Daughter (rising HS soph). We like relaxation, action/adventure, and culture in that order. Based on that, a cruise would be top of mind, but the dates don’t seem to be working. Rule out Williamsburg because we’re stopping by there in June. </p>
<p>So, what else can we do? We live in Maryland. BWI is the preferred airport, but we’re willing to drive, too. </p>
<p>Budget is in the $4,000 ballpark for everything.</p>
<p>Take a Carnival cruise out of Baltimore to the Islands</p>
<p>DAY DATE PORT ARRIVE DEPART<br>
Fri Aug 7 Baltimore, MD 5:30pm
Sat Aug 8 At Sea<br>
Sun Aug 9 At Sea<br>
Mon Aug 10 Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos Islands 7:00am 3:00pm
Tue Aug 11 Half Moon Cay, Bahamas 9:00am 5:00pm
Wed Aug 12 Nassau, Bahamas 7:00am 1:00pm
Thu Aug 13 At Sea<br>
Fri Aug 14 Baltimore, MD 10:00am</p>
<p>Take classes between now and then, then do your open water certification for SCUBA in Florida (where it will be hot and so diving will be wonderful instead of cold).</p>
<p>IloveLA - At your suggestion, I started looking at Chattanooga and before I knew it the magic of search-click-search-click led me to [Laurel</a> Highlands Southwestern Pennsylvania - Resort Near Pittsburgh](<a href=“http://www.nemacolin.com/ABOUT]Laurel”>http://www.nemacolin.com/ABOUT). Thanks for the start.</p>
<p>laxmom - I drove by the Carnival Pride on my way to work a few days ago. As soon as I got to my desk I checked her schedule. I was bummed to see the 8/7 departure, not 8/9. Thanks for the idea, though.</p>
<p>oldfort - Montreal has potential. Both kids speak French and, if we drive, I’d love to take the long way and see Newport RI mansions.</p>
<p>dmd77 - H and I are already PADI certified. Any suggestions on beaches?</p>
<p>Dougbetsy-- that’s a lot nicer than any place I ever stayed in Chattanooga (mostly my grandma’s house)! I love how your clicks took you from one place to another.</p>
<p>Have you been in every State or at least section of the country? If not, pick the most different State or area. I am doing the Pacific NW. I flew through Seattle once; otherwise I have never been to Oregon or Washington. I found some websites and sent for travel info. I have no shortage of places to visit in the two States. No matter what you do most of one day for each direction always seems to go for travel. An extra few hours on the plane makes little difference. It also makes little difference for cost.</p>
<p>No suggestions for Florida, I’m afraid, but friends LOVE diving in the Turks and Caicos. If I had only a few days, though, I’d find a nonstop flight to anywhere in the Carribbean… maybe Puerto Rico? Or Key West?</p>
<p>I’d vote for the cruise too. Most bang for buck, and you’d be surprised how quickly you can relax on the ocean when EVERYTHING is taken care of for you!</p>
<p>Not sure if you could do it for 4000 (maybe you could in this kind of economy), but Bermuda is wonderful in Aug. You could get a direct flight on US Air. Food is on the expensive side, but many hotels have European plan (breakfast and dinner).</p>
<p>One of our favorite family trips was a visit to Nova Scotia. We flew into Boston, visited there, rented a car and drove to a port city in Maine where we drove onto an overnight ferry (the Scotia Prince?). Nova Scotia is beautiful, has some interesting culture, and was really financially reasonable. We also took a very long driving trip from Nova Scotia across a couple Canadian provinces and the St Lawrence river and ended up in Quebec City where the kids (middle schoolers at the time) got to practice their french. A blast.</p>
<p>Re diving, we’ve had a marvelous time in St Lucia where you can just walk right off the beach and into the sea where the most amazing sea creatures are right there. I can’t recall the name, but it’s a black sand beach…ouch…ouch to walk on.</p>
<p>Vancouver and Victoria, BC are amazing places that meet all your requirements. Fly into either Seattle or Vancouver. Lots of stuff to keep teens engaged.</p>
<p>After the swine flu mess, Mexico destinations will likely be extremely affordable…Cozumel would probably be quite affordable, and I understand the diving is great there.</p>
<p>We have vacationed in the Laurel Highlands in Western PA and it’s wonderful in August. You’ll likely spend a lot less than $4,000. Can drive or bike from MD (There’s a bike trail that goes from MD to Pitts.) </p>
<p>There’s lots of biking, some rafting, hiking, beautiful state parks. </p>
<p>Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water house is there – absolutely spectacular (even the non-cultural kids liked it!) Along with a couple of other FLW homes.</p>
<p>Some kitchy amusement parks that are fun.</p>
<p>There’s a very nice, high end resort – Nemacolin Woods — where you might actually be able to spend nearly $4,000!</p>
<p>Also some really nice ski houses that rent out for short periods near the ski areas.</p>
<p>Laurel Highlands tourist website is very good for finding out what’s going on in the area.</p>
<p>I agree with Oldfort that if you could get cheap flights out of BWI I would go to Bermuda. My DH is from Bermuda and his mother and sister and family still live there so we go quite often even though we are on the west coast.</p>
<p>Bermuda is as relaxing as you want it to be or you can find plenty to keep busy there. It is also not far for you to travel since you are doing such a short trip.</p>
<p>We had a great time in Puerto Rico last month. Lot’s to do for the whole family. San Juan has cool forts to visit (we did El Morro via a Segway), there’s a rainforest within an hour of the city and you can even do a zipline tour. If you want to visit a bioluminescent Bay, there are two really cool ones (plus one bad one) to visit. The water glows at night! There are only five in the world and three are in Puerto Rico! [Bio-Bay</a> in Fajardo by Kayak - A Sparkling Experience | Puerto Rico Day Trips](<a href=“http://www.puertoricodaytrips.com/fajardo-bio-bay/]Bio-Bay”>Bio-Bay in Fajardo by Kayak – A Sparkling Experience | PRDayTrips) On the Southwest side of the Island there is good diving and a dry forest, an International Biosphere Reserve. It was fun!</p>