My Mil and FIL want to plan a family vacation for next summer with their children and grandchildren. MIL wants Hawaii but my FIL isn’t thrilled. We went to Maui as a family about 10 yrs ago. My FIL is not a sit on the beach person. They have been to Hawaii multiple times.
Where we have been together- Oregon, Bodega Bay,Cambria, San Diego, Indian Wells, Bahamas, France, Africa, British Columbia, Maui.
Everyone lives in different parts of Ca. 1 relative has a fear of flying but sometimes can be medicated and get on a plane.older grandchildren and SO now have jobs and less time to travel.
I think Africa was our smoothest trip since everything was planned out including meals. No decisions to make about when or where to eat etc.
we still might end up in Hawaii but MIL is asking for ideas.
Ideas floating around-
Lake Tahoe- renting a house and a few speed boats.
Any Dude Ranch suggestions? Probably will go early August.
Other ideas for Montana or Idaho?
The value in someplace in the West is that the grandchildren can come for whatever amount of time they can get off. Plus non flyer can drive. open to other ideas as well. Cost is not an issue as much as time off. They are still fairly mobile but both have some knee issues, and by next summer they will be a year older.
What about Alaska cruise? You can all have dinner together and maybe some excursions.
What about a South East Asia Cruise? NCL has free shore excursions, free beverages, and some nice ports of call.
Alaska cruise is a great idea for groups Though I’m not a great fan of cruises in general, they are a fantastic option for groups. There is always something for everyone to do.
Rent a houseboat and a ski boat? There are some great places to go in California although the drought is affecting some waterways. Even if you are traveling on the water, there are always places to dock and pick up more passengers if some in your party are joining late.
Closer to home, what about Temecula? There’s wine tasting, spas, bike trails, great food…
I like the Tahoe idea, or maybe renting a house in Gold Country? I spent time in Nevada City and Grass Valley last fall for a wedding, and found them pretty charming. There’s a fair amount of stuff to do in the area, and I imagine it’s a good deal less expensive than Tahoe. It’s pretty convenient to anywhere in Northern California for a few days’ visit, and from SoCal a flight to Sacramento or Fresno would do the trick.
FIL has his own boat and has cruised the world. I don’t see him on a cruise. We have all been to Alaska with him at some point on his boat. We also have all sailed the San Juans together.
1 lives in the Gold Country and another has inlaws there.
Houseboat is an interesting idea but it might be to close quarters… H and I stopped at Shasta last summer and it didn’t look appealing. I can only imagine what another summer has done to the lake.
Keep the ideas coming.
@walkinghome I’m thinking you can give some good suggestions!!
wow - just wow! sounds like you’ve had some great trips and opportunities!
i love jackson hole WY, grand tetons & yellowstone. i think there’s dude ranches in the area as well. Its kinda hard to get to (salt lake is easiest to fly into), but its amazing to see and experience.
Maybe a different island in Hawaii? We like Kauai. Princeville is pretty spread out, but we liked Poipu, because you could walk to many places. The Canadian Rockies are spectacular that time of year. I don’t think anyone has suggested Banff yet. GREAT place.
We do an extended family vacation every year. About half of our family lives on the western side of the US (AZ, CO) and lately we’ve been adding cousins/Aunts/Uncles that live in CA, ID and OR so we’ve done several Western vacations. We like to rent one or two very large houses. Some fun places have been a dudeish ranch in Utah http://www.zionponderosa.com/family-reunions.html, last year was McCall, Idaho - about an hour north of Boise. We’ve done Colorado a few times since that’s where the grandparents live, last time was this place - http://manitousprings.org/. Next summer we’re going to Lake Tahoe although we talked a lot about going to OR and WA. We’ve found that if the area is nice enough, the twenty-somethings will make that their vacation for the year. I personally loved Vermont and we went there for four years in a row. We did Hawaii one year and we all loved that, but for us East Coasters, that was a really expensive, long flight.
New Mexico is something a bit different. You can go to Carslbad Caverns and see the bats. There are also interesting places to hike in Bandolero National Park. There’s also pistacho farms, Roswell (famous for UFOs), Alamo Lab in Los Alamos, Albaqeurque. It IS HOT in the summer tho.
A few yrs ago we did a VRBO on Hilton Head. It accommodated 15 of us. It was fun ‘living under the same roof’. People arrived and left by their own schedule. The common kitchen areas allowed us to have some casual group meals, where we didn’t have to go to a restaurant. It also had a swimming pool.
However, since you are in CA I’d probably look into Banff, Victoria, (not sure where you’ve been in BC) or if the distance doesn’t intimidate you, Quebec. Oh and Coeur d’Alene might be nice! It really depends upon what you like to do.
We do an extended family trip to Tahoe every year, but my aunt and uncle have a house on the lake with a boat and all the toys (wakeboards, SUP boards, kayaks, canoes, etc…). My cousins stayer m activities include rafting (when there is enough water in the Truckee river) , hiking, golf, retro skate night at Northstar, etc…
Another suggestion would be Alisal Ranch in Solvang, or a beach house in Ventura, Carpinteria or Santa Barbara.
go to the Olympics in Rio.
Texas Dude Ranch!
http://www.silverspur-ranch.com/
I haven’t been here, but I’d love to go. A friend went here on a family vacation (multi-generational group) and they all loved it. Something for everyone.
Walking home- thanks for the ideas. I’m going to look them up.
Tx5athome-great suggestions only some of us live in 2 of the 4 spots you mentioned.
From previous trips I find it’s easiest in places where there are things to do that are walkable from where we are staying. Getting 15 people in a couple of vans to go anywhere is stressful.
Due to the University schedules of a couple of the grandchildren I think we are limited to July till Mid August. We have 1 grandchild who is a high school senior and we don’t know where or when she will move in for fall 2016.
I see you’ve been to BC - have you been to Whistler? So much to do! You can stay in the village if you like to be in walking distance of shops and restaurants with access to the gondola. Hiking, fishing, canoeing, riding, golf, year-round skiing and snow boarding on glaciers. One of our favorite places.