8wks in the US - suggestions please

[MaryH Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close MaryH]

I would probably do US 1 down to San Diego and up to San Francisco hitting Hurst castle, Montery, Carmel, etc. along the way. There are a few timeshares in SF proper but you might need 2 units since 7 would be a little difficult.

If you want to go to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon, leave from Orange County or Los Angeles may be best.

You might also want to check into your airlines since some *A airlines sales flight passes, I have not used the one for US but have used one for Europe.

Florida and New Orleans can also be good. With 8 weeks you have time for that. You can get cruises to the Caribeans from FLL, Miami or new Orleans. It would be worth doing Washington DC and/or NYC and/or Boston. Southwest flies from FL to BWI for low costs...

[Fern Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Fern]

I just remembered that I left something out about the Acuario in Mazatlan. It is the largest Aquarium in Latin America. Kids love it (as did I). The schools are always doing trips there. And it is very low priced.

Fern

[wackymother Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wackymother]

Besides checking where you've staying for carseat laws, I think you can find them at the DMV websites for each state. And I'm sure you can also google and find some kind of complete list.

The La Brea Tar Pits????? When I was growing up that was someplace we'd kind of walk by when we went to the art museum next door. Dh, dds and I went a few years ago when we did our "tour de California coast" during the summer. We were staying in Beverly Hills for a couple of nights. While it's interesting it's not something I'd make a special trip to see. If you're going to be in the area, worth a stop, but not a full day adventure. I think the website makes it look way cooler than I remember it being. When I was a kid there was nothing there (no building, no museum) just the open pits.

You're bursting my bubble, Luanne.

[Sydney Contributor - Bronze Find all posts View Profile Close Sydney]

Carnival leaves from Long Beach, Royal Caribbean, NCL and Princess leave from LA and Holland America leaves from San Diego. I'm sure your children would like Carnival or Royal Caribbean the best. They have wonderful ships with many amenities for children.

If you do take a cruise which stops in Mazatlan, your children will probably like going to the Acuario. It has a tropical aquarium, three or four animal shows, and it has a very small zoo and a butterfly enclosure you can walk into.

I just remembered that I left something out about the Acuario in Mazatlan. It is the largest Aquarium in Latin America. Kids love it (as did I). The schools are always doing trips there. And it is very low priced.

Thank you Fern. You are wonderful with info, as always. Yes, that sounds just like what the kids would enjoy.

Sydney,

You really ought to come to Hawaii for a couple of weeks. Dec and January are great times to be in the Islands. Most of the rest of the US will be COLD.

Would love to but for the airfares. If we can get cheap flights with a stop over in Hawaii, that would be perfect.

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Thanks Marty! Handy to know.

I'm sure you can make a wonderful 8 week vacation for yourselves.

If you think you'll make it as far as Florida, I would suggest skipping Disney Land and go to Disney World instead. It's much larger, with several parks within Disney and many other attractions in the area.

We went to Disney World in '05 and wouldn't mind going again but will see if we can make it across to Florida again.

Syd,

Town + Country [hwy 24 Mpg] or similar 7 passenger Mini Van

1 Month @ $899.50/month

----------------------------------------COMPARE-----------------------------------------------

Moturis = A motorhome for 31 days in Off Season

V 31S - Sleeps 6-8 (Only 7 seatbelts) - (Including 60 miles per day)
USD 2,544.48 (basic)



It may help to know some ages of your family.

Will you be living in the Motorhome? Where to park such?

Washington, DC has a metro, but you need to know where the vehicle can be housed close to a metro line.

Most timeshares disallow motorhome parking. Similar situations present themselves at many places you will frequent.

A consideration; Water and dump stations need to be available.

You then may wish to rent get-around vehicle at each city visited.

SAM’S CLUB and WalMart allow free parking of motor homes at most locations. There’s roughly 500 Sam’s and 3000 Walmarts. Visit www.samsclub.com to find locations near where you wish to enjoy.

Thanks for the info. If we rented a motorhome, it'll be to live in while we tour to places that may not have timeshares and also to places we might not want to stay a whole week at. We wouldn't be renting a motorhome for more than a wk or 2.
Our kids will be 15, 11, 9, 7 and 3 by the time we go.

[Sydney Contributor - Bronze Find all posts View Profile Close Sydney]

I can't help with cruises or motorhomes, or much on the West coast - but I am very excited for you!!

Thanks. So am I!

Sydney, don't forget you'll need car seats for your littler ones. I don't know what the laws are in California or wherever you'll go, but you should look into it. (Your car rental place can advise you, I think.)

Also, the place I would most like to see in California is the La Brea Tar Pits. How cool are they?

Page Museum - La Brea Tar Pits

Have fun!

Yep, will do that re: the car seats. Must have seatbelts for each child always. That's the law here and that's what we would do where ever we travel.
Wow, my kids would love that museum! Thanks for the suggestion.

I would probably do US 1 down to San Diego and up to San Francisco hitting Hurst castle, Montery, Carmel, etc. along the way. There are a few timeshares in SF proper but you might need 2 units since 7 would be a little difficult.

If you want to go to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon, leave from Orange County or Los Angeles may be best.

You might also want to check into your airlines since some *A airlines sales flight passes, I have not used the one for US but have used one for Europe.

Florida and New Orleans can also be good. With 8 weeks you have time for that. You can get cruises to the Caribeans from FLL, Miami or new Orleans. It would be worth doing Washington DC and/or NYC and/or Boston. Southwest flies from FL to BWI for low costs...

Thanks for the tips. Gosh, this will be a full time job trying to organise and research and i'm so snowed under at the moment. Aghh!

[JWC Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close JWC]

You could easily spend all your time just in Southern California which I highly recommend. Generally the weather is pretty good in December and January. This January we had many 80 degree days. However there are no guarantees that you won't get some rain or chilly weather but the chances are very good that it should be pretty decent.

There is so much to do and see. One suggestion is the J. Getty Museum in Los Angeles and the Getty Villa in Malibu. We went to the Getty Villa in November. It is great if you like statues and interesting stuff. It is free admission and $10 parking. It is also in a great location right next to the ocean. Below is a link to it:

The J. Paul Getty Museum

I would skip the east coast for this trip. It should be done as a separate trip as you would be wasting too much time and effort traveling to both at the same time plus the weather can be really nasty in the Northeast at that time of the year. However, you should definitely plan on making a trip to New York City sometime in the future. It is the greatest city, with great people and our favorite place to visit. However you need several days just in the city to do it properly.

[JWC Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close JWC]

I would also suggest you check out Enterprise for your car rental. It is best to rent from one of their many off airport sites. I rented a Toyota Sienna minivan from them at a very reasonable price and it was brand new.

[wackymother Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wackymother]

Yep, will do that re: the car seats. Must have seatbelts for each child always. That's the law here and that's what we would do where ever we travel.

Here it's not just seatbelts, it's a separate unit for kids. The unit is placed into the seat in the car, then strapped in using the car's seat belt. Then the child is put into the safety seat and strapped into that.

The problem with this is that the safety seats are so big that it's next to impossible to put three seats across in most cars. So even if you have a car that seats seven (like a minivan), that middle row (three seatbelts) would be very tight even with two car seats and one older child who's not in a car seat (the older kid will be squooshed).

In New Jersey the law is...

Child Safety Seats

* Kids eight and younger and/or weighing less than 80 pounds must ride in a car seat or booster.

* Kids younger than eight must ride in the rear seat, if, of course, your vehicle has a rear seat.

In practice the law is rarely enforced for kids over about five, but it's something to think about.

[Nancy Platinum Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close Nancy]

Suggestion

I know you are just thinking about what to do at this time, but here are a couple of suggestions. You can cruise to and from Florida and California via the Panama Canal. That way you could do West Coast and Florida. Also you can cruise to Hawaii via West Coast. Haven't checked these out, but may have to do round trip to Hawaii, but the Panama one is (or can be) one way.

Nancy

ps. Sounds like a fun trip to plan. Also kids seat, we've done back of mini van or middle seat with 2 car seats and another child (not in car seat). It may depend on brand of mini-van.

[Marti Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Marti]

LegoLand California Theme Park

What's especially appealing about Legoland is the location. Halfway between Orange County's Disneyland and SeaWorld San Diego, Legoland is a short distance from the beach and features
superb weather and cool afternoon breezes to make the theme park pleasant.

LegoLand California features more than 50 rides, shows and attractions Pirates in a Splash Battle, Brave Knights for the Knights Tournament & Firefighters to put out fires at Fun Town Fire Academy.

[hope54 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close hope54]

At that time of year, Yellowstone will have deep snow and be very cold. You could take snow mobile rides though.

Marilyn

[Marti Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Marti]

Sydney

Just finished reading your travel tales (again) from your
First Trip to the United States back in January of 2005
and was wondering what did you and your family like
best about (California, Nevada and Arizona) the US ...

[Pstreet1 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Pstreet1]

Most people I know have found Legoland works well only for the very young; it might be boring for most of the children.

[Sydney Contributor - Bronze Find all posts View Profile Close Sydney]

Thanks John. I'm sure we could find plenty to do in Southern California. I'll be sure to check out Enterprise. I remember them from our first trip.

Wacky, I think we'll only have to worry about one child car seat as our 7 yr old is past the weight & height recommendation for a child car sheet. Even when we did 2 car seats in the second row, we just used a booster for the older one to help fit.

Nancy, I'll check out the panama canal cruise. Thanks.

Marti & Pat, we have a 2 sons who are obsessed with Lego so I think they will enjoy it. It may be too young for some of them but we'll see how much the tickets are to see whether it's worth trying it out.

Marti, we pretty much enjoyed everything about the first trip the the U.S. Well, maybe not the Amtrak ride form New Orleans to Orlando so much as the train was late, cramped and way too long for a family with 4 young kids. We did Amtrak because we thought it's be fun to catch a train and have Breakfast, lunch and dinner on board. Turned out to be too long a trip. Even with that trip though, we have very fond memories of playing Uno in the cramped cabin.

We're pretty easy to please and just enjoy spending time together seeing new places. Kids are happy just wondering around and as long as we take the little ones to a playground once in a while, they are happy.

Marilyn, thanks for the tip on Yellowstone. I'll probably have more questions once I look into it a bit more.

[wackymother Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wackymother]

Look what they just found at the La Brea Tar Pits!

Ha, take that, Luanne!

Nearly intact mammoth skeleton a rare find in L.A. - CNN.com