Where to go, 3 kids (9-15) for 3 week summer vacation?

[3isEnough]

Shoot, by your questions I realized I left out a few important things:

+ We live at the beach in CA, so we'd prefer a vacation outside of CA (beach elsewhere is fine!).
+ We have to be out of our house the entire month of July because we rented out our house. We're thinking we'll spend 3 weeks away somewhere and 1 week somewhat local.
+ Cost isn't an issue, due in large part to the fact that we rented out our home.
+ We did Yosemite last summer (it wasn't great because we waited til the last second to book it and it was insanely crowded), and we did Yellowstone the summer before. Hawaii is always an option because it's easy, somewhat close and everyone in my family would love it. However, we've BTDT, so we're hoping for something different.

Thanks so much for all of the replies, I'm off to research them now! CandaceB, your comment about Belize is really helpful, my DS would not appreciate the quirks!

[candaceb]

knowing that you're on the west coast now, what about heading up to the Canadian Rockies? We did that trip in 2010 and it was amazing. So many things to do and you can stay at the Fairmont resorts and have lounge time too. You could do Whistler, Banff, Jasper. Our favorite thing was the snow coach to a glacier in-between Banff and Jasper.

[hillview]

alaska cruise? what would the 12 year old like to do? Can he take a friend for a week? Hawaii? Thailand?

[sariana]

Where in Hawai'i have you been? The Big Island is pretty different from Oahu (the only 2 I've been to).

Lassen National Park is awesome and has a lot to do and see. If you can handle a few extra hours on the road, you could do Lassen and Crater Lake (in Oregon) in one three-week trip. They both were hits with my quirky kid. You likely will see snow, even in August, which is kind of fun. Lassen often has a lot of science events going on in the summer; you can check the website. We've been lucky to catch astronomy events and a hands-on program about the chemistry of the fumaroles with real-life scientists (including a xenobiologist, which I didn't even know was a real thing).

[speo]

How about Vancouver, Victoria, San Juan Islands, and Whistler? We have been considering this trip. You can also add in Olympic NP and Seattle. You could do AirBnB and stay in each place for awhile. That could give your son time to decompress and normalize. There is a lot to do in Whistler. Ski resorts are also a relatively cheap way to stay in a condo during the summer. As a backup, we may be going to Mammoth.

[mom2binsd]

Can you split it up?

Rent a cottage in Canada, fly into Toronto and drive to a cottage, there are hundreds within 1.5 to 2 hours of Toronto, look in the Muskoka area. You could tack on some time in Toronto at the beginning or end of your trip, visiting a "foreign" country is always fun. Or look for something in Vermont? Stay in Stowe or somewhere nearby.

[belovedgandp]

How about an east coast tour? I'm not personally a fan of NYC, but it's worth seeing. I love DC, Alexandria VA, etc....

[pharmjenn]

We had been planning Alaska for this summer but changed to the Caribbean due to immigration issues. Anyway, our plans had been a 7 day cruise north from Vancouver, then 4 days touring up to Denali on our own, then returning on a 7 day cruise south. You could easily add a few days on either end to explore Vancouver. Depending on the cruise line you choose, there is plenty for kids to do on board.

[frugalmom]

We do this every year - summer nears and we have no idea where to go on vacation, stress about it and then end up picking somewhere less than ideal.

We were all set (in our minds) on going to Europe this summer but for a variety of reasons, that's no longer likely. We're now considering a 7-day Alaskan cruise with some additional time in Seattle and Vancouver, an Alaskan RV tour, Costa Rica, and Belize. My 12yo is a difficult traveler and doesn't like anything new or different and pretty much makes the rest of us miserable by complaining nonstop, so that weighs against the Alaska trip. He was a complete buzzkill on our Yellowstone trip 2 years ago.

Anyone have any great ideas? Some of our favorite family trips have been Hawaii, Chicago and Cape Cod. They all involved lots of outside time and activities. There was some driving time on each of those but it was never more than a few hours at a time so it was manageable for my 12yo.

Thanks in advance!

I would base this all on your 12 year old. All my kids love to travel and are great at it, so I don't have much advice.

Where your trips to Hawaii, Chicago, and Cape Cod successful just because they didn't have a lot of drive time? Was that the reason that Yellowstone wasn't good for him? If he doesn't like new or different things how did he cope in the places that were your family favorite trips?

I think if it is just about not driving a lot and lots of outside time you can make a vacation any place good for him.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I like the idea of maybe some weeks of summer camp and some of vacation. I think that is a good compromise!

Are there any YMCA family summer camps around (or similar)? That is a fun option for a week. I'm just trying to think of ways a 12 year old could socialize with peers while on the trip.

I also like the east coast tour idea. I think your family could create a fun itinerary together.