Vacation Destinations - Cincinnati,OH

we LOVE Rehoboth Beach Deleware! We stay at a place very close to the boardwalk so gong to the BEACH is just a short walk... we usually go for 5 days and walk the whole time!!!! There is a trolley that you can take down to the next beach... we take that to a seafood buffet... very yummy! There are shops and eating places everywhere... we rent bikes and ride them on the mile long boardwalk and go to the small amusement park on the boardwalk... there is even a mini golf on top of a building right on the boardwalk.. We also know of a great breakfast buffet we do each year the day we are leaving :)

We LOVE Kalahari (Sandusky, OH) and Splash Lagoon (Erie, PA) waterarks.. nice for a 1 or 2 night stay! If you stay in the Holiday Inn Express in Erie, they have bunk bed rooms!!!! THe kids love that and they have a game box that you can trade games @ the front desk whenever you want.

we know a couple GREAT places to go if it is just a married couple.. let me know if you'd like more info on that :)

this summer we rented a house across the street/down the block from a lake michigan beach in Union Pier, MI (fairly near St. Joseph). We had a pool in the backyard & were within walking distance to the beach, did a charter fishing trip & in St. Joseph there is a kids museum, carousel & nice playground on the beach. We had a great family time & we shared the rental with my sister, her family & my parents too, so it was affordable.

We've gone to the South Carolina coast for the past three summers. The first time, we went to Myrtle Beach (the Northern end, which is supposed to be more "family-friendly"). It was fun, but touristy and crowded. The last two years, we've gone to Charleston, South Carolina, and have rented houses on the Isle of Palms, which is about 20-30 minutes from downtown Charleston. We LOVE the Isle of Palms and Charleston. It's not as touristy, the beaches are beautiful on IOP and quieter than other places, and staying in a rental house makes it feel like a home-away-from-home. We've rented large houses with my husband's family, so we can share the cost (it can be expensive, depending on where you decide to stay), but that's what makes it fun. It's like an extended family reunion. We also save some money by having our own kitchen/grill for cooking breakfast and lunch and only go out to dinner each night. We spend most of our time at the beach or the pool. Charleston is a relatively cheap sight-seeing town, too. The most expensive things to do are probably the carriage rides through the historic districts, but they can be very entertaining and educational. Despite being very pregnant when we went this year, I still enjoyed myself. It's just a beautiful place, and I highly recommend everyone go there at least once in their life--for the beauty and the history.

Things I've done (with kids) and the * is "wanna" but haven't yet:

- Week in the snow (Sun Peaks... near whistler... rated top family ski resort in the west)

- Vacation Rental with 2-3 other families for a week at the beach

- Quarter abroad (family comes for 2-4 weeks in the middle of the 8 week term... included a 10 day train trip through europe. NOT enough time. Enough time to make a list of what to come back to.)

- * Hawaii (Oahu, Hawaii, Maui... looooove Oahu... kiddo didn't come on this one, I would REALLY like to take him)

- Staying with family (huzzah! just tickets and food cost...Italy, Argentina, Germany, IL- usa, VA- usa)

- 101 beach crawl (SF to SD)

- Baja (heeeeello $15 bottomless margaritas and all you can eat lobster, thankyou girl scouts of america, and my niece who needed a chaperon)

- Camping with Jet Skis at lake chelan

- Disneyland

* "Mars" all inclusive vacation (as in really, it could be on mars, and you wouldn't know the difference. These resorts are not my usual "dive into culture" thing, but instead are artificial little worlds of pure indulgence. :) :) :) which... darn it... I'd like to do at some point! Beaches is the best known all inclusive family resort chain)

* 3mo backpacking through EU with family

* Sailing vacation... anywhere really... but ideally somewhere I could swim

* Egypt. Specifically THIS + time at the Winter Palace (luxor) and Mena House (Cairo) http://www.oberoihotels.com/oberoi_philae/index.asp My arabic is appaling, however, I'd like to actually get conversational before heading over

* Back to Japan (I grew up there ... well 10 years out of 18 FEELS like it) but haven't been back in 20 years, and my son has never been

* Colonization & Revolutionary War (field trip) <laughing> Yes, places like colonial williamsburg and salem living history museums. Sigh. No time machine at my disposal.

* Civil War (field trip)

* Oregon Trail (field trip)

a bunch more... but I'll stop here

We love SanDestin in FL. We stay at the Hilton Sandestin Golf Resort and Spa every spring break. LOVE that place. Plenty for teens to do, safe and fun.

We love Maui as well. We spent 2 Spring Breaks there and had a blast.

New York was a fun mom/daughter weekend I had with daughter

I love South Beach in Miami but it is NOT family friendly. Very adult oriented.

I spent a week in LA with daughter on a modeling job and we had a blasat with Hollywood and LA things to do.

Las Vegas is fun.

San Francisco and Nappa Valley.

Enjoy!

if you are into a back to nature kind of vacation, hiking and stuff, we went to mohonk mountain and it was just gorgeous. loved it.

Ohio's state parks, especialy those in the SE part of the state (Hocking Hills, Lake Hope, Old Man's Cave, Conkle's Hollow, etc). There is a modern-built castle somewhere in Vinton Cy. where you can stay overnight and have a medieval dinner. Sorry I forget the name.

I love Williamsburg, my kiddos were not thrilled.

We liked Old Orchard Beach in Maine when kiddos were small (5 and 2) but we went off season, might be very crowded/noisy in summer.

We also liked Virginia Beach.

We lived in Coshocton Ohio for 1.5 years. It has a restored canal town, Roscoe Village, that is well worth seeing. You can take a canal boat ride and/or walk along the towpath. Nice campground nearby, or it was nice when I was last there some years ago!! It's not too far from the headquarters of the Longaberger basket company (marked by a huge basket).

When my brother and I were young, our parents took us all over--Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Mt. Rushmore, Disneyland, Grand Tetons; we liked Yellowstone so much that when we took a trip to the Canadian Rockies a few years later, we "detoured" south on our way home to see it again!

We lived in Holland MI two years and loved it. They have great beaches (both state and county parks on beach), also intelligently tourist-y stuff about the Dutch (museum; Dutch Village; also a tulip-growing farm you can visit). Not far away is Grand Haven with the dancing fountains (sound and light show at night in summer). If you can go in May you can catch the Tulip Time festival in Holland--crowded but BEAUTIFUL beds of tulips! ;-) I remember heading north from there to a waterpark called Michigan Adventure, but can't remember exactly where it was.

Petoskey and Traverse City (further north in MI, still on the lake) are nice too.

One of the indoor waterparks in Sandusky, I think it was Castaway Bay (I am sure it was not Kalahari).

We spent a day or two in Sandusky area in the summer, biking in Put-in-Bay, climbing the tower, etc. They have a carousel museum there.

Lots of families like Geneva on the Lake, up here in Ashtabula County. It's one of the oldest family-type resorts on L:ake Erie. Geneva State Park is ver close by (camping available), there's a "strip" of shops and "play" stuff (mini golf, pinball, etc), numerous restaurants (wineries for parents), weekly summer concerts and gorgeous sunsets. In Ashtabula (nearby city) and points south there is a rails-to-trails bike/hiking trail that is nice.

Letchworth State Park in NY. We saw it briefly in the winter (on way to somewhere else). I'd love to go back--woods, gorge with lake (from damming a river).

Ithaca NY area. As their travel slogan says "Ithaca is Gorges". Also a nice little college town, nice park for kids, including a bike trail (if I remember it correctly).

Sometimes in the winter we just go somewhere not too far away where there is an indoor pool!

Last vacation: a couple of quick 2-day trips to 1). Kennywood (great amusement park near Pittsburgh) and Ohiopyle (didn't go rafting, but did get in the river and see the waterfalls); and 2). Bridgman Mich. to visit a family friend; we went to the beach at Lake Michigan.

So nice of you to say that any and all ideas are welcome because some may benefit others who read the post! Hugs to you, and happy traveling!

K. Z.

Our favorite vacations reside around National Parks. We pick a different park each time, rent a cabin and spend time in nature hiking or just enjoying the scenery. It's very relaxing!