LilBlueEyes310

My husband and I are starting to plan our first vacation with our 1 year old son. We are located in the suburbs of Chicago and are looking for a nice family place within driving distance outside of IL and WI (around 8 hours of driving would be ideal, but we're flexible). We are looking for something that would have some fun and relaxing attractions to keep the 1-yr old entertained, but to also let us relax a bit.

After just briefly browsing, St. Louis looked interesting, but I'd like to get some imput from others.

Outdoor activities or site seeing is good for us. We also enjoy some History so some museums could be an option. I think a petting zoo of somesort would be great for our son. We are also into Nascar, but I don't know of anything worth seeing related to that which would also be suitable for a 1-yr old.

I'm open to suggestions... Thanks!

SandyBrit

LilBlueEyes310

Have a look at a recent thread started by poster leslea "Three nights in St. Louis with three kids under age five"

If you choose St. Louis you might want to break it up and stop in Springfield, IL.

Good luck.

Sandy

kelliebellie

Try the western Michigan coast. There was a thread around here somewhere where I posted a bunch of ideas. I'll see if I can find it later.

JRP

I'm a dad. I've planned a few vacations. I've extended myself to please the babies. Never regretted a moment because it offered me a lifetime of memories.

However, my children look at me with heads cocked sideways when I ask excitedly "Don't you remember...?" Trust me, they have no recollection of the $5k vacation at Disney, etc., that we thought was so special- not even at 6, 7 or 8 years old . As heartwarming as it may feel as a parent, I'd advise you to plan your vacation for yourselves, not the baby. There will be time for those memorable trips as he grows older, and you'll know when it's time.

For now, enjoy your time together and teach him how to "travel". It's far too early to structure your vacation around events and activities that he won't recall. The destination matters not to him at his age.

Have fun with him, and wherever you go keep him smiling.

gail

Type of accomodations and how you get there are the only thing important to your kid. I know of no attractions that will keep a one-year old so occupied that you can "relax a bit"

Wherever you go, get a suite or something similar - it will give you some time in evening without worrying about waking baby. Refrigerator and microwave are also stress-reducing items. Do you really want to eat out 3 meals/day with a one-year old. Not suggesting you cook, but being able to reheat, store snacks and juice, eat the dinner you had to pack up and take out when the baby got cranked up, etc. A place with breakfast included is a plus.

If having a pool is important, call hotel directly and make sure baby in diapers can use pool - many places will not permit it, even with swim diapers. Do not rely on website - it is often not current or just wrong.

We have traveled with our kids since birth - travel was just different at different ages.

aileen679

Hours of driving with a baby that age is not relaxing. He won't do well strapped in a car seat for long periods.

A lot will also depend on whether your child is walking and wants to go, go, go! If he's still crawling, do you want him crawling on a motel floor? Some children that age will fight being kept in a stroller for more than a few minutes at a time. It can be a real problem if he decides he would rather be carried. It can be a real tricky job of keeping him happy without driving you and your husband up the wall. You just can't let him scream his head off in public. Even the best behaved child can be at his worse when he's tired and in a strange place.

But, I agree, you can't count on anything keeping a child that age "entertained" so that you can relax a bit. He would be a most unusual child if you can.

Have you thought of taking just a few short day trips? That way, he can sleep in his usual bed and the drive won't wear him out and make him cranky.

LilBlueEyes310

Thanks for the input from each of you. To touch on a few point mentioned in the posts... Yes this vacation is for us more so than our son, but in order for it to be enjoyable for us, we'll need to plan in some stuff that would entertain him as well... a trip to the zoo would suit him much better than a cruise around a museum.

By the time we take our vacation, he should be walking, but we plan on using the stroller a majority of the time when we're moving about. He does very well in a stroller, especially when we're moving. He is used to driving 4 hour stretches already as we travel on the weekends at least once a month.

The idea of the hotel suite sounds great, something we'd definately look into if the finances can handle it. We have a cooler which plugs in the wall to act like a fridge so we could manage that way, but having one in the hotel along with a microwave would be a plus.

If you have any other ideas of where to travel, I'd appreciate it. In the meantime I'll search for the posts mentioned above.

snowrooster

If you are considering St Louis, you might want to consider Cincinnati as well. Kings Island (an amusement park) has a great area with little kids rides (many that you can ride w/him). The Beach Waterpark has a nice kids area and a lazy river you can just float around on with him on your lap in an inner tube. There is a very nice Children's Museum here in the Museum Center that has a special area for small children. You could also go to a Reds game. It is a very family friendly city. There is an Embassy Suites on the river in Northern Kentucky. Residence Inn by Marriott is also a nice option for family travel - more like an apartment than the "suites" at Embassy and cheaper as well. There is a racetrack in Northern Kentucky but so far they have not gotten a Nextel race, but if you like all racing you might be able to find something going on there you would enjoy. Ooh - also horse racing. Some folks might find that an odd choice w/a child, but we took my kids a couple of times and they love seeing the horses. If you go to one of the smaller tracks (River Downs in Ohio) you can get right up there against the fence - they even have pony rides for kids on some days. Have fun contemplating your options!!

LilBlueEyes310

snowrooster,

Those suggestions sound great and right up our alley. I'll definatly check them out.

Thanks.

padams421

Beware that a baby who doesn't mind being in the stroller or the carseat for long stretches of time will NOT automatically grow into a walking toddler who enjoys being still for any length of time. Everything changes when kids begin to walk. Keep in mind in planning your trip that he will want to be walking. It's a good age to pick a location such as the beach.

Also, if you are going to drive for 8 hours, do it at night or very early in the morning when he is likely to sleep for a significant amount of the drive.

travel_addict

Michigan's West Coast is beautiful and only 3-4 hours from Chicago. Some places to consider are Saugatuck, Holland, Grand Haven, the Silver Lake & Pentwater area, Ludington, Manistee and farther north if you care to drive more. There are some great beach houses for rent in all these cities with great beaches. The Silver Lake sand dunes area is one great big sandbox and I can't think of too many toddlers who wouldn't enjoy that!

LilBlueEyes310

So Cincinnati and St. Louis are currently our top choices. Since they are not too far away to drive and they seem like it would be our type of touristy vacation while still providing some entertaining activities for our son.

Michigan is not that far behind, but beaches are not our thing to the point where we'd spend a week's vacation at one. Sounds like it would be a good choice though for a long weekend get away, however we rarely get those.

leslea

LilBlueEyes,

I'm in St. Louis right now and there is way more to do here than Cincy. No disrespect to Cincy, it is two hours from home for me and I go there fairly often, but it is not as centered around museums, parks, zoo (and zoo-type things), etc. as St. Louis.

If you do the zoo here, bring both a backpack for the baby as well as bringing an umbrella stroller. Umb. strollers are the only ones that go on the zoo train--then you can get on and off if you get tired of walking the zoo, which is one of the biggest in the country (I think it the second-biggest).

Also, do the Safari Pass if you come. It is worth it.

dayrew03

Lilblueeyes -

You certainly can have a fun time in St. Louis with a 1 yr old - my husband and I did it last summer. St. Louis is actually great for families.

The best thing we did was visit the Magic House, which is a fantastic children's museum. Our 1 yr old daughter loved it. They actually have things that toddlers can enjoy - an indoor play area with small slide and play house, etc. that are just the right size for toddlers. There was also a great water play area that our 1 yr old loved. And there was an area, downstairs I think, where she was able to play with paints. If I remember right, it was voted the #1 place in the US for kids. Be sure to get directions before you go, it was kind of off the beaten path, but totally worth it.

We also visited Grants Farm. It was free, but you have to pay for parking. Our daughter enjoyed it as well. You first ride a tram through the park and then visit a zoo-like area with various animals and a petting zoo. You can also visit the famous Busch clydesdales. Their stable is across the parking lot. Our daughter enjoyed that as well.

The St. Louis Zoo is very nice. It's also free, you just pay for parking. It would probably be better than Grants Farm.

They also offer carriage rides around downtown St. Louis, around the Lacledes Landing area. Our daughter LOVED this. She couldn't get enough of the horses. Kind of pricey though, if I remember right.

We ate at the Old Spaghetti Factory in Laclede's Landing. It was a great place for a young child, because it's already kind of noisy inside, so a loud toddler doesn't really disturb anyone too much. When we were there, there was a roaming guy making balloon animals which also helped to entertain her. The food is pretty inexpensive. There can be long waits, though, if you go at 7:00 on a Saturday. It's very popular.

Other good places: free tours at the Busch brewery. I've never done one, but my husband says they're actually really interesting. The kids can see the Clydesdales on the tour. Of course there's the Arch, you can ride to the top. You might want to buy tickets in advance, they can sell out during the summer. You can also visit Union Station. It's really just a mall, but there is a pond with ducks and paddle boats that your son might enjoy watching. There's also a great Science Center. If I remember right, it's free. It really is a lot of fun for kids and adults. I haven't been in a couple years, though, so I can't remember if there are things for 1 yr olds to enjoy.

We're actually getting ready to visit St. Louis this week for a couple days with our now 2-yr old daughter. We live in Peoria, IL, so St. Louis is less than a 3 hour drive for us. Compared to Chicago, St. Louis is pretty inexpensive. And there are so many kid-friendly things to do. You can also get great hotel rates on Priceline if you don't mind not being able to choose your hotel. We got the Renaissance Grand, a 4 star hotel, for $55. Nice pool, too.

Hope this was helpful! Good luck!