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Looking For Warm Vacation Spot for December in US With 16 Months Old

Looking For Warm Vacation Spot for December in US With 16 Months Old

Old Sep 14th, 2014, 10:50 AM
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Looking For Warm Vacation Spot for December in US With 16 Months Old

Hello Friends,

Been to Florida (Key West, Miami, etc) and Hawaii. Looking for recommendations to go on a vacation (warm vacation) in December with our 16 months old baby boy. We love nature and outdoorsy things (no museums/pool sitting). Any places you recommend? Some recommendations are: California (Big Sur, LA, San Diego) or Arizona (Sedona). We love national parks as well. Very confused because we now have to think about our baby boy in the equation.

Thank you in advance!
Regards
Winnie
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Old Sep 14th, 2014, 11:04 AM
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I'd eliminate CA & Sedona from the equation. Weather not reliably warm in CA, snow possible in Sedona. You'd probably best stick to Florida. Or how about Puerto Rico?
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Old Sep 14th, 2014, 11:09 AM
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San Diego is pretty much pleasant year round - not beach weather but pleasant. Otherwise . . . Big Sur almost certainly won't be warm in December. Sedona can be downright cold -- average 50's during the day and 30's at night but could be colder.
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Old Sep 14th, 2014, 11:18 AM
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In Arizona, I would focus on Phoenix and its immediate surroundings. Weather in Arizona depends more on elevation than location in the state, so even though Tucson is farther south, it's also much higher than Phoenix and will therefore be cooler.

Big Sur will not be warm in December, or really any time of the year. I think LA and San Diego would be good, but don't know enough to advise you for certain.

Must you remain in the continental US?
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Old Sep 14th, 2014, 11:29 AM
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Hawaii will be warm almost without doubt; so will anything in Southeast Florida and south of that.

What is your question? You've already BEEN to the "guaranteed" places. Odd post IMO.
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Old Sep 14th, 2014, 03:16 PM
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Belize. Ok, it's not USA, but it's the only country on the land mass of North to South America whose official language is English.
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Old Sep 15th, 2014, 01:21 PM
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I think Puerto Rico is a good choice, obviously, as it will be the warmest. I used to live in LA, and that's not a bad idea. It wasn't always "warm" in December, though, weather can vary a lot. Occasionally it will be beach weather in December (although not the water) but I did use my heater there in the winter and had a winter coat. Mornings could be down to 45 or so. Typically it's very pleasant, maybe around 70 in afternoon, about 50 at night. So you could do plenty outdoors in that kind of weather. Of course Florida would be that warm, not just SE FLorida.

If the idea of Miami etc is implying you want beach weather, then not many places can give you that but Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Maybe San Diego, never been there inDecember. southern Texas like San Antonio is a bit colder than LA.
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Old Sep 15th, 2014, 03:55 PM
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I think if you want guaranteed beach weather your choices are limited to Hawaii and Puerto Rico. (FL may well be warm enough - but perhaps not.)

If you just want warmish versus winter you can do San Diego, possibly LA - but do be aware that it can get fairly chilly at night and rain is a definite possibility. (We had a meeting in the suburbs of LA mid Dec last year and the hotel had automatic sprinklers set to water the grounds at night. When I went out for breakfast at 8 am the walkways in the grounds were slippery with ice.)
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Old Sep 16th, 2014, 04:23 AM
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It depends what you mean by warm. If you want to run around in shorts and swim in the ocean, then Hawaii or Purrto Rico would work, as would most of the Caribbean and coastal Mexico.

If you just wanted somewhere warm enough to walk around comfortably, donning the occasional fleece, then I say California.

I would not recommend Florida. It isn't that warm and, without the beach (and you said you didn't want to lay out by the pool), it just isn't as rewarding as CA to my mind. The exception would be if you wanted to do Orlando.
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Old Sep 16th, 2014, 11:40 AM
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"Warm" is relative. I live in an area with snow and frequent single digit temps, so what some consider "cold" in Florida or San Diego are tropical. Last December, the 60 degree temps in Hilton Head were downright balmy to me!!

From where are you traveling, Winnie? As janisj said, San Diego is pretty pleasant year round unless you're expecting mid-90 temps and bathwater ocean temps......
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Old Sep 16th, 2014, 12:41 PM
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Why would anyone looking for a warm-weather vacation choose luke-warm San Diego over toasty-warm Puerto Rico? I realize there may be reasons that the OP hasn't shared, but consider much nicer beaches, a tropical rain forest and history as old as any post-Columbian in the New World. San Diego (Orlando?) may have it's charms, but not anywhere near the same league, IMO.
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Old Sep 16th, 2014, 01:08 PM
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I think there are plenty of places more enjoyable in Florida than Orlando, even without going into the ocean. LIke St Augustine, Tampa, Sarasota, etc. This is a baby, so there is no purpose to going to Walt Disney World. But I won't lie, I do like California a whole lot more just in terms of scenery (desert, mountains, you name it).

It isn't an issue of bathwater ocean temps, you don't go into the ocean in the winter in California without a wetsuit, at least no one I knew did. The ocean there is never really bathwater temp, that's more FLorida and the Caribbean, I think. The ocean temps don't really vary much between LA and San Diego, it's about 60 in the winter. In summer, it's around 70 or so, it's never bathwater.
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Old Sep 16th, 2014, 01:20 PM
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Why would anyone looking for a warm-weather vacation choose luke-warm San Diego over toasty-warm Puerto Rico? I realize there may be reasons that the OP hasn't shared, but consider much nicer beaches, a tropical rain forest and history as old as any post-Columbian in the New World. San Diego (Orlando?) may have it's charms, but not anywhere near the same league, IMO.

The OP noted they weren't interested in sitting by the pool, so the beach may similarly hold little appeal.

Personally, I think that California is far more interesting than Puerto Rico, once you subtract the beaches. Old San Juan is nice enough, but the city is kind of dumpy and the food isn't remotely as good as California.

As for "history", just how much are we talking about? The population of San Juan was below 10k into the 19th Century. Yes, there are some old buildings, but it is not a place of terrible historic significance.
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Old Sep 16th, 2014, 02:54 PM
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It's all subjective, I know. As a San Francisco native who lived in Puerto Rico for 5 years, that's my opinion. I wouldn't say one is "more interesting" than the other, just very different. And all of PR is warmer in the winter than all of CA, beach or no beach.
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Old Sep 16th, 2014, 03:18 PM
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Winter is rainy season in California( fingers crossed). I have been to SD in April, cold and rainy.
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Old Sep 16th, 2014, 03:38 PM
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Fingers crossed, indeed!! Big fire down the road about 5 miles from me this weekend. Yikes!
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Old Sep 16th, 2014, 04:16 PM
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MichelleY~several years ago, I went to Washington state to visit family in February. Two friends of mine were teasing me because they were going to San Diego at the same time. They'd packed swim suits, shorts, and flip flops, and had rented a convertible; they told me they were going to come back from San Diego all tanned while they were certain I would come back with webbed feet. I had 5 days of sunshine in Washington, while they had 5 days of rain and flash flood warnings in San Diego.
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Old Sep 18th, 2014, 05:30 PM
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Does the baby have a passport? One isn't needed for Puerto Rico or U.S. Virgin Islands, but if you start thinking of other Caribbean or Central America destinations...

Puerto Rico may be warm in December, but isn't that the rainiest month there? And humid?

How long of a travel day do you want with a 13 month old? Depending on where you live, getting to Hawaii or Puerto Rico could be torture.
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Old Sep 18th, 2014, 05:51 PM
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"Puerto Rico may be warm in December, but isn't that the rainiest month there? And humid?"

If you want the numbers for rain and humidity, look here:
http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/w...tes-of-America
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Old Sep 19th, 2014, 05:26 PM
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Consider checking out beautiful Laguna Beach in Southern CA. We love The Montage there for lodging. Happy travels! .
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