sjm1027

Hello,

My wife and I are 60 years young so we are looking for a travel place to go where you can walk with small shops and nice restaurants and interesting places to go. We are not beach goers but like to walk around harbors and love seafood. We also love the woods, often like to hike established trails.
I see to have a difficult choosing a place to go. I think I beat the place up to much and get hesitant to go and continue to look. We went to Disney in Orlando a few years back and loved it because the food was good, plenty to see and always something to do. Will be taking a trip this summer for 5 days and 2017 February would be another 5 day trip. We would also like to make the winter trip and annual trip to a warmer place in USA
Thanks

Cjar

It's fun to be the designated trip planner ,but can also be overwhelming sometimes.
If you don't mind driving Southern California can be great. There are theme parks, Universal Studios, Knott's Berry Farm, and great museums, The Getty and Natural History museum. As well as the Santa Monica Pier or Laguna Beach. Great restaurants and Griffth's Observatory etc

Northern California has delights all it's own, Mendocino, Sonoma, San Francisco and Muir Woods.

The Pacific Northwest is also green and gorgeous ,particularly in July. Seattle is full of interesting things to see and do.

What about a city trip to New York ?

If nothing else, this post will bump you back to the top. Good luck deciding.

fmpden

Talk about any open end question. In the US or Europe? Put a map on the wall, toss a dart. And plan a round trip around where it lands. Solves the problem of choosing.

happytrailstoyou

San Francisco would fill the bill.

HTtY

janisj

You tagged this for South Carolina . . . Is that where you want to go?

Ackislander

Year 1 Charleston, SC for your winter trip; Camden, ME for your summer trip
Year 2 New Orleans, winter; Burlington, VT for summer
Year 3 San Diego, winter; San Francisco, summer
Year 4 Miami Beach, winter; Harbor Springs, Michigan summer
Year 5 San Antonio, TX, winter; Glacier National Park, summer

None of these places is really hot in the summer or really cold in the winter. Many feature waterfronts, all have good walks and interesting places nearby.

There is another whole set of places I would recommend if your trips were fall and spring.

gail

Is SC where you currently live? I would add or modify Ackislander's list - consider Portland, Maine. Little shops, lighthouses, good food. Some nice drives. Montreal/Toronto/Quebec on a summer trip. Or maybe Nova Scotia/PEI - depending on how city and how ocean you want to be.

Puerto Rico for winter trip - I am now a fan after (stupid me) discovered no passport, ease of travel from east coast US, cell phones work - and mix of natural beauty, history, food, sun.

Ackislander

I agree with Gail's suggestions as well! Portland is great, so is Portsmouth, NH, and I too am a recent convert to Puerto Rico. We were there in January, and our son and his family just got back from a five day trip.

I like working waterfronts. If you like twee waterfronts with cute shops, there is Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and Rockport, MA and Ogunquit, ME.

mikesmom

I am going to recommend Northen Michigan for a summer trip. Not too hot. Several small towns on the water with lots of great shops and restaurants. You could stay in Traverse City and take day trips to Suttons Bay, Leland, Elk Rapids, Charlevoix, Petoskey and Harbor Springs. You could also visit Mackinac Island, which is always fun. You might want to stay on Mackinac Island or you could stay in Mackinaw City, which is also nice and not as expensive.

Hope this helps.

jayne1973

Key West-- for a winter trip with plenty of shops and walking and seafood.

Colorado-- great summertime possibilities; we liked Glenwood Springs, and a lot of people love Aspen. Estes Park is also popular although very touristy.

Boston--a good shopping/walking/seafood/harbor town.

Yellowstone-- I call it the Disneyland of national parks, with all its amazing thermal features. Plenty of walking on developed trails and gorgeous scenery.

California Coastal Highway road trip-- a little bit of everything!

sf7307

Year 3 San Diego, winter; San Francisco, summer

I'd recommend you switch that to "San Francisco, September/October", since that's when we have our best weather.

tomfuller

Check out the southern Oregon coast from Newport south to the Coos Bay/Charleston area.

janisj

>>San Francisco, summer

Gardyloo

OP's profile says Boston.

Five days isn't a lot of time to for anything on the west coast or Europe, but it's certainly doable. Presumably if it IS Boston, close-by suggestions like Portsmouth are out, but...?

Two Pacific Northwest destinations come to mind. The first is Whidbey Island, an hour or so from Seattle, which has cute waterfront towns, good local food, marvelous Deception Pass for viewing and hiking, lighthouses, beach-combing, a ferry to Port Townsend on the Olympic Peninsula for day trips to Olympic National Park...

The second isn't on salt water, but Hood River in Oregon is an hour from Portland airport, and has tons of things to see - the waterfalls along the sides of the Columbia Gorge, Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood, wineries and fruit stands (and the "fruit loop") in the glorious Hood River Valley, a visit to Maryhill Museum and Stonehenge replica out in cowboy country an hour east of Hood River, and LOTS of great food, beer, wine. No sales tax, either.

Underhill

Carmel and Monterey (in California) would nicely suit your druthers. Pacific Grove, too. All sorts of nice places to stay in assorted price ranges, good restaurants, the great Point Lobos state park...all easy of access.

You could also consider Santa Barbara.

gail

Now you have enough trip ideas for the next decade?

sjm1027

Thanks for all your great suggestions.
I am from Boston, MA and looking to go to 2 places at 2 different times a year.
1, East coast of USA
2, Just USA in general
Both places have the same criteria as in my first post.
Once I selected South Carolina I couldn't figure out how to unselect. BUT I do want to go somewhere near South Carolina, Savanna Georgia...
The more I look the more confused I get. All I want to do is Walk around small shops, harbors, see some sites, drink coffee on a dock, beer on a patio and eat some healthy food.

Cjar

We enjoyed Kiawah Island' s small town vibe and a few cute shops and a terrific market. It's been about 7 years so things may have changed a lot. You can take great day trips to Charleston.