karens, Yup that's it. $1000 per week for 3 to 4 weeks for 2 people but has to include everything like airfare or gas (as i understand it).

I had the same idea and suggestion. Shorten the trip, keep the same budget, and you open up all kinds of options.

Fly to Vegas and fly home from somewhere in California or from Salt Lake City. Fly in on Memorial Monday when the rates for the next 4 nights will be $50 to $60 in LV (Gold Coast or Orleans Hotel, or the Imperial Palace). Rent a car for 3 weeks will be about $600. Take day trips from Vegas out to Lake Mead, to Valley of Fire and to Red Rock Canyon and Floyd Lamb State Park. Fri Sat & Sun drive to Zion National Park in Utah, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, see it all. You can do fifteen nights in Econo Lodges and Motel 6 for $1000. Fuel for 2000 miles of driving will run you another $400. That leaves you $700 for the three weeks for food & fun, or about $35 a day. Take advantage of the free continental breakfasts at the motels and the 99c value menu at Wendys. Their chicken sandwich ain't bad at all.

Lots of families spend less than $3000 on their summer vacation and you can too.

For that price, you can take a couple of back-to-back cruises to different parts of the Caribbean. Check out the discount cruise sites, and see how lucky you are. You might get them almost for free this late. Beautiful nature on the shores, plenty of hiking, snorkling, etc. Remember, though, that you do have to pay for shore excursions, but you could rent a car on your own, or motor bikes, and take off in the Yucatan, or Jamaica, etc. I'd look into safety, first, on going out on your own, but I think that with two of you it should be ok. Go Royal Caribbean for great ships, activities, etc.

By the by, on the big cruise ships there are TONS of exercise options, already paid for. The ship we were on last had aerobics, dancing, walks around the decks, ice skating, rock climbing, golf, swimming, etc. Some of them even have surfing on-board now.

Being from Oregon, I should also mention my state. If you can find decently priced airfare, you can rent a car and hike all over one of the most beautiful states for nature that there is. We have snow-topped mountains, the ocean, and desert, all ready to explore, most areas within daytrip reach of Portland. And you could do it within your budget. It's a late spring this year. They're still skiing on Mt. Hood. Check into it.

There's alway Green Tortoise (www.greentortoise.com), although they are extremely basic.
If I had four weeks and four thousand dollars, even for two people, oh, the places I would go! And not Mexico.
If it were me personally, I would Greyhound across the country, with an established itinerary, and a firm budget. I probably would stay at least occasionally in hostels, and otherwise try to manage an agenda that let me land in places where hotels are fairly reasonable.
This would not be everyone's cup of tea, but there are a lot of things you could do.
DH would drive, pack a tent, and do basically the same thing, substituting camping for hostels. If you are canny about it, and budget and research carefully, there are a lot of things you can do.