Driving the U.S with kids
 

I am looking at taking a driving tour with 3 kids (ages 7,11,12) next summer. I am not sure where to go. Last summer we drove the Washington D.C, Philadelphia, Gettysburg area and loved it. Any suggestions on places in the U.S. we should go and see? We will have 2-3 weeks to do it. Staying in hotels.
Thanks

Your question is broad. Try the west coast this time or New England. Luckily, you have tons of time to figure this out.

Where are you starting from? Driving your own car or flying somewhere and renting? What kinds of things interest your family?

I'd highly recommend a West Coast trip with kids those ages and the time you have for this trip.

Ex:

San Diego - 3 days
Theme Parks around LA - 3 days
LA - 2 days
Coast - 2-3 days
Monterey - 2 days
San Francisco - 3 days
Yosemite (for which you'll need to make reservations SOON - they open up reservations a year in advance) - 2-3 days
Lake Tahoe - 2-3 days of R & R

I like the west coast trip a lot.
Could also go east toward Arizona and New Mexico. See Hoover Dam, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Santa Fe, Indian villages, on toward Mesa Verde--sort of an Indian theme.

Since we don't know a starting point, how about the Northwest.

With 2-3 weeks you can see Mt. Rushmore and the Black Hills, Yellowstone & Grand Teto Nat. Park, then to Glacier Nat. Park. Cross ID and WA to Seattle and maybe even take a venture into British Columbia, say Vancouver and/or Victoria.

You can make a great trip in that amount of time, just pick the region.

I agree... Go west, young man! The Calif trip outlined above would be great. So would a tour of some national parks, which I feel every American should see in their lifetime. Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, etc would make a great trip out of Las Vegas. Or Mt Rushmore, Yellowstone, Glacier, etc also makes a wonderful trip (though more driving). However, you may have trouble getting hotels within the parks... They often book up a year in advance. Staying in-park makes a difference in some places more than others. For example, you really want to be in-park in Grand Canyon, but it's easy and efficient to lodge outside the park in Zion.

Are you a very active family? We tend to prefer walks and hikes over theme parks and museums, and so that is what the following recommendations are based on.

New England is great. You could spend the time in Cape Cod (visiting Provincetown, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket), Boston, the coast of Maine (including Boothbay Harbor, Bar Harbor, and Acadia). A week alone could be spent in Acadia. There are a lot of walking paths and hiking trails. There are kayaking and cliff climbing trips.

Colorado is great as well. Visit Crested Butte and Breckenridge, Boulder and Denver.

I love the New Mexico, Utah and Arizona area, but you have to be careful because it can get insanely hot in places over the summer. Bryce and Zion National Parks are definite "musts" in a person's lifetime, and don't tend to get as hot as the Canyonlands near Moab, Utah. But they do still get hot. Arizona is ridiculously hot in the summer. So, as much as I love that little corner of the country, I would avoid it in the summer unless you plan on spending a lot of time in your car.

It would help to know if you like outdoorsy things more or museums/monuments more. And how you feel about the heat.

A lot of the west is a desert (yes, even LA) and can be unbearably hot in the summer - although LA is just sort of regular hot with bad air.

The more norther national parks are more temperate - bus VERY busy.

And New England with Boston would be fantastic. Een consider going over to NY to the Adirondacks - noting else like them - for cabins, lakes, fishing, boating - but with lots of cute little towns nearby (they were there before the park - unlike in the west).