My husband and I would like to take a family trip with our boys 14 and 12 this spring break - Any fun ideas - our 14 year old is kinda picky (imagine that he he) they are both into in-line skating but other than that we are open. We would not like to break the bank - want to stay in U.S. Orlando? Grand Canyon? Dude Ranch? Driving Trip? THANKS

The drive up the coast of California is nice, flying into San Diego and flying home from San Fran or Oakland is pretty affordable.

Flying into Las Vegas & staying a couple of days followed by a drive up through Zion National Park and over to the Grand Canyon with a return flight from Phoenix? Or driving to Zion then up through Capitol Reef & Bryce and home from Salt Lake City?

The drive up the coast of California is nice, flying into San Diego and flying home from San Fran or Oakland is pretty affordable.

Flying into Las Vegas & staying a couple of days followed by a drive up through Zion National Park and over to the Grand Canyon with a return flight from Phoenix? Or driving to Zion then up through Capitol Reef & Bryce and home from Salt Lake City?

Forgot to ask if Spring Break is March or April for you? March could be a little cold up through Utah I guess.

My best advice to you comes from my son when he was about the age of your boys, "A vacation is for doing stuff not for seeing stuff." In light of that profound wisdom, I would recommend a driving trip only if there are a lot of activities along the way.

If they haven't been to Disney, that would be a fun and easy trip but probably not inexpensive. The weather would be great in March or April and your boys are old enough to be own their own in the parks if you and your husband want to do something else some days.

A dude ranch also sounds like fun if your boys are into horseback riding, fly fishing etc. You might be able to combine a dude ranch visit with a national park or two.

We did a combined family/business trip to San Diego when our son was about that age. It was the end of January so he and my husband went on a whale watch. Also did the San Diego Zoo and the Air and Space Museum there. Since he was a big Top Gun fan at the time, we also went to an overlook where you could see jets from the air base and we found the bar where one of the scenes was filmed. On a visit to the Hotel Coronado and the beach there, he lucked into seeing a bathing suit ad being photographed. For April on the East Coast he liked a visit to Mammoth Caves followed by a surprise visit to the Corvette Assembly plant. Try to surprise them based on their tastes. Our son didn't know about the Corvette plant but none of his classmates ever went, they just did the ordinary Disney trips with their parents. He and Dad also liked classic car museums. If you do Grand Canyon, they'd probably like a Pink Jeep ride in Sedona.