Help with Family Vacation/July
 

We are a family of three, mom, dad, and 17 year old daughter. We enjoy beautiful scenery, hiking and exploring new places. One consideration is that we live in Florida and would like to escape the heat for a while. We have two weeks and can fly somewhere and rent a car. We definitely do not want to stay in one place for longer than 4-5 days.

Here is a list of some of the places we have already been to. Returning to some may be an option.

Arizona - Phoenix, Sedona, Grand Canyon area
Utah - Zion and Bryce NP, Salt Lake City
California - San Diego, San Francisco
Colorado- RMNP, Boulder, Colorado Springs
Vermont - pretty much everywhere
Maine - coastal only
Canada - Vancouver, Banff and surrounding areas, Niagara Falls
Alaskan cruise
Washington DC, Williamsburg and much of Virginia
North Carolina - most of
Georgia - all that is worthwhile
New York City

Some possibilities are Boston (to check out colleges for the daughter) Oregon, Yellowstone (although I do worry about the crowds in July),San Francisco/ Yosemite and Quebec.

Any suggestions/ideas would be greatly appreciated. This may be our last vacation with our daughter!

How about the Black Hills of SD? Mount Rushmore, Custer State park and tons more. That was one of our favorite family vacations.

My absolute favorite family trip was the Canadian Rockies: Banff, Columbia Ice fields, Jasper. Do it if you can.

If you are into National Parks, might consider Rocky Mountain NP. Perhaps add a circle tour that includes Pikes Peak.

Coastal Maine would be great, and handy to Boston to tour colleges.

Whoops...

Just noticed that you did the Colorado thing...never mind that suggestion.

Portland, OR, Oregon coast, and up to Seattle with stops at Mount Saint Helens and Mount Rainier might be fun.

with two weeks you should consider washington state. I did two weeks and was able to pack in Mount rainier, great day hiking., North Cascades nat. park more great hiking- cascade pass trail, Lake Chelan - hiking, boat rides, etc., the penninsula - Olympic Nat. Park. also went to the san juan islands - whale watching, cute towns and some hiking. (see moon handbook on Washington state) you fly into seattle and you are at rainier before supper! tons to do and see. i did do this in sept. in a low travel year (2001) but i'm sure crowds will be less than yellowstone.

You could do a few days in Boston, then drive up to Quebec City for a few days, then explore the countryside up along the St. Lawrence. This will make for a very memorable trip.

Yosemite is great. We just went in October. If this is what you decide on, I would recommend starting to look at lodging asap - as that will be crowded in July as well. They book their campgrounds 5 months in advance. And they fill up fast.

I think driving up the coastline of Oregon and Washington would be great too.

Thanks to all who replied. I am excited about researching all of the suggestions.

I'll add Niagra Falls to the list.

I wouldn't let the crowds keep you from going to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. It is truly one of earths great marvels!

Utahtea

I like the idea of Boston AND...
Explore the city and check out colleges, then head for either Cape Cod (such as Chatham or Eastham) or Canada. I love Quebec City, but Prince Edward Island, Montreal, Tremblant or Toronto would all be great.