Large family vacation site
 

Any ideas on where a large family 9 adults - 9 kids (ranging from 2-10 yrs) can go on a nice vacation. My family likes nice things and we are looking at staying at a lake or ocean location where we can rent two or three houses/cottages/condos. This is scheduled for next summer and my father put me in charge. The Northeast is preferable (parents live in NY) and I am looking for a place where the adults and kids can have numerous activities. Thanks

There is one ocean front vacation that my family still talk about. It was a four bedroom cottage with washer and dryer, right on the sand at Salisbury Beach in Ma. It's hard to get by the honky tonk look of this area but, once you are facing that wide expanse of sand and ocean, there isn't much that can beat it. My kids were small at the time, and I did not want to cross any street to get to the ocean. This place was perfect, the back porch sat on the beach. At low tide, we played beach tennis on the sand. We also set up a volley ball court near the cottage. We found the place by going to Salisbury in late fall, and asking real estate agents about rentals. <BR>There are condos at South Beach at Martha's Vineyard, that could accomodate your family. South Beach at night and dawn is another favorite. MV is now too expensive and crowded for my taste. <BR>Good luck,

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO TRAVEL A BIT FURTHER SOUTH, TRY THE PIGEON FORGE AREA...NUMEROUS CABINS AND CHALETS, SLEEPING UP TO 20 PEOPLE IN THE FOOTHILLS OF THESMOKIES, PLUS OUTLET MALLS, DOLLYWOOD, AND MUCH MORE!

Gary, <BR> <BR>I recommend Cape Cod. It is touristy in the summer, but if you go far enough out (in?) on the Cape, you can avoid some of the real traps. <BR> <BR>We vacation each summer in Chatham, which is at the "elbow" of the Cape, and we love it there. Harwich, Chatham, Brewster, Wellfleet, Orleans, Eastham . . . any of these would be great towns to stay in. The beauty of the Chatham/Harwich/Brewster area is that it's so central. From those towns, you can drive either way on the Cape and get to most other places within an hour or so. <BR> <BR>We've been going to the Cape for about 20 years, since before we had kids. The kids are now 11 and 14, so we've found lots and lots of activities everywhere there. <BR> <BR>Here are some of our longtime favorites: <BR> <BR>Miniature Golf at Pirate's Cove in Falmouth <BR>Cape League Baseball (college players, many of whom go on to be drafted in the MLB), in many towns, free (they pass the hat for donations) <BR>Day trip to Sandwich for Heritage Plantation (beautiful gardens, plus carousel, antique car museum, etc.); Sandwich Glass Museum; doll museum <BR>Cape Rail Trail for bike riding (at the entrance to Nickerson State Park in Brewster, you can rent bikes and bike paraphernalia and pay by the hour) <BR>Provincetown--perhaps not appropriate for kids <BR>National Seashore--HQ is in Orleans or Eastham; great beaches in that area, too--Head of the Meadow, Coastguard, Marconi <BR>Wellfleet Drive-in Theater <BR>Chatham center, just for walking around <BR>Monomoy Theater performances, in Chatham <BR>Marshside Restaurant in Dennis <BR> <BR> <BR>There are also many other things we've done with smaller kids--Natural History Museum, playgrounds (there's a great one in Chatham, right next to the baseball field). We also like swimming in the many fresh-water ponds. The bike trails go right by some of them, so you can hop off when you're hot and jump in the cool pond. <BR> <BR>If you want to pursue the Cape further, feel free to e-mail me directly. We rent our cottage from a private family and don't go through a realtor, so I don't know of any leads for condos or cottages. I do know of a few realtors that friends have used, however. With this much lead time, you should be able to find something easily. In the height of the season--last week of June through Labor Day--you might have to pay up to $900 or so for a 2BR. <BR> <BR> <BR>You can also take whale watches from Provincetown, and I noticed in June that a big new thing is seal watches. <BR> <BR>

<BR>I'll toss in some of my favorite places for your consideration: <BR> <BR>Adirondacks - Lake Placid or Saranac <BR>Lake Champlain - either side <BR>Central Maine coast - Portland to Acadia <BR>Nova Scotia - Halifax & south or CBI <BR>Lake Michigan - Manistee to Petoskey, MI <BR>

I have the best answer for you!!! Woodloch Pines Resort in the poconos.it is an awesome all-inclusive resort with a ton activities and a variety of housing options, houses, hotel rooms, suites. all at various prices. we went with a family group of 14 people, was supposed to be more but last minute work kept one family of five away. we rented houses in the woodloch springs section. it is about a mile from the main resort and is a golf course community. we liked it b/c the houses were huge, brand new, lots of bathrooms. out family of six adults,( three married couples) had a three bedroom,five bathroom house. with a full kitchen, fireplace, deck. and a garage. and we were there in winter, so it snowed, and they come to shovel your driveway!!! and they come in to clean every day. <BR>this vacation was great b.c no one had to cook, but we had the space to hang out at the houses comfortably after dinner and talk, plus with an age range of 3-60 it was great to have activities we all liked, some of which we did together, some we split up for. <BR>the food is generous, tasty and filling. they are extremely family friendly and the staff is on a par with disney. <BR>they have a website, i think it is woodloch.com. <BR>they are on a lake and have indoor and outdoor pools. they literally have so many options, we had strategy sessions at breakfast and brought our motorala walkie talkies to keep track of each other all day! <BR>best part, about a 2-3 hour drive from NYC suburbs.

Thanks for all of the great suggestions.