How come you're not considering NYC? Or did I miss it somewhere?

I loved Santa Fe -- it's so beautiful and in such a gorgeous environment.

Toronto isn't necessarily a budget city (depends on where you're staying, restaurants, etc) but the US dollar is worth so much more than our dollar and that's what makes it a good deal at this time.

If Canada, I'd also consider Montreal or Quebec City.

But truthfully? I'd go to NYC.

Thank you for the additional comments.

indyhiker, thanks for mentioning Golden Gate Park. We love to visit botanical gardens.

Hobbert, I think Iceland would be too much for this short of a trip but thank you.

goddesstogo, NYC isn't a consideration for this trip because we spent 8 wonderful days there about a year and a half ago. Although it's a destination worthy of another visit, we're hoping to go someplace we haven't been before on this trip. I'll do some research into Montreal and Quebec City as well. I checked airfare into Montreal and it is reasonable. Thank you.

We love to hike and to visit beautiful botanical gardens. We also like a bit of adventure, but are not thrill seekers. We love seafood, but also enjoy trying different foods when we travel.

Vancouver BC.

Easily visited without a car, but if you want to rent one for a couple of days to visit Whistler, fine. One of the most beautiful cities in the world, fabulous food, and as for gardens, well the Queen Elizabeth II Park gardens, Bloedel Conservatory, Van Dusen Gardens, Chinese Garden... world class. (IMO QE2 Park gives the Butchart Gardens in Victoria a run for their money, especially given how much money is involved - QE2 is free.)

Visit Lynn Canyon for its free suspension bridge (compared to nearby Capilano Bridge with its $$$ cost) or walk along the Spanish Banks beach; wander through old-growth forest in Stanley Park, eat fresh fish on picnic tables at Granville Market. If you're there in early June, watch some Shakespeare in a tent at the Bard on the Beach festival - http://bardonthebeach.org/ ... There's no way you'll regret a few days there.

The US dollar goes a long way,

I understand you've been to Arkansas but any interest in New Orleans...? It is closer to you, unique city offering some great food (seafood), history, museums, music and nature. Temperature in the low 80's. Prices may be down post-Jazz Festival.

If you do choose, San Francisco,, look into their free City Guides walking tours. We did several, including the Golden Gate Bridge, Telegraph Hill and the Japanese Tea Garden. The latter included an optional hike around the park. The docents are wonderful. While at the park, we visited the Botanical Gardens as well.

If you decide on SF - search forums for SF & StuDudley (Fodor's contributor extraordinaire) for more information on SF visit than you will ever be able to use

Love San Fran!

Wow! More wonderful ideas, thank you!

I had not considered Vancouver but it sounds great, I will look into it. I have Victoria and Butchart Gardens on my want list for when we visit Seattle and the surrounding area (which may end up being two trips because of the plethora of things to do there). I did not know about Queen Elizabeth II Park gardens, or much about Vancouver in general. Thank you Gardyloo.

steve1526, I had thought of New Orleans briefly because my daughter has actually mentioned it as well. We could even drive to it. I'm certain we would love, love all the great food but I just wasn't sure if it would have enough to do for a teenager. I'll check into it.

Thanks for the additional tips on San Francisco indyhiker. Sounds great!

I love all these ideas! I'll be doing a lot of research on these suggestions for this trip and storing away information for future ones.

I think that San Fran is a great idea! One of the most beautiful coastlines ever is the Big Sur Highway. It would be well worth your time to drive down it! Stop at Point Lobos State (?) Park in Carmel...Gorgeous! Otters floating on their backs, green water. So pretty.

Another idea would be to spend a couple of nights at Yosemite. There's plenty to do in San Fran that could take your whole week, but we've always fit one of these other side trips in, too. Once when we went, the boys were little, and our goal was to find a cool playground everyday. We were so successful that they will always think of San Francisco as the city of playgrounds (and the city where their Dad played "Can't Touch This" and "Kiss From a Rose" over and over again)!

If you don't go as far south as Big Sur, but drive along the coast closer to San Fran, it's fun to eat green chili soup at Duarte's in Pescadero! We got the recipe and I make it every New Year's Eve.

Gardyloo totally read my mind. If the flights aren't too bad go to Vancouver and Whistler! Now is the time to take advantage of the US vs. CAD situation.

Or you could fly into Calgary and go to Banff and Lake Louise.

I lived in Chicago for eight years. There is so much to do there!!!!!

If you went to Santa Fe/ABQ you could also explore Bandelier National Monument: http://www.nps.gov/band/index.htm

Sounds like a fun tradition you have with your daughter. But what on earth is college fish camp? I need to know!

Thanks for the additional tips, very helpful!

Haha Skiergirl, college fish camp is a camp that college freshman go to the summer before their first semester. It will have lots of fun activities for them to do and they get to know other freshmen. TCU has different ones from them to choose from, and she's chosen one in Colorado. I know a lot of the Texas colleges have these camps. I've never thought about if they have them elsewhere or not.

Oh yes, like an orientation week. I'm an independent college counselor so I know all about that but I'd never heard it referred to as college fish week! Congrats on her acceptance to TCU. I attended a breakfast they hosted with Trinity and I was shocked at how difficult it has become to get in there!

Thanks Skiergirl, she is ecstatic!

Gonna put in a few plugs for Chicago and the surrounding areas, since the above posters didn't give much info, other than what a wondrous place it is. (And it is!!!)

SF is still usually much more expensive than Chicago, although....

The thing about Chicago is that it has a lot of big conventions and events which drive up the cost of hotels and lodging in general. So, when you are on a budget, you need to schedule the visit for those periods of time when one of these is not taking place. The Choose Chicago website has a convention calendar where you can see which conventions (and size of them) are happening.

Also, please keep in mind that with some destinations you do not have to have a rental car, which is a savings in itself.

Chicago is a world-class destination for cuisine, theatre and the lively arts, architecture, music, sports and other urban pleasures.

The city is unique in that it has this entire lakefront (on Lake Michigan) consisting of parkland, harbors and beaches. Not to mention natural areas including bird sanctuaries. One of the great joys of summer is to bike, walk or run along the Lakefront Trail. Most can do only a portion of it but it is so worthwhile.

That being said...5 to 7 days would allow you have a day trip or two outside of Chicago. And there happen to be couple you can consider:

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and Indiana Dunes State Park. Easily gotten to via the South Shore and South Bend Railroad from the Millennium Station at Michigan and Randolph. The trip takes about 1.25 hours to the Dune Park station (about a 2 mile walk to the State Park entrance) or a little more to Beverly Shores (where you can rent bikes from the general store there).

www.indianadunes.com
www.nps.gov/indu/index.htm
www.nictd.com

The Chicago Botanic Garden is actually located in Glencoe, IL. This is another easy trip via Metra from the Ogilvie Transportation Center. The Botanic Garden is about a 1 mile walk (easy) from the Braeside station.

www.chicagobotanic.org

If I have piqued your interest in Chicago, there are three websites I would recommend that you review:

1) The Choose Chicago website - and do take a little time outside of the huge amount of options of what to do to (make note some of the city and neighborhood festivals happening around those times - such as the Printer's Row Lit Fest, Blues Fest and so forth), research the "Neighborhood" section;

2) Then go to the Chicago Greeter website.

This is an absolutely free service of tours of those various neighborhoods by local volunteers. You can choose your own personalized tour by neighborhood or by interest.

In addition, there are free InstaGreeter tours of the Loop (the "downtown" of Chicago) and Millennium Park daily, originating from the Chicago Cultural Center. The Cultural Center contains the world's largest Tiffany dome and you can take a building tour there to view it and the various mosaics. In addition, the Cultural Center has free concerts, exhibits and items of local interest. Look at their monthly calendar. And

3) The Chicago Architecture Foundation. Their River Cruise is highly recommended. But they have dozens of other types of tours - by trolley, 'L (elevated train), bus, Segway, bikes as well as by foot.

BTW, even though you aren't that keen on museums, IMHO, you may wish to go to the Art Institute of Chicago. A gem.

P.S. If your plans are for May...

Chicago has the greatest number of movable bridges in the world. In the spring, the various watercraft that are moored in the harbors along the Chicago lakefront get there from dry dock via the Chicago River.

The bridges along the Chicago River raise, in succession from west to east, to allow that water traffic through. (In the fall, when the watercraft are going back to dry dock, they raise east to west.) There are scheduled bridge lifts, usually held on Wednesday and Saturday mornings, where you can view all of these bridges raising to the sky.

You can view these happening from the city's River Walk (the public walk way along the Chicago River), from street level or from the McCormick Bridgehouse and Chicago River Museum, which is in the western bridgehouse at the DuSable Bridge (fka Michigan Avenue Bridge). And, of course, anyone who happens to be on an architectural river cruise at that time will also see this happening around them.

I just happen to think this is a unique and memorable event of the city which many visitors may not have the opportunity to see.

Here's some information, if you have any interest: www.bridgehousemuseum.org

Thank you so much for the detailed and informative response exciledprincess. That definitely piques my interest!

I took my daughter, then 22, last June to Quebec City and Montreal for a mother daughter trip that was not overly expensive and we had a great time.
We flew into QC and spend 2 nights there and I wish we had a 3rd and we had 3 nights in Montreal and flew home from there.

We saw U2 play in Montreal and we happened to be there during the womens world cup soccer and got tickets to see Canada play Norway, lots of fun!

QC is very old world european and quaint and Montreal is the big city and both very easy to get around. Highly recommend it for a one week trip!

Thanks girlonthego! Sounds fun, and great to hear it wasn't all that expensive too.

If you do Chicago don't miss Seccond City.

Santa Fe is a cool option if you like a road trip. Nice hiking at Bandelier and plenty of unusual and charming things to see and do.