1st week in November. Fly to El Paso. Go to Guadalupe National Park and Carlsbad Caverns(wild cave tour is the bomb). Guadalupe has some of the best fall foliage(really).

Late March or April. Fly to Midland/Odessa and do Big Bend National Park.

August 1st-Fly to Seattle and consider Mount Rainier, San Juan Islands, Olympic NP.

Portland-already mentioned, but good choice.

Nashville/Memphis in Spring

Mid-October-Fly to Boston(could see it or drive up the coast to Acadia NP

December of January(not during the holidays) Fly to Miami and could include Dry Tortugas, Keyes, Everglades

Honestly, I always have fun in LA. Lots of exciting food right now, too.

Louisville is another place that is pretty hot right now.

Jazz festival on Catalina, the "Island of Romance".

http://www.catalinachamber.com/islan...nts/jazztrax10

Palm Springs date festival in February. Joshua park, etc...

Well, to get right to the point:
http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...iladelphia.cfm

Fall is really nice, and spring is lovely. Actually, there's a lot going on in winter and summer, too. Beautiful hikes, world class museums, including the new National Museum of American Jewish History, an active music scene, and history galore.

On the picture worth a thousand words principle: http://missalg.tumblr.com/

Another vote for New Orleans JazzFest!

OR I've always wanted to go to Key West...It would be something totally different!

Fly to Boston, travel to Martha's Vineyard?

Go to Beaver Creek Colorado. Enjoy dog sledding, snowmobiling, cobblestone streets with cute cafes, a horse drawn sleigh up to the top of a mountain where the best meat and food is served. Ski down a mountain where warm chocalate chip cookies are waiting for you. Complete heaven.

I'm guessing that Albuquerque is your home airport.
How about a direct flight to SeaTac (Seattle)?
You can go North to Vancouver BC, East to Leavenworth WA or South to Portland OR.
It looks like the Spokane trip involves a connection in Denver.
Leavenworth WA has many things going on on many weekends through the year. Google it.

You aren't completely correct about only Air Trans or Volaris serving the Caribbean. Southwest *does* fly to San Juan, Puerto Rico. Check it out. I loved it there and would gladly return if I had a free ticket!

Other than that, I'd say Portland, Maine or Portland, Oregon. Or Austin, Texas if you've never been there.

Im thinking New Orleans too, but for French Quarter Fest. We went last year and it was one of the best times I have ever had.

Fly into Greenville, SC and drive to Asheville NC in the fall, October preferably. About an hour, very nice little airport.

Service to San Juan starts in mid April, so that is a good choice. Lots of points to get there though, so that will have a be a one timer.

Thanks for all your continued suggestions. We have been to many of those listed but will still consider them for these short trips.

Planning is such fun, especially when you get such great input!

I would recommend April or October for Charleston. The gardens are quite fantastic and April is the time they really shine. October is a very popular month for weddings because the weather is usually so nice.

Maybe 2 visits for Charleston!

I'll tell you "where to go" if you don't tell us about Montpellier.

We went to Charleston / Savannah late April and it was H-O-T and beautiful.

Also, be aware that there are no stores / restaurants / convenience stores south of Broad. So if you need a short cooling off break you better have water and snack with you and sit under a tree.

We bought a passport that included a few plantations and some historic homes. That was how we cooled off.

The suggestions are getting tempting for us.

Im confused now. This is about points or a companion ticket?

Spiro - one ticket will be "bought" using points, the second one is the "free" companion ticket. So, points are a bit of concern though we presently have approx. 175,000 points. Need to spend the points wisely. Of course, we will use $$ if we run out of points before the end of 2014, but getting the most "mileage" out of the points is my goal (pun intended)

I promise, Myer.....

some suggestions for the rest of the year:
February - Los Angeles/Palm Springs
March - New Orleans
April - Charleston
May - Chicago
June - Seattle
July - Denver/Boulder
August - Salt Lake City/Park City
September - Providence/Cape Cod
October - Boston/Martha's Vineyard
November - Austin/San Antonio
December - New York City

have fun and safe travels!

With SW 175,000 points can go a long way. I find their point system very fair. The short flights are usually 8,000-12,000 points per segment, while the longer flights might be as high as 20,000 each way. With a companion pass, you might as well go as far as you possibly can-meaning you will have to use more points, but that is just that many more $$ you are saving on your free companion ticket.

What I am getting at is this. If it is a short trip you are going to use 20,000 points and save $300 on your companion. If it is a long trip you might used 40,00O+ points, but you might save $600+ on your companion tickets. I am sure you have calculated it this way already.