Instead of the usual 2.5 week vacations we usually take we are thinking of taking 3-4 5-9 day vacations this year. Looking for ideas of where to go -- thinking of staying in the states or Canada or Mexico or maybe an island. Would like some diversity for all of them. Looking for suggestions. Thanks

At the risk of nitpicking here, it would be nice if you indicated where you live and what sorts of activities you like. It would be pointless to wax poetic about a week in Seattle if happen to live 5 minutes from there, or to talk about the joys of dude ranches if you are allergic to horse dandruff. Or to talk about a week in New York doing theatre if you live in Newark and hate crowds.

Sorry. We are in Georgia. We spent about 2.5 weeks in Colorado last August so we do not want to go back there at this time. We enjoy bed and breakfasts, hiking, shopping for handmade items, nice dinners, and sightseeing. Not really a sunsitter.

Here are some places that come to mind:

San Francisco
Monterey and the Big Sur Coast
San Diego
Lake Tahoe
Yosemite
New Orleans
Oregon Coast
New Mexico
Boston
NYC
Washington DC
Seattle
Vancouver/Victoria Island

Some of these could be combined or you could spend a week at pretty much all of these places.

A few more:
Ozarks
Asheville/Hendersonville, N. C.
Vermont/New Hampshire
Coast of Maine
Texas Hill Country
Sante Fe/Taos

What do you mean by "in the states or Canada or Mexico?"
Are you trying to find places for your vacations in these three countries, the U.S., Mexico or Canada?

What time of the year?
Great ideas from Patrick and J_Correa but if you are thinking about December, for example, and do not ski then forget about Vermont/New hampshire. For the begining-mid October I would add the Adirondacks, could be combined with Vermont/New Hampshire

I've been to places I wouldn't have chosen except I had to go there for a reason. I'm glad I tacked a bus tour from Phoenix to Grand Canyon on the end of a business trip. My choice for our afternoon stop in Sedona was a Pink Jeep tour. I loved southwest cuisine. Two days wasn't enough but 2.5 weeks might have been too much.
A week in Maine is good but 2.5 weeks could include a drive thru NH and VT. Pick NH in August when the League of NH craftsmen have their annual fair or Maine at the end of September for the Common Ground Fair.
New Orleans is great for an extra long weekend.
Ditto for NYC, DC, Montreal and Boston. Definitely NCY when the Radio City Music Hall Christmas special is on.
We didn't spend long enough in Seattle but it could be a great long weekend. My next trip would include the islands.

I did mean vacations in those countries. It would be spread out between May and December. We could perhaps take a week toward the end of May and then another week in July or August and then another week in October and maybe some time in November or December. Europe seems cost prohibitive this year and as much as we would love to go back to Africa, it is also very expensive and we are not sure we want to be so remote with elderly parents. So we thought about Hawaii -- which we loved when we went a few years ago -- but then I thought maybe going away more often for a shorter period of time would be a good idea. So that is what I was looking at. My husband has every other Friday off so if we started with that, it would be easu to take 5-9 days off for these vacations. I am self employed so it is a matter of arranging my work and schedule.

My husband is definitely not into cold weather. In 2003 we did the Queen Charlotte Islands and Victoria area. So I do not think we would be interested in Alaska this year becausethe Queen Charlottes are so close to that.

I thought about Maine or Washington DC -- he would spend a week at the air and space museum if allowed -- or Key West or Utah and some of the parks out there.
We will probably spend some time in California because I have family out there and it is my mom's 80th birthday this year and we will get together for that. We thought about a few days in San Diego and then going to Healdsburg as I have a sister there.

I was hoping to get some ideas from y'all to get the though procewss going. I know my husband will go to a city for a few days but he does not want to spend the whole time in a city. We did New York City right after 9-11 and, although he enjoyed it, he is not ready to return.

Thanks

Hi mpkp, for one week-10 days in October (the best foliage October 5-18)I suggest going to Vermont/New Hampshire, Lake Placid area (in Adirondacks). You would need to make your reservations soon.

for another week-10 days I would suggest california, vancouver, Seattle.

Any left time spend in Asheville area in North carolina or Washington, DC. From Georgia you could go there to both places for a long weekend.

Let us know what places you want to visit and for how long so we could provide you with more details.

If you go to Mexico consider taking the Copper Canyon train trip. It is really remarkable. You ride the rails from Chihuahua to Los Mochis -- or you can at that point hop on the ferry to wherever it goes -- Caba San Lucas, I believe (beachy area). We thoroughly enjoyed this trip ourselves about five years ago. It is fascinating. We flew into El Paso, then took one of Mexico's fine buses to Chihuahua. This was a culturally rich trip with lots of change as we went from the farmlands of the Chihuahua area to the mountains to the tropical banana-swathed lowlands.

Another trip in Mexico is to Oaxaca with its fascinating folk art and culture.

We went to Boston for a few days followed by a week in Maine last summer. For a shorter trip, I would love four or five days in Boston followed by a two or three in one of the towns on the coast or Cape Cod. Or you could just go to Maine for the week. Our trip was in July and we loved the cooler weather - it was HOT at home.

Nova Scotia