cape cod comment and other stuff

I couldn't comment for some reason so I'm just starting a new post--wanted to add that for nerds like me, the New England area has a lot of cool history/literary stuff. Shun me if you must, but it's interesting.

As far as Ben's travel time deal--I agree, but a possibility would be to meet in Boston and stay the night and then caravan it the next day.

Also, I agree with John's comments. We need a good headquarters where there is room for the little ones to sleep and play. A house/townhouse rental sounds great. I think we want to minimize the potential inconveniences with small children.

I have briefly looked at Minnesota resorts/lakes. There are a lot of big resorts with on-site things to do.

Grandview Lodge is one of the big resorts here. Supposedly it's fancy and has lots to do. There are many options for housing. There's watersports, golf, tennis, hiking, fishing, etc etc. The small towns around this area always have good ice cream, food, and so on. We've never been there, but I have heard good things. We did go to Rutgers's resort and it was really a great place, but it doesn't look like there are big enough rentals there. I like the idea of a lake vacation, but feel a little guilty because obviously Midwest travel is a little easier for us.

--Tiff

Initial Ideas from Ben

So far I've only looked into two ideas for location:

• San Juan Islands
• Cape Cod area

San Jan Islands have some nice features, such as potential whale watching from a deck/patio. However, there are too many drawbacks:

• Travel time: fly to Seattle, drive 1.5 hours to a ferry, wait 2 hours to get on the ferry, looks like a long ferry ride to the main island, then drive from the port to the cabin/hotel. If you're not staying on San Juan Island itself, then you have to get on another ferry that goes between the other islands.
• Weather: highs in July are around 70, which is lower than I would like.

Here's the address of a web site that I used for reference: http://www.guidetosanjuans.com/


Cape Cod is still an option for me. If we go in the summer the weather should be nice. There are lots of rental houses with plenty of room. There are quaint little towns and lots of beaches. The only bad thing I can see so far is the travel time. It's an 1.5 hours or more from Boston.
If Cape Cod itself is not attractive, what about other areas of New England?

Got it now!

OK, I figured out how this thing works, and I changed the blog's picture to one of the entire family. Now we can really get started!

My opening thoughts on a vacation destination: I am interested in...

• Warm/hot weather
• Water sports close by, like swimming, fishing, kayaking/boating
• Inside living space large enough to comfortably play games, lounge, read, etc. w/o getting in each other's way
• Relatively short drive from nearest airport

I hope to suggest some specific possibilities soon.

Did I screw up already?

I put our (Roxy's and my) picture on the blog, but I think I might have done it so it is the only one for the entire family... I don't know?!? Anyway, this "blog thingy" is pretty cool, and I look forward to brainstorming online about our family vacation. Let's get started! I am so excited!

Instructions for posting

This blog is for posting information, ideas, links, etc about our family vacation. When you post an entry or comment, you should manually sign your entry with your name so that everyone else knows who wrote it. You can add pictures, videos, links, text, or whatever you want. It's easy! Just use the toolbar at the top of the Compose box. If you need help, click the Help link in the upper right corner of the window.

-Ben