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Too me, any lake in northern Michigan is heaven. Cool, clear water at any beach... fish, elk viewing, wildlife everywhere and enough tourist crap to do if needed. I live it up there.
Help a brother out...
- Thread starter bowhunter1023
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Not gonna recreate the wheel, you have my justification in another thread from years past....please use the site search feature newb 
Iowa_Buckeye
Smartest person here
Buckmaster
Senior Member
Sgt Fury
Sgt. Spellchecker
There at a lot of states that’ll send you free vacation guides with maps and lodging info. Any state that you think is in driving distance will probably have free guides. When you’re ready to take the kids on a plane, I’d check out all of the national parks. Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Mount Rushmore, etc.
Sgt Fury
Sgt. Spellchecker
Not gonna recreate the wheel, you have my justification in another thread from years past....please use the site search feature newb
Yay, yay, you're old hat...
I'd like to see the UP, but would rather die seeing 49 of 50 states than go to Michigan.
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There are 28 island nations and over 7,000 islands in the Caribbean. Each one is a new place with new culture, experiences, and flair. Every one of them have beaches too. Maybe the problem isn't the beach but rather the same old beach experience. A resort is a resort no matter if its in the Carolinas or St Lucia. I can personally think of nothing worse than massive resorts catering to the tourist industry. Never understood why people fly to the Caribbean to spend their days drinking on the beach or a swim up pool bar. Could have went to Hilton head and done that. To scratch that more frequent itch for local adventures get a membership to the ohio historical society, then pick a place and go. My wife and I have seen some fascinating shit in this state doing just that. We have often left the house wondering if the place we're going to visit would be worth it, but we have never left a location saying "well that was a waste of time.". Once you have the Historical Society membership you're only cost is fuel, food, and a room for the night.
Sgt Fury
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triple_duece
Ragin Cajun.
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Your best win/win is giving in and doing her beach vacation. Then you take her to one of your spots. This will open her eyes to “there’s more to do than to scratch sand out of your crotch”. See what happens after that.
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Iowa_Buckeye
Smartest person here
When your kids are YOUNG I think it's hard to beat the beach for a vacation. They play, parents relax.
Find a low cost carrier that can get you there direct so you don't need to bother with layovers with young kids. I've just discovered the search features on 'google flights' and they are fuggin awesome!
My wife is also a 'beach person', but in 2017 we drove to the Colorado mountains now that the kids are a bit older and have a little better attention span. The wife says it was actually the best vacation yet, even minus the beach. The kids loved it too. It was also Reese's favorite.
But I am sure it would have been a nightmare if we would have done the mountains a couple years earlier! Just saying don't do it before they can enjoy it.
Find a low cost carrier that can get you there direct so you don't need to bother with layovers with young kids. I've just discovered the search features on 'google flights' and they are fuggin awesome!
My wife is also a 'beach person', but in 2017 we drove to the Colorado mountains now that the kids are a bit older and have a little better attention span. The wife says it was actually the best vacation yet, even minus the beach. The kids loved it too. It was also Reese's favorite.
But I am sure it would have been a nightmare if we would have done the mountains a couple years earlier! Just saying don't do it before they can enjoy it.
I loved our little camper, my wife only enjoyed it if we were taking it for a concert or something of the sort. She isn't really into general recreational camping. We have done the beach the last couple of years and we both agree it's time to start broadening our vacation horizon's as well. We did Hawaii once and loved it. That was the only time in the last 10 years my dander has ever fully cleared up so there is something magical about that place for me haha.
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For me its no so much the beach that draws us but rather the marine life. You could put us in a shithole place with crap food and a leaky roof, but as long as the reef is healthy or there's a lot of underwater marine life, i'd still be in heaven. A healthy coral reef is like owning a billion dollar aquarium that you can stick your face in. We've swam with a pod of 80 wild spinner dolphins in a secluded cove in Hawaii, jumped from cliffs to snorkel reefs teeming with thousands of tropical fish in Bonaire, been face to face with a 6 foot barracuda in Roatan, swam around with sea turtles so close we could touch them, had giant eagle rays swim over and between us, watched a manta ray with a 7 foot wingspan do a barrel roll, been bluff charged by a giant green moral eel, kept a watchful eye on sharks hunting the reef, and tons of other things that I'll remember until my last breath. For us the beach is just a place to sit while we get our gear on, the main attraction happens under the waves. If vacation was a resort with a white sand beach I know I would quickly hate the place.
You can have it Joe. That ain’t for me. I enjoy a play my kids can run free and not worry much. The vacation at this point in my life is 100% about them. Maybe in a couple of years a snorkel adventure might pop up, but not at this age.
And, unless things change about me...if I see fish, I want to filet and release them.
And, unless things change about me...if I see fish, I want to filet and release them.
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Yeah to each their own. It's not hard for kids to snorkel due to buoyancy in saltwater. I've seen kids as young as 4 snorkeling with a vest, they can even get Scuba certified at age 10. We do shit with them 24x7x365 so our "vacation time" means a vacation from them too, they stay with my mom for the week. Lol.
Is this about family vacations or vacation vacation? If this is about you and traci getting away...fuck that camper thought! How cool would it be to see a pic of you two atop a mountain sitting behind a red stagg?!!!
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I'm sure the family aspect plays a part in the camper decision but there was no mention of such in the original post, I took it as trying to convince the wife to ditch the once a year beach vacation fund for a year round camper fund. My point was to commiserate that beaches suck, unless you go somewhere with healthy marine life. In that instance she can have her beach but theres an added adventure and experience element to also having a reef that can add to the vacation. AKA beaches don't necessarily suck if there's more to do than sit in the sand drinking while a resort sucks money out of your pocket.
Leave the kids with grandmaw and go to a nudè beach - wtf
Family is 95% of the reason to have a camper and I think the ask is specific to his situation. The vacation is currently a family one, once that happens mom/dad vacas are special occasions. So for family trips, fair/4H week, backup shelter in driveway, they are all very specific family reasons to have a camper.
Hunting/fishing trips, TOO outings, ATV trips, hotel avoidance for holidays/weddings/family coming to visit, extra storage in winter, big add for overall survival (extended power outages, no heat or water issues that impact the main home, or the need for mobile/comfortable living).
Damn it, that went round just like a new wheel....
Hunting/fishing trips, TOO outings, ATV trips, hotel avoidance for holidays/weddings/family coming to visit, extra storage in winter, big add for overall survival (extended power outages, no heat or water issues that impact the main home, or the need for mobile/comfortable living).
Damn it, that went round just like a new wheel....