Summer Vacation Ideas

[sled_guy]

Ok guys, need some input. My family wants to do a summer vacation. Last year we spent 5 days at Bear Lake at Ideal Beach and loved it. My wife and I have 6 kids, ages 4-16. So a long 2 day drive somewhere is probably not the best option. We would like to find some place we can drive to in the West that we can then base out of instead of doing a driving vacation where we drive to a different location every day.

Ideal Beach had a pool, mini golf, Bear Lake, biking trails, tennis courts and the little town close by with pizza joints and stuff like that. We did little day trips to Minnetonka cave and stuff like that, but we basically just hung out in the condo area and goofed around.

I'm open to suggestions. Flying isn't an option with 8 of us unless someone has a zillion frequent flyer miles they want to give me.

Ideas?

sled_guy

 

[M8Chris]

I can't say enough good things about Bear Lake. Since I'm only about 45 minutes away I go up there quite a bit. There's so much to do and its a nice little town with the lake.

You could always head up to Alpine, WY there's palisades lake right there and you can go to Jackson for the evening or what not. Fishing, rafting, ride horses, wheelers, whatever. Pretty fun town for outdoor activities.

 

[BossRev]

One of my favorite spots to this day is Pinecrest Lake, Ca.
about 12hour from Utah.

It is one of the few spot left in Cali that hasn't changed since the 70's.
Very quit yet it has everything with in a 25 to 45 minute drive.
Cabins on or with in walking distance to the lake, which offers fishing, sailing, cliff jumping, party boating. Huge Granite peaks and the best pine trees in the world surround you. You have every imaginable out door recreation at your finger tips.

http://www.totalescape.com/destin/california-towns.php?tid=362

http://www.pinecrestlakeresort.com/

http://www.vrbo.com/vacation-rentals/usa/california/gold-country-high-sierra/pinecrest

http://www.pinecrestchalet.com/

http://www.kennedymeadows.com/

 

[Dunatic]

Yellowstone! Always my favorite trip. I usually take my family up ther 2-3 times a year, we have an absolute blast. There is a ton of stuff to do around west yellowstone. Great food, drive into yellowstone. Make a trip to cooke city and drive to the top of beartooth pass, the coolest road in the US! You can take a day trip to Lewis and Clark caverns. There is some cool stuff to see in island park, take the kids to feed he fish at big springs.

 

[wjl]

Alpine Wyoming: ?
Rafting , Fishing, horse back riding, atvs,hiking, mountain biking and Jackson Hole is close and the drive is not a killer.

 

[WXNic]

are you a boating family? lake powell is a must if you live in utah.

 

[dfinn]

Lake Tahoe is pretty cool. Plenty of stuff to do there to keep you and the kids busy.

 

[AKSNOWRIDER]

hard to beat the 4 corners area..all sorts of neat country to see and tons of stuff to do close by....

 

[phatty]

Lake Tahoe is pretty cool. Plenty of stuff to do there to keep you and the kids busy.

ditto on tahoe... reno/carson city, lots of old mines, cool hiking trails, boating, casinos have arcades, shows, plenty of dining options, river rafting, fishing, four wheeling in mountains... Every time i go i like the area a little more...

another cool area is moab, canyon lands. or go other side of our state and check out zions, bryce canyon, cedar breaks, st george area.

 

[snengineer]

are you a boating family? lake powell is a must if you live in utah.

X2, If you are a boater no better place in the west IMHO.


Other than a boating trip I would go to Ouray Colorado. If your trip is over the 4th of July, even better. This place is about a 6hr drive from SLC and has some of the coolest Jeeping outside of Moab. Some things to do are:

Jeeping (old mining roads going to 13k=fun, they take dozers up to clear the snow off for the tourist Jeep season....you can find a couple youtube vids of this, these guys are nuts!)

Hot springs (your family will love this....kinda like lava hot springs)

Hiking (from Mt Sneffles to the easy loop trail around town)

Biking

Sight seeing

Durango to Silvertone Train ride (great for the family)
etc....

Plenty to do, hang out and see. The rich people haven't found this place yet so the dining is average and the town is mainly original. You could always zip on over to Telluride for more "fine" dining. Google this place for 4th of July events for more details.....fireman's water fight is amazing!

 

[RMKED]

Mesa Verde in southwest Colorado is a cool place to check out also. If you go there, you may as well hit Sliverton and Durango too.
The train ride mentioned above is very cool when the fall colors are out.

If you want to go further, the Oregon Coast is hard to beat. There is a quiet little place name Netarts Bay. There is a couple of condos there that have theier own private beach. You can see beached sea lions from the deck in July / August. Up the coast is Cannon Beach and other little places that are very nice to walk through / shop. The views are very nice. If the kids like crab, you can rent a boat and a couple traps and catch your own there also. Fishing on a chartered boat out of Depot Bay is a must do also. The boats are all very well kept and the captains and deck hands are very cool. The fish you can catch range from Salmon (Limited season) Lincod, to sea bass. The best eats you can pull out of the ocean!