Anniversary Travel Ideas

[HawaiianShirts]

We seem to have narrowed our options to the Topeka / Kansas City area, with a road trip down to Ozark for Lambert's Cafe and their "throwed rolls," or the Niagara / Buffalo / Letchworth State Park area of New York. Assuming, of course, that we can afford to leave the Pacific Northwest. It's really hinging on what a couple medical bills come out to after the insurance payments (Little Shirts thought he was Superman a couple months ago; a toy box corner against his forehead and a trip to the ER for stitches cured him of that delusion).

Thanks to all of you who offered tips! I never would have considered some of these places on my own. I'm still open to other suggestions or more details, if you have any.

The train ride, by the way, is well worth it. You'll see several glaciers, have a good chance of seeing wildlife, and you may even see some Beluga whales.

I like the sound of that. I've often enjoyed traveling by train. Now if i can just convince my wife that it's okay to take more than one Alaskan cruise in her lifetime...

From my experiences traveling the U.S., both Portland and Savannah would be well-suited to your needs... Also, Portland has one of the two greatest bookstores ever, Powell's. Seattle is also pretty much awesome sauce.
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Normally I pimp the hell out of my home state of Arizona and my adopted state of Florida, but those places in August? Ouch. An oven and a sauna, respectively.
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And there is plenty to do and see there, beyond just the Grand Canyon. (By the way, the Grand Canyon WILL be scorching that time of year.)
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Cape Cod is also awesome that time of year, though probably not all that cheap.

Powell's City of Books is a dangerous place. We live just an hour's drive from there and have been drawn into its trap many times. Also considering Seattle if we can't go too far from home. Mrs. Shirts has visited Pike's Place and the Space Needle already, but I understand there's a Science Fiction Museum and a restaurant that tries to simulate a medieval inn.

May need to look closer at Savannah.

We've done the Grand Canyon twice now. The first time was in March of 2005, and my first chance to see it, it was full of fog. A few months later, we drove from Yellowstone down to Jackson and passed the Tetons, which my wife had never seen before, and which were hidden by low-hanging clouds. We hiked down to Havasupai in May of 2007, which was awesome except for the last hour of the hike back out.

[Moirae]

You may like to consider heading to the Smokey Mountains, though it depends how much you're willing to spend. My husband and I went there last April with his family. Mind you, we could have planned it better. It was kind of a last minute thing so we didn't get a great hotel. I also think that we spent rather more money than intended.

But ohhhhh we had so much fun. It was so beautiful, and so peaceful, even when walking around the busy areas. I just LOVE the mountains. I even spent an afternoon with just his sister and her girls walking around the shopping area.

We went to a bunch of museums, and I just loved this roleplaying game thing you can do in Pidgeon Forge. It's live and you run from room to room solving puzzles and using an RFID wand against monsters. It's called Magiquest. We still have our wands and will be going back next time we visit. It's not cheap but we had so much fun. Apparently it exists in a bunch of places across the country with each place having a different story.

There's a wonderful restaurant that serves nothing but breakfast in Pidgeon Forge called Mama's Farmhouse. They give you tiny portions of everything on the menu and then you can ask for extra for anything you like without being charged more. But its all so good we just stuffed ourselves with it all and didn't bother asking for more. I highly recommend the spiced apples.

And JT Hannah's Kitchen has fantastic burgers.

Next time I want to plan it well in advance and book a cabin with a proper hot tub. We will not be staying at that crappy hotel again. We stayed at the Econolodge. And next time, as much as I do truly like my in-laws, I really want us to be on our own for a bit more of a romantic thing.

[HawaiianShirts]

You may like to consider heading to the Smokey Mountains.
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It's called Magiquest. We still have our wands and will be going back next time we visit. It's not cheap but we had so much fun. Apparently it exists in a bunch of places across the country with each place having a different story.
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There's a wonderful restaurant that serves nothing but breakfast in Pidgeon Forge called Mama's Farmhouse.
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And JT Hannah's Kitchen has fantastic burgers.

All excellent recommendations. See? This is why I come to CS.com to ask for advice. I never would have considered Kansas or Tennessee as vacation destinations. Not that they're bad, of course; just because I tend to think of other places first (coastal areas, mostly) and get stuck on those.

Can you tell me more about MagiQuest? I have heard a bit about it, but would it be something two adults could enjoy without kids playing along? I mean, we are avid readers of fantasy and science fiction, but I've never done any live-action role-playing, and it's been ages since my last game of D&D.

[jnd4rusty]

The Black Hills of South Dakota is very popular! It is very beautiful here and there are many activities available. I would avoid the first two weeks of August! The 75th anniversary of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is scheduled and from what I have heard most accommodations are already sold out.

[dalesys]

The Black Hills of South Dakota ...

Gideon checked out...
[/R. Raccoon]

[Moirae]

Sure

I just loved magiquest. We were looking to do something kind of stupid but still fun and we both love roleplaying games. The kind you play on computers or with a pen and paper that is.

The wands are $25 each and you can buy different tips if you want that will do different things. For example: cast fireball.

You first go through a room to teach you how to use your wand. Now they say to wave it around but we found that hurts your wrist after a while so we started using a sharp jab toward the RFID's sensors. You can see them on the walls.

You walk up to this fake tree that has a bunch of touch screens in it and choose quests you can do, then you wander from room to room trying to solve the quests. You have to solve puzzles, find items, etc. Sometimes you can find hidden items so pay attention around you. If you find the right items, you can enter into secret rooms that you can't get into without having first solved the hidden puzzle to go with it. Your wand saves everything that you do and transmits it wirelessly to computers so it remembers where you are in the quests.

They have a bunch of video screens around the place where it asks you to make choices and does things to further the storyline you are playing at that particular location. For example: Introducing you to a princess trapped in a castle and saving the kingdom from a fire breathing dragon.

The Magiquest for this one takes up the whole top floor of the building and you go through multiple rooms so you aren't just sitting around playing a video game. It's the true definition of role playing game, and you can play with other people too, but some quests are solo quests.

So much fun. We kept extending our time to play (the original purchase of your wand and ticket give you about an hour), so ended up spending almost $100 between the two of us. If there wasn't so much else to do in the area, we'd have gone back to see if we could finish the game.

And yes, it was very childish and I'm 38 years old and don't care lol. It will still fun. I found myself grinning like the Cheshire cat a few times.

[Jester]

I never would have considered Kansas or Tennessee as vacation destinations.

If you go to Tennessee, and have some extra time and are interested, take a day and head out to the Jack Daniel's distillery. They do tours, and it's really rather fascinating. I don't recommend doing the tour on a hangover, as I found out personally that the fumes of the whiskey-making process don't mix too well with a hangover.

But it is a blast, and the town of Lynchburg where it is is both tiny and very charming. It's a good day trip.

The Black Hills of South Dakota is very popular!

I recommend a day in Rapid City. Mount Rushmore is an obvious place to visit, and I do recommend it, especially if you're into history. Less obvious or well known is the giant maze they have there. It doesn't cost much to go through it, and it can be very entertaining, if you're into such things. (I am.) Its a walk through wooden maze that challenges you to get through it. Took me about an hour, which apparently is a decent time, though not even close to the records for fastest. Or slowest!

[HawaiianShirts]

Thanks for the details, Moirae!

Still working out some itinerary details. I've seen a few airline deals that might get us cheap enough flights, but we'll have to see how the family finances turn out over the next couple of months...

[HawaiianShirts]

So, thanks again for the tips and suggestions, everybody. We took a close look at Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, Maine, New York, Kansas, and the Florida Keys. We wound up with several lists of things to do in each of those places, and we even got a detailed itinerary written up for a Kansas trip (so Gilhelmi's suggestion was spot-on).

But a few things got in the way. In-laws can't come take care of the kids for as long as we'd hoped, and most trips would have put me too far into debt for my comfort. BUT we'll be saving up for future trips to those other destinations, and we've planned a nice trip through southwest Washington, including a canoe trip near Olympia and dinner at a medieval-style restaurant east of Seattle.

Anybody want to join us for a painting class? I know there are some northwestern US members on here...
https://uncorkedcanvas.com/event-registration/?ee=1256

[Teysa]

Sounds like you have a nice time planned. I'm in the Northwest but probably a bit farther North than you have in mind. If you and your wife ever do make it to Alaska, message me and I'll see about getting you on the train. (That offer is good for anyone else on the board too. Friends and Family can ride free as long as there's space.)