re: Vacation / Honeymoon ideas stateside

If you go to the outerbanks (OBX) of NC you will probably want to rent a small house. There are not many hotels but a lot of houses to rent. In the summer time the owners usually only want to rent for a week.

IMO the OBX beaches are not as nice as those on the Gulf. There are some good restaurants, and some not so good ones, but I don't know about a lot of nightlife there. It is not promoted.

We spent 5 days there a few summers ago; 2 nights at the Hilton Garden Inn at Kill Devil Hills, 2 nights at a B&B on Ocracoke Island and 1 night at Atlantic Beach. We just worked our way north to south. If you want to see the sights you either have to move to a different place or do a lot of back track driving.

We were in Maine last year. I think I read somewhere that they don't have a lot of sand beaches; I think they are shell or rocks. There are a lot of locally owned hotels/Inns along the coast to stay at however.

If you decide to go Maine or the OBX I can tell you more about our experiences.

I am having a hard time getting my head around a post wedding trip with the grandparents but it is not clear if this is the honeymoon or just an extra trip.

But, my recommendation is Vancouver, BC. I don't know if they have beaches there though.