What was your favorite Summer vacation growing up and why?

Growing up - Destin -back when it was chill and way less commercial. Not a huge fan of it anymore though. It’s a nice beach but there are just way too many better options out there for the money.

I know that’s not too helpful. I will say though we took a trip to Washington state last summer and San Juan islands. Amazing trip. Visited mt rainier, Olympic , and north cascades national parks. Did some white water rafting on the sauk river. Spent a couple days on orcas island off the coast kayaking and whale watching. It was a great trip.

Camping in Cades Cove in the Smokeys. Used to do a week annually and would bike the Loop trail daily. Along with hiking and rafting and just all the good mountain stuff.

My kids are 6 and almost 4 and would be a good age to go for a first camping trip up there. But i have a third due in a month and my wife isnt gonna go out of her way to go camping lol

Parents take note:

No one has said Disney yet.

We would go to Stanley, ID and stay at a small cabin on the Salmon River every other summer growing up

Some incredible memories were made during those summers

When my kids get a little older, I hope to recreate at least some of that, although with my schedule, we won't be able to stay as long as we did when I was young

I wish I did, but its been over a decade since I've been to the area now, I'm sure better cabins have come available

We stayed at a very small cabin right outside of town, right on the river. That is about as much knowledge as I have. I've tried to see if it was listed on Airbnb or VRBO, but I haven't had any luck.

My favorite vacation as a kid was our trips to the smoky mountains. We lived in south Florida and did go to Disney several times and I remember those trips, but they aren’t my favorite.

As a parent I’ve been very intentional about our vacations and trying to make them lifelong memories for my kids. We’ve been going to national parks (think the kids (8,11) are up to 25 now) and I started making the kids keep a daily journal of where we went, what they saw, what they thought, etc…. They bought in 100% and it’s a big part of our trips. They can’t wait to write in them at the end of the day and it’s cool to see what made an impression on them. I enjoy looking back and reading their journals and it means just as much to me as it does them. I plan to keep them and do something special with them later in life. Combine them into a book or something and give it to them upon graduation, wedding day, or some other big occasion.

Carlsbad Caverns and White Sands, NM were pretty cool as a kid.

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We would go to Stanley, ID and stay at a small cabin on the Salmon River every other summer growing up

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Went as a kid and loved it too. We stayed in Boise and the Redfish lake lodge. Definitely want to take the kids back.

Cades Cove is great, my parents never did the Gatlinburg tourist shite and I thank them for that.

Every winter we went skiing, usually somewhere new out west. Those trips were always amazing.

Early childhood was regular trips to Houston to see Astros and Astroworld
Later it became beach trips - I also remember when Destin was the Mainsail condos and from there back to Fort Walton Beach was nothing
Also beach trips to Gulf Shores before it became overridden with condos

Have to remember Disney was Magic Kingdom and they were building Epcot the first time I went and we did Magic Kingdom in two days and stayed in Jacksonville rest of the trip