Vacationing in the US without kids...where would you go?

[Gary M]

I would consider New Orleans if you haven't already planned the trip. We just returned from NOLA a few weeks ago. Great food is everywhere. We went to Commander's Palace and had a Jazz Brunch at the Court Of Two Sisters (In the courtyard). The New Orleans School of Cooking is very entertaining and good food. Take a paddlewheel boat trip with dinner or lunch. A carriage ride is very interesting. We had a tour with Royal Carriage. Our first night in NOLA we go to the Gumbo Shop for dinner. This is a tradition for us. The list of great restaurants are endless. You might consider taking a swamp tour.

 

[Cheburashka]

Acadia National Park in Maine is lovely.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Especially cities with good live music scenes. So I'd lean towards New Orleans, Chicago, Nashville, Memphis.

Good to see Chicago made the cut, Colleen. Blues?

I would consider New Orleans if you haven't already planned the trip. We just returned from NOLA a few weeks ago. Great food is everywhere. We went to Commander's Palace and had a Jazz Brunch at the Court Of Two Sisters (In the courtyard). The New Orleans School of Cooking is very entertaining and good food. Take a paddlewheel boat trip with dinner or lunch. A carriage ride is very interesting. We had a tour with Royal Carriage. Our first night in NOLA we go to the Gumbo Shop for dinner. This is a tradition for us. The list of great restaurants are endless. You might consider taking a swamp tour.

Sounds like you and Lana had a super time there in NOLA, Gary. Marie and I were there once, years ago. Good experiences then also.

 

[PittPantherfan]

Sedona in the US but will throw in Vancouver for North America!

 

[Colleen27]

Good to see Chicago made the cut, Colleen. Blues?

Yep. I'm pretty genre-flexible when it comes to live music, I tend to like a bit of everything, but I've found blues and jazz clubs to be some of the best for just going in on a random night and seeing really talented artists. DH and I spent a lovely weekend in Chicago where we passed two nights at the same blues club near our hotel after our daytime sightseeing. Plus it is an easy train ride from here (Detroit), which makes it ideal for an adult trip where no one wants to be driving home at the end of the evening. I'm actually going back next month, solo, and checking out Buddy Guy's club for the first time since my hotel is only a block or two over.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Yep. I'm pretty genre-flexible when it comes to live music, I tend to like a bit of everything, but I've found blues and jazz clubs to be some of the best for just going in on a random night and seeing really talented artists. DH and I spent a lovely weekend in Chicago where we passed two nights at the same blues club near our hotel after our daytime sightseeing. Plus it is an easy train ride from here (Detroit), which makes it ideal for an adult trip where no one wants to be driving home at the end of the evening. I'm actually going back next month, solo, and checking out Buddy Guy's club for the first time since my hotel is only a block or two over.

That sounds great!!

 

[Dan Murphy]

Yep. I'm pretty genre-flexible when it comes to live music, I tend to like a bit of everything, but I've found blues and jazz clubs to be some of the best for just going in on a random night and seeing really talented artists. DH and I spent a lovely weekend in Chicago where we passed two nights at the same blues club near our hotel after our daytime sightseeing. Plus it is an easy train ride from here (Detroit), which makes it ideal for an adult trip where no one wants to be driving home at the end of the evening. I'm actually going back next month, solo, and checking out Buddy Guy's club for the first time since my hotel is only a block or two over.

This was in the Chicago Tribune this past Sunday. Hope you don't hit a pay wall.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/ente...0220422-4oyf5orhtrcvvedstntcz4byxa-story.html

 

[Pink Partridge]

So to the OP:
Don't go to SF. SF has been an amazing city in the past and has a lot of fun things to do and see, so many great restaurants, and I'm sure that SF will become a safer place to visit at some point down the road. But don't go right now.

My SF experience: I felt so disgusted and angry that I traveled to a place that I once loved and it is now unrecognizable. It is absolutely a different from the SF of bygone days. Gross, unacceptable place to spend your hard earned money.

 

[Pink Partridge]

Asheville - The Grove Park Inn has a really nice spa and the downtown area is really cute and has a great craft beer scene.

The Grove Park Inn is a gorgeous place to visit, as is The Biltmore.

 

[shh]

My SF experience: I felt so disgusted and angry that I traveled to a place that I once loved and it is now unrecognizable. It is absolutely a different from the SF of bygone days. Gross, unacceptable place to spend your hard earned money.

It breaks my heart to see what SF has become - used to be my favorite city. I'm just a tourist/visitor who loved the place - and spent a lot of $$ when visiting. I'm not familiar with local politics, but have to believe leaders must be resigned to the continual deterioration, given conditions seem to be trending worse every passing year.

Last visit, I wrote to a few officials expressing safety and health concerns and never even received the courtesy of a canned agency reply acknowledging receipt of my email, let alone a human response. Their leaders seem totally unresponsive - no sense of urgency.

Florida has a lot of faults, but they are very responsive to visitors' opinions & experiences. Tourism=big bucks and funds the state to a large degree. So they care what tourists think.

Again, not a local and hope I don't offend anyone living there, but it just seems to outsiders like me that SF resigns itself to living with situations and issues I don't see many other states/cities accepting or allowing.

 

[sheilafri]

I agree with San Francisco, New Orleans, and Santa Fe. If you do Santa Fe, make sure to visit Taos Pueblo. It’s awesome. I also love Savannah with so many old houses to tour, nearby Tybee Island and just a cool, laidback vibe. Many people feel the same way about Charleston. St. Augustine Florida has lots of history and a beach vibe. It’s relatively close (2 hours) to Kennedy Space Center which is great with or without kids. A road trip along the Southeastern Seacoast could be amazing—visit Jekyl Island, Cumberland Island, Amelia Island, tour lighthouses, ride bikes, visit plantations.

 

[cedricandsophie]

Napa or Sonoma, do a day in a limo driving to various wineries, take the wine train
San Francisco
Big Sur , the drive is fabulous
Santa Barbara, great expensive resorts abound

Or if you like driving the Oregon coast is incredible, stay in cannon beach and go mt hood and the Columbia river gorge

Or go to Viancouver island. Victoria is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Great hotels and restaurants. Go to Beaufort gardens.

 

[pineapplepalms]

Big Sur is beautiful and someone had told me about a yurt glamping resort called Treebones that he loved (https://www.treebonesresort.com/). It’s for adults and only older kids, so it’s not an option for us for a while, but good for an adults only trip. There’s also Carmel and Monterey (love the aquarium), and we also liked going to Capitola and staying at a bed and breakfast.

Napa and Sonoma are good options. Lots of great food. We used to like to go kayaking on the Russian River (https://riversedgekayakandcanoe.com/). There are several companies that offer kayaking, canoeing, and tubing. A bit out of the way, but we would also stop by Wild Flour Bread whenever we were up there because their breads are so good. You could easily do a week-long trip doing a mix of outdoor activities, wineries, spas, and restaurants.

If you’re into hiking and fitness activities on vacation, I’m a big fan of wellness resorts like Miraval (we stayed at the one in AZ) or Red Mountain Resort (in UT). They include meals, fitness classes, beautiful hiking, pools, etc. and they also have spas. This was one of my favorite types of trips pre-kids since it was just so relaxing but also invigorating because of the hiking and gorgeous scenery.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

Dh is going to New Orleans in the fall, for a conference. I'm going along, and we'll spend the weekend there. While he's at the conference, I'm going to do a couple walking tours, and relax.

 

[Lumpy1106]

I've never actually seen this claim of excrement on the street, but I've seen plenty of homeless where I've nearly walked into someone sleeping on the street. A friend owns a condo (it's only a few units where every unit has its own ground-level garage door) in SoMa and says occasionally she has to worry about running over someone sleeping right in front of her garage.

I won't pretend it's not there to some degree, but it certainly doesn't stop me from going to San Francisco. For the most part the homeless leave everyone alone. Most seem to be mentally ill but aren't terribly confrontational. I get that it's unpleasant.

However, I don't see it too much in the more touristy areas.

We did. I took my kids in 12/2019 (wife was sick with what we now are pretty sure was COVID). Took BART into the financial district, took in the Exploratorium, grabbed some lunch, took the street cars over to Pier 39, walked to Ghirardelli and then an Uber back to Bart for the trip home. You are right - during the day. We felt pretty safe but we did find human poo on the sidewalk more than once. Financial district after dark was like the Walking Dead. BART has taken a major downturn too.

If you are going to go to SF, I recommend the opposite; Stay in a ritzy hotel downtown, then head into some of the more local areas to get away from the drugged out homeless and really experience SF as the locals who love it do. SF is still beautiful but the tourists rarely see it in 2022.

 

[Lumpy1106]

How about a train ride? Family and I took the 35 hour trip from LA to Seattle. DW loved it. I think I would have loved it more if it was just the two of us. You can get a sleeper Ette with all food included. With 4 of us we had to split up into two rooms so I didn't see much of DW or one of my kids except when we ate. If you do the CA trip, start in LA so you can see the Central Coast in the daylight. You can take the Airporter bus from LAX to Union Station. There is a nice hotel at the train station in Seattle. Stay there, spend a couple of days seeing Seattle, then fly back.

 

[RamblingMad]

Hawaii. I suggest it mainly because of the length of flight. I also suggest National Parks because kids aren't going to be able to do the more difficult hikes until they get older.

 

[OrangeBirdGirl]

Hawaii! And, if you haven't been don't think of that as a beach destination as you mentioned you didn't want beach trip. We have been numerous times and never laid out on a beach. The only time we have been in the water was to scuba or snorkel. So much diverse landscape on the islands.

 

[HeatherC]

DH and I are away for 10 days here on Hilton Head Island. It is one of our favorite places and we love it so much we drive at least twice a year from Massachusetts. We have been biking around 12-15 miles a day without realizing it on all the beautiful bike trails, walking and hanging out at the beach and pool, shopping and dining out. We just said it is one of the most relaxing trips we have had in a while while still having so much to do. We usually have our kids (adults in their early 20’s) which we love but this time we are really enjoying just being the two of us. Highly recommend!

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

Nevada baby! You can gamble! Wheee!

Seriously though, you don't need to gamble to have a good time There's the Hoover Dam, Death Valley, the Nighttime Lights, the Grand Canyon, the Mobster Tour and COUNTLESS superb shows That and it's as lush as anything you could possibly imagine. For peanuts you score a hotel suite with fresh fruit on tap with views of glitz and glamour... every resort is a nation unto itself