Recommendations for Autumn holidays in the US

[Gem13]

As our house purchase has just fallen through we are going to take ourselves off on holiday to recover from the stress of the last few months. We were thinking initially of Croatia but feel too worn out to cope with anything too different. I know that makes us sound very feeble (we have been adventurous in the past) but house buying makes a person feel feeble!

We have previously been to the US (New York, Philadelphia, Arizona, San Francisco) so we know it reasonably well but that was pre-DS and pre-bump.

To put it simply, where can we go in the next few weeks for about 10 days that is warm, will be interesting for DH and me (we will hire a car and could drive to different places), fun for DS (13 months) and not too adventurous for bump (20 weeks)?

New England - Fall Foliage road trip (probably not too much fun for your ds though)
Florida - it's not just Disney! there's Art Deco in Miami, tropical beaches in the Keys, the Everglades, historic St Augustine, the gulf coast, many, many theme/water parks, and Cape Canaveral space centre...
Hilton Head in S. Carolina sounds fun have a look at this . Also other USA holiday ideas.
New Mexico is a great place to visit - Santa Fe, Taos etc. V. historic and cultural interest due to the Native American influences that still linger, landscape is quite dramatic, but not as good as Arizona imo, you could also visit Roswell if you are interested in Sci-Fi.

hth.

I second New England in autumn. Vermont, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine, especially. My California family rave about it.

If you do New England, you can make Boston your base, there is great stuff here for kids, The Children's Museum, The Science Museum. There is a tour called the Duck tours, which takes you all over Boston and then into the Charles River in the same vehicle. The Boston Common has something called the swan boats, there is an art museum. Shopping is good if you like chains(Gap for example is so much cheaper in the U.S. then in U.K.) There is a place outside of Boston called Wrentham Premium Outlets that has tons of great discount stores. There are some awesome resturaunts, Figs is one, great China town. If you come soon you could even make a trip to Cape Cod. Up in New Hampshire there is a tiny amusment park called Storyland, very small but perfect for little kids. The weather has been quite strange this fall, damp and a little cold, but at some point we usuall have an "indian" summer where the temp can rise back to summer temps. Weather is a little hard to predict in New England. There is a very cute bed and breakfast near me, located in a very nice residential area near a pond and a playground. They get booked up fast but it is very nice:
\www.taylorhouse.com
There are also links from that site to info about Boston and other places to stay.

Thanks for the suggestions. It's funny - DH said New England and I said Florida. I was concerned that we would be spending too much time in the car admiring the scenery in New England and not enough time having fun with DS. I shall look into it some more, I guess with some careful planning we could have the best of both worlds for all concerned. The beaches of Hilton Head do sound very tempting though...

That house is great august24 but I don't know how practical it would be for busy and physical DS!

Oh, I'd love to go back to New England. Sigh. Never been to Florida. Have no doubt prejudiced ideas about it being just Disneyland, surrounded by fat retired people, but BK's post sounded tempting...
Lucky you!

Split the difference between Florida and New England and go for Virginia?????

We lived in VA for a short time when DD was under one and I loved it but we weren't on holiday so did things differently.

We flew from VA to Toronto in early October and were stunned by the changing foliage we could see from the plane. VA was still quite green; it got steadily more autumnal as we headed north. When we got to Toronto, I had to (you had, really had to, not just a excuse!) go and buy warmer clothing for DD!

If you are going to be happy at a gentle pace and sandy beaches and sunshine then go to Florida. Perhaps avoid Orlando altogether as your ds won't be old enough to appreciate much of it and you would have to keep off most of the rides. We stayed on Captiva Island on the Gulf Coast and although we were pre kids there were many families there, pools, long stretches of sandy beach and wildlife in abundance.

Otherwise would recommend New England. People are friendly and drives between places not long. You can go up mountains (Gondolas or train ride great for young kids),take tram rides in Boston and enjoy the varied coastline too. Also good shopping outlets if that is your thing !!

Hope you have a great time whereever you go - I'm getting really jealous!

Just remember as it is hurricane season at the moment - Florida may not be such a wise choice
I actually live in Boston - weather is fab right now - mid to high 20's C by day and sunny. Cold at night. Loads to do for kids around the city and suburbs. Up in foliage country NH, VT - not so kid friendly (IMHO) -but you could just do a day trip to see the leaves etc. I have a 2 year old DD.