USA thats not florida/n york/new england/California

[Muddiboots]

Plotting holiday for this summer, 2 adults and 4 teenagers, am pining for the states as havent been for a few years and miss the restaurants and drugstores!
Have "done" the above, any ideas for new places?
would like hot enoughto swim, bit of flobby time somewhere, not necc a beach, then a bit of adventure/road trip.
not much to ask :)

A friend of mine was in Austin, Texas last summer. He stayed in a converted Airstream trailer and it looked AMAZING.

What about New Orleans? I'd love to go there.

Definitely Oregon and Washington State:
Portland, beaches, mountains, hot springs, amazing landscapes, islands off the coast, laid back and just great

My next fantasy USA trip is a two centre one - week ranching in Montana, a week touring the south inc battlefields and few days on South Carolina coast.

South Carolina and in particular Hilton Head Island.

A warning if you are considering national Parks such as Yellowstone, accommodation in the parks sells out very early (including bookable campsites) and Yellowstone in particular is huge so staying outside adds a lot to travel times. Smaller parks like Zion or Bryce have lots of accommodation close by but that can also be hard to come by at peak times.

We visited friends in Alabama then went to New Orleans, Houston, Dallas, Memphis and back to Alabama. It was fab - loved Texas - it was pre kids when we had 'proper' holidays! Got a hire car and drove where and when we pleased staying in cheap motels and getting ideas of what to do and where to go from the State welcome stations and brochures at rest-stops. Had just over 3 weeks. Best holiday ever! Will do something similar when kids are bigger, but cheap mobiles and internet access will either make it easier or lose some of the fun!

I'm from Seattle - it's lovely, loads to do. Mostly outdoors stuff!

Road trip Seattle to San Diego? It's a long two-day drive, but if you spent a week or two, it would be a great trip. See if you can hire a car in Washington or California and return it in the other, then get a cheap flight back to catch your plane home. (Fly to LA, Seattle flights are much more expensive!)

A Seattle to San Diego road trip?!.

In UK distance that's further than driving from London to Madrid!.

Would certainly agree with you re the cost of flights to and from Seattle; BA are the only UK based carrier though who fly directly there.

Yes AZ will be stupid hot in June-July.

The trip I would love to do but impossible is UTAH.
ALL the grand national parks, Bryce, Zion, Arches, etc. not far from each other.
And then there's the majesty of the Rockies within striking distance.
Get a motorhome & travel.

Sadly DC would moan the entire time (ungrateful toe rags).
If not USA, may I suggest Iceland? It's got everything & cheaper & closer.

I think you have to consider the audience... would four teenagers like spending hours and hours in the car? especially if you're only going over for a short time.

I would pick a city with lots to do but in easy reach of nature stuff/coastline.

My teens would want to hide in dark rooms playing on screens the whole time. They could do that anywhere.

Admittedly, Seattle to San Diego is a long drive! But very pretty, and you can drive along the coast for large portions of it and there is a lot to see along the way.

If the DC are outdoorsy, then it could be enjoyable (hire a motorhome, not a car - you could camp). If they are not, definitely not something to do! It could be done in a week, seeing just the big things, but better in two.

OP, if you pick Seattle, DH and I got married there and for the benefit of our UK guests, I did a six-page list of things to do in and around Seattle which I could send you!

Thank you so much all.
Have done the keys and san diego,san fran and route 66 drive
Teens all adventurous, love museums and zoos, fine in car as just plug into some electrical device :)
All ideas sound fab
At moment am liking charleston/charlotte and a beach, though Seattle sounds great and will research more.
Shocked by price of flights to the US though (outside of florida, though even those are extortionate), gone up so much in last few years!

Yosemite. Yellowstone. Utah for skiing. New Orleans for Mardi Gras.

Or even Alaska with one of those icebreaker boats...

S. Carolina is lovely. Tybee island in north Georgia is tacky tacky tacky on the east beach, but the north beach is stunning (DH proposed there :o) and peaceful. Savannah is nice to stay in too (but nowhere near as nice as Charleston or Charlotte!). Savannah National Wildlife Reserve is brilliant too - loads of gators, but very few visitors - we nearly drove over a few gators on our tour, and many were longer than the car!!

I love Chicago when I went there. You could go on a road trip in any direction from there!

DS1's dad took him on a road trip down the west coast from Seattle to San Francisco. They had a really brilliant time. (I know you said you didn't want California). You could do Oregon, Washington and British Colombia instead if you really didn't want to go to California.

Road trip Seattle to Alaska! British Columbia is beautiful too. Or Vancouver Island.

Another vote for Montana.

We went to Seattle then up to Alaska. Obviously not a beach destination but great for scenery, small towns, wildlife and wilderness. Our teens loved it. I would look at Oregon too.

We also liked Washington DC and there is so much to see there. There are plenty of interesting historical sights nearby and beautiful scenery too. Plenty to keep everyone busy.

Another vote for South Carolina. Charleston is lovely! Plantations, swamps, great beaches, fantastic restaurants, and friendly people. I may be biased though, I live there.

BA also fly to Denver. From there:

Drive through Rockies to Utah. State Parks, beautiful scenery, Salt Lake City very very interesting. Also Dinosaur remains can be seen at a park on the Colorado/Utah border.

Montana - Butte is an incredible old mining town with almost no tourism so hotels/food pretty cheap

Wyoming - Wide open plains, buffalo ranches. Also Little Big Horn monument.

Fantastic empty highways and really lovely people. Some interesting sights, museums and a huge amount of history.

I hear Carolina is lovely. And I have a hankering for tthose Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard places.

Oregon coast - the pacific ocean , wonderful beaches (not hot but clear ocean, ig waves). Bandon is somewhere I remember as a really nice place.
Portland - a great laid back city.
Depending on time you have, you could do San Francisco to Seattle going up the coastal highway.

I'm thinking of similar holiday! Anyone been to hilton head island? Fancy a week there after a few days in NY/DC. Travelling with teens like OP.