America help - summer 2025

[middleagedswiftie]

My two teen boys are very keen to visit America - none of us are interested in theme parks. Ideally we would do a few nights in a city of interest then stay in one or two spots with beautiful nature. I was thinking possibly Boston then renting a nice country airbnb/rental somewhere quiet. I think we’re all interested in just exploring small town America, going to Target etc 🤣 as much as the big sights. If money was no object I would look at California but the cost of accommodation seems extortionate. But maybe Boston and around there is just as expensive? Am I missing somewhere? It would be in summer so I’m thinking places like Utah would be too hot although it does interest me! I know this is a big ‘how long is a piece of string?’! Anyone an America expert and can suggest some random places I might not have thought of?

Amazing! Thanks!

I live in Maine and have three older kids, and we have almost always rented a house by a lake for a week each year through Airbnb or VRBO, and it’s fabulous. We swim, paddle, etc.

We also stay in the White Mountains in NH regularly and enjoy the mountain hiking, lakes, rivers, waterfalls etc.

Maine has beautiful beaches, and interesting towns - Portland ME is one of America’s best kept secrets, and we have lots of cool towns like Bar Harbor, Boothbay Harbor, Bath, Newcastle, Portsmouth NH, etc.

Most of it is uncrowded and not crazy expensive. The house rental will set you back a fair bit mind you.

Acadia National Park is gorgeous but crazy busy in summer. I’d avoid it tbh - same goes for Cape Cod.

Boston is a 2-hour drive from Portland. It’s fun for a few days with teens.

@ZZTopGuitarSolo this is so helpful! Can you give me any pointers as to places I should be looking for a lakeside rental? Names of lakes perhaps? Thank you 🙏🏼

We had an amazing California road trip last summer, nearly 3 weeks, Monterey, Santa Barbara, Sequoia, Yosemite, Mammoth Lakes, South Lake Tahoe. Honestly such stunning places.

There are so many :-) We usually head north or west to Moosehead, Rangeley, Webb, Flagstaff, Embden, Sebec... Some of them are in the mountains and/or near ski resorts, which often have stuff to do in summer. There's also white water rafting if you head up north.

New Hampshire also has tons of stuff to do outdoors if you're looking for a more active holiday. Some bits are more touristy than I like (eg Lincoln NH) but they're also right near mountains and state parks and lakes and loads of outdoor stuff.

I went to school in the US and have lived there on and off over the past 30 yrs.

A nice trip is to fly in somewhere like Virginia and drive down the coast and across north Florida and fly home from NOLA or Houston. Lots of small towns but also interesting bigger towns like Savannah, Charleston, Shreveport, etc etc.

Another good trip is fly into JFK/La Guardia/Newark & head into NYC and then hop on the train to Chicago - super scenic, takes a couple days. Book a sleeper car, then hire a car and bum about the Midwest a bit (Illinois is pretty nice) and fly home out of O’Hare. You could even go further west and then fly home.

@NeedthatFridayfeeling was it not too hot for hiking, exploring etc?

No we were fine, Santa Barbara was hot but not unbearable, the rest as we were at altitude it was cooler than at the hotel