Welcome to USAKidZone! A Family Travel Guide to America. Our goal is to show our son as much of our country as we can before he goes off to college. We try to travel as a family a few times a year. Once is always a big vacation and then we take smaller excursions periodically. It’s always fun to choose various modes of travel…planes trains or automobiles, however, we generally prefer to travel by car. Most trips, I plan the itineraries myself, however, you might choose to use a travel agent such as Triple A. You will probably be offered family travel insurance, however, we have always declined this. Be sure to do a lot of Internet surfing as you are sure to find many family travel deals, as well as family travel ideas. Our son caught the latest deal we took advantage of while watching Nickeldeon. You can read more about that in my other Blog TammyBahamas.
Our philosophy to family travel is twofold. We always make it a point to see something that means something, for example history, landmarks, etc. Then comes the fun. Just add in a water park or amusement and everybody goes home happy. That’s our family travel formula: Learning + Fun = Great Family Vacation Memories!
The Statue of Liberty is a great family travel destination.
There are several categories of family travel of which we’ve just touched the tip of the iceberg as our son is only just turned 8-years-old.We call the categories: See the USA, Great American Cities, Step Into American History, Wet & Wild Water Parks, Fantastic Family Adventures, Fabulous Fun Parks, The Big American Outdoors, Marvelous Museums, and Lions & Tigers & Dolphins – Oh My! My take on each of the categories follows with notes about where we’ve ventured. As we travel, I’ll include a complete post with all the details and tips for you if you decide to travel to any of our destinations of choice.
Family travel took us to Mammoth Cave, Kentucky.
See the USA: This category will take you to see the natural wonders of our amazing country and include trips to places like The Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, the Great Lakes, mountains, desserts, and more. You can see much of the natural beauty and wonders of our land in our natioal parks. We went on one such trip earlier this year to Mammoth Cave, Kentucky. I’ve driven through this area nearly every year since I was three years old and could never get anyone to stop. I decided this would be the year to make a special trip to see one of the true wonders of our natural world. You can read more about in my previous Mammoth Cave post.
Chicago is a fun family travel stop.
Great American Cities: The name pretty much says it all – New York City, Chicago, New Orleans, San Francisco, San Antonio, St. Louis and more! We have so many cool cities in this country and we want to see them all. While visiting cities, you take in culture, see history and visit exciting landmarks like the Statue of Liberty. I’d have to say this is our family’s favorite type of family vacation travel. In fact, we went to New York City for our family vacation last year. We’ve also taken our son to Chicago, Cincinnati and Indianapolis, of course as we live here!
Step back in time with a Conner Prairie family travel stop.
Step Into American History: This type of travel takes you to the places where history was made such as Independence Hall in Philadelphia, trips to battlefields such as Gettysburg, the Alamo in San Antonio, etc. It can also include places that bring history to life for kids and families such as Williamsburg, Virginia, or right here in Fishers, Indiana, we have Conner Prairie a living history museum where you can “go back in time” to the 1800s. Conner Prairie is one of my favorite places in the world. I was in the third grade when I went for the first time and I was hooked.
Getting wet and wild on a family travel water park visit.
Wet & Wild Water Parks: The name pretty much says it all. Like I said earlier, we feel you have to pepper any trip with a water or amusement park for the young and young at heart. Kids love water parks. They are all over the place and many in the north are indoors and accessible year round. We’ve been to both types. The water park at Paramount Kings Island is a great way to cool down after waiting in hot lines in the main part of the park. We also like to head to Great Wolf Lodge when it’s cold outside. Great Wolfs are indoors and have 12 locations across the country.
Fantastic Family Adventures: These trips are edgy – they’re out there. It’s family adventure travel at its hair raising best. You’re not just looking, you’re doing. Adventure trips include climbing mountains, peering into volcanoes, skiing, going on a dino dig, white water rafting or working a dude ranch. We’ve not leaped into this type of travel yet, but our son has a fascination with volcanoes…and where in the United States do we have a volcanic national park? Hawaii, of course. Sounds like a great place to travel to me!
Hershey Park is a delicious, and fun, family travel destination.
Fabulous Fun Parks: Kids love amusement parks. With our son, it’s all about getting the map and riding every ride and checking them off as we go. In the last couple of years, I’ve been delighted to find he’s a roller coaster fan. You see, my husband cannot tolerate anything that goes upside down or around and around. He often feels awful even after riding a coaster that doesn’t do either. So now I’m so happy to have someone to ride with…I actually had to give birth to him though! We’ve been to Disney’s Magic Kingdom, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Paramount Kings Island and Hershey Park. Be sure to check out theme parks online for family travel packages.
The Big American Outdoors: This type of travel is a favorite of “outdoorsie” families. Those who enjoy camping, hiking, fishing, canoeing and cycling. It usually involves pitching a tent and packing your own food. We’ve never done this type of traveling. Actually, my husband has…many times while growing up. He has said he was so glad to discover my family was a “Holiday Inn” type family when he met me. So as you can probably guess, camping is not really our thing. That being said, I do love to be outdoors, so I’d like to incorporate some hiking and other similar activities. We’d just opt to sleep at a hotel rather than in the woods. I’m sure it is a more cheap family travel plan than staying in hotels; however, with all of the equipment you have to buy, it would set us back as we do not have any camping gear.
Taking a break during family travel to the Museum of Natural History in NYC.
Marvelous Museums: Pretty straightforward and you’ll find them everywhere you go. One of our favorite museums is right here in Indianapolis. The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis is the largest children’s museum in the world. We love the Dinosphere and the SpaceQuest Planetarium. Be sure to check out the water clock in the lobby. It’s really cool. We also ventured to the Museum of Natural History in New York City last summer. Our son was really excited to see it because of the movie Night at the Museum. Another great museum is The Field Museum in Chicago. We were there in 2006 to see Tutankhamen The Golden Age of Pharaohs. Of course, you have to check out Sue – the biggest, most complete T-Rex on display anywhere. A day in a museum is always best paired with a fun outdoor activity.
We enjoyed the polar bears during our family travel to the Central Park Zoo.
Lions & Tigers & Dolphins, Oh My! These are, of course, trips to zoos and aquariums. This type of family fun travel is another favorite of our family and we’ve been to several. Last year, we visited three zoos! We hit two of them on vacation – Zoo America in Hershey Park and the Central Park Zoo in New York City. Of course, we have a fabulous zoo right here in Indianapolis. The Indianapolis Zoo features a fantastic dolphin dome and a cool Oceans exhbit where you can actually pet sharks! We’ve also been to the Newport Aquarium in Kentucky.
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Hello. I love the family vacation ‘themes.’ I’ve just taken the time to write down all of the catagory names and put them into a jar. We’ll pull from the jar for our vacations. My daughter and I love road trips. There are destinations in your mix that will please both of us and I think by letting her pull the paper from the jar, regardless if it is something I would prefer (museums) she knows that with one paper out of the jar it is getting closer to the water park or amusement park slip of paper. Thank you for this great idea.