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We’re looking for recommendations for family friendly vacations that offer a lot of outdoors activities. Ideally, spots that are less touristy, less crowded— more good old fashioned fun activities you’d find in state parks (which we recognize will at times be busy to an extent). Kids are pre-teens and teens. Thanks!
Kind of an open-ended question. How far do you want to go? Where from? Summer? Winter? Camping? RV? Less touristy as in no Disneyworld or no National Parks?
We’re open to anywhere in the states. Yes, less touristy as in no Disneyland but national parks would be great. No RV, perhaps some tent camping but more likely we’d be interested in cabins or some type of home rental. We’re looking at summertime. Thanks for the great ideas, ckhthankgod!
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Jekyll Island State Park on the Georgia coast is great for families. They have great beaches, a golf course, a water park, a sea turtle museum and hospital that you can tour, an really good and affordable beachfront hotels and condo rentals. There are also camping facilities on the island.
We’re looking for recommendations for family friendly vacations that offer a lot of outdoors activities. Ideally, spots that are less touristy, less crowded— more good old fashioned fun activities you’d find in state parks (which we recognize will at times be busy to an extent). Kids are pre-teens and teens. Thanks!
Smoky Mountain National Park is always a great option. It is touristy, but not so much during the spring so crowds won’t be an issue.
There are a ton of great hikes with waterfalls, great bike riding, historic places etc...and Cabins are everywhere in the hills, and very reasonably priced. I would recommend finding a cabin close to Gatlinburg, as that’s where the majority of attractions & hikes will be close to, as well as restaurants if that’s important. They also have the Ripleys Aquarium which is really cool.
Gatlinburg when not crowded, is a really great place.
South Dakota: Custer State Park - Custer's a good hopping off point for the rest of The Black Hills - Mt. Rushmore, Jewel Cave, Wind Cave, Deadwood, and (a little further west) Devil's Tower, WY. Some will mention Crazy Horse. Meh. Way overpriced and not worth it.
Bear in mind that the most prime camping sites in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah are typically booked 6 months in advance. Some places have a small number of walk-up sites that are available on a first-come, first-served basis. You'll have better luck with those sites during the week.
Brevard NC is a largely undiscovered gem in the NC Blue Ridge Mountains and is known as the Land Of Waterfalls. There's tons of opportunity for hiking, biking, kayaking, whitewater rafting, rock climbing, river tubing, paddle boarding, fly fishing horseback riding and even river snorkeling. The town of Brevard itself is a welcoming small town, minus the overt tourist vibe and has many nice well-priced home rentals, some even walking distance into town. Summer is a great time to visit as while active isn't overrun like Asheville or Gatlinburg but active enough that you won't feel out of place as a tourist/visitor, and cooler temperatures at night at 2200-2500 feet in altitude. Brevard was a finalist in the "Coolest Small Towns in the US" contest and it's easy to see why.
I always enjoyed NC. We'd get a place on the beach for a while, visit Ashville or Winston Salem, there's a couple Revolutionary War battlefields, Smoky Mountains NP, Appalachian Trail, take a car ferry to the Outer Banks, go fishing or wreck diving, and visit colonial New Bern and Tryon Palace. There's something for adults and kids -- should keep you busy.
I recommend staying at one of state parks in western SC like Devils Fork State Park near clear water lakes Jocasee and Keowee, which will also put you near Blue Ridge mountains. Lot of waterfalls in the area and the whitewater river Chattooga (where the movie Deliverance was filmed).
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