Which One Would YOU Want To Do?

[NMAmy]

The last time DH and I were on the island together was for my 40th birthday, so about 18 years ago. I took my Mom a couple years ago for her 76th birthday. We stayed at the Chippewa Hotel, which is where I made the reservation for DH and me too. It's a lovely older downtown hotel.

The Chippewa looks great. We've stayed at both the Iroquois and Lilac Tree and both were lovely. I prefer the downtown hotels to the Grand. It's so fun to get out and wander around after everyone has left the island and it's quiet. Have a great time. We're doing Grand Rapids this year for something different and I'm pretty excited. We went small on our anniversary trip because we're going to England twice this year to visit new grandbabies.

 

[MIGrandma]

The Chippewa looks great. We've stayed at both the Iroquois and Lilac Tree and both were lovely. I prefer the downtown hotels to the Grand. It's so fun to get out and wander around after everyone has left the island and it's quiet. Have a great time. We're doing Grand Rapids this year for something different and I'm pretty excited. We went small on our anniversary trip because we're going to England twice this year to visit new grandbabies.

I agree with you about staying at the downtown hotels, and about the quiet after the "day people" leave. When we went for my 40th birthday we stayed at The Pines B&B and the bed was awful! Old mattress that sagged in the middle so we were up at 5 a.m. the next morning and actually that bed was a blessing in disguise as we had rented bikes (2-days) so we hopped on them and rode downtown and the only person we saw at that time of the morning was a street washer. So quiet!! And we rode around the island and hardly saw another soul. It was nice!! Love hearing the clip-clop of the horses at night.

We like Grand Rapids too, used to have good friends that lived there (but happy to say they finally moved back here). We like staying at Homewood Suites when we go. Hope you have a great time when you go, and how nice to go to England twice to visit your new grandbabies!! That will be so special!

 

[yoopermom]

DH and I celebrate our 25th next year, so I've been thinking a similar thought process to what you're going through.

DH's first choice would be to fly to Alaska, rent a camper and drive around. Me, not so much. I would go there for a week if we could fly directly to Hawaii for the second week. ($$$$ says "no".)

My first choice, of course, would be WDW, but he'd rather be paraded naked down main street during the parade than face the heat and crowds that I dearly love.

An around the country or Route 66 drive would be *much* cheaper than AK/HI. However you *really* have to like each other to spend day in and day out with each other 24/7 for two weeks. I've done similar road trips with my DM or DGFs, but I don't know if DH and I could do 2 weeks together in one vehicle. (DM and I did the first third of Route 66 last summer and LOVED it).

So, our current compromise is to fly into probably Vegas, rent a car (since Nevada has reciprocity with CA for pickup/drop off), wind our way through some of the mountain/"western" things he wants to see, and end up at Disneyland (which I've never seen), then fly home.

You have lots of great choices!

Terri

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Two weeks in Hawaii sounds lovely.

If I was going to do Alaska, I would probably not just do a cruise and I would want more than 2 weeks to boot. I would want to attempt to view the northern lights and go see some glaciers.

We are celebrating our 25th this yr and the plan is to head to Vegas.

I have stayed on Mac. Island at The Murray.

 

[Bluestars]

I would go to Hawaii. I believe there are cruises where you fly in to Honolulu and the ship takes you to several islands. You could do lots of excursions.

 

[NFLDERS]

Two weeks in Hawaii? Yes please!!!!
Driving cross country anywhere? No thanks!!!!

This! Happy Anniversary!

Great to read of your recent trips, and these upcoming ones (much deserved); Your Mom must be doing much better.

 

[LilPiglet]

My dream is to someday go to Hawaii and especially try to stay at Aulani. So I would choose Hawaii.

 

[smadath]

I'd go for #4. The parks and areas you listed are beautiful! And relaxing and tooling around in a camper, just the two of you, enjoying a low key outing... sounds perfect to me!

 

[hopemax]

I've done the Alaska cruise, Hawaii, out West tour...friends who recently retired just did Route 66 (I've been on bits, but not the whole thing). Of those I would choose Hawaii. Liked the Alaska cruise, but growing up in Western Washington made it a little too similar to get the big "wow, this is Alaska" moment. Hawaii was like a whole new, exotic world to me. Someone with experience elsewhere may go to Hawaii and think, "this reminds me of ..." and have seen nothing like Alaska.

I would really think over your life, and have DH too, and think about how many times you thought about each of those places, and make a tally. And you may end up thinking of someplace else, but it's either too outrageous to consider, or too small to seem worth it, but that's what your heart says. Hawaii was also important to me because I've been thinking about it since I was 4 years old. My parents went, promised me we'd go when I was older, like 8. When I was 8, they bought a house, so it got bumped to 9. When I was 9, I was given a choice and chose Disneyland. Then I was offered as a college graduation trip...but I chose WDW. Choice of a honeymoon and chose...WDW. When I finally made it to Hawaii in 2012, "Hope actually going to Hawaii" was such a big thing because of all the years of not going, but it turned out to be everything I thought it would be...except the traffic in Oahu was worse than I thought, even after being told. Japan for me and England for my DH are our other "We've been thinking about these places all our life, but something else always happened instead places."

 

[#1hoosierfan]

Two weeks in Hawaii

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

DH and I will be celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary in September. I just made reservations for a night in Mackinaw City, and 2 nights on Mackinaw Island for a little "anniversary getaway" that month. But, we would also like to do something "bigger" either this coming winter or next summer. For our 25th we did a 7-night Disney Magic cruise (our first cruise) and 4-nights at WDW that following January. We could wait for our 50th, the "bigger" anniversary but we learned from DH's Mom that you should do what you can when you can and not always "wait for tomorrow" because sometimes "tomorrow" doesn't come (she passed away at age 62 from ALS and never saw her 40th anniversary).

So, we have been tossing around ideas:

1. Alaskan cruise/tour, OR take a few weeks and drive (pickup camper) to Alaska ourselves.

2. Hawaii - either fly and spend 2 weeks and see 2-3 different islands or cruise from California.

3. Route 66 road trip next summer, with the truck camper.

4. "Out West" road trip (again, with the truck camper) to see Yellowstone, Mt. Rushmore, etc.

We just can't seem to make a decision, and if we're going to do something this winter we need to get it planned SOON.

So, if you had the choice, which one of those would YOU do?

Or, if you've done any of these please tell me about your experience and maybe make some suggestions to enhance the trip, things to do, things to see, etc.

Thanks!

If you go to Alaska, do the cruise of the inside passage. Many of the glaciers are only accessible by boat. So why not do a cruise? You can do one of the after cruise (or before cruise) excursion to Denali or strike out on your own. You will also want to do the excursions during the cruise. If you are ever going to do a cruise, this is the one.

Hawaii done right is a very nice trip. But I believe it would be well worth your while to head out there for the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor in 2016 rather than this year. On the big Island of Hawaii, make sure to ask if you can go to the observatory and South Point BEFORE reserving your rental vehicle. Some won't let you go there.

Much of Route 66 has been lost. Oh the road is still there and the historic markers are. But much of what made it route 66 is gone.

 

[crz4mm2]

Hawaii and Alaska. I LOVE Hawaii, but have never been to Alaska and I would like to. DH doesn't like cruising So guess won't be doing a cruise to Alaska Our 40th is in 4 years and I would like to do something special.

 

[anniemae]

Alaska cruise.

 

[lorimay]

We were on DCL, the coldest day of course was Tracy Arms, when we got all the way in the glacier temp. was about 40 degrees.
Skagway was overcast and in the 70's as was Juneau. Ketchikan was the warmest day, it was sunny and beautiful temp. probably around 80.
Since we were on DCL there were probably more children then any other cruise line, but not a problem for us. Disney has wonderful adult areas and of course wonderful service all around.

 

[MIGrandma]

DH and I celebrate our 25th next year, so I've been thinking a similar thought process to what you're going through.

DH's first choice would be to fly to Alaska, rent a camper and drive around. Me, not so much. I would go there for a week if we could fly directly to Hawaii for the second week. ($$$$ says "no".)

My first choice, of course, would be WDW, but he'd rather be paraded naked down main street during the parade than face the heat and crowds that I dearly love.

An around the country or Route 66 drive would be *much* cheaper than AK/HI. However you *really* have to like each other to spend day in and day out with each other 24/7 for two weeks. I've done similar road trips with my DM or DGFs, but I don't know if DH and I could do 2 weeks together in one vehicle. (DM and I did the first third of Route 66 last summer and LOVED it).

So, our current compromise is to fly into probably Vegas, rent a car (since Nevada has reciprocity with CA for pickup/drop off), wind our way through some of the mountain/"western" things he wants to see, and end up at Disneyland (which I've never seen), then fly home.

You have lots of great choices!

Terri

Your current plan for your 25th anniversary sounds great! I surprised DH with a 3-night trip to Las Vegas for his 50th birthday, and we had a wonderful time and would love to go back again in the not-too-distant future. As for a road trip, we've done them before and don't have any problem spending 24/7 with each other so the Route 66 trip or driving to/around Alaska with the camper is definitely appealing to us. I remember waiting on a couple at the diner I used to work at, they were having breakfast and then heading out for a 6-week Alaskan trip. And our son's ex-wife's Dad did the same thing a few years ago. A cruise would be nice, but a few weeks of just driving wherever we wanted to go up there and staying as long as we want sounds good too.

If you go to Alaska, do the cruise of the inside passage. Many of the glaciers are only accessible by boat. So why not do a cruise? You can do one of the after cruise (or before cruise) excursion to Denali or strike out on your own. You will also want to do the excursions during the cruise. If you are ever going to do a cruise, this is the one.

Hawaii done right is a very nice trip. But I believe it would be well worth your while to head out there for the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor in 2016 rather than this year. On the big Island of Hawaii, make sure to ask if you can go to the observatory and South Point BEFORE reserving your rental vehicle. Some won't let you go there.

Much of Route 66 has been lost. Oh the road is still there and the historic markers are. But much of what made it route 66 is gone.

Yes, we would definitely want to do the inside passage if we took an Alaskan cruise. And the train tour to Denali as well. I think Princess has cruise/tours like that. And if we did choose Hawaii it would be next winter (January - March).

We were on DCL, the coldest day of course was Tracy Arms, when we got all the way in the glacier temp. was about 40 degrees.
Skagway was overcast and in the 70's as was Juneau. Ketchikan was the warmest day, it was sunny and beautiful temp. probably around 80.
Since we were on DCL there were probably more children then any other cruise line, but not a problem for us. Disney has wonderful adult areas and of course wonderful service all around.

Yes, Disney cruises are wonderful. We've been on the Magic twice and Wonder once. They do an excellent job with adult/children's areas. Love Castaway Cay! But, we've cruised with Carnival and Royal Caribbean too and have also enjoyed those just as much, and they are less expensive. We'd like to try some other lines too like Princess, Norwegian, Holland American and Celebrity.

 

[yoopermom]

If you get along great on a roadtrip, I would definitely suggest that, then (especially since you get so much more for your $$).

I know people talk about the beauty and grandeur of AK and HI, but there are so many wonderful "nooks and crannies" here in the lower 48 as well!

Whatever you choose, build in time to stop and smell the roses, explore the road less taken, and enjoy your time together....

Terri

 

[Planogirl]

#3 but then I'm interested in Route 66. If that much driving seems like too much, I'd say Hawaii.

 

[Newsies]

Oh, I'd love to see Hawaii

 

[Mizzoufan]

Alaska for a cruise!

 

[winterman]

You are right to not wait for your 50th. DH died 2 months after our 39th anniversary. The day of our 39th was very hard because we both knew it would be our last.
Anyway, I'd pick Hawaii, probably a cruise. No way eoulfd I do a road trip.