Summer Vacations
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My name is Stacey and I live in Kansas. My husband is originally from Florida so we go there at least once a year. These were pictures we took back in March. The location is Panama City, Florida and some other places down the coast. I think this is a great family spot because the water is beautiful and the sand is clean. The beaches normally aren't crowded with too many people either. We love to collect shells and starfish from the beaches. There is a lot to do in Panama City and even down the coast you can go boating, dolphin watching, horseback riding, camping and more. Panama City's website is full of activities for kids and adults. In Panama City, a couple of the fun things we've taken our kids is to "Gulf World" (Smaller version of Sea World) and miniature golf.
Stacey - Kansas
My family has a membership in the Society for Creative Anachronism (a medieval re-enactment group). Here my husband and son pose at a Renaissance Faire in their garb (Scottish Braekens). We are going to attend the largest event held by the Society. The Pennisc Wars are held every year in Slippery Rock, PA. Average attendance over the last few years has been 11,500 people. Although this is a closed event, for members of the Society only, we do have publicly held events in areas all over the country. Just go to the SCA web site (www.sca.org
Dee - New Jersey
These are pix of our family vacation '08. We headed up north from TN and began in Cave-In Rock, IL. After slowly mosying around a bit, we jumped back in the car and headed for Garden of the Gods, inside of Shawnee National Park. GORGEOUS GORGEOUS GORGEOUS. We took a ton of pix. The young ladies are my daughters, Heather, 19 (she's the short one) and Cheyenne, 14. My fiance, Lynn was also a part of our great day. He was the one who actually introduced us to Cave-In Rock and Garden of the Gods. And then there's me - Angela. Anybody who enjoys a good nature walk, exploring caves (some with Native American drawings still on the wall!), and just generally feeling free will love this. We plan to return in the fall and see the valley with the autumn leaves on show.
Angela - Tennessee
Just wanted to share with you what my daughter and I did on our mini vacation to DOLLYWOOD. We rode 'Daredevil Falls' which is a combination water ride/with a hint of roller coaster to it. We are sitting in the very front, I am screaming at the top of my lungs, hanging on for dear life, (I am 41 years old) and my daughter, Sierra, has the most goofy look on her, eyes wide open, yet smiling. We had a great time and much needed mini vacation. It wasn't the beach but we were in water none-the-less....smile.
I am Lynn and my daughter, 13, is Sierra and we are from North Carolina. The trip took us about 3 hours to get to DOLLYWOOD, but I would suggest to anyone to go after 3PM to DOLLYWOOD which gives you about 5 hours that day and they give you a free day pass for the next day to attend all day. My suggestion is to do that because you will need more than one day to see everything and you can catch night shows one night and day shows the next and use the water rides to cool you down. DOLLYWOOD gave out free water and ice to everyone at any vendor to alleviate anyone from being dehydrated. Great place to be!
Lynn (Toni) - North Carolina
We actually went to several different places as we visited my husband's siblings in SC, NC, and VA. This picture is from Grandfather Mountain in NC at the mile-high swinging bridge. It was QUITE chilly that day, but the view from up there was amazing! Just make sure the weather is nice the day you go, or wait till July when they have their annual Scottish festival, which we've been to before. It's a lot of fun for the whole family! There are also trails to hike on and a nice museum/ gift shop area where you can buy food. They also have a small area with different animal habitats, including bears, bald eagles, otters, panthers, deer, etc. My son loved seeing the animals!
Karen - Florida
We have been vacationing on Topsail Island for about seven years. We love Topsail. It is quiet, non-commercialized, clean and just a wonderful low key place to kick back and enjoy life. Topsail gives us, two full-time working parents, the ability to spend the time with our kids just getting dirty, having fun, catching crabs, fishing, boating, collecting shells, crafts, flying kites and so on. Basically, Topsail gives us the opportunity to spend some quality time as a family. When we first started vacationing on Topsail, we thought our older children, now 22 and 21, would hate it since there were no amusement parks and so forth. Instead, each year they request to go back. Everyone I have ever met who has gone to Topsail loves it and returns year after year. We have lived all over the world, including islands, but Topsail is just the best place to vacation on.
Marianne - Kentucky
This is Goody's family. Hubby and I have been married 35 years and we have 6 children - 1 girl and 5 boys. We live in Missouri and 4 of our children live in Tennessee. In this picture (used as '07 Christmas card) we went to Southport, NC to visit my parents, brother, sis and hubby.
The fire truck is owned by the yacht club and we took a ride around town on it. Once a year we get together as a family and what a better way to go to the beach of NC and visit grandparents, aunt and uncles. This is located between Myrtle Beach, SC and Wilmington, NC. There are lots of fun things to do: July 4th big big bash, fishing, surfing, boating, airplane rides, water slides, lots of shopping, wonderful restaurants and of course time spent on the beach. A must vacation for a fun time with your family!
Goody - Missouri
