where to escape the Texas heat with a toddler and infant?
October 22, 2014 9:03 AM   Subscribe

the chirren, wife, and I want to escape the Texas summer heat next year and are trying to think about places we could go. Next summer we'll have a 3.5 yr old, and an 8 month old, and dread another summer (July & August) sweltering in the sun (100/38 daytime highs). I'm tasked with to find the intersection of all our wants/needs

for the last few summers we've gone to Vancouver island's west coast and loved it, renting a cabin and wandering about, but our older child needs a little more social interaction than starfish and mum/dad. to that end, we'd like to be near a small town (not a big city, unless it's really clean and green) that we can pop into easily enough. Water (for swimming too, tho that could be a pool) is essential to our pretending-that-texas-isn't-here mentality. We've thought about the alps, and the Pyrenees - maybe staying in a self-catering or family hotel for a month or so and just tramping about. What I have a hard time finding is that perfect valley or town/village that has just a bit of tourism - but not too much. Latin America is a possibility, but the health infrastructure has always been a concern when traveling with little ones. Japan seems like a long haul, but we loved our time there last summer. Scotland or Ireland maybe - I'm holding out for a bit of a more exotic destination myself. Friends have mentioned "family resorts" that are kind of like a summer camp for families with lots of activities and babysitters - that seems pretty nice but we have no experience with those. The Rockies are our fall-back plan.
posted by youchirren to Travel & Transportation (11 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Check into Newfoundland! It is gorgeous and mostly rural and inexpensive. Tourism is just really getting started there and everyone is very friendly and excited to see you. The biggest city is St. John's, which is not very big at all, but has good food and tons of charm and is within very short driving distance of beautiful scenery and interesting fishing villages. I spent a fantastic week there in May and can't wait to go back.
posted by something something at 9:11 AM on October 22, 2014 [1 favorite]


Have you considered Alaska? Here in Fairbanks, we have mellow family-type entertainment (playgrounds, a museum, easy hiking trails), access by car to spectacular wilderness (e.g., Denali National Park), there's a local park where you can go wading in a braided river (Tanana Lakes Recreation Area as well as Chena Lake Rec Area), you can rent canoes and use them on the Chena River, there's day camps...

Now, housing may be spendy, depending where/when you go.

(Less locally self-promoting, but I have been to an all-inclusive resort, in Ixtapa Mexico, and it's a fantastic experience. I was really suspicious, but it was super-fun. You don't see much of the local culture, but as a vacation, it's great.)
posted by leahwrenn at 9:13 AM on October 22, 2014 [1 favorite]


I think there really are endless options.

Banff in Alberta, Canada is great fun in the summer - it's mostly a ski town so there is a lot of touristy stuff to do in the summer, but it's not really packed with tourists. There's hiking, swimming in both Lake Louise and hot springs, but also just a regular town with restaurants and shopping.

I know quite a few mefites do the family summer camp thing and swear by it - hopefully they will stop in.
posted by muddgirl at 9:17 AM on October 22, 2014


Santa Cruz, CA. I love the beach, the boardwalk, there's a ton of stuff to do in the area if you want. Monterey Bay Aquarium, flea markets, tide pools, strawberry picking.

Gatlinburg, TN. Rent a cabin, explore the Smoky Mountain National Park, do Dollywood, or don't.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 9:32 AM on October 22, 2014 [1 favorite]


Niagara Falls is totally overrun with tourists, of course, but if you stay a few miles away in Niagara On the Lake, its much quieter and you can go on some lovely winery tours, etc -- there's lots of outdoors activities around there, but you can also spend a day or two doing the tourist thing for the kids by the falls.
posted by empath at 11:08 AM on October 22, 2014


Telluride, Colorado?
posted by Jacen at 11:51 AM on October 22, 2014


Asheville, NC? We were just there in July and up in the mountains it was in the 50's at night and high 70's during the day. There's a whole lot to do around that entire area plus Asheville has fun stuff, restaurants, museums etc for everyone (there's a great children's museum in a nearby small town).
posted by hollygoheavy at 12:04 PM on October 22, 2014


This is not an exotic destination (or that small), but Portland, Oregon is really idyllic in the summertime.
posted by three_red_balloons at 7:51 PM on October 22, 2014


Portland, Oregon is pretty exotic to those of us who don't live there. A fun town to explore. And you can make side trips to the Oregon coast and the Olympic Peninsula -- now THERE's a place to help you forget Texas.
posted by kestralwing at 8:31 PM on October 22, 2014


Gouda, The Netherlands. It's a very small city, so staying in town is nice, but there are many holiday homes in the surrounding countryside if you want more of a cabin feel. Also, it's fairly centrally located between The Hague, Rotterdam, and Utrecht, so you can take day trips to larger cities. There's definitely no shortage of freshwater in the area, and beaches are 30-45 minutes away. Average highs in July/August are in the mid-70s.
posted by neushoorn at 1:01 AM on October 23, 2014


I stayed in Chamonix (in the French Alps) for a week last August and really enjoyed it. There is tourism for sure but it's not crazy. I went there for the hiking and cuisine, and both lived up to my expectations.

For beating the heat and staying in the U.S., I would recommend Provincetown, MA, or else west coast places that people have already recommended.
posted by A dead Quaker at 10:49 AM on April 18, 2015


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