fun trips

January 3, 2012 11:35 AM

“ I like doing things more than seeing things” our 11 year old granddaughter (tweener) told us when we were talking about fun trips. Any thoughts about a destination that an 11 year old girl would enjoy and her grandparents could believe she would be learning something about different parts of her country (US). She’s been to Florida and California, but not much of the Northeast (except for NYC) or the MidWest. She does like scenery but is much more into going someplace every day and having an agenda of events that are different each day - yet staying in the same ”home base” hotel. Enjoys arts and crafts, music, and museums but not sitting on the beach.
posted by jjcurtis to Travel & Transportation (19 answers total)

NYC would be the best area. IF you stayed in manhattan you can take her all around NY. All around Manhattan, the Bronx,Brooklyn, Queens, Westchester, Connecticut , NJ,long island,even Boston . You would take a train right out of Penn Station.

NYC has a whole bunch of museums and so does long island (we have a childrens museum and the cradle of aviation museum which has an actual lunar lander).
posted by majortom1981 at 11:48 AM on January 3, 2012 [1 favorite]

DC could be good too--tons of museums, zoo, and arts in Alexandria at the Torpedo Factory, which is pretty neat.
posted by mlle valentine at 11:53 AM on January 3, 2012 [2 favorites]

Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia -- The website says:
"Each day there is a host of activities designed just for kids. They can join the colonial militia and prepare to defend the rights of free citizens, act in an 18th-century play, march with the Fifes and Drums, talk to founders, and tend a colonial garden. Costume rentals are available to complete your child’s colonial transformation. In the museums, children can learn about and create works of art based on folk art or decorative arts on exhibit."

There is probably similar experiential historical stuff elsewhere.

Also, science museums geared for kids sometimes have different stations where they can try things out.
posted by maurreen at 11:53 AM on January 3, 2012

Something about this screams "city" to me; Chicago or Philadelphia may be good choices. Or New Orleans -- that is noticeably different from the rest of the country, and investigating how it ended up with such a different cultural look may be fun.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:57 AM on January 3, 2012 [1 favorite]

DC--the town is pretty much set up for the tourist, more so than NYC. Our Metro is a breeze to navigate, museums are centrally located and free, and the zoo is easy to get to. Plus, she'll recognize a lot of it from her history and government classes--that was always neat for me as a kid.
posted by MrMoonPie at 12:00 PM on January 3, 2012 [3 favorites]

I didn't really start to appreciate the USA until I got critical distance by visiting other countries. Take her abroad. You'll be the coolest grandparents ever.
posted by roger ackroyd at 12:02 PM on January 3, 2012 [2 favorites]

Colonial Williamsburg would be hella awesome, but I also thought of St. Louis, partly because I'm loosely planning a visit -- the zoo, the City Museum, Cahokia Mounds, the arch, etc.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 12:27 PM on January 3, 2012 [1 favorite]

In addition to all that there is to do in DC (as mentioned above), there is plenty to do in terms of day trips outside of DC. With a home base hotel in the DC suburbs and a car, you could take long day trips to see Shenandoah National Park, Colonial Williamsburg, Charlottesville, the Chesapeake Bay, Annapolis, Baltimore, several former presidential homes/plantations in rural Virginia, Civil War battlefields, the C&O Canal, the Appalachian Trail, and more. And that's not including the typical DC tourist stops.

I took a trip to DC with my grandparents when I was a little older than your granddaughter. The history was a good foundation for more detailed history lessons in junior high & high school (and beyond).
posted by aabbbiee at 12:32 PM on January 3, 2012

If your granddaughter is anything like my 12-year-old daughter last year, avoid anything that's too kiddy -- children's museums, "kiddie" amusement parks, etc.

Washington DC was an amazing trip with her last year -- lots of museums and we loved being able to take the subway everywhere. Educational, yes, but grand and fun and lots of variety, even within the Smithsonians. Also it was relatively cheap, given that all the museums are free (paid for already with tax dollars). We booked way in advanced with our congress people so we could get the White House/Congress tours. There's something mentally and emotionally educational seeing money being printed -- and shredded. We had a jampacked agenda

We've always had a great time in downtown Chicago -- Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, Ed Debeck's, many of the improv troops have "family appropriate" shows once a week. There's also goofy stuff like Navy Pier that isn't as educational to mix it up a bit.

I'm thinking about Philly with the kid in the future, but my daughter, well, she just wants to go to Vegas to see all the Cirque shows and Penn and Teller. (sigh)
posted by Gucky at 12:47 PM on January 3, 2012

How about grand canyon, etc. Instead of going to see it raft it. Take a donkey ride down Hike something. Do a dude ranch for a couple days.

Go to Massachusetts/Boston. Go river rafting. Do a few days on a schooner. Walk the freedom trail and go whale watching. Go to Plimoth Plantation. Canoe from Plum Island with Audubon.
posted by beccaj at 1:17 PM on January 3, 2012 [2 favorites]

My mother took me to Chicago for a week when I was 8, and I loved it (and would possibly have loved it even more at 11). We went to a different museum every day, except for one day when we went shopping and had lunch or a snack or something at the Marshall Fields on State Street where my grandmother once worked. So, definitely nthing the big city with lots of museums. I was also about 11 when my mom first took me to a really nice restaurant, which I thought was quite exciting.
posted by newrambler at 2:26 PM on January 3, 2012

The great thing about a city vacation in the internet age is being able to investigate all the options. We did city vacations a lot when our kids were young, and we still do them now that they are adults. I would pick any one of the great American cities and then build a large folder of options. Discuss with the youngster, narrow down to a few must-dos, and be open to exploring the place and going with the unexpected. We really enjoy renting an apartment or condo instead of a hotel room because, among other things, 1) you don't have to eat every single meal out, 2) you get more of a neighborhood feel for the city, and 3) you have more room/personal space than you have in a hotel room.
posted by raisingsand at 3:44 PM on January 3, 2012

My daughter enjoyed Jackson, Wyoming (the Grand Tetons) at about 8 years old. We were there several days, and during that time, we: skied, snowshoed, rode in a sled pulled by sled dogs, rode in an open-air truck of some kind through an elk sanctuary, visited a Western-themed museum (can't remember the name), explored the town of Jackson (including the town square with all the antlers and several old-timey Western bars) and took a day-long snowmobiling trip through part of Yellowstone (not sure if this is allowed anymore, though).
posted by SuperSquirrel at 3:46 PM on January 3, 2012

Best travel experiences from my childhood: Indian Reservations, with pow-wows etc. Cave explorations, spelunking. The Grand Canyon which I hear is cooler than ever due to the train ride and scary view point bridge thing. Surfing and snorkeling. Panning for gold. Visiting mines and mining for stuff.

Check out Roadside America to see if you can plan some kooky fun along whatever course you decide to take.

I don't know if she's interested in anything like this, but I was about her age when I got my first SLR camera along with a photography 101 book. Could be bitchen to get her a nice camera to record the fun.
posted by snsranch at 5:00 PM on January 3, 2012

What about Space Camp? They have programs for grades 4-6 and 7-9.
posted by CathyG at 6:27 PM on January 3, 2012

seconding NYC, DC, and EU - i loved all those things when i was about her age, for exactly the things mentioned above. though if you're doing europe, make sure you make at least most your days somewhat kid-centric - at one point my parents overloaded us on 3-italian-churches-a-day till we rebelled. however overall it was great.
posted by messiahwannabe at 6:42 PM on January 3, 2012

You could get her a sketchbook to record her travel adventures (riffing off of snsranch's camera idea).

There are tons of opportunities to hear great music - all kinds of festivals where you could go and put a blanket on the ground and draw/eat/listen a day or two, and spend some of the other time exploring local hiking trails, farm stands, etc. And I'm pretty sure there's a rock camp for kids, maybe more than one.

You might also ask her if there's anything she wants to do/see - get her a map or a list of attractions if she doesn't immediately have suggestions. When I was a kid I would have loved to go to Yellowstone, or the Smokey Mountains, or PE Island (because of the Anne of Green Gables books).
posted by bunderful at 6:48 PM on January 3, 2012

Chicago is an excellent option - great parks and museums with programming. Pittsburgh and Madison might also be good bases.

Hometown bias requires that I add Toronto to your list, aven if it is foreign.
posted by Heart_on_Sleeve at 7:44 PM on January 3, 2012

My default answer to all questions involving awesomeness: Yellowstone Natl. Park.

That is if you're reasonably mobile/ok with walking. It's not just outdoorsy stuff either, the information centers have improved dramatically in recent years.
posted by RolandOfEld at 8:37 AM on January 4, 2012