I never understand what young families do at lakes. I would worry my kids would fall in and drown. We could walk around in the woods I guess, but the bugs would annoy us and we can walk in the woods in a park around here pretty easily. Boats don't seem that safe for little kids either.

We go to the beach, the kids love the sand and water, and we go to the pool in the late afternoon before dinner. We can also walk around on the boardwalk, play mini-golf, go outlet shopping, ride bikes. Lots to do.

Anonymous wrote:Go inland. Mountain cabin in VA/TN/NC, go river rafting.

OBX is absurdly expensive and all you end up doing is staying in the house watching TV or sitting by the pool with the oceanview blocked by an ugly cement wall.

While I think the inland suggestion is a good one, I am completely baffled by people who drive all the way to the beach and then go swimming in...a pool. What's the point? When we go to the Outer Banks, we spend all day on the beach.

we have done big family vacations (think 16 people) at Deep Creek Lake in Western MD in the summer. There are a huge number of large houses there.

We're doing a big family vacation this summer too, and ended up getting a house on Lake Winepesaukee in NH. It's a longer drive for us, but most of the family is coming from the Northeast anyway. We decided against the Outer Banks mainly because of the hurricane risk. But we booked weeks ago -- a lot of stuff seems to be full already for July and August.

Thanks everybody! Great advice for me to look into!

Did you look at Avon Cottages? The houses do not have a pool (some have hot tubs) but they are right on the beach and there's a lot of selection for diff. groups.

We do an annual get together in the New River area in WVa that is pretty cheap, beautiful, and activity-filled.

Anonymous wrote:Go inland. Mountain cabin in VA/TN/NC, go river rafting.

OBX is absurdly expensive and all you end up doing is staying in the house watching TV or sitting by the pool with the oceanview blocked by an ugly cement wall.

I agree with this. Consider Canaan Valley, WV, which is beautiful and inexpensive. We like the Black Bear Resort there; Canaan Valley Resort is nice albeit a bit dated, and has nice cabins. The hiking is great and you can go river rafting, horseback riding, play mini-golf, go geocaching. Or just enjoy the view/scenery. It's easily 10 degrees cooler, or more, than it is in metro DC.

For $3 - $4,000 a week you could get a place around Bethany Beach. Maybe cheaper if you are further from the water.

Stone Harbor - Avalon, NJ not a terrible drive very family friendly and once you get there they have a ton of stuff to do where you don't need a car. We rented a house 2 blocks from the beach with a pool and 2 blocks from downtown shops / restaurants and had 6 adults, 2 yo and two 8yos for under 4k. There were four bedrooms and two bathrooms and a large kitchen / dining and living space with a fenced in pool and outside eating area and our house was on the "small" side for the neighborhood.

Go inland. Mountain cabin in VA/TN/NC, go river rafting.

OBX is absurdly expensive and all you end up doing is staying in the house watching TV or sitting by the pool with the oceanview blocked by an ugly cement wall.

We're planning a family vacation this summer with a lot of our extended family. I originally thought a beach house in OBX would be perfect, but after looking at the prices I'm hoping there's another - cheaper - option. Any recommendations for another location within an 8 hour drive that has more reasonably priced beach houses for 12-15 people? DH and I will likely be footing most of the bill..