OP, I'm new to this thread but we did a two-week vacation when my kids were that age and spent the first week in the White Mountains in NH (rented a house that was centrally located) and then drove over to the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick (combination of hotels and camping lite). It was incredible and great for kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had a good trip to Disney in August 2019. We did parks mainly morning and evening and hung at pool in afternoon.

NP here, how was the heat at Disney in August? I’m contemplating it this year and that time would work well for our schedule, but is the humidity miserable? Or not much worse than DC that time of year?

I guess we didn’t think it was much worse than DC. I think we froze water bottles, I had portable fans, and we had cooling wash clothes.
We stayed at animal kingdom lodge. If I go again in summer I would like to try beach club. One day we went to Blizzard beach in the AM, then 5pm Biergarten res, the Epcot for the evening.
One night we did AK after hours and one morning we did early morning magic at toy story land - I know they don’t offer those now. Then we stayed at Hollywood until we got hot around lunch time then went back for pool etc. i liked the Mara for lunch at AKL.
One night we had an early dinner at 1900 park fare then went into MK that evening.

Anonymous wrote:OK, really loving all these ideas. Here are my choices, I think, for last 2 weeks of August:

1. NY/NJ (we have family there)-Finger Lakes-Buffalo-Niagra-Toronto-Canadian NP-Montreal-NY/NJ-DC

2. DC-Asheville-Smokies-Dollywood-Edisto Beach/Kiawah-Chareston-DC

3. DC-Asheville-FL Gulf (Rosemary beach)-Orlando (inc. Disney)-Amelia Island-DC [Note that another option for us is to fly to Disney in October over a a 4 day weekend from our kids school and pull them out for one extra day]

4. DC-Detroit-Mackinac/Petoskey/Charlevoix/Traverse City- Chicago-DC


OK....now which one to do? Which one would you do with a 6 and 8 yo?

I did the Finger Lakes and Niagara with my kids 2 years ago when they were 5 and 8 and they absolutely loved it. We only had a week, so we didn't go further into Canada but I think that would be fun too.

We stayed a few days in an air bnb near Ithaca and we went to Watkins Glen, the Corning Glass Museum (sign up for one of the "make your own glass" slots and do the glass breaking demo), went to a bunch of the state parks (Treman Park where you can swim around a waterfall was my daughter's favorite but the water is COLD), and the Ithaca Children's Garden.
From there we went to Rochester to go to the Strong Museum of Play. We spent a whole day there and I had to drag them out of it at the end of the day.
Then we went to Niagara--stayed on the Canadian side in one of the hotels that overlooks the Falls. They do nightly fireworks and illuminations and it was great to be able to watch from our hotel room.

We've also done Disney in August and I actually didn't think it was that much worse than being in DC. A lot of the lines are inside so have AC. Make sure you stay well hydrated. We used cooling towels and had water bottle with misters. That said, we went pre-Covid and I have to say the idea of having to wear masks all day in the FL heat and humidity does make it sound worse.

Anonymous wrote:I have a similar style as you and 2 kids who will be 4&7.

I think a NY/Canada trip could be awesome. I’ve thought of different road trips and have done 1.

What I did was a 2 week trip:

Silver bay ymca family camp 1 week
Then Canada 1 week:
Quebec City
La malbaie (did some cheese and ice cream tastings along the way)
Tadoussac - whale watching
Montreal
Virginia

I’ve thought of bigger trips:

Quebec City
Jacque Cartier National park
Tadoussac (again, incredible whale watching)
Gaspesie region

I’ve not been to Toronto except for a band trip 20 years ago but there’s alogonquin National park too. The parks have incredible little cabins! Glamping options abound.

I tend to stick to the northern states myself and we may trek up from Maine to Quebec this summer. It’s gorgeous

Silver Bay YMCA lady, hello! I've noticed your past (helpful) posts on here and agree: we do have similar styles and travel interests. Thanks for the suggestions!

Whale watching in Tadoussac was pretty awesome and my kids were around your kids age when we did it. We drove from DC to Quebec, Toudoussac, and then spent a week at Moosewood Lake in Maine at a small rustic resort where we could swim in the lake and so boating stuff.

Another idea is a rental in the Thousand islands (in the st Lawrence between NY and Canada). Crystal clear water and pretty fun being on an island but you will need to work out the logistics (our rental came and picked us up on shore)

Anonymous wrote:I had a good trip to Disney in August 2019. We did parks mainly morning and evening and hung at pool in afternoon.

NP here, how was the heat at Disney in August? I’m contemplating it this year and that time would work well for our schedule, but is the humidity miserable? Or not much worse than DC that time of year?

My son loved Traverse City but I just thought it was so so. I’d recommend Glacier, Rocky Mountain National park, or Olympic National park. Probably Olympic for those ages, stay in Port Ángeles.

I have a similar style as you and 2 kids who will be 4&7.

I think a NY/Canada trip could be awesome. I’ve thought of different road trips and have done 1.

What I did was a 2 week trip:

Silver bay ymca family camp 1 week
Then Canada 1 week:
Quebec City
La malbaie (did some cheese and ice cream tastings along the way)
Tadoussac - whale watching
Montreal
Virginia

I’ve thought of bigger trips:

Quebec City
Jacque Cartier National park
Tadoussac (again, incredible whale watching)
Gaspesie region

I’ve not been to Toronto except for a band trip 20 years ago but there’s alogonquin National park too. The parks have incredible little cabins! Glamping options abound.

I tend to stick to the northern states myself and we may trek up from Maine to Quebec this summer. It’s gorgeous