Chicago for the Shedd Aquarium and Brookfield Zoo. Instead of the children’s museum I would swap it with the Museum of Science and Industry which has great kids areas. Maggie Daley and Millenium Park downtown. Great beaches along Lake Michigan.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wholeheartedly agree with all the Pittsburgh recommendations.

But if it's very specifically penguins you're interested in, consider the penguin exhibit at the Detroit Zoo. It's top notch.

There's a super-pricey ($1000/group) private penguin encounter that's only offered certain times of the year and is booked up months in advance. But if you're all about the penguins, it's worth considering.

I was going to recommend Detroit, which has a lovely new penguin exhibit and is also a great zoo outside the penguins. No ocean, but the lakes are fun and the weather can't be beat in August.

You can also do two maybe even three days at the Henry Ford and Greenwood Village. We really loved it and wished we had planned more time. Your kids might also like the tour of the Ford rogue factory.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. One child is 6, and the other is 10. Except zoo and aquarium (hopefully with penguin), they love pool or beach. Last year, we did 2 summer trips, 1 week at San Diego and 0.5 week at ocean city (drive). This year, we combine them together for 1.5 weeks. DH won't plan, so it will be on me to figure out transportation, hotel and itinerary. We prefer one day at zoo, one day at aquarium (if big enough), one day at interactive children museum, one day walking around the city, just every day needs to have something to do plan in advance. Kids love hotel big tv with cable and hotel pool.

We could drive to Pittsburg from dmv, but question is if Pittsburg is good enough for us to stay for 1.5 weeks. We need other places to explore.

There are multiple incline railways in Pittsburgh. I haven't done them there, but I've been on one elsewhere and think it would be fun for kids.

There is a water park your kids may like - Sandcastle.

Since you're local, make sure you look into the Baltimore Zoo's penguin encounter. I'm not sure the age minimum, but you get half an hour with penguins waddling around your feet. You can feed them and pet them and they are adorable and hilarious.

And when you're ready to go abroad again, in Cork Ireland there is a phenomenal walk through zoon where wallabies are loose in the grassy areas and lemurs run through the trees overhead. You can book a penguin encounter there too.

Anonymous wrote:I wholeheartedly agree with all the Pittsburgh recommendations.

But if it's very specifically penguins you're interested in, consider the penguin exhibit at the Detroit Zoo. It's top notch.

There's a super-pricey ($1000/group) private penguin encounter that's only offered certain times of the year and is booked up months in advance. But if you're all about the penguins, it's worth considering.

I was going to recommend Detroit, which has a lovely new penguin exhibit and is also a great zoo outside the penguins. No ocean, but the lakes are fun and the weather can't be beat in August.

New England Aquarium in Boston just created a retirement home for its penguins:

https://www.neaq.org/about-us/press-room/press-releases/aquarium-creates-retirement-home-for-aging-penguins/

Could easily go from there to the Cape.

Anonymous wrote:I think worth doing Atlanta even in August. They’ve got the aquarium and a fantastic children’s museum all within a few blocks of each other. And the aquarium is amazing.

Yep, we did Atlanta in August and don't remember being particularly hot compared to how it would have been at home anyway. Also Centennial Olympic Park right by the places PP mentioned has a splash pad. SkyView is fun. Go at sunset.

There's tons more to do in the Atlanta area. See a couple of recent threads on it.

I think worth doing Atlanta even in August. They’ve got the aquarium and a fantastic children’s museum all within a few blocks of each other. And the aquarium is amazing.

Tampa/St. Pete: Tampa has an aquarium, zoo, children’s museum, Busch Gardens. St. Pete has great beaches. FL in August is brutal but prob not that much worse than DC.

Anonymous wrote:Op here. One child is 6, and the other is 10. Except zoo and aquarium (hopefully with penguin), they love pool or beach. Last year, we did 2 summer trips, 1 week at San Diego and 0.5 week at ocean city (drive). This year, we combine them together for 1.5 weeks. DH won't plan, so it will be on me to figure out transportation, hotel and itinerary. We prefer one day at zoo, one day at aquarium (if big enough), one day at interactive children museum, one day walking around the city, just every day needs to have something to do plan in advance. Kids love hotel big tv with cable and hotel pool.

We could drive to Pittsburg from dmv, but question is if Pittsburg is good enough for us to stay for 1.5 weeks. We need other places to explore.

There are multiple incline railways in Pittsburgh. I haven't done them there, but I've been on one elsewhere and think it would be fun for kids.

We combined St. Louis and Indianapolis last summer. City Museum (if they like it go back a second day), zoo has 4 species of penguins, there's an aquarium we didn't go to that I think is kind of small but near a Ferris wheel, the Arch, riverboat at the Arch, World Bird Sanctuary (no penguins), there's hiking you can do near the World Bird Sanctuary, other museums if you need more to do but sounds like you don't like those, botanic gardens, a children's museum we also didn't do.

Casey, Il in between St. Louis and Indianapolis has a bunch of World's Largest things to find.

Indianapolis has supposedly the top children's museum in the country. It's huge., although i've liked others such as Pittsburgh better. Connor Prairie is supposed to be nice but it was closed when we were there.

There are penguins at the zoo in Columbia SC and you could combine with Charleston,. Savannah, Myrtle Beach, or Hilton Head. A lot of driving but doable for the time you have

If you do Pittsburgh you can also do a rafting trip in ohiopyle (river might be low in august though), Kennywood, and the oglebay good zoo. I think you could have a good time at a relaxed pace.

I wholeheartedly agree with all the Pittsburgh recommendations.

But if it's very specifically penguins you're interested in, consider the penguin exhibit at the Detroit Zoo. It's top notch.

There's a super-pricey ($1000/group) private penguin encounter that's only offered certain times of the year and is booked up months in advance. But if you're all about the penguins, it's worth considering.

Monterey Bay aquarium is fantastic. They have penguins. It's a gorgeous region to explore, or if you want city for part of the week, you can head north to San Francisco or even San Jose where there's a great science museum called the Exploratorium. Then a day at Muir Woods for redwoods.

There are also places nearby Monterey to kayak among sea otters. Watch your kids carefully if you go to any of the beaches or ports with sea lions. They are amazing to watch FROM A DISTANCE but can be very dangerous up close. I need to drill this into my animal-loving kid ahead of time. DO NOT APPROACH THE ANIMALS!

Also for a weekend trip, Richmond zoo has penguins and you can pet giraffes.