# Multi trip to US



## Pompey Family (Mar 4, 2015)

Currently thinking about a future summer trip incorporating several places. We really enjoyed our trip to Yellowstone in 2012 and want to go back, preferably staying in Jackson Hole this time. Unfortunately it's a bit of a slog from the UK with multiple stopovers, with two young kids we prefer direct flights and the choice of airline is really restricted to British Airways or Virgin as we've experienced long haul with some of the American carriers and it really wasn't very good.

I'm currently looking at flying into Chicago with a drive to a resort on Lake Michigan in mind however I know absolutely nothing about any of the resorts so I'd really appreciate some advice, recommendations etc. (we'll be travelling in August).

After a week there we'll be moving on to a week in Jackson and then another week somewhere else, I haven't decided yet, that is in easy reach of an airport with direct BA/Virgin flights to London so would love to have some inspiration!


----------



## Bwolf (Mar 4, 2015)

I took a look at Interval International Resorts and had absolutely NO inspiration.  How about fly into Chicago and stay in a luxury hotel (I know you have high standards) in town?  It only has to be for a few days and you and your family might just love Chicago.  Try a Cubs or White Sox game. Go to museums and try the lakefront for a day or two. You wouldn't even need a car.  Use a limo to and from the airport(s) and public transportation to get around. Then fly to your next destination either from O'Hare or Midway, depending on your preference?

Resorts in Wisconsin don't appear to be on Lake Michigan.  Nor do resorts in Indiana.  Some in Michigan might be, but I wouldn't recommend that drive to anyone after a long flight.


----------



## hjtug (Mar 4, 2015)

How about northern Arizona / Grand Canyon with flight from Phoenix?


----------



## SmithOp (Mar 5, 2015)

Virgin flies direct to Las Vegas, BA direct to LA.


Sent from my iPad using the strange new version of Tapatalk


----------



## beejaybeeohio (Mar 5, 2015)

*Las Vegas*



SmithOp said:


> Virgin flies direct to Las Vegas, BA direct to LA.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using the strange new version of Tapatalk



If you fly into LAS you can make a loop trip to see 3 of our national parks...Zion, Bryce and the Grand Canyon.  

If you do return to the Jackson Hole area, you might consider flying into SLC- it's about a 5-hour drive to Jackson.  Head north in Montana to visit Glacier Nat'l Park- there are several timeshares on the west end in Whitefish, Columbia Falls and West Glacier.


----------



## Pompey Family (Mar 5, 2015)

beejaybeeohio said:


> If you fly into LAS you can make a loop trip to see 3 of our national parks...Zion, Bryce and the Grand Canyon.
> 
> If you do return to the Jackson Hole area, you might consider flying into SLC- it's about a 5-hour drive to Jackson.  Head north in Montana to visit Glacier Nat'l Park- there are several timeshares on the west end in Whitefish, Columbia Falls and West Glacier.



Whilst I would love to do the three park loop I don't think my wife would share the same enthusiasm especially if we also visit Yellowstone.

We did the drive from SLC to Jackson two years ago and I don't particularly want to drive that long again and besides, we had to fly into Chicago and connect to another flight to get to SLC so we may as well fly from Chicago straight to Jackson. We only went to SLC because we had a week in Park City.

I like the suggestion for Phoenix incorporating the Grand Canyon, presumably it'd be hot in August but as it's a dry heat I'm guessing it's more tolerable than a Florida heat.


----------



## Conan (Mar 5, 2015)

Pompey Family said:


> I like the suggestion for Phoenix incorporating the Grand Canyon, presumably it'd be hot in August but as it's a dry heat I'm guessing it's more tolerable than a Florida heat.



When choosing where to stay in the Southwest for a summer vacation, take note of the altitude.

Phoenix (alt. 140 meters) can be near-unbearable in August. (105F = 41C)
http://www.wunderground.com/history...reqdb.zip=85001&reqdb.magic=1&reqdb.wmo=99999

Flagstaff (alt. 2,130 meters), equivalent to the top (south) rim of the Grand Canyon, will be around 15C degrees cooler (80F=27C).
http://www.wunderground.com/history...reqdb.zip=86001&reqdb.magic=1&reqdb.wmo=99999

Sedona (alt. 1,372 meters) is beautiful and might be a good alternative to Phoenix.
http://www.wunderground.com/history...reqdb.zip=86336&reqdb.magic=1&reqdb.wmo=99999


----------



## Pompey Family (Mar 5, 2015)

Conan said:


> When choosing where to stay in the Southwest for a summer vacation, take note of the altitude.
> 
> Phoenix (alt. 140 meters) can be near-unbearable in August. (105F = 41C)
> http://www.wunderground.com/history...reqdb.zip=85001&reqdb.magic=1&reqdb.wmo=99999
> ...



Thanks, I considered Phoenix simply because of the exchange potential for Canyon Villas however there's no point in exchanging just for the sake of it particularly if the heat will be so brutal and this is the problem we've encountered when trying to exchange. We originally bought Harbour Lake direct because we were told that exchanges would be easy, we weren't told that prime summer weeks at the coastal resorts would be very difficult to exchange into. Orlando doesn't really interest us so we're stuck with either exchanging or renting and then forking out for accommodation elsewhere. If we're paying to go elsewhere then we're no longer restricted by MVC so our choice of location is much wider. The advice about only buying where you can envisage yourself going every year is very good advice and that's the reason why we bought our Spanish weeks.

Newport Coast Villas would be the ideal exchange but it's such a long shot I don't think we can wait long enough for a confirmation without buying the flights however I have just checked on Redweek and there are a lot of rentals throughout the year so that might be an option.


----------



## sue1947 (Mar 5, 2015)

I'm not sure where Virgin or BA fly direct in the US, but I would head north rather than south.  Even with the higher altitudes in Sedona or the Grand Canyon, it's still really really hot there.  It may be a dry heat, but it's still really hot.  (as somebody else once said, it may be a dry heat, but so is my oven).  

How about heading north?  Fly into Calgary and hit the Canadian Rockies first. Then drive down to Jackson Hole with a stop at Glacier National Park or one of the Montana timeshares.  
OR Vancouver BC with a week in Victoria, Vancouver or Whistler or in the BC timeshares in Kelowna or in the US at Lake Chelan in Washington State.   A week in the Canadian Rockies at a resort in Canmore or Banff would be a day's drive from either Vancouver or Yellowstone/Jackson.  It's much cooler and much nicer in the summer with lots of outdoor activities that the kids will love.

OR Seattle or Portland and then spend a week in the Oregon Cascades at Eagle Crest or Sunriver (Bend area in general).  Gorgeous scenery and lots to do.  

Check the airports that work for you and then we can pinpoint a bit more.   You said you don't want the long drive from SLC to Jackson, but the drive from Chicago and the Lake Michigan area is much longer without many timeshares in between.  

Sue


Sue


----------



## Pompey Family (Mar 5, 2015)

sue1947 said:


> I'm not sure where Virgin or BA fly direct in the US, but I would head north rather than south.  Even with the higher altitudes in Sedona or the Grand Canyon, it's still really really hot there.  It may be a dry heat, but it's still really hot.  (as somebody else once said, it may be a dry heat, but so is my oven).
> 
> How about heading north?  Fly into Calgary and hit the Canadian Rockies first. Then drive down to Jackson Hole with a stop at Glacier National Park or one of the Montana timeshares.
> OR Vancouver BC with a week in Victoria, Vancouver or Whistler or in the BC timeshares in Kelowna or in the US at Lake Chelan in Washington State.   A week in the Canadian Rockies at a resort in Canmore or Banff would be a day's drive from either Vancouver or Yellowstone/Jackson.  It's much cooler and much nicer in the summer with lots of outdoor activities that the kids will love.
> ...



Thanks Sue, hadn't thought about Canada or the Northwest US so plenty of food for thought there.

When I took a brief look at Chicago and Lake Michigan resorts I wasn't considering timeshare but rather high end resorts using hard cash. Admittedly I didn't spend much time researching but to give me some idea I checked out resorts in St Joseph for example which was only just over an hours drive from Chicago.


----------



## Saintsfanfl (Mar 5, 2015)

Phoenix is definitely dryer than Florida for any month but Jul/Aug is not only the hottest time but also the most humid and rainy. Definitely dryer but the 100+ every day probably offsets it.


----------



## hjtug (Mar 5, 2015)

I was thinking of Phoenix just for flying.  The average August  high temperature in Flagstaff is 80 deg. F.


----------



## itchyfeet (Mar 5, 2015)

I believe BA flies non-stop to San Francisco. So much to see in the area and
all along the coast.  We often use VRBO for our trips if we can't reserve a timeshare.  Just a thought.


----------



## Ken555 (Mar 5, 2015)

British Columbia (Vancouver, Whistler (lots of activities), Victoria/Vancouver Island) and the Olympic Peninsula, Portland, and the region are fantastic. Much preferred over the desert, but then if you haven't been to the southwest I can see the appeal. 

BA flies nonstop from London to Vancouver.

Sent from my iPad


----------



## Pompey Family (Mar 6, 2015)

itchyfeet said:


> I believe BA flies non-stop to San Francisco. So much to see in the area and all along the coast.  We often use VRBO for our trips if we can't reserve a timeshare.  Just a thought.



We were in SF last year and combined it with a VRBO rental near Sequoia and then a Lake Tahoe exchange however the weather was so poor in Tahoe (mid August!) that we abandoned it and rented a house in Lodi.

Suggested Canada or the US to the kids and "Canada" was the resounding reply so I'll start looking for some inspiration there.

Thanks for all the replies so far.


----------



## w879jr1 (Mar 6, 2015)

*Montana, Alberta and BC?*

I suggest that you might consider Bozeman, Montana, as an access point to Yellowstone if you want to combine that park with a visit to Canada. Flying into Calgary you could road trip Banff NP, Waterton-Glacier Park and Yellowstone, with visits to the  Canadian Railway museum in Cranbrook and the Little Big Horn site of General Custer's last stand in Montana.

Although I visited these places myself on several different self-drive tours, they would seem to fit a single trip schedule. Temperatures are usually less of a problem at these higher latitudes.


----------



## PStreet1 (Mar 6, 2015)

As you consider the American Southwest, have you thought about New Mexico/Colorado.  Both are high altitude and, in general, have nice summers.  The Albuquerque/Santa Fe area is one of my favorites:  it's wonderful for experiencing Native American culture (great museum in Albuquerque and lots of ruins worth exploring, lots of petroglyphs), the scenery is magnificient (the mountains of northern New Mexico are beautiful, and of course, as you go north into Colorado, the beauty becomes astounding.  Mesa Verde is a fasinating National Park (you can get lodging in the park, and if you're lucky wake up to see a deer looking in the window at you), and the early mining history never fails to be interesting.

In New Mexico, Los Alamos is the town where much of the work on the atomic bomb was done, and the museum there is certainly worth seeing.  There are extinct volcanos which can be explored, a perpetual ice cave (which doesn't take long to see, but is interesting none the less) trading posts, some of the oldest residences in the U.S. are found in pueblos, and you can learn about the history of the Mexican influence on the area.  Depending on when you're thinking of in August, there may be Native American festivals open to the public.  

In Colorado, in addition to breathtakingly beautiful mountains and Mesa Verde, there is Estes Park, the day trip on the steam train from Durango (take the bus back so you can also experience The Million Dollar Highway, named by Teddy Rosevelt because it "bankrupts the English language"), hot mineral springs in the city park at Pagosa Springs, summer fun activities at various ski areas...and the list goes on and on.

The New Mexico/Colorado area could easily fill your entire time in the U.S. with beauty, fun, and history--and you'd have great weather and not all that much driving.


----------

