I'm not sure what is within reason, or where you're coming from (which makes it hard to point out a vacation spot where you can get away from there
), but just a few comments from me:
We took a cruise early this year from Long Beach to Avalon, then down to Ensenada, Mexico and back. The cruise was a lot of fun for us. All you see is touristy parts, but that was fine with us ... we were on vacation
. We also saw dolphins (but we see that pretty frequently anyway).
Some of my favorite business trips (which my wife called "vacation" ... I wonder if she wondered why I wasn't with her during the daytime on the weekday
):
Hawai'i was great, but not Honolulu. We're more outdoorsy than that. Kapolei has a great resort that is not too city. Turtle bay on the North Shore is great, and not in the city. And it is pretty cheap to hop over to other islands for a day. We took hops to Maui, and to hike through the Kilauea on the Big Island. Volcanoes National Park was great for us.
New Zealand. One of my favorite trips of all time. Beautiful scenery, fantastic food and wine, a different perspective on the nighttime sky ... good time.
If you want to just visit a city, then may I recommend my current hometown of San Francisco. It's one of the most beautiful cities I've ever been to. The arts are great, the attractions like the "California Academy of Sciences" are definitely worth an afternoon, Fisherman's Wharf; Ocean Beach ... and if you want to get out of the city, then go down highway 1 toward Monterey. There are Sea Lions in San Francisco and all along the shore (harbor seals along the shore as well), and in the harbor at Monterey is the only place I have ever seen wild sea otters. You can have lunch or dinner at a reasonable rate at many restaurants with ocean views, and the fish and wine are great. Speaking of wine ... take the trip north to Napa and Sonoma counties
.
We always enjoy the trips to San Diego. The beaches are beautiful there, and the water is warmer than in San Francisco (which doesn't mean it's warm, btw). A few interesting things there include the USS Midway which you can tour. The waterfront near the gaslamp district always has a lot of activity, and the Gaslamp is really a nice place to relax and enjoy an evening with a nice dinner and drink.
Vancouver, BC is another beautiful city. I'm getting too long, though, so I won't go into too much detail.
If you like nature, then Yosemite in the spring is beyond compare. Yellowstone and Grand Teton in the summer (they only have 3 seasons there: June, July, and winter). Grand Teton is the only place I have seen wild Grizzlies, and I saw one on two separate trips ... once a little closer than perhaps I should have been
.
Farther north: Juneau is a very small town with only a small area of accessible land, but offers the Mendenhall Glacier and much hiking. You really need to be aware of the brown bears if you get out of the town there. The bays around there are full of whales in the summer months.
Anchorage: Small city with huge, rugged mountains just outside. You can see Mt. McKinley on clear days. You can drive out of the city if weather permits and be in the wildest places left on earth.
If you love sapphire blue water and mountains, then look at vacationing at Lake Tahoe. If you go there in the winter, there is great skiing at Heavenly and several other lodges around the lake. It has an entirely different personality in the summer, but is just a spectacularly beautiful as it is on clear days in the winter. It's also within day-trip distance of Yosemite, King's Canyon, possibly Sequioah (Sequiah may be too far), and possibly Redwood (also probably too far) National Parks.
And that is just picking some high points
. I'll stop there because I'm getting so long, and it may be good if you commented on what you liked before we go much farther.
), but just a few comments from me:
. We also saw dolphins (but we see that pretty frequently anyway).