sanity check

[flea]

I am thinking about vacations. mr. flea is in charge of Easter in Cleveland, but Casper has a full week plus off for spring break a week later. The YMCA has a fill-in day camp for $25 a day, but I am thinking of a vacation instead.

So, Charleston SC and Savannah GA are 4.5 and 5.5 hour drives, respectively. We've never been to either. Weather in the first week of April is likely to be highs in the 70s, lows overnight around 50.

Has anyone been to either? With kids? Is there enough to do? I am cool with beaching it on a 70 degree day (and knowing the south we might get lucky and hit 90), and I know Charleston has an aquarium. Historic houses with gardens to run around in (we can bring ball-ball - and the bikes!) would probably be good too, right?

Am I insane to consider camping? In a tent? If we've never camped with kids before? We'd have to buy a (big enough) tent, but the savings in hotel costs would pay for the tent (and then we'd have a tent). There are state park campgrounds in both places, at the beach, for $25-30 a night. I think if we are tent camping we can probably get a spot, although the RVs may be filled up.

Anybody want to go camping with us? (Hint: Mightyurchin family, this means you. We need someone who can survive on ketchup and wild onion soup.)

Comments

[dxmachina.livejournal.com]

I've camped with toddlers and even pre-toddlers. It's fine, so long as you keep them tied down at night so the raccoons can't spirit them away. Keep in mind that I wasn't the parent, so my opinion really doesn't take into account actually having to take care of the kids, but they seem to love it.

[lili-beth.livejournal.com]

The kids would probably love it -- get them a couple of new flashlights to play with and they'd be in heaven!

We'll be on the Outer Banks that week, at Kitty Hawk -- our beach house with 3 bedrooms and two bathrooms was $450/week because it's considered off-season. This kind of deal might be possible for you, too -- there's got to be plenty of time-share rentals in both places that would give you a bathtub to plonk the adventurous kiddos in after a day out!

[serrana.livejournal.com]

I've spent a good bit of time in Charleston, but that was pre-kids, and always found things to do. silent_ic_river, who's on my flist, lives there and has two small kids -- I'd be happy to make introductions, if you'd like to get her suggestions.

The one problem we had while tent-camping with Herself, aged 18 months, was that there was always a lot of vehicle traffic through the campgrounds, and she had no sense about cars, and it was exhausting keeping her out of the traffic. I've been considering camping with the baby this summer, because him, if you shout "No!" he'll stop (hell, she still can't, won't, and don't stop).

[ste-noni.livejournal.com]

i've been to both, but not with kids. Also, I"ve never camped there. My impression was that both were rather expensive, but I'm sure that can be worked around.

[smonsterbite.livejournal.com]

I prefer Savannah over Charleston, but I'm biased - family is from there.

Savannah has - Fort Pulaski (fun to explore), Wormsloe Plantation, the Juliette Gordon Low House, a beach nearby (Tybee), a super-awesome junk shop downtown (fascinating but possibly too fascinating for an inquisitive toddler), wildlife preserves with wood boardwalks, etc. There's a (touristy) riverfront area - a cousin of mine has a v. good (but pricy) restaurant there. We used to go to the kids' science museum, but it might be horribly outdated at this point. Downtown of both is gorgeous, both have awesome eats. I think it's easier to eat cheap and good in Savannah, but again, biased.

The downtown squares, little mini-parks scattered around, are lovely and green and should provid room for kids to run. Forsyth Park has play grounds, a fountain, etc.

I loved going to Fort Pulaski as a kid. You can run around, climb on cannons, etc.

We also went to Wormsloe Plantation, though we were probably a bit older for that.

And there's the Savannah History Museum - we went in the 80's when it was the Great Savannah Exposition.

Sample itineraries, probably over-ambitious

There's also Mickve Israel, where my grandmother used to be a docent. Gothic synogogue.

I can definitely round up some kid-friendly restaurant recs.

Please note: I went to all of this stuff as a kid, and have no idea as to cultural bias in the museums or tours. You might want to balance with an AfAm history tour or something.

Camping at either one... you might want to research the mosquito situation at that time of year.

[casperflea.livejournal.com]

If there are mosquitoes on the coast in the first week of April, I officially quit at The South.

Thanks for all the stuff! Wormsloe is a great word to say. As far as balance, Casper is just teetering on the verge of understanding things. It's really hard to figure out what she gets, let alone provide balance. Parenting: it doesn't stop being hard when they start wiping their own butts.

[mightyurchin.livejournal.com]

Come summer, we'd love to meet you in a cool, slightly mountainous location and go camping for a long weekend. Early April is no good for us, since that's when I'll be gone for a week on a business trip. But let's plot something for the summer.