Spring Break Road trip

[DAK]

My husband & I are wanting to take our 13 year old son and a friend of his on a road trip stopping along the way at some fun and interestering attractions. We will be starting out in NW Arkansas and traveling by car and not sure where to head that would be fun, warm and great for us and the kids. Any suggestions? We are willing to go east, west and south into the neighboring states as well. We have about 5 or 6 days off of work.

Thanks,

DAK

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

Actually, the people you should be asking for input first are your son and his friend. But I know exactly where you're coming from. You feel the pressure to present them with something outstanding from the start, after all - you're the adult, the mom. So, without knowing what your son's tastes are or how long you have for your trip, all I can really do is start by listing a few generally young-boy-friendly destinations within a day or so of (another guess) Fayetteville. Given that you rather pointedly left out 'north' from your list of acceptable destinations, I'll just give you a few possibilities for the other three:

East: Land Between the Lakes, Appalachians, Great Smoky Mountains, Huntsville (NASA center)

South: Gulf Islands National Seashore, Creole Nature Trail, Houston, Galveston Island

West: Santa Fe, Taos, Albuquerque, Petroglyph National Monument, Cadillac Ranch, Capulin Volcano National Monument

We can, of course, give you much more specific help once you fill in some of the blank spots in your plan and have a preliminary talk with your son. You don't necessarily have to spoil any surprise you have in mind, but we could sure use some hints on where (in general) he'd like to go, what (in general) he'd like to do, and how much time you have for the adventure.

AZBuck