Trip advice please

[Breaking wind]

Hey guys, many of you don't know but I am a single father of 4 kids 14,13,9, and 7
I really am sick of the vacations to amusement parks and things like that, I was thinking something more adventurous like maybe sailing down the misissippi and down the coast a bit and then back up to lake MI and home, I remember more of those kinds of trips from my childhood than anything else and I want to pass some of these onto my kids. Has anyone ever made this trip? any advice? ETA time needed? best time to make the trip? this will likely be a next spring trip because of storm season just getting started. any advice or recomdation is greatly appreciated.

 

[Ross]

Some of the guys down on the gulf coast voice great concern about

having a small boat on the lower Mississippi. Mostly because of the current and traffic. Might be more fun to do the lower St Lawrence and the Maritimes. Or Lake Champlain and the Hudson River, Or the Erie canal system.

 

[Ol' Dave]

Cannot recommend this trip

The distance/time for a trip like this is going to work against you ... not to mention dangerous barge traffic night and day. The scenery is not too much to look at either. South of Memphis, you will just see a nearly constant wall of mud levies. Not to mention the current is intense and the river can be full of debris large enough to do serious damage. Plus there are sea monsters and maybe even dragons.

Ol' Dave

 

[Brian D]

You know what might interest the kids?

A week on a houseboat. I did some research for one of my HS class reunions. I recommended two houseboats (we had a small class). The prices were reasonable and it really looked kind of fun.

Just my 2¢.

 

[jEFF S]

vacations with the kids

I too am a single dad of 3, we used to go to a lake and rent a cabin ,then we me too got away from all the work. I would go to a water park 1 day ,sailing kayaking eating out , golfing and just hanging around. I took the boys to Maine a few years back to do white water rafting had a good time nice place,some amenities. Northern Outdoors ,lokk for there web site. We visited some old time country fairs ,you know making sand art, throw nickels and dimes at bowls and win the bowl if you get it in. Believe me my children had a blast,I was quite surprised. Wetook a few trips to Hershey Park ,good for 2/3 days.
I think that the kids might be a little claustrophobic trapped on a boat for to long but you know them better.
We took another trip to Maine with the 3 of them to Acadia national park,that too was fun.OF COURSE WE STAYED IN A NICE RESORT. HOW CLOSE ARE YOU TO BOUNDARY WATERS RECREATION AREA. JUST SOME THOUGHTS.

 

[Ross]

Most of all it depends on the kids. my grand daughters are

water and oil when it comes to interests. One collects bugs and skeletons and the other is so girly that she runs to wash her hands if she gets muddy.

 

[MacMikey]

Land between the Lakes, Ky...TenTom Waterway...

I won't try to understand what kids like today...but if you think a boat trip is in order I would look into a detour of your first route and check out the Great Circle Loop on a web search. You can come down the Illinois River to the Mississippi and then a short hop up the Ohio to enter the Cumberland River (Ky) and to the area known as the "Land Between the Lakes" (Barkley & Kentucky Lake) Then you have a choice to the Tenn. River to Knoxville or the Tenn-Tom Waterway all the way down to Mobile, Al. and the Gulf of Mexico. Check out this site to get a good idea of what is available to see form someone who has put a lot of water under their boat (C-Dory 22 Pocket Cruiser)Link provided below. Time is something you will need to put on paper and scale out on a chart to see how far you can go and come on any given cruise.

Being on a boat/camping trip is something I would have enjoyed as a boy, but all I remember is being in the backseat of an unairconditioned car in the south, sweating and screaming and fighting with my brothers and of course asking every 5 minutes....Are we there yet.

 

[Ed Schenck]

Erie Canal?

We saw couples and families seemingly having a good time on the Erie Canal. There is the history, the locks, but mostly the friendly towns along the way. The Related Link is one of many companies that charter.

 

[Chris]

Houseboat Charter - Ontario

You might consider a houseboat charter in Ontario.

My parents started houseboating on the French River in Northern Ontario after I went to college. I always thought that sounded like a lot of fun.

Many of the houseboats come with water slides, etc. for the kids and easily sleep six adults. Locations to consider would be the Rideau Canal from Kingston to Ottawa (lots of locks and history including forts for the kids), The Trent-Severn River System which includes the Big Chutes Rapids where they lift you over the rapids on a long marine railway.

No doubt there are other locations.

The water is clean enough to swim in (sometimes the Rideau beaches get closed during the hottest few days of the summer).

I am certain they would remember a trip like that.

Just bring the normal acoutrement! Portable DVD player, Gameboys, etc. for those slow periods.

Regards

Chris

 

[BobM]

4 kids on a 25?

I wouldn't want to be in line for the porta-potti!

I like the houseboat idea. My Sister's family is in TN and I really want to rent one of those big houseboats with a slide (link below). The only kicker is that I'd like our Mom to come along and she can get seasick looking at a glass of water. It's not her fault, her family almost died from carbon monoxide poisoning and that is the only serious thing that happened because of it.

So I have also thought about renting a chalet on shore and a power boat as an alternative. My friend Rick has three boys...he always said two was easy...once they had the third it became impossible to have everyone happy at the same time. So a home base, with water related activities might also be a good option.

Have you thought about driving and just renting a good sized sailboat to sail somewhere different? I was in Pensacola a few years ago and went out on a 29.5 footer. It was nice just to sail in a different area. After recently completing a 3 day cruise to bring my new boat home I decided to add sailing somewhere with the Southern Cross overhead to my "bucket list."

Given air fare for five, you probably want to drive somewhere, but that in itself can be an adventure. You could rent a motorhome and take the kids west through the Dakotas to see some totally different terrain.

Bob

 

[Breaking wind]

Thanks for the replies

we owned a 40 ft houseboat for years so that is nothing new to them, I will surely check out these links, I didn't realise there were so many places you can get to from Lake Michigan, they all love boating and the water (practically grew up on a houseboat)in fact most of them want to sleep on the boat in the driveway @ home too! well maybe just a trip across lake MI? I guess I never thought of Beaver or Mackinac island either. I really like that fly somewhere then charter a boat idea a lot!
thanks for the suggestions guys, I really do appreciate it! we have plenty of time to plan for it, heck maybe just a trip up and down the coast of LM would do!
we have done the water parks in the dells and we are season pass holders for Michigans Adventure, I am an aerobatic pilot so it takes more than an average amusement park rides to get my kids blood moving now days. Not that a sailboat is thrilling to a kid anyway...just trying my best to build some good memories for them.

thanks again.

 

[Stu Jackson]

any advice or recommendation is greatly appreciated

You might consider changing your sign in name -- and then have even more fun with your kids

 

[Bob F]

Have you considered Bareboating? BVI's?

W/o knowing your budget or experience, I would consider the BVI's. I assume all your kids swim & snorkle. But there are some awesome bareboat places that kids your age would love. Also the Pacific Northwest San Juan Islands, Lake Powell (Az). Nice thing about boating with teenagers is the quality time you get to spend together. These days of video games, email, cell phones, "the MALL", its really nice to spend time on the hook pointing out the big dipper and the north star to your children.

Bob

 

[Breaking wind]

Stu,

change my sign in name? what are you talking about? It was my kids idea for the boat name and we get smiles and laughs everywhere we go.

geesh, no sence of humor next he'll want me to remove my boobie can cooler avatar!

everyone else let me know if my sign on name offends you so I can make a note of it then file it away in my "Like I give a shit" box.

loosen up!