Need a vacation recommendation

Long story, short, we were thinking about hanging around here (Ft. Riley) for spring break, but I was asked by senior leaders in my field this week to take command of a MEDEVAC company in Honduras for a year -- most likely departing in mid-April. Rather than staying around the house, we sort of feel like we need to take a proper family vacation, given this'll be it for a year.

We aren't opposed to flying some moderately priced leg out of KC and would like to go somewhere a bit warmer. I wouldn't want to spend more than a day and a half driving. We'll have our two kids, 8 and 6. We just can't make up our damned minds, so I thought I'd come here for some ideas.

We've done Chicago several times over the past few years, and I really don't know much about the Midwest, honestly. I think the beach and traditional spring break locations might be out -- I'd rather avoid the wet t shirt contests with my kids, these days -- but we'd prefer something warmer than the Plains.

Some ideas we're kicking around are:

Mesa for some Cactus League action
Disneyland
San Diego

Any recommendations?

 

This may sound dumb but how about a "staycation"? Visit all the places you wanted to eat, explore, save money The economy ain't lookin too hot these days so I think it would be prudent to be more conservative.

 

To be honest, there's really not a lot to do in east central Kansas, and for we warm-weather people, it's cold, and we'd like a break.

 

There's a lot more to do in Kansas than you think, so long as you're into some weird stuff that would make Clark Griswold grin from ear to ear.
Rock City in Minneapolis is fun and the kids would probably love it. Giant natural concrete boulders sitting in a field, and for less than $10 your whole brood can spend a couple of hours climbing on, in and through them.

Rock City - Minneapolis, Kansas

There's the twine ball in Cawker City, which is right up the road from the geographical center of the U.S. There's a barbed wire museum in LaCrosse that's ... well, it's a barbed wire museum. If you've ever wanted to spend an hour looking at pieces of rusty barbed wire, that's your place. Leaving from Fort Riley, you can do a one-day driving tour and hit all of those places.
You also have the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, which looks like you could easily burn a couple of days at.

If you've already been to those places or it's not your thing, San Antonio is pretty nice that time of year. You mentioned the Cactus League, but that'll be over by mid-April. So maybe another warm-weather city based around an MLB homestand, like Phoenix, San Diego or Miami?

 

We've hit the central Kansas stuff pretty hard. Eisenhower museum, train and cowboy stuff in Abilene, and we're hitting the Cosmosphere in Hutch next weekend while we're in Wichita for a wrestling tournament. We'll be going 14-18 March, during the kids' spring break, before the Cactus League winds up.

San Antonio's not a bad idea. We absolutely love that town.

What about Albuquerque? How's the weather there this time of year? That looks like a reasonable drive.

 

Albuquerque's in the mountains, so I think the weather can be temperamental in March. Might be wrong, though.
If you're willing to go that far, how about an Eastern New Mexico road trip to Roswell and Carlsbad Caverns? Roswell isn't worth spending more than a day in, but you can easily do two or three days at the caverns. It's a whole national park, with hiking trails, off-road drives and spelunking tours if you set it up in advance (not sure the little ones would be able to do that, though).

 

If you haven't done Disney, and you can swing it, do that. Your kids are eight and six. The magic is still real for the six-year-old. Then catch a few spring training games.

 

We've done Disneyworld, but that's a good idea for a two-fer.

 

Yeah, the greater Junction City area isn't exactly a great place for a staycation, but you could do a pretty affordable, fun time in KC of you haven't already spent much time there.

Otherwise it's hard to beat Disney or you can usually get pretty cheap flights to Texas cities. Don't they even have direct flights to DFW out of Manhappenin' now?

 

I'd go with San Diego. Kids would love the Zoo, among other things.

 

Echo this. They also have Legoland, which your kids are the perfect age for. There's even a new Legoland Hotel there but it's pretty pricey. If not Legoland Hotel, the Marriott Marina has two awesome pools and is pretty reasonable in non-peak times.

If I were thinking about a vacation now, I'd choose between San Diego Marriott or a house on the promenade in Newport Beach (which would be a short drive to Legoland and Disney).

 

I'm in Albuquerque and if you come here you'll save the price of a dinner + I'll give you a tour of our studio, where AMC's Seth Rogan-meets-graphic novel show Preacher and NBC's Night Shift (about Iraq war vets-cum-ER-docs) are filming.

It will be warm enough in March to get out and about...and you can go skiing for the day in Santa Fe.

That said...don't come here. Head to south OC/north SD (the Marriott San Diego La Jolla is a personal fave cause it's always lesser $$$ than most others) and do Disneyland one day, Legoland, the Zoo, and especially Coronado Beach. Mt. Palomar is pretty cool if your kids are into science.

Congrats on what I assume is a promotion, BTW?