How about a few days in New York city and then cruise the Eastern Seaboard to see a few more cities the easy way?
http://www.princess.com/pb/itineraryDetails.do?voyageCode=B932&trade=N

I am biased but what about California and Nevada? You say you have 2 weeks and that's a decent amount of time to do several cities.

An example itinery could be:

- Fly into Las Vegas, stay 4 days (but allow half a day to drive to LA)
- Drive to Los Angeles, stay 4 days (plenty of time to do Disneyland, California's Disney Adventure, Magic Mountain, etc)
- Drive to Yosemite, stay 2 days
- Drive to San Francisco, stay 4 days (Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman's Wharf, Chinatown, Alcatraz, etc)
- Fly out of San Francisco

Just some food for thought there.

Definately food for thought, thank you!! Would August be a good time for either?

Thanks again

Pam

Yep, actually any time of the year is good for California. It's sunny all year round. Yosemite's waterfalls are at their lowest in August but the park is still amazing at any time of the year.

Thanks, I really quite like the idea of the tour. Being a non adventurous package holiday person, lots of questions!! Can we pick up the car one place and return it to another? Is there a website that is good for hotels? How long is each leg of the drive and are there places to visit en route? What is the best time to look at booking flights and do you book them all with the same airline to get the best deal?

Thanks again

Pam

Can we pick up the car one place and return it to another?

Yes, though there might be a fee for this. Check with the rental company to find out how much.

Is there a website that is good for hotels?

I'm sure but I'm afraid I don't know any off the top of my head. Other members will, though.

How long is each leg of the drive and are there places to visit en route?

This is off the top of my head but:

Las Vegas to Los Angeles - 5 hours
Los Angeles to Yosemite - 5 to 6 hours
Yosemite to San Francisco - 5 hours

I could be a bit off... well, I know the Vegas to LA one is about right. The other two... I've never driven to be honest. The couple of times I've been to Yosemite weren't from LA. But I think my times aren't TOO far off. You can always go to Google Maps to double check too. Of course, I could that too but... that should be half the fun for your trip planning.
What is the best time to look at booking flights and do you book them all with the same airline to get the best deal?

I'm not sure about the first question. The second... I'm not 100% sure either but I doubt it. The flights are going to be independent of one another and it's entirely possible you could find a better deal with a different airline on, say, the return journey than on the inbound flight.

Thanks for taking the trouble to reply- much appreciated. I shall get this summer's holiday out of the way and then start my research!

Pam

Pam, maybe your group would like to consider a family style resort in a part of America that usually only attracts Americans on holiday? Include in your research Westgate Smoky Mountains Resort in Gatlinburg Tennessee. http://www.wgsmokymountains.com

It has lots of activities for kids especially the ones around the age of your kids. Many activities such as horseback riding, river rafting etc for adults and if you like mountain hiking, it's in a great spot.

My husband and I were married in Gatlinburg in August 1993 and it would have been a great place to take children. We have two of our own now, aged 14 and 12 and have taken them to Florida 3 times so I consider that done for the time being. I would definitely like to take them to the Smoky Mountains area but waiting to see how the flight prices go and if the dollar holds out (seems to be on the slide a bit at the moment). Last time we flew into Atlanta, so we could probably drop into Six Flags to give them their theme park fix.

Another option would be Texas. We did San Antonio - Dallas - Corpus Christi (should have been Houston but it was in 2005 just after the huracaine so we changed plans)

San Antonio is beautiful with the River walk, loads of good places to eat and drink. There are several Theme Parks nearby and about 45 mins out on the road to Dallas (there is only 1 LOL) is the cheapest shopping we have ever found in the US.

Dallas is interesting but more historically so with the JFK museum and the Southfork ranch if you used to watch Dallas on TV(we actually stayed in the Southfork Hotel but it is about 5 miles from the ranch)

Corpus Christi is a typical sea side town and also has the "Blue Ghost" aircraft carrier that you can take a tour of.

Graham