Fargo, ND

the superstition mountains
Superstition Mountain – Lost Dutchman Museum | History of the ...
superstitionmountainmuseum.org/
Exhibits include the Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine Maps, gold samples from local mines, Native American artifacts, cultural items from family and military life

Hmm, might want to narrow it down a bit. What do you like to see/do on vacation? Historic sites? Natural wonders? Scuba diving? High class sex workers?

What part of the world?

Isn't the penis museum in Iceland?

Fair enough. I'd prefer outside of the U.S. (never been out of the states)I enjoy the outdoors but to backpacking often so a city destination sounds appealing. Sex workers always welcome of course - though no need to be high class.

And thanks Capt Brad but I've done a D.C vacation including the Smithsonian.

Hike the AT for 5 days, relax and pamper yourself for 2

Hmmm. I enjoy cruises because you get to see lots of different places in a short space of time. Best holiday I ever took was a week's Nile cruise in Egypt, and the military coup on the final day made that one extra memorable. Med cruises are pretty great too.

As you're going in Summer, avoid tourist trap cities though.

Might I suggest...

www.bostonmassacrediplomacy.com

Chicago, south side.

Might I suggest Torrington, AB?
They have some neat museums, like this one: http://gopherholemuseum.ca/

Don't go on cruises, they abusively exploit their workers

Climb Etna. Especially when it's active. Been there, done that, and I'll never forget it.

Etna is currently active!

Go to Poland. Krakow is amazing, and if you have enough time you can easily make your way to Prague and/or Budapest as well, or head into the mountains if you want to do a little hiking.

Monaco's amazing.

Seriously though, Vienna. My favorite city in Europe.

One general bit of advice: You're paying to be there. Don't waste your time traveling once you get to your destination. Maybe city-hop once, but you can easily spend at least a week on a single major capital.

Tom, the world's quite large and possibilities endless, so it would help if you could narrow down what you like just a tad more. That said, I love traveling, if I had to choose my specialty is Europe, so I'll stick to that and let others comment on their own continent. I second the Vienna and Budapest suggestions, because you'll go to Paris, London and such at some point in your life.

Budapest-Bratislava-Vienna-Salzburg-Munich is the only trip I did twice in my life. Start in Budapest, take the train to Bratislava and by boat go to Vienna, that's it for a week. This is a pure city trip though, centering on 17-19th century Central-European culture. Another favorite of mine is Naples->Sicily (by car along the coast), but don't go in June-September, way too crowded, really takes away from the experience. Compared to the rest of the world Europe is not the best for over the top beautiful landscapes, there are some nice views sure, but best stay in the Americas then ;), it's all about history, cities and culture.

I've been to most European capitals and Vienna is also my favourite. Beautiful architecture.

Vienna is nice because it's "gemutlich" as they say: comfy, like a warm blanket and a cup of tea. Everyone would love to live in such a metropolis.

The first thing to see in Europe, however, is Paris. I know, it's the obvious choice, but the fact is that nothing compares. And the Parisians are willing to speak English now, which is a big improvement.

The second European capital is Rome. It has a careless magnificence that you won't see anywhere else.

Avoid London like the plague. The most overhyped city in the world.

Well I'll base my suggestions using two pieces of information.. 1 it's a family trip so has to be "cost effective" and 2 the starting point is within the USA.
So I'd suggest the good old family road trip, load the kids, wife camping and fishing gear in the car, and strip the kids of their hitech toys before departure. Canada is a reasonably safe country compared to those to the south...so it's "North to Canada" on a camping, skiing, snowboarding, hiking and fishing trip.
Get those kids up at dawn each day & out into the fresh air, hiking, riding horses etc so that by sunset they are so worn out that it's all they can do to stay awake at dinner..and make them "cook out" over a camp fire or gas bbq..no fast food at all, and then let them crawl into their sleeping bags. Then you and the wife can enjoy a bottle of red wine sitting by the camp fire & an early night.

There is now airplane service to Antarctica for really getting away from it all.

I know you said you'd like to avoid the US and backpacking, but I'm going to ignore all that and suggest Acadia. It's absolutely beautiful.

Definitely need to narrow it down, Tom. How about a budget? City or countryside? Nightclubs or wine bars? Any preferred continent? Europe is awesome but if you really want to get adventurous and have a good, unique story to tell, much of Europe would be off limits. Thailand is amazing and beautiful, cheap (literally $5-10 a day), and if you've ever seen the Hangover movies, you know there's a happy ending to be found somewhere. New Zealand is more expensive but as impressive as it gets. Belize has all the makings of a tropical paradise with an inland rainforest and a budget of $200 will cover you for a week if you go wild child in a hostel. There are tons of options depending on exactly what your aims are.

If you have a week and don't want to fly across the Atlantic and want adventure I recommend Costa Rica.

Thanks everyone! I understand the desire for me to narrow it down, but I aimed to keep it vague to see what people thought. I really don't fully know what kind of vacation I would enjoy. I've had more experienced with nature/rustic trips to national parks etc, so I am drawn to those types of trips - yet I imagine I would enjoy hitting a city themed trip this go around.

Seems to be some love for Vienna, so I'm going to do some research on that as I know nothing really about Vienna.

@abge - I've heard wonderful things about Acadia. I imagine I will hit it eventually, but that's one I'll save for sharing with my backpacking friends.

@Demon: Why Costa Rica? That's not a suggestion I was expecting (whereas European cities, New Zealand etc were more what I expected)

@bo: What did you do in Thailand?
As far as budget goes I've got a few thousand earmarked so unless it's really out there I think I can keep most locations in budget with some planning.

Demon is right. You don't want to fly across the Atlantic if it's only a week. Costa Rica is actually a very good suggestion. Less dangerous and more beautiful than it's neighbors

Or perhaps Peru

China is pretty cool if you're a nature person. There's plenty of cool mountains, forests, and coastal areas. Qing Dao is a coastal city with a mountain, no smog, and German influences. It is known for its beer. China also has the forbidden palace, the great wall, and other nice (and ancient) structures if you're more interested in that. I went for two weeks, but my favorite part by far was Qing Dao.

1 week is a sinfully short period of time. Not sure where you're from in US but since you don't want to spend half your trip on a plane I'd suggest Tokyo if you're on the western side of Iceland if you're east.

Costa Rica's cool, but it's august so go visit somewhere that's extra awesome in august.

Peru might be good - haven't been there myself so can't really speak to it. But Costa Rica is a pretty small country that has super diverse landscapes so you can see a lot/do a lot in a short period of time. A quick list of activities I did in my two week visit: hiking volcanoes, white water rafting, zip lining, surfing, whale watching, snorkling... And much more. So it really depends on what you're looking for - something historical like Europe or a week of fun adventure. Also shorter/cheaper plane ride probably!

I found Peru fairly over-rated.

Watch out for this hipster over here

Cape Town.

@Tom ... lots of things to do in Thailand, but I have never been there. I know a lot of people who have and a couple of my best friends lived there for over a year, so I have had innumerable conversations about the place.

I don't know if you're traveling solo or not, but I can't recommend Thailand enough if you are, especially if you're not 100% comfortable doing so. There are hostels, guesthouses, and nowadays Airbnb basically everywhere, enough that you don't have to speak the language of the locals in order to get by. It's popular enough that they're used to tourists throughout the country, even in the isolated areas, but rugged enough that it's still authentic. Sounds cliche, but according to everyone, it's all true.

Geographically, I would suggest staying in the north if you're not a beach guy (I'm a fat bum who doesn't take his shirt off, so...) and like the misty mountain scene and the indigenous culture, the south if you like the sun and the girls giving you massages, and the east near Cambodia if you want to get into the middle of buttfuck nowhere and risk dying of malaria, which is by far the more adventurous thing, then find a bus with no air conditioning and head out into the hills. I don't really think you can go wrong, but do lots and lots of research on what exactly you want.

I know it's on my short bucket list.

Guys stop recommending places that take over 8 hours to travel one way when he only has a week.

I don't know where he lives!

He originally posited Europe as a destination. You can do one major city well enough in 7-days. Ideally, it'd be 9 days to cover two weekends. Sleep on the plane.

Another thing to consider: Is this your 'trip of a lifetime' or more of a 'get to know myself trip'? For example, if you chose Paris and were certain you'd visit Europe again, well then it's OK if you have a shorter than ideal trip.

If your career plans include travel, that's also a great way to see the world. A good friend finally is back stateside after nearly 4 years in Europe. She saw everything.

Pssh, abge recommends backpacking in America and then suggests somewhere other than the west coast...

Lol ghug clearly hasn't been to Acadia

The East doesn't have real mountains and it's full of New Englanders. Pass.

I enjoyed touring the EU by myself, though I found that it was too easy to settle into wherever you end up and spend too much of the vacation in too few places. I would set a schedule and book hotels in advance, unless you're really okay with experiencing fewer places than you might expect.

@tom, might I suggest the Middle earth tour in New Zealand?
http://www.newzealand.com/us/home-of-middle-earth/

It'll be super fun esp if you're a Tolkien fan.

The East doesn't have tall* mountains. The IMAX crew for the Everest movie tested their film equipment on Mt. Washington in NH because the conditions get so ridiculously insane there. Katahdin isn't much nicer. Acadia's peaks aren't much more than oversized sled hills.

Acadia has some nice day hikes but it's too small to really go backcountry camping. Beautiful park though, especially because it's right on the ocean. Plus, you drive past an LL Bean outlet store on the way there, which is a plus in my book.

Katahdin isn't a huge mountain, but what it lacks in height or technicality it more than makes up for in remoteness. It's a very long unsupported hike up and down and one of the most difficult sections of the AT for this reason. Plus, its pretty swampy in the summer. It's also in the "real" Maine, which if you haven't been there, there's a reason why that state splits its electoral votes.

Most of the suggestions here are for outdoors adventures and while those have value; id like to offer an alternative: Urban adventure!

I suggest New Haven , CT (I went to school here) ; its not as sprawling as Boston, or New York but you won't run out of things to do.

-Visit Yale Art Museum (amazing collection)
-Yale tour, yale is a beautiful urban campus with Gothic architecture. its amazing.
-Peabody natural history museum (not huge but definitely worth the visit)
-Dozens of ethnic food locations including: Japanese, Thai, Ethiopian, and Middle eastern.
-Frank Pepe's and Sally's pizza (huge pizza icons on the national level)
-Louis Lunch (Officially the birthplace of the modern cheeseburger)

If you are willing to drive about 1.5 hours along the coast you can hit the smaller towns as well and explore long island sound from the lesser traveled side.Some of the biggest attractions:

-South Norwalk (SONO) downtown shops
-Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk
-Hop on a ferry from Bridgeport to Port Jefferson NY and enjoy the local shops.

definitely a summer experience or spring experience but well worth it.

If you like fishing you could also take a charter out of most of the coastal cities in CT and fish in the sound. Sound fishing is characterized by less choppy water and tons of Bluefish. Like tons. We also have sand sharks, flounder, and sea bass.

Don't waste your vacation in New Haven...