Dream vacation

I almost don't dare to say so, but Eric might have a few days of vacation that we can earmark for a family trip this year. It may not sound like much, but 95% of our family vacations have been to visit other family members. Early on, it was out of necessity. Frankly, we were poor and needed free lodging. In sixteen years, our non-visiting vacations have included a half-dozen camping trips (three of which we actually traveled more than 20 miles for), and the tourist stuff we did in Italy. Even some of the Italy traveling could be considered 'with family' but they came to us those times.

We really haven't talked about specifics. Our conversation has gone far enough to acknowledge the possible presence of vacation time, a tentative willingness to go 'someplace', and a preference for a mix of 'stuff to do' and 'time to chill.' Our interests are very eclectic. I'd go for the historical venues, preferably with shopping nearby. Eric is all for the shopping, and so are the kids to a lesser extent, but they have a lower tolerance for battle fields and dead presidents' houses. I don't think we're really theme park people, but we did have a good time at Gardaland in Italy, so maybe a small dose of that might be all right. I'm not sure about the kids at this point; they might opt to stay home with their friends, but that's too bad! We all need some forced family fun sometimes.

Decisions, decisions. If you had a week or so and some disposable income, where would you go?