As much as I like Vegas and the national parks, I'd avoid them in August, specially with a 7 y.o. Your choice of course. And I wouldn't want to be rushed there, I think it deserves a trip to itself.

Unless you want to stick to the US, for something really different I'd consider New Brunswick: ever walked on the bottom of the ocean? The coast up there is absolutely gorgeous, and you could go whale watching in the bay of Fundy.

Colorado is great, the Rockies generally speaking.

You could fly to Yellowstone, that IS very special and different. From there drive into Montana, gorgeous (specially if you like Robert Redford's movies ).

The coast from Northern California (San francisco) all the way up to British Columbia makes for a wonderful road trip, but you may be short on time, and you probably don't want to spend a lot of time on the road with a child.

Seattle-Vancouver area, beautiful. There you can see (killer) whales, bears, wolves.

San Francisco, Washington DC, New-York, Boston... beautiful cities, lots to see and do. I have a soft spot for Chicago.

Or you could take a cruise to the Carribbean from Florida, as posted above. Disney cruises are supposed to be great with kids, 'm sure a lot of people can give you details on those here [msnwink]. Key West is absolute fun too, but probably more an "adult" place.

So: as stated before, it really comes down to what you like to do on a vacation, and what you need to make it "special". You could keep busy for 18 nights even staying in Florida [msnwink].

Nathalie