Just looked at my kids' school calendars and realize they have over two weeks over for Christmas break! Normally, if we aren't going to visit family in San Francisco for the holidays, we just stay home. But this is a long break this year and we aren't going to CA.

I looked at flying somewhere warm, but with six of us, and it being right after an expensive holiday, the cost is a little prohibitive at that time of year. So, we are looking to drive from the mid-Atlantic to somewhere that is warm enough for my kids to enjoy the beach. We don't mind long car drives and drove all the way to central FL several years ago and the kids were fine - didn't even stop overnight, drove straight through, 13 hours.

Ideally, I'd like to stop on the way there or back in either Charleston or Savannah to break up the drive, plus I've always wanted to go to both places! With that in mind, it makes more sense to stay along the eastern coast of FL. However, I don't mind saving those destinations for another time if there are better recommendations on the panhandle side of FL or western coast, or even AL? That would take us inland on the drive down, but might be a nice road trip with diversions for the kids.

I don't know how warm it is in FL during that time of year but preliminary research shows that the northeastern side of FL is probably too cold for swimming that time of year. Is the gulf coast also too cold that time of year? What about the central coast of FL, both east and west? We have friends in Tampa that would be fun to visit for a day if there are recommended warm beaches that time of year nearby. I don't think we'd want to drive much further south than that though.

Thoughts?