summer vacation bargains

will someone help me plan a family vacation, pls?!?
We are a family w/4 kids and a handicapped grandma…total of 7 ppl. How do i go about finding the best deals? any tips for finding internet bargains? should i hop around sites taking notes and just hope for the best or would it be better to hire a travel agent? (I’d rather not do that, unless it’s cheaper) Truthfully, i’d like to save as much money as possible since we are really stretching our budget just for the sake of some summer R&R, for us and the kids. On that note…does anyone know of any safe but cheap fun places for kids? any suggestions would be helpful and i thank u in advance…and just FYI…my husband is a graphic artist/muralist, and i am a stay-at-home-mom, hence the limited budget!
ps….we live in deep south texas. flights are too expensive (meaning i can’t afford it) and i have found most require flying to houston or dallas for connecting flights to popular destinations.
first of all go to the library or a used book store and get travel books i say it’s cheaper to go somewhere close by i don’t know where you live so i cant tell you some ideas what do you like to do go to the beach, camping, nature walks i live in michigan in lower part of the state so we go up acroos the bridge and we rent a cabin this way we can bring our own food and save money or we live close enough to ohio to go to cedarpoint for a week-end and we tke our own food into the parks saves money you could just take day trips to the zoo or to a nature center well i hope this helps some
Travel bargains heat up this summer









