Where should I go?
 

Through various deals and stuff I have amassed:

- 74,000 spg points
- 75,000 AAdvantage miles
- 2 free nights at any hyatt
- Hyatt Diamond status
- SPG gold status
- parents who will take our kids for a week or so in August

So my wife and I want to use all the stuff above to take a ~week-long vacation without our kids in mid-to-late August. We like the beach, old cities, relaxation and quiet, interesting plantlife/wildlife. We're not really into nightlife, shopping, powersports, etc. Also we don't want to spend all our time on a plane getting to wherever we're going. We'd likely be flying out of Chicago.

Any ideas/suggestions on locations, hotels?

It would help to know where you're located since you don't want to spend a lot of time on the plane. August is a peak travel time, so you might want to secure your flights ASAP or be prepared to pay more in miles or cash for them.

Where I'm at
 

I'd likely be flying out of Chicago.

Maine.
 

What about Maine?

Maine is nice, but
 

The only SPG hotel there is in an airport.

Perhaps Vancouver? Lovely climate in August. Good Hyatt and Westin properties. You can take a couple of day trips to Victoria and Whistler to see the scenery, and Vancouver has a decent beach for a city as well. Flights should be pretty easy out of Chicago.

vancouver
 

Thanks, I didn't know Vancouver had a beach. I'll add it to the list of places to investigate.

Charleston, SC has everything you list. The only drawback is it is very hot in August.

It's definitely not a resort style beach with fruity cocktails and mega resorts, but it is indeed sand and water, and there are plenty of people surfing and swimming (someone correct me please if I'm totally off the mark here). Similar to the north shore beach in Chicago.

Given your location I would actually suggest looking at Northern Europe. How about Ireland? Maybe Brussels? Amsterdam? I don't know what you define as taking too long to get to, but at least ORD has direct flights to many of those countries.

Another idea, given the month, how about Alaska?

Charleston
 

Yes, I like Charleston. We stayed there before on the beaches on the outskirts of town and then would drive in to see the old city. Beautiful place. However we've been there before so we'll likely go elsewhere.

N Europe
 

I had thought Europe would be too busy in August, but maybe most of the activity is on the Mediterranean? Are the beaches in the north warm enough this time of year?

That depends on your definition of warm really. I swam in Cascade Mt lakes when I was little and now swim in Colorado Front Range lakes, so warm is a relative thing.

If warm however is your goal, how about the Caribbean? There are some nice looking Starwood properties down there and American is one of the better airlines in terms of service down there.