Why we don't go on vacation

Since Boy turned two years old, I've been asking Husband to go on a short vacation. A family vacation. Not to anyplace expensive (like Madrid or Malaysia) or anyplace unrealistic (like St Petersberg of the African savanna). Local to a certain degree. Not Disneyland (I don't believe it is cost effect to take any child under the age of six to Dland - they aren't tall enough for the vast majority of the rides and some scare the crap out of them). But to Legoland. Or Yosemite. Or to visit friends in Phoenix. Or to Bryce National Park or Grand Canyon.
But his answers always seem to be kind of ridiculous. "Boy is too young to enjoy (fill in the blank)." "What is there that is worth seeing?"
In Husband's mind, the best vacation is going back to his hometown and hanging out with his friends. He's already said that next summer, we will go back to his hometown and hang out with his best friend and his best friend's young family. Which means Boy and I will hang out with the wife and kid while Husband and his best friend go off to the best friend's fishing shack for three days of drinking and general stupidity. A howling great time for them, but seriously boring time for the Mommies who will spend their time chasing toddlers and trying to guess when they will get to eat a meal. Or he wants to go to Vegas without Boy but of course, in his mind, that means my Mom will have to take care of Boy for five days which is about four and a half days too long.
My in laws moved from where Husband grew up to where my Father in Law (FIL) grew up because they could buy more for their buck. They have a big piece of land with a nice house in the middle of nowhere. They didn't grow up in happy households and left home as soon as they possibly could, joining the military. While my Mother in Law (MIL) left the military after ten years to raise Husband, my FIL stayed in, growing increasing unhappy. The more unhappy he was, the more he and MIL drank.
When Husband and I were dating, my MIL gave me a photo album of Husband. It was 50 pages long but there were maybe 10 pictures of Husband and the rest were dizzy pictures of drunken revels. They would have a party any night that FIL didn't have to work the next day. Because there was little money in the house, their family vacations were spent at home with days of cleaning up and nights of drunken revelry. If they went anywhere, they were car trips from where they lived in the Midwest to where FIL grew up. Hours spent in a car with smoking parents who were upset about the expense.
Even before Boy was born, we would visit my in laws and our week was spent in the house doing nothing. My FIL would work on his classic truck or go down to the local garage to help out. My MIL would work around the house or go to her women's club meetings or sit around smoking and reading. After awhile, I would get stir crazy. It wasn't like I could walk into town (the town a half mile away consists of a general store, two churches and a post office) to find amusement. Or any local sites. I suggested one time we drive to a famous landmark two hours away in a famous town which we did. My FIL spent the entire drive grim and angry. It was off season and almost everything was closed. His attitude was that since I proposed it, I should have done the research in finding things to do there.
I grew up with a Father who had the attitude if someone came to visit us, we should get out to show them the area. He also believed that we should enjoy the area within 300 miles of our home as much as possible since we lived in California. My early memories are of being carried out to our station wagon late at night on Thursday night and driving for a couple of hours on our way to one of my parents' friends homes. We'd stop half way, have sandwiches, then drive on to their houses. We'd spend the weekend having fun before driving home on Sunday so Dad could get to work on Monday. I saw Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Sea World, the redwoods, etc before I was ten because we'd have friends and family visit and my Dad would pack us all up so we could see everything.
Boy is nearly three years old. We've seen the redwoods only because I insisted. I had asked that Husband ask his parents to stay an extra week so we could go to Yosemite since Husband has been wanting to see it since he moved to California almost a decade ago. The blank stare from Husband. My in laws are coming for their customary one week (you can sent a watch by it). No trip. It'll be five days (day one is a travel day in and day seven is a travel day out) of them being inmates of our home. FIL will do odd jobs around the house Husband can't or won't do. MIL will go buy books then sit in the house reading our library of books. She might accompany me to Target to buy things for Boy or to Costco. But for the most part, there isn't a whole lot else that they have in mind to do. Husband works the entire week they are here and sees very little of them.
In retrospect, the idea of Yosemite with them is ridiculous. They complain of their physical problems that restrict them from doing anything like walking around to admire the park. My MIL has found excuses since Boy was nine pounds to not hold him. My FIL has a bad back so he can't sit in a car for that long. Despite the fact I was born with congenital issues with my legs and I have arthritis in my back, I keep on keeping on. My friends know that I can walk for 45 minutes without a problem but I have to rest for at least 15 minutes so my legs and back can get a break. I refuse to let my physical problems slow me down.
My Mother has proposed to spend some money she is getting from an inheritance on a family vacation. An Alaskan cruise next year. She is willing to pay for our cruises and a couple of nights of hotel stays before and after the cruise. We have to cover airfare and all our extras on the ship. I mentioned it to my in laws (without telling them about my Mom paying for a bulk of it) and they said NO! Husband says they are worried about the expense. Even if my Mom covers the most expensive part of it. Husband has shown little interest in an Alaskan cruise ("what is there to do?") which frustrates me.
Finally, in a fit of frustration, I told my Mom about all of this. She also remembers the vacations we took to Virginia City, Tombstone, Yellowstone and Tillamook cheese factory. They are part of her memories as well as mine. She can't understand Husband's reluctance to go out and spend some of our savings on a trip. I agree that he would rather spend $500 on a gadget than spend it on a trip to Legoland or a long weekend in Yosemite. It's not as if he doesn't have a lot of vacation time - he gets two weeks and this year, has used two days. (Yes, it's August and he's used two days. If he'd gone to his hometown like he wanted to for his best friend's 40th birthday part he would have taken an entire week off.)
So, my Mom has decreed that next year, she will take Boy, her and I on a trip to Alaska on a cruise even without Husband if he finds he can't get away from his job. And we'll go visit friends in Phoenix. And go to San Diego to Legoland and Sea World. Which I'm over the moon about.
I was six months pregnant when Husband said he didn't want Boy to have the childhood he had. He wanted to make sure he was home more than his Dad was. He was going to be more affectionate than he parents were. He wanted Boy to have a better childhood than he did. I took that as a sign that he wanted to make sure that great memories were a part of it.
Now, I find that he's pushing back by not wanting to do things based on his own desire not to do them. Boy would have memories of vacations consisting of us visiting his Grandmom (my Mom) every couple of months for 48 hours before driving back so Daddy could get back to work. Or going to Grandmom's house for a four days because Mommy wanted to go visit. It's good that he'll have these great memories of spending time with his Grandmom but I want him to have memories of seeing things that were interesting and grand.
Why is a vacation so hard?