I think experiences are worth it, though in America I don't think that there is an expectation to travel multiple times a year abroad. That seems to be a European thing.
So far we traveled once outside the USA with our eleven year old daughter and it was to Canada. Just a couple hours drive in our SUV from Seattle area to Vancouver British Columbia.
I think this has to do with holidays. I have heard that "two weeks" is pretty standard in the US, whereas in Finland for example, it is 4 weeks in the summer and 1 in the winter. I think another thing is that the US is so big that it has a lot of different environments in country.
I thought you would go to Canada a lot to get away from the crime and drugs, and spend time with nice people ;P