WESTERN USA FAMILY ADVENTURE HOLIDAY
Family Holiday Overview
The Western USA delivers dramatic national parks and spirited cities with a huge helping of laidback vibes. This is a storybook landscape of rugged canyons, wildflower meadows and epic surf beaches set amidst a blaze of desert yuccas and shifting sand dunes. Pick any hyperbole you like and it would be a fitting description.
For families, the Western USA offers amazing diversity and depth. Visit desert oases and water sculpted canyons. See towering granite domes, plunging waterfalls and wildflower-filled meadows. Explore old gold mining towns, adobe pueblos and learn about petroglyphs etched onto boulders. Spot coyotes and bears in the alpine wilderness and sea lions and stingrays on the coastal fringe. Hike canyons rims or delve below on a trusty mule. Enjoy neon lights, circus shows and extravagant splendor. Chill in bohemian cities; drop into art galleries, museums and enjoy seafood chowder in waterfront bistros.
The opportunities are endless for active families. Hiking, horse riding, rock climbing, rafting, kayaking, surfing, zip-lining – you can do it all and more. Join a ranger’s program, mule trek down a canyon or trail blaze in a bike park.
This is an epic journey from snow-capped peaks to salt pan lows with mind-blowing vistas around every turn. The perfect antidote for X-box addicts.
Interesting Facts
- The highest and lowest points in the continental United States are within 100 miles of one another. Mount Whitney measures 14,495 feet and Bad Water in Death Valley is 282 feet below sea level.
- The iconic ‘Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas’ sign was created by 35-year-old graphic designer Betty Willis in 1959. She never trademarked the design, calling it her "gift to the city".
- Construction of the Hoover Dam (originally Boulder Dam) began in 1931, and it was the largest dam in the world when it was completed in 1935.
- The legendary 1881 Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in the Arizona Territory town of Tombstone is considered the most famous shootout in the American Old West and lasted only 30 seconds
- It can take up to 100 years for a Saguaro cactus to grow an arm in areas of low precipitation.
- You can find roadrunners running up to 20mph from their enemies in Arizona.
- During his engagement at the Fillmore West in San Francisco, Otis Redding stayed on a houseboat in Sausalito. While there he wrote his last song and greatest hit: "The Dock of the Bay."
- The first person to personally receive a star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood was actress Joanne Woodward who received it in 1960.