HELP WITH ITINERARY
 

My husband and I are planning a surprise trip to California/Nevada with our 12 year old granddaughter. This will be her first trip to the United States and we want to cover the places that will be fun for her. She loves everything and is willing to try anything. We have about 3 weeks and thought about starting in San Diego in the south, travelling north through Disneyland, Los Angeles/Hollywood; San Francisco area and then on through Las Vegas-Hoover Dam and finally hitting a few of the parks - perhaps Bryce and Zion. Any suggestions will be appreciated. We plan on renting a car and travelling throughout California; flying to Las Vegas and renting from there to complete our itinerary. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated especially regarding the do's and don'ts with our granddaughter.

Your vacation sounds like a lot of fun. You did not mentioned what time of year you were coming. Depending when you arrive, there could be many things you can do. But here are a few thoughts of the "must do's":

1. Start in San Diego, stay in either The Gas Lamp district or Old Town. Visit The Zoo and Sea World (dinner with Shamu, a must! Get reservations ahead of time and ask for front row seating). If coming in summer, you can also enjoy the beaches and Coronado. I would not recommend LegoLand as it is geared more towards the younger kids.

2. Drive to Anaheim for the Disney Parks. Stay in one of the hotels at the resort (Grand Californian is incredible but pricey. Paradise Pier is a family fave). Downtown Disney is great for shopping and restaurants. What makes this area nice is that you never have to get inyour car if you stay at the resort. You can break up a day at the park by going back to your room and/or go to the pools (Paradie Peir guests may use the pool at the Disney Hotel)

3. Drive to LA. She will enjoy Universal Studios although many find it disappointing. Universal City Walk is a gerat spot for shopping and restaurants. You may want to consider staying at the Universal Sheraton nearby. Nothing special about this place but it is convenient to the area and Hollywood. YOu may also want to try some of the other studios such as Warner Brothers.

4. FLY to San Franciso from LAX. Fares are so inexpensive with carriers like Southwest. Unless you must drive along the coast, this is the only way to go.
Fisherman's Wharf, cable cars, Chinatown the usual tourist stuff are sure-shots.

5. FLY to Las Vegas. For some ideas on what to do, vist www.lasvegaskids.com

Have fun!

From Las Vegas I would recommend a circle tour if it's late spring, summer or fall. I don't know if I would do this during the winter.

Las Vegas south on Hwy 93 to Kingman, AZ, then I-40 to Williams and Hwy 64 up to Grand Canyon National Park. Exit Grand Canyon going east on Hwy 64 to Cameron, AZ. Take Hwy 89 to Page, AZ. Do the half day float trip on the Colorado River (I don't think this is offered in the winter) Do the 1 1/2 hour tour of Antelope Canyon. Maybe take a boat tour on Lake Powell.

Take Hwy 89 north to Kanab, Utah and on up to Hwy 12 to enter Bryce Canyon.

Depending on the time you have left you might take the drive up scenic Hwy 12 thought Escalante-Grand Staircase National Monument and over the Boulder Mountains to Torrey, Utah. Capitol Reef National Park is near by.

Head back to Zion and spend at least two days here to explore and then it's just a short drive back to Las Vegas.

While in San Francisco you might consider taking a couple of days and drive to Yosemite National Park.

Utahtea

Appreciate the information. We will be arriving early October 2005. We are arriving from the Middle East and will probably spend 5 days touring New York and 'winding' down after the long flight. From there on to Los angeles and the information received is appreciated will definitely influence our plans. If you have any ideas for New York for a 12 year old non-sophisticated girl, visiting the States for the first time (in itself a WOW) all suggestions will be appreciated

I'm not familar with NYC, but the ideas I gave you for things to do from Las Vegas will be great to do in October.

Utahtea

Thanks for your help. If you think of anything else, will be looking for comments.

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hi Tyger
There are plenty of things to do in NYC for a 12 year old: the Empire State Building - and shopping in that area around 34th Street (H&M, Macys etc). Central Park. View the Statue of Liberty from the Staten Island Ferry - unless you want to go onto the little island (which is not necessary). the American Museum of Natural History is a must. There's also the Manhattan Children's museum. Madame Tussaud's was museum on 42nd Street (and right across the street is a Cold Stone Icecream parlor - endless possibilities of icecream and toppings!) Another good place for sweets is Serendipity. Finding great, affordable food in New York is easy.

You may want to try searching on the links below for more options. Have fun! (ps: use the subway for travel within Manhattan - especially during the day, it's easy and cheap and usually a thrill for kids)

http://www.newyorkmetro.com/urban/guides/family/

http://newyork.citysearch.com/sectio...1___section__1

In California, I recommend spending a day in Santa Cruz when you are in the SF Bay Area. October is past the high season for tourism there, but the weather should still be really nice. If you can go on a weekend, the Boardwalk will be open, which is a lot of fun - ride the Giant Dipper roller coaster and other rides, play some arcade games, have a waffle cone. The wharf is there too and the beach is fun. It's not really a swimming beach although on a warm day people do get in the water. There are plenty of surf spots where you can watch the surfers do there thing.

I grew up in Santa Cruz and all my cousins would visit me every chance they got. We always had a blast.

As a native San Diegan with a 12-year old girl, I would definitely reccomend all the tourist things in San Diego area- the Zoo, SeaWorld, Disneyland, even Legoland. Although Legoland is geared towards younger children, there are enough things to do there to last a day or so. And all these areas are also fun for the adults, so you're not totally stuck in kiddie land all the time. Something that was really fun for my girls (ages 12 and 15) was to go to Beverly Hills and walk around Rodeo Drive. We had a lot of fun seeing all the designer shops, etc.My advice-have fun and don't take things too seriously...and have a great vacation!