Monday, December 29, 2008

Sheri's Favorites (Part 3)

by Sheri Ballard

Many of our clients are families and many are traveling with children under 6 years old. Just like adults, kids can be just as different with a wide array of interests, levels of activity and attention spans. We have found that having many choices is a good thing since you don't know sometimes from moment to moment what will work for everyone. Here are some of our favorite destinations to visit for families with little ones and older ones as well!

You can get a little of everything when you visit Tucson, Tombstone and the Sonoran Desert. There are great short trails around the giant saguaro cacti, pretty Sabino Canyon, the wonderful Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, the touristy, hokey Old Tucson Studios which little kids seem to love and the Air & Space Museum. Plus, the weather is generally nice in the winter and spring, with few bugs. When the small ones start having a meltdown, it’s not too far back to the campsite, and you don’t have to be moving to a new site every couple of days either.

Active kids over 5? For your choice of picks of activities, Grand Teton & Yellowstone National Parks are hard to beat. Great hiking, rafting, kayaking, canoeing, horseback riding, mountain biking and some other more extreme adventures like rock climbing will keep the family busy, and the scenery and wildlife are great bonuses too. Yellowstone has the highest concentration of geo-thermal features in the world. (We’ve checked out the New Zealand one and it’s not even close to the scale of Yellowstone in terms of size and wilderness/natural experience; and Siberia has yet to have their area accessible to those other than scientists. That leaves Iceland on our travel wishlist). You can choose your level of excitement too in all the activities, which makes it a winner for everyone.

For water based activities, check out the Florida Keys where you can snorkel, sail, kayak and body surf. Seeing manatees, dolphins and sea turtles along with alligators and crocodiles, all in the wild, along with all the sea life at the reefs makes this a huge step up from the typical aquarium & theme park visits that are normally associated with Florida. Way better than standing in line to try out a ride.

Hope all of this information has helped! If you want more, just give us a call at 800-247-0970 and ask to talk to a friendly trip consultant who can put together a custom trip proposal just for you! Or check out our website to find an affordable, fun "trip of a lifetime"!

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