For a great road trip suggestion, here is a really good one. Of course, some people are thinking twice about road trips because of the cost of Gasoline which always picks summertime to go up. Well here is my suggestion anyway just because it is so great and one I love to take.

Drive California Big Sur Highway

For a road trip full of visual highlights, drive California Big Sur Highway… the central part of California Highway 1. The whole highway is dotted with names that show up on tourist’s list from all over the world.

Small towns to linger in, parks and beaches to explore and enjoy. You’ll love to explore the northern and southern sections between Los Angeles and San Francisco some other time, but the most popular section is the one we’ll deal with here… the Central California Coast. The California Big Sur Highway is the section from Cambria in the south to Carmel in the north.

This 90 miles (140km) of highway packs a lot of visual punch. It compares with driving Italy’s Amalfi Coast Road or Australia’s Great Ocean Road. When you drive California Big Sur Highway, you’ll find you’re on a two lane road that hugs the mountains with dense pine forests, stands of redwood trees, and California chaparral depending on where you are.

It clings to steep cliffs above the Pacific on the shoreline side. It twists and turns and climbs over spectacular bridges that span precipitous canyons.

There is really no way to get lost, since you are pretty much caught between the mountains and the sea. There are lookouts where you can pull off to admire the scenery and a limited number of places where you can stop to eat. There are numerous state parks and beaches where you can enjoy a picnic.

The little town of Cambria and Hearst Castle at San Simeon anchor this section of the Big Sur Highway to the south. Once you leave Cambria, be sure you have enough gas… there is a long stretch of about 40 miles (65 km) where no gas is available.

Allow plenty of time… 90 miles doesn’t sound like it’s too far, but you will only average about 30 miles a hour (50 km per hour) due to the traffic, the other gawkers, and the time you spend at scenic spots. You’ll go even slower if you have a passenger prone to motion sickness.

Big Sur and Carmel anchor this section of California Highway 1 to the north. If you’re not making this part of a longer drive along the whole of Highway 1, you can drive it round trip in a day if you want to. If you are only driving one way, you might want to make it from south to north.

You’ll be driving on the inside of the curves, and most guides say that the views are clearer toward the north. That said, it’s still a very pretty drive heading south.

The scenery of Big Sur is the main attraction for this part of your drive. In the spring, the wildflowers are spectacular. Be sure to check on road conditions though. California Highway 1 is prone to landslides during the rainy season which is winter in California.

So if you plan to drive California Big Sur Highway, you’ll want to know if it is closed at certain times of the day for maintenance… or possibly even closed completely into spring if a slide was particularly bad.

There are plenty of places to stay in the Cambria area and again in Carmel and Monterey. In between your options are limited though there are places to camp, a few modest and quirky hotels, and a couple of very high end places. It’s best to check into this before you start driving. If you want to drive in only one direction, check around with different car rental companies and compare dropoff fees.

Whether you make it one way or round trip, if you drive California Big Sur Highway, you are in for a treat.

While Vegas has not always been thought of us an appropriate vacation destination for those with families, this city is really trying to mend its ways and foster a more family-friendly reputation. They are even developing resorts and hotels with kids and family entertainment in mind. From theme park like atmospheres to everything in between the Vegas hotels of today are marketing to a much younger audience.

Las Vegas Lights

Whether you are coming to Vegas for the casinos and hopes of finding fame and fortune, the fabulous shows and big name headliners, the wonderful food that is one of the biggest sins to be found in this city, golf, marriage and happily ever after, or the nightlife that has earned Vegas the title of ‘Sin City’. You are well on your way to an experience you are unlikely to forget.

For more great information about Las Vegas follow the link to Las Vegas

Central Europe Sale: Travelocity Exclusive! Fly from New York City from $329+ Round-Trip.

HIGHLIGHTS OF GERMANY

Germany

PRAGUE, VIENNA, BUDAPEST

Prague, Vienna, Budapest

BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY

Bohemian Rhapsody

SCENIC SWITZERLAND BY TRAIN

Scenic Switzerland

It was colonized by Spain in the early 1700’s and since then Native Americans, Old Mexico and the deep South have mixed and blended to make for an interesting city.

Located right in the middle of the city, the Alamo is a great place to start your visit to San Antonio. It’s undoubtedly the number one tourist attraction in all the state of Texas. It was built in the 18th century as one of San Antonio’s five Spanish colonial missions. Later it gained fame as the site of an epic 1836 battle during the Texas Revolution.

That’s when Davey Crockett and Jim Bowie fought and died in the Alamo. When you first see it, you’ll think it’s smaller than you expected…. and it is! That’s because it was built as a mission and not as a fort. Admission is free, though you will have to pay for parking at a downtown lot. It’s right in the heart of town, near the River Walk.

If you want to see more of the five missions beyond the Alamo, see San Antonio Missions National Historic Park. It will take you to the other four missions. You can travel from mission to mission on the eight mile Missions Bike and Hike Trail.

There is a map of downtown San Antonio posted every few blocks on the sidewalks making it easy to explore the Alamo and the River Walk. San Antonio is becoming one of the favorite places to hold conventions. Great old hotels like the Gunther and the Riverwalk are great attractions. Companies wanting a central location for their conventions love San Antonio.

The River Walk or Paseo del Rio is also downtown. Twenty feet below the hustle and bustle of downtown streets, the River Walk follows the San Antonio River’s gentle bends. Along it you will find restaurants, hotels, museums and historic sites. You can walk along the banks, or you can take a cruise on the river which goes on for a couple of miles while a tour guide gives you fun filled facts.

One place you’ll find along the banks of the river is the historic district of La Villita. It was originally established by Spanish soldiers stationed at the Alamo. In 1835 the Mexican Army surrendered and gave Texas its independence at La Villita. The next year was when the Battle of the Alamo was fought to try and win Texas back. More recently the historic buildings have have been turned into restaurants and also galleries and shops for arts and crafts.

Historic Market Square is near downtown. Also known as the Mexican Market or El Mercado, it’s the largest Mexican market in the state. It pulsates with friendly people and bold colors. Stroll beneath the “papel picado” (Mexican tissue paper streamers). Buy beautiful silver and turquoise jewelry…. handmade necklaces and earrings, belts and buckles from Mexico are here. Find Mexican candies and even buy a pinata to put them in. If you just want to soak it in, relax by the fountain and enjoy the sounds of mariachis.

With deep Latino roots, you will get some great Tex-Mex food here. You’ll also find some great San Antonio Texas barbecue, but their culinary repertoire is large and diverse, so don’t worry about going hungry. Just bring good walking shoes and an appetite for history and fun.

Although this is some of the best skiing in the world, you won’t find the slopes overly crowded, and there are no long lift lines. There are nine lifts, including six chair lifts and two surface lifts, and one cable car line. There are 68 trails for beginners, intermediates, and experts, with the majority of the trails designed for intermediate skiers.

Night time skiing is allowed, which makes your ski experience more adventurous and thrilling. You will see snow capped mountains, hanging glaciers, and of course, the famous Northern Lights. This resort is ranked number nine of the top twenty-five killer ski trips by Skiing Magazine.

The season begins at the Alyeska Resort in mid November, and runs through mid April. This area of Alaska boasts the longest daytime areas in the United States, with approximately sixteen hours of daylight each day during April. During December, however, there are only about seven hours of daylight – which makes night time skiing necessary if you are going to get in the time that you want to spend on the slopes.

The Alyeska Prince Hotel is the place to stay! Here you will enjoy elegant rooms and fine dining. Nightly entertainment is available as well. There are other nightlife spots in the area as well, that are not associated with the Hotel.

If tubing interests you, then visiting the Glacier Tubing Park is an absolute must! Featuring two
lanes of terrain and a surface lift, everyone in the family will enjoy spending time at the tubing park. The Alyeska Terrain Park is a must for snowboarding enthusiasts. Other winter activities
that can be enjoyed in and around the Alyeska Resort include flight seeing, helisking, ocean
cruising tours, dog sledding, ice climbing, back country skiing, mountaineering, and polar bear
viewing.

At the Alyeska Resort, the ultimate winter vacation can be experienced. Brave the elements, then return to the Hotel for some pampering. Get a taste of what Alaska is really like, and what skiing is meant to be!

There are activities for the entire family to enjoy, and there are many area sights and attractions to be enjoyed as well. This really is an awesome winter family ski vacation!

Alaska Glaciers

New York City is a city full of exciting people from all kinds of backgrounds with all kinds of hopes and dreams of the future and experiences of the past. You will find artwork here like few other places in the world, you will see more nature here than in most big cities around the world, and you will enjoy seeing more cultures and nationalities represented in the space of an hour in this city than most people who live elsewhere experience in their entire lives. New York City is the true melting pot of the world and the rest of America is simply trying to catch up.

You will find music and art that is representative of the many cultures that call this grand city home. You will experience the sights, sounds, and scents of worlds that are exotic and foreign simply by walking down neighborhood streets where people are cooking dinner at night. You will hear more languages in one day than you probably ever dreamed imagine and while you may stand around with sensory overload thinking anyone would be crazy to live like this, most of them are looking at you thinking you’d be crazy to live anywhere else.

This is perhaps the greatest thing about visiting New York City. You get to experience for a moment the excitement that comes from living in this fascinating city. You get to understand what it is like for those living there. And you get to understand first hand what it is like to be alone in a city of millions and yet by being there, being one of them, belonging somehow to this giant community of strangers from different cultures, different pasts, and different futures.

Most people visit New York with certain preconceived ideas and certain goals for their visits. Hopefully the preconceived ideas will all be challenged and the plans that you have made are flexible. There is so much to do and see that you could go one block each way from your hotel and probably notice something new each and every single time you went by. My point in this is that you need to leave time to experience the wonderful things you won’t discover in the guidebooks. There is only so much of this city that any one person could possibly find to write about. I can imagine that there are New Yorkers that could eat in a different restaurant each and every day without eating in the same one twice in five or ten years. I find it hard to believe that a guide book is going to be able to hold everything you might find interesting in this city and if you spend your entire visit with your head in the book you might miss something truly worthwhile.

That being said, it is a good idea to make plans according to your budget and the things you wish to see, I’m just urging you to leave room in that schedule for change. The Statue of Liberty is great, but it takes a while to get there and back. Could it be that you take some photos, buy some post cards and do two or three other activities that you could have enjoyed in the space of time it takes to get there and back? Plans are made to change whenever possible-especially while on vacation. I seriously recommend that you reserve two hours minimum each day to do something that you discovered rather than something you planned.