AP-Travel Online, September 11th, 2006
This past summer's vacation with the family is just a memory now, but maybe you're already thinking about where to take the kids next year.
A new book from Frommer's, "500 Places to Take Your Kids Before They Grow Up," by Holly Hughes ($19.99), can help with suggestions and inspiration. The list includes world-famous landmarks like Stonehenge in England, the Egyptian pyramids and Iguazu Falls, Argentina. But it also offers plenty of U.S. attractions _ from the well-known to the offbeat _ in every corner of the country, from Biscayne National Park in Homestead, Fla., to Abiquiu, N.M.'s Ghost Ranch, known for its dinosaur fossils.
Recommendations for "Awesome Vistas" include Monument Valley in Kayenta, Ariz.; California's Redwood Forests and Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks; and the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon.
A list of beautiful bridges worth visiting includes Le Pont Neuf in Paris, a tour of covered bridges in and around Bennington, Vt., the Brooklyn Bridge, London's Tower Bridge, San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge and the Harbour Bridge in Sydney, Australia.
Great drives to consider include Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina; the San Juan Skyway in Durango, Colo.; the Going-to-the-Sun Road in Montana, and the Pacific Coast Highway between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Ideas for one-of-a-kind cityscapes include the surreal glitz of the Las Vegas Strip and the streets of Atlantic City, a Monopoly board come to life _ from the original Boardwalk, Baltic and Mediterranean to Vermont, Indiana and Ventnor avenues.
