[WOHR]

Since we live in the biggest tourist attraction, where can we go for a nice family weekend trip within 6 hours and not be an amusement park or zoo! Of course it has to be 20 degrees cooler than here Where do the locals take off to in the summer????

[billeethakid]

Originally Posted by WOHR

Since we live in the biggest tourist attraction, where can we go for a nice family weekend trip within 6 hours and not be an amusement park or zoo! Of course it has to be 20 degrees cooler than here Where do the locals take off to in the summer????

San Diego, L.A, Denver, well more than 6 hrs but Denver. Hey you should re-arrange the letters in your user name it would be funny

[olecapt]

Well all of Southern California and northern Mexico is within 6 hours. You can make it all the way to Ensenda.

I will give you one treat few will mention...head to Catalina. Takes about 4 1/2 hours to get to the harbor in Long Beach. Less than an hour boat ride across and you are in Catalina. Nice B&Bs, Funky hotels, good restaurants and bars. Neat beach. Glass bottoms and snorkeling for the kiddies. Lovely climate from Memorial day to Thanksgiving. Best in the late summer and fall I think. Best deal is to stay on a boat...but that is practical only if you own one or know somebody who does. You can do it in a reasonable sized trailerable by the way. They have a line tie up for smaller craft.

My mother, an eastern snob, considered it the only livable place in southern California.

Anybody who actually wants to try it drops us a message or a PM. We have done it a few hundred times.

And for the really adventuresome there is the Isthmus and the west end.

[Chest Rockwell]

I like Big Bear, CA - good B&B's - snowboarding in the winter, mountain biking in the summer.

Nat'l Parks - Zion and Great Basin are both wonderful. Lehman Caves in GB National Park are worth the drive alone.

Baseball in San Diego and LA is great fun as well.

Have a great trip!

[calessa]

Hawaii less than 6 hrs by plane. \m/

[ejl127]

Would've never thought about Catalina, good heads up on that one.

[olecapt]

For a really strange treat...go to the Anza Borrego desert in the spring for the blooms. Leave the kids home for this one. Stay at a B&B in Julian...which for reasons known only to the Julianos is the apple capital. Great way to waste a day or even two.

What better way for a Vegan to celebate spring than to go to the high desert?

On the way you can spend a day in Temecula. Time it right and you can get a baloon ride and a vineyard breakfast in going or coming.

[Buzz123]

Some of my favs have been mentioned like Zion and Great Basin. If you like to hike, do Wheeler Peak in Great Basin, 13,000+ elevation. Or if not that ambitious there are many great short hikes in Zion, Great Basin, Cedar Breaks, Bryce Canyon, Capital Reef...all Nat'l Parks within your six hour limit. Take your camera. They are spectacular. Zion and Cedar breaks are only 3½ hrs. One of the best Mexican restaurants around is in the tiny town of Springdale, UT, at the entrance to Zion. A nice little town with a funky 4th of July celebration worth seeing. Lots of motel rooms there and B&Bs.

Of course the best getaway in the world is the Grand Canyon. 4½ hours to the south rim, but it may be too hot in summer, so go to the north rim. It's a little further, but higher, therefore cooler, and prettier since there are trees. Can't get there in the winter unless you can do 40 miles on X/C skis but the best part of the canyon.

Here's a link: Grand Circle - Your Guide to Exploring the Southwestern United States

Mammoth Lakes, CA, is a great getaway that is six hours from Vegas. It's in the southern end of the Sierras and is one of the best ski resorts around. Close to June Lake and the Devil's Post-pile Nat'l Moneyment. A really fun place to just hang out. Also a funky small town 4th of July celebration worth seeing. The parade follows the fireman's pancake breakfast. Ummm. Nice hikes and fishing in the area in summer. High up and cool. It's also close to the eastern, and really high, entrance to Yosemite Nat'l Park. There are at least three Nat'l Parks that every American should see that are relatively close to Las Vegas...First is the Grand Canyon, then Yellowstone and Yosemite. I wouldn't go to Death Valley in the summer, but from about mid October to May it is well worth the trip.

Here is a little known day trip not far from Pahrump, and well worth the drive. Just not in the summer. China Ranch Date Farm

A couple of other day trips to cool off: Of course, Mount Charleston from US-95, but most people don't know about the road up the back side from Pahrump. You should be able to do it the family car but check with the rangers first just in case. It is a dirt road. Be sure to stop and look at the 150 year old charcoal ovens if the vandals haven't destroyed them. I haven't tried it in years so I don't know if the road is still open over Wheeler Pass. If so you'd need 4x4. It travels all the way over the mountain between Pahrump and US 95 on this side of the range. Look for deer and elk and, you'll never be this lucky, but maybe a mountain lion. A ways along that road past the community of Cold Springs is deer Springs campground. A nice place for a picnic if you can get there. The rangers didn't always maintain the road so at times it was only passable by 4x4. Like I said, I haven't done it in a while.

[Buzz123]

Originally Posted by olecapt

Well all of Southern California and northern Mexico is within 6 hours. You can make it all the way to Ensenda.

I will give you one treat few will mention...head to Catalina.

I agree with you that Catalina is worth a trip, but seeing it once is about all Carol and I needed. While waiting for the ferry to Catalina, see the Queen Mary and the Russian submarine which are right there at the same dock.

What about Newport Beach and Balboa Island. Lots of good spots along the Pacific in SoCal, and it gets pretty cool, especially at night.

[Buzz123]

Probabaly the main reason that at least half of the population loves Las Vegas is it's proximity to more adventures and neat places to see within a day's drive than just about anyplace in the country.

If you don't mind a nine hour drive, the Lake Tahoe area is absolutely beautiful and it would take a lifetime to do everything there is to do.