[Buzz123]

Originally Posted by RedWingsFan

There are some great places to go for weekend trips! Here's some of the ones we loved:

Monument Valley - absolutely beautiful
The Grand Canyon
Bryce Canyon
Mount Zion
Santa Barbara
Phoenix

Mount Zion? Isn't that in the middle east? I think you mean Zion National Park. BTW: Some people mispronounce it. It is not Zi-On...it is Ziun.

[Buzz123]

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????

I assume that you mean six hours of driving distance?

[Buzz123]

Originally Posted by olecapt

Well true in a way...but not in others. You have likely never been to the Isthmus or Cat Harbor. In soem ways far more interesting than Avalon.

How about a day snorkeling on the reef at Emerald Bay? Green gorgeous water with extensive but navigable kelp beds. I have actually snorkeled their with a mess of yellow tail. OUt at the west end the visiblility exceeds the best you can get in Hawaii. Ever see the bottom in 150 feet of water.

Or go snorkel with the nurse sharks...if the mad bull harbor seal has not eaten them all. Or swim the grottos. Blue green and exciing.

Hike from the Isthmus to the west end. Certain to see Buffalo. But maybe even the local fox. About the size of a cat.

Even in Avalon...walk back to the conservancy and check out the local flora...long walk but worth it.

YOu could easily spend a month at Catalina jsut getting a feel. I was not kidding when I said I had been there a few hundred times. I probably have a couple of thousand hours just snorkeling the coast;

I don't disagree with you. We did the touristy things like the bus tour, and the glass bottom boat which was a real rip off, and we walked all over Avalon. We aren't into water sports but it is beautiful there. My daughter has gone there to scuba dive a few times, but I'm a bad swimmer. I might give it another shot someday.

[WOHR]

Thanks for all of the great ideas. and yes I mean a 6 hour drive, that way we can leave really early and enjoy a full day where ever we end up. If we choose a beach getaway are there any good family beaches in CA? My kids are only 5 and 8. How long does it take to get to Sedona from here? Could it be done as a day trip? It's been about 10 years since I have been to Catalina island and we didn't get to see too much since we were on a cruise. How much is the ferry ride and is it easy to get a room on the island? Or is it booked up like the hotels on Coronado in San Diego? Are the national parks cooler than here in the summer(the ones in Utah)?

[Buzz123]

Originally Posted by ParkTwain

Thumbs way up for the Grand Canyon North Rim. Cabins or lodge, Walk out to the rim at night with the ranger and count the stars.

Or do the manly man thing and camp out under the stars and when you get up to go p** look up. It's blinding

[Buzz123]

Originally Posted by WOHR

Thanks for all of the great ideas. and yes I mean a 6 hour drive, that way we can leave really early and enjoy a full day where ever we end up. If we choose a beach getaway are there any good family beaches in CA? My kids are only 5 and 8. How long does it take to get to Sedona from here? Could it be done as a day trip? It's been about 10 years since I have been to Catalina island and we didn't get to see too much since we were on a cruise. How much is the ferry ride and is it easy to get a room on the island? Or is it booked up like the hotels on Coronado in San Diego? Are the national parks cooler than here in the summer(the ones in Utah)?

Sedona is about a six hour drive but there are things to do along the way that will make it a longer drive getting to the town. Like stopping in Oak Creek Canyon and shopping for Indian stuff, then the kids would love to wade in the water and play on the rocks further down the canyon where the actual creek is. I believe it's a state park now. You might want to check out the cabins along the creek before you get into Sedona. Take the Pink Jeep tour if the kids are up to it. Drive up on the Mogollon Rim and take a hike. Sedona is not a day trip. Flagstaff and/or the south rim of the Grand Canyon could be a day trip.

I think all the beaches in Southern Calif are kid friendly. My four (this week) year old granddaughter loves the beaches over there.

What do you like to do? My advise usually runs toward camping, hiking, fishing, skiing, etc. Lots of that within six hours and usually it is cooler up north of here, especially in the National Parks. Bryan Head, Utah, is about 3½ or 4 hours and is very cool. Take a jacket. It's a ski resort but there are other things to do around there in the summer.

Does WOHR have anything to do with a call sign?

[Buzz123]

Here's a nice weekend trip for kids. Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah.

Best Friends Animal Society - Visiting Best Friends

Drive around the Kanab area and see where a zillion western movies were made. Great scenery around there. On the way to Kanab, before you get to Fredonia, stop at the old Mormon Museum at Pipe Spring.

Pipe Spring National Monument travel guide - Wikitravel

You'll pass through Colorado City where the polygamist colony lives.

This is also the way to go when visiting the North Rim or beyond that to Lake Powell.

[WOHR]

W=first name
O=maiden name
H=middle name
R=last name

By the way we love camping, hiking, biking, but we also like to pamper ourselves with nice hotels, resorts, cruising and great places to eat. Which we did not have a lot of back in Ohio. The camping was mediocre, I am not big into camping with the neighbors so close, biking was all right, but my husband complained there wasn't enough trails.

[Buzz123]

Originally Posted by WOHR

W=first name
O=maiden name
H=middle name
R=last name

By the way we love camping, hiking, biking, but we also like to pamper ourselves with nice hotels, resorts, cruising and great places to eat. Which we did not have a lot of back in Ohio. The camping was mediocre, I am not big into camping with the neighbors so close, biking was all right, but my husband complained there wasn't enough trails.

Wilma Oldfield Helen Riddle? Hey, you have Buckeye Lake, and...well, there's Buckeye Lake. Right next door in WV where I'm originally from you had all those rails to trails for biking if you don't mind all the mud. I have relatives in Marietta and Dayton and friends all over Ohio. Where are you from?

[WOHR]

Amazing, you guessed my name From Medina, OH. South of Cleveland and west of Akron. Small town of about 28,000 I think, but always growing. I think it was in 3rd for fastest growing county last year. Great place to raise a family. Only problem is that everyone is moving away because of the lack of jobs in the Cleveland/Akron area.
And all of the great biking in OH was too far of a drive except for the Towpath.