After a brief tour of San Francisco, head east through California's historic gold country. Yosemite National Park region is our base for the next three nights and offers abundant activities for parents and kids alike.
There's a rock climbing school and bicycling right in the valley and many hiking trails to escape the crowds, or you can float down the Merced river on an inner tube, overlooked by the granite formations of Half Dome, El Capitan and Cathedral Rocks. Turning south, visit Mariposa Grove with its towering sequoias before proceeding through the Sierra Nevadas to our campground located in the high desert.
Next Zion National Park and a full day to hike to Emerald Pools, ford the Narrows, climb to Angel's Landing or mountain bike to the remains of a nearby ghost town where the kids can pretend to be the Sundance Kid. Bryce Canyon National Park follows with its maze of unique turrets and spires to be explored, and then a short drive to a lovely campsite at Kodachrome Basin State Park. Take the backroads to Lake Powell arriving at a lakeside campground via a ferry crossing for some aquatic family fun.
Water ski, jet ski or take a boat trip to secluded canyons. Then on to the Navajo Tribal Lands of Monument Valley, where we will discover some of the valley's hidden secrets on our included jeep tour with the Navajos. For the truly adventurous, saddle up and explore these sacred lands on horseback with our Indian guides.
The awesome Grand Canyon is our next stop, where we will have two days to fully experience one of the Earth's greatest natural wonders. Take a scenic flight or a ranger- guided nature walk along the rim, be blown away by the audio-visual wizardry of I-MAX or, for the really active, hike into the canyon itself. After visiting so many of nature's impressive creations, we finally head to a completely man-made one - Las Vegas - the glitziest city in the world, where our tour ends.
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