Family holiday summer 2008 - California or Western Canada

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olivia

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We are a family of 2A and 2 C aged 9 and 11 in Summer 2008 - we are planning our second house exchange for Summer 2008 (first was to Spain this past July which was very successful) and we are thinking about California or Western Canada. We like the beach, good restaurants and not too much time spent in a car. Has anyone any suggestions or advice to offer?
 
My sister and her husband brought there 5 (then 4.5) and 9 t(then 8.5) yr old girls to California last autumn. They went to the grand canyon and some of the national parks also spending some time with a distant relative in san diego. They all really enjoyed it. I cannot comment for myself as have only been to LA - and disliked it - and have no children.
Enjoy what ever you do.
 
San Diego is lovely-the Zoo and SeaWorld would be attractive to children I'm sure.

Stay away from LA-unless of course you want to go to Disneyland (which is actually in Anaheim) or Universal Studios (not bad).
 
If you go to California and want to see a few different places you have to be prepared to spend alot of time in a car as it is such a vast area. We drove nearly 3000 miles over 17 days last summer to get a general overview of the whole state. Having said that our kids were older personally I think with kids your age I would go to Canada and wait until they are a bit older and bring them to California and they would appreciate it more - mine loved it but they were teenagers.
 
Just back from the holiday of a lifetime in California - San Fransisco, LA, Vegas, San Diego etc - thanks Charlie McCreevey for that SSIA yoke...
Even before I read this post I found myself recommending San Diego to a lot of people as a great family destination. Myself and Mr SB don't have kids, but it looks like a fab place for them - Sea World and the Zoo are the two big attractions, but there are also fabulous sandy beaches, an amazing park with natural history museum etc and the best climate I've ever experienced - in the words of the weatherman on local tv 'sunny and super nice'! Not too hot, not too cold, like Goldilock's porridge just perfect. It'd also be possible to travel up to Annaheim if you wanted to do the Disney thing. The rest of the trip was fab too but not as child specific - unless they're gamblers/fans of beat poetry of course...
 
Have a look at the flight times before you make any decision. Personally flying with children I'd be more inclined to head for the East Coast. That aside, I had a wonderful holiday a couple of years ago in California. San Fran to Yosemite ( great if you're into hiking and nature trails-and very child friendly), then back to coast and down along highway 101 stopping along the way. Apart from the Yosemite side trip it is quite possible to limit car journey times to a couple of hours between stops. We stopped in Carmel ( lovely town, great beach) and Santa Barbara ( really nice too). Then went to Santa Monica and LA- horrible, sorry we went there. Homeless people begging in the car parks, a gunman in the hotel so that police barricaded all the roads for hours and we couldn't get there (not that we were too anxious by that time).My brother who lives in States recommends San Diego as THE place to go with kids.
 
Vancouver is a great place to bring children any time of the year, but particularly in summer if you like the Great Outdoors.

They can explore Science World, the Aquarium, The Space Centre and local museums.

Outside, they can go for beach or forest walks. Even in the rain (they get more rain than Seattle), walking in the woods can be fun.

Take a seabus and ride on the cable car up to Grouse Mountain or Cypress Mountain.

If they prefer water, they can swim in one of the many local indoor swimming pools.

Visit the parks, go for beach or forest walks in the sun, skateboard at a local skateboard park, attend the International Children's Festival,

Visit one of the indoor kids' amusement centres.

In summer they can enjoy the giant outdoor pools at Second Beach in Stanley Park or Kitsilano Beach, go to ballgames at Nat Bailey Stadium, watch spectacular fireworks

They can hang out at KidsBooks or the public library (on strike at the moment but hopefully will be sorted by then!), visit the Children's Market on Granville Island, walk across Capilano Bridge and do the tree walk

Play Miniature Golf ................

Long flights are a bit of a drawback, but I guess you would have those in California also
 
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