1. The Brooklyn Bridge
New York, N.Y.
As thrilling a sight as this beautiful brown-hued East River bridge is from afar, with its Gothic-style towers and lacy mesh of cables, the view from the bridge is even more thrilling. A boardwalk-like pedestrian walkway goes all the way across, raised slightly above the car traffic. One mile long, it should take about half an hour to traverse — except you’ll be tempted to stop more than once to ooh and ahh at the vision of Manhattan’s skyscrapers thrusting upward, with the great harbor and Verrazano Bridge beyond.
Why has the Brooklyn Bridge captured the popular imagination more so than other New York City bridges? Well, for one thing, it was the first steel-wire suspension bridge in the world when it opened in 1883. (Until then, the only way to get from Manhattan to Brooklyn was via ferry.) Ever since, the Brooklyn Bridge has become a byword in New York lore. The bridge has appeared in countless movies and TV shows, its outline practically synonymous with New York City.
If your kids aren’t hardy urban trekkers, walk halfway to get the view and then double back to Manhattan. Be aware that things get awfully windy once you’re above the water!
Why They’ll Thank You: It’s one thing to see a landmark, another to walk across one.
2. The Pacific Coast Highway
Los Angeles to San Francisco
Beginning near the old mission town of San Juan Capistrano, state Highway 1 hugs the California coast all the way to Leggett, in Northern California, darting around coves and clinging to steeply shelving cliffs, with the Pacific Ocean almost always out your side window. It’s not the most efficient route to take from southern to northern California (or vice versa). Travelers intent on getting there fast opt for inland I-5, or at least U.S. 101. No, if you’re driving the Pacific Coast Highway, you’re looking for scenery — and some of the most spectacular coastal scenery in the world it is.
The most dramatic stretches of the drive occur where the mountains crowd close to the ocean’s edge — for instance, just north of Santa Barbara, where the Santa Inez peaks tumble precipitously to the beach, or the entire section from Morro Bay north to Carmel, where the sea nips at the toes of the Santa Lucia mountains. Each curve reveals another jaw-dropping vista, narrow strips of white foam-edged sand purling below you on one side, furrowed brown mountainsides beetling over you on the other. Surfers bob on their boards offshore — or are those seals? — and hawks coast dreamily overhead. It’s beautiful at noon, with blue skies and bright sun; it’s beautiful in a haunting fog; it’s beautiful glowing at sunset; it’s even beautiful in a wistful gray rain. It’s just plain beautiful.
Why They’ll Thank You: Riding the curves, watching the surf.
3. Niagara Falls
New York & Ontario, Canada
Everyone’s seen a Kodachrome photo of Niagara Falls, that stupendous curve of cascading water that lies between the United States and Canada. It’s one of those sites, however, that postcards never do justice to: To stand on a viewing platform and see, really see, how big it is, to hear the thunder of falling water, to feel the mist spritzing your face is another thing altogether.
There are actually two waterfalls here, both of them doozies: the American Falls and Horseshoe Falls. Both are around 175 feet high, although Horseshoe Falls, at 2,500 feet wide, is more than twice as wide as its sibling. Bring your passport, because the Canadian shore has the real panoramic view; both falls can be seen from the American side, but not together. No matter where you arrive from, you can easily visit both by crossing the Rainbow Bridge, preferably on foot — it’s only the length of a couple city blocks.
On the U.S. shore, head for Niagara Falls State Park: An observation tower overlooks the river, and Cave of the Winds takes you down by elevator onto boardwalks where you can walk around the base of the American Falls. Canada’s Journey Behind the Falls allows you to descend via elevator to tunnels punctuated with portholes that look out through the blur of water right behind Horseshoe Falls. The coolest way to see the falls, of course, is the classic Maid of the Mist boat ride, which plays no favorites; it departs from either shore.
Why They’ll Thank You: Roaring water, mist, and rainbows galore.
4. New Orleans
Louisiana
For some people, it took a hurricane for them to realize they should have visited New Orleans. Here was a true original among American cities, a place where people danced with parasols at funerals, ate beignets and po’ boys, believed in voodoo and vampires, and threw plastic beads off parade floats. Despite its raunchy Bourbon Street reputation, it was always a great family destination.
The part of New Orleans least affected by the disaster was its prime tourist area: the French Quarter, one of the few areas that had been built above river level and escaped heavy flooding. The French Quarter — or as local signs have it, the Vieux Carré — is, despite the name, a Spanish-flavored fantasy of wrought-iron balconies and tiny flower-filled courtyards and alluring louvered windows, its centerpiece being gardenlike Jackson Square. Just walking around here is entertainment, but several attractions are especially appealing to families: the touristy-but-fun Historic Voodoo Museum, the kitschy Musée Conti Wax Museum, and the Old U.S. Mint which, despite the name, is all about New Orleans jazz history and Mardi Gras traditions. At the open-air French Market that runs along Decatur Street from Jackson Square to Esplanade Avenue you can dine on snacks like gator on a stick. Really.
Why They’ll Thank You: They’ll know what it means to love New Orleans.
5. Devil’s Tower
Devil’s Tower, Wyo.
There is definitely something otherworldly about this stark monolith rising out of the Wyoming pines and prairies. The Northern Plains Indians called it Bears Lodge, and it has sacred meanings for them too. Even seeing a picture of it is unforgettable, but visiting Devil’s Tower in person — well, that’s more special than you’d imagine.
The flat-topped cone that became Devil’s Tower used to be under a shallow sea, but once the waters receded, centuries of erosion gradually wore away the softer rock around the hard igneous cone, leaving it exposed. Today the cone thrusts 1,267 feet above the surrounding pine trees and prairie grasslands. The flat top gave Steven Spielberg the idea of an extraterrestrials’ spaceport for his movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and a parachutist did land on top in 1941, drawing great publicity — especially since he then had to figure out how to get down!
For most of us, the best way to experience Devil’s Tower is to take the 1.3-mile paved Tower Trail that circles around the base. It’s very kid-friendly, being mostly flat (after a steep climb at the start) with benches and interpretive stations along the way. Take your time walking so that you can examine this rugged pinnacle from every angle and in different lights. Bring sketchbooks and try to draw its stern majesty.
Why They’ll Thank You: An icon of the West with mystical power.
6. Mount Rushmore & The Crazy Horse Memorial
Keystone & Custer, S.D.
When you think about it, Mount Rushmore is one of the oddest monuments ever: gigantic chiseled faces of four U.S. presidents — why four? Why those four (Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt)? And why in the South Dakota Badlands? Crazy as it is, darned if another group didn’t raise money to carve another mountain nearby with an even bigger sculpture, depicting American Indian chief Crazy Horse.
Mount Rushmore was the passion of one individual: Gutzon Borglum, a Danish-American sculptor from Idaho, who was hired by South Dakota to make a memorial to draw visitors to the Black Hills. Borglum chose this peak because it was hard granite, the highest in the area, and it faced southeast, where it would catch good daytime light. A 1-mile Presidential Trail leads from the monument’s museum to viewing terraces at the base of the mountain; take a guided tour so the kids can learn all the curious history.
To many Native Americans, Mount Rushmore is an intrusion on sacred landscapes, so the Lakota tribe initiated their own project 17 miles away. Sculptors began to hew the image of Chief Crazy Horse astride a thundering stallion in 1948 and 50 years later only the chief’s nine-story-high face had been completed. Still, even kids should be able to trace the form emerging from the granite. When finished, Crazy Horse will be so big that all four heads on Mount Rushmore can fit inside it.
Why They’ll Thank You: Giant statues for American giants.
7. Dinosaur Valley
Glen Rose, Texas
Even the youngest dinosaur lovers — and aren’t pre-schoolers the biggest dinosaur fans there are? — can interpret the fossil record left in stone at Dinosaur Valley: The huge footprints in the rocks here are so unmistakable it’s easy to picture the prehistoric theropods and sauropods who made them 110 million years ago.
You’ll find the prints beside the Paluxy River, which winds through this shady, lovely 1,500-acre park about an hour’s drive southwest of Fort Worth, Texas. Late summer, when the river is low, is the best time to come. You can discern the footprints best when the rock is just slightly underwater. Tracks can easily be seen at two spots in the park: The main site is across the northwest parking lot and down some stone steps to the river; upstream is the Blue Hole, a sinkhole with many more brontosaur tracks (it’s also a great place for swimming, so bring your suits).
The visitor center has replicas, foot skeletons, murals, and diagrams to help kids visualize the dinosaurs. What’s more, outdoors stand two immense fiberglass models, one of a brown T-Rex and the other of a green Apatosaurus — relics of the Dinosaur World exhibit at the 1964 New York World’s Fair. Scientists still argue over what the head of the Apatosaurus should look like, but hey, we’re all still learning.
Why They’ll Thank You: Dinosaurs walked here.
8. Gettysburg National Park
Gettysburg, Penn.
“Awesome” doesn’t begin to do justice to this vast battleground, where thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers clashed for three sultry July days in 1863. As Abraham Lincoln himself said in his famous 1864 speech here, this land has been consecrated by blood — over 50,000 deaths — and an almost-eerie atmosphere hangs over this tranquil patch of rolling farmland, now peppered with war monuments.
The park visitor center has an excellent light-and-sound presentation with a scale-model map of the battlefield, which is quite helpful — after all, the battle raged over a large patch of country in the course of four days, and there’s a lot to keep straight. The Cyclorama Center, next to the visitor center, a 360-degree depiction of Pickett’s Charge painted in 1883, is the sort of pre-video-era special effect you rarely see these days. And after a three-year restoration project it’s looking better than ever.
Audiotapes are available for self-guided driving tours around the 250-acre battle site, but it’s worth it to invest in a personal guide, who will ride with you around the battlefield. These guides are gold mines of Civil War information, tailoring the tour to your particular interests and dishing out biographies of the commanders and the physics of cannon fusillades.
Why They’ll Thank You: Brother fought brother on this bloody ground.
9. National Air and Space Museum
Washington, D.C.
The National Air and Space Museum is pretty much the star player on the Smithsonian museum team, at least as far as kids are concerned. Its thrills begin as soon as you walk into the sleek entrance hall and see the historic aircraft dangling from the ceiling — the Wright brothers’ 1903 Wright Flyer, Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis, and the Friendship 7 capsule that took John Glenn into space. Whether you come here for the history, the science, or just the technothrill of seeing so much heavy metal, Air and Space delivers the goods.
Besides gawking at the famous planes hanging out in the lobby, kids love to walk through the Skylab orbital workshop, and other galleries highlight the solar system, U.S. manned spaceflights, and aviation during both world wars. You can sneak in some hard science education with “How Things Fly,” an interactive exhibit that demonstrates principles of flight and aerodynamics (the wind and smoke tunnels are especially fun), and get into some heady astrophysics with “Explore the Universe,” which probes theories about how the universe took shape.
The second part of the museum is out near Dulles Airport in Chantilly, Va., where two gigantic hangars — one for aviation artifacts, the other for space artifacts — accompany a 164-foot-tall observation tower for watching planes land and take off at the airport. The space hangar is the length of three football fields — it has to be in order to house such huge artifacts as the space shuttle Enterprise, rocket boosters, spacewalk capsules, and a full-scale prototype of the Mars Pathfinder lander.
Why They’ll Thank You: Historic flying machines soaring in the lobby.
10. The Grand Canyon
Arizona
While it’s awesome indeed to stand on the rim of the Grand Canyon, something about that monumental chasm makes you long to just dive in and discover. Any number of hiking trails lead down into this great natural wonder, raft trips ply its waters, and helicopters buzz overhead—but surely the most memorable way to explore the Grand Canyon is to pick your way down the steep, narrow trails on the back of an ornery mule. Let the trail-wise mules find their footing on the stony paths while you gaze around you, drinking in the unfolding vistas of this vast network of canyons.
The best options for kids depart from the North Rim and are offered by Canyon Trail Rides. Children as young as 7 can try out the mules on a one-hour scenic ride along the rim; at 10 years and up, they can do half-day trips. If the kids are 12, they can take a full day trip, going 4,300 feet down and back up the North Kaibab Trail through a terrain of bright red rocks to Roaring Springs (aptly named — you’ll hear it well before you reach it).
The real classics, though, are 1- or 2-night packages that go to the bottom of the canyon and include sleeping arrangements and simple meals at Phantom Ranch, the only lodging available below the rim. Don’t expect luxury — it’s all bunk-bedded cabins and dorms, connected by dirt footpaths and shaded by cottonwood trees. Book quickly: These Phantom Ranch trips are so popular they fill up as soon as reservations are accepted, 23 months in advance.
Why They’ll Thank You: Discovering what’s in that hole in the ground.
