USA, - Find informative links to exciting places in these locations for your next holidays.

California, Laguna Niguel, view of the park "doggy heaven", where we used to walk our German Shepherd, Kuma	California, Laguna Niguel shopping center, having a coffee break with my mum.

… which is an absolutely gorgeous area renowned for its artsy appeal.

I can still remember driving down the long streets lined with Bird of Paradise plants and Palm Trees. Laguna Beach possesses a beautiful long sandy beach where often whilst walking our dog …

… we would watched the dolphins and whales playing in the sea.

The climate here suited Colin and me perfectly. The temperatures were consistently 80 degrees just about every day, and …

… with the exception of one month, the sun shone every day. Absolutely beautiful weather.

When Colin’s Daughter (Louise), Son-in-Law (Carl), and Grandaughter (Charlotte, then only 2 years of age) came to visit, we decided to take Charlotte to the Universal Studios in Los Angeles for her 2nd Birthday present. It was wonderful. There were all types of rides you could go on and plays to watch. We watched a play called Beatle Juice which was very entertaining.

Carl and I went on a ride themed on dinosaurs. You actually sat inside a vessel that looked like a boat. This boat took you inside a darkened area …

… resembling the inside of a dinosaur’s body. Inside this eerie place, many dinosaurs appeared around every corner. These very realistic looking dinosaurs roared and bent their long necks down as your boat passed by. You actually felt like you were about to be eaten. At the end of the ride, you passed through an area which appeared to be the inside of the mouth of the dinosaur …

… you were surrounded by white and very sharp looking teeth.

The mouth opened and the boat you were in fell out of it to at least a thirty foot drop until the boat landed in water below. Now, how exciting is that! Carl told me later that he closed his eyes, but I was foolish enough to brave it and kept mine open. Wow! That was a thrill I’ll never forget.

Another ride we went on was based on the story of ET. You actually sat on a bicycle. There were three in a row, so …

… Louise, Charlotte and I sat together.

The bicycles went up into the night sky full of twinkling stars. When you looked down you could see a town with houses and the windows of these houses were all lit up. You could see the streets lined with trees and lamp posts and little cars parked outside of the houses. You actually felt as though you were flying on a bicycle in the night sky. It was quite impressive and Charlotte’s was totally thrilled when …

… you guessed it, ET flew past on his own bicycle. Her eyes were wide and sparkling when she saw ET.

There was one ride that really impressed Charlotte. We went through a scene in a car. The theme was based on an earth quake in San Francisco. The car rocked and the whole scene was moving. As you approached the Golden Gate Bridge …

… to our amazement King Kong appeared out of nowhere right next to us roaring and showing his very large teeth. His eyes were lit up too.

The look on Charlotte’s face was priceless, and …

… when we came out of this ride, Louise and I had imprints of Charlottes nails in our legs.

We thought that this ride might have been a bit too much for her, but she apparently really loved it and she didn’t stop talking about her trip to California for at least one year.

The Universal Studios are well worth a visit if you go to Los Angeles, California USA. In fact, what was to be a day out for the grand -daughter, turned out to be quite an exciting day out for the adults as well.

We were also lucky enough to visit Las Vegas when we lived in California, USA. This is where …

… Colin and I tied the knot.

It was quite amusing to see the brides dressed in bridal gowns lined up at the registry office. We visited the Elvis Chapel …

… but we didn’t get married there.

Nevada, Las Vegas, Hotel Orleans where we where married	Nevada, Las Vegas, statue of Egyptian Pharaoh

We chose to get married in the chapel in our hotel instead. Los Vegas is a very exciting city. The lit up streets full of casinos is quite impressive. If you like to gamble and go to live concerts …

Las Vegas is the place for you.

Apparently, Celine Dion performs here now and her show is fantastic. I can vouch for Celine Dion concerts being well worth the money because …

… we went to one of her concerts in Concord at an ampitheatre.

It was one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to. The outdoor open theatre was a wonderful venue, with a fantastic atmosphere, and I was amazed to see how Celine was so personal with the audience. She spoke to the audience after each an every song, and you could see how the warmth of the audience had really touched her. She made you feel as though you had known her all your life.

We happened to go to this concert quite by chance when we lived in Discovery Bay, California USA. Our kind next door neighbours offered us two tickets absolutely free.

Discovery Bay, also known as Disco Bay, in the Northern part of California is a lovely area to live in. It is a man made development on the Sacramento - San Joaquin river delta, about 60 miles inland from San Francisco. It is a waterfront community, composed of Lagoons and a marina. Each Lagoon holds townhouses …

USA, California, Discovery Bay, Colin getting ready for a days fishing from our dock.	USA, California, Discovery Bay, view of the marina.

USA, California, Discovery Bay, view of the homes around our lagoon.	USA, California, Discovery Bay, jet skiers in the lagoon beside our house.

… and each townhouse has its own private boat dock.

The townhouses have lovely large balconies where you can sit and watch the world go by or …

… watch the lovely yachts or float planes go up and down.

On weekends, visitors from San Francisco would cruise up river to their holiday homes and often the youngsters would stay on-board their boats and party all night long …

… hence the name Disco Bay.

At Christmas time, the yachters decorate their boats with lights and other decorations and the boats float by your house …we won first place when we were invited to our friend Dave’s boat down in San Francisco. We spent the day with some of the staff from our office and practiced Carol singing and decorating the boat.

USA, California, San Francisco marina, our friend Dave's boat that won the 1996 Xmas flotilla parade. We had spent all day decorating and choir practice but it was worth it when we were declared the best in the fleet.

We lived here for about six months and enjoyed every minute of it. The only reason we moved from this area was due to the fact that Colin was offered a job in Southern California.

Believe it or not …

… the temperatures of the inland sections of Northern California are much hotter than Southern California. In fact, some days …

… the temperatures soared to 90 degrees and above during the afternoon.

But there’s more to the USA than California. There are many nice areas in the USA you could visit on holidays. We used to really enjoy Florida …

… and spent many holidays in Daytona Beach.

Here, we were able to enjoy two of our favourite sports …

… Golfing and Deep Sea Fishing.

One day we would fish and the next we would golf. The only thing I would warn you about is …

… Beware of the Alligators on the tees on the golf course.

I can remember going up to a tee to take my shot when unbeknownst to me …

… an alligator was basking in the sun on the tee. I decided to take my shot from another area …

… the men’s tee.

The Deep Sea Fishing was great too. We would wake up early to board the boat …

… it was still quite dark when we left the shore.

We caught mostly Red Snapper. When the boat docked, around lunch time, the fish you caught were filleted for you. Conveniently located right next to the pier was a quaint little restaurant. We took our filleted fresh fish to this restaurant where your fish was cooked and served to you with absolutely lovely chips. What a great way to go fishing, not to mention eat fish you caught ...

… so very fresh.

We also used to visit Naples, the most expensive area in Florida to live. In fact, Naples is where most of the millionaires per capita live. I was quite impressed by the marble streets and very classy shops, but what impressed both Colin and I the most was …

… the fantastic sunset. Naples is known for the best sunsets in all of the United States.

We were kicking ourselves, however, because …

… we had my Mother’s Brownie black and white camera with us at the time.

I have never visited Disney Land in Orlando but have been told numerous times that it is a wonderful place to take children on their holidays. Colin had visited Disney Land in the early 80’s and always talked about the great time the kids had.

When I was young, we used to spend our holidays in Wildwood, New Jersey. We used to camp on the outskirts of the beach area. We would sunbathe on the beach during the day and by night …

… we went to the pier, which was a very long walkway stretch on the beach filled with fast food restaurants, entertainment halls and rides.

Colin used to often visit Boston, Plymouth and Hyannis in Massachusetts, USA, when he worked for Kao Didak in Arnprior, Ontario. I was lucky enough to go along with him when the two factories completed against each other in sporting events.

We also took Louise and Carl to Massachusetts, USA, and we visited some interesting places with them. We saw the Mayflower, the replica of the ship that brought the Pilgrim Fathers to the USA.

Massachusetts, Plymouth, Carl and Louise relaxing in front of the Pilgrim Fathers ship the Mayflower.	Massachusetts, Salem, statute of witch in front of the musem.

Louise wanted to visit Salem as she was very interested in the stories she had read about the Witches of Salem.

If you like seafood, there are wonderful restaurants to enjoy Lobster in this area …

… can you imagine All you Can Eat Lobster.

When we took Colin’s daughters Louise and Vanessa through the East Coast of Canada, we drove through the top end of the United States to Burlington, where …

… we caught a ferry to Plattsburgh, Vermont. A place that my Dad and Mom used to take us when we were young children.

When we arrived, we decided to take a break from hotel living and instead, we …

… camped for the night in a KOA campsite.

USA, New York State, Plattsburgh KOA campsite Louise and Vanessa preparing their marsh mallows.	USA, New York State, Burlington to Plattsburgh ferry with the girls.

These are fantastic campsites that are equipped with just about everything you could possibly need. As it was only the end of April beginning of May time, we were the only people on the entire camp site. We had fun just the same. We roasted marshmallows on the fire and dipped them in chocolate and we really enjoyed ourselves.

As you can see from our experiences, there are many wonderful and interesting places to visit in the Americas.

I have added some useful information links below that will allow you to find the right location for that holiday of your dreams.

This work by Colin & Marilyn Maddison is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.