Adventure Vacations in the US??

[Asha]

my dh want to go on vacation in august. we like to explore different areas. we are up for adventure, and we we like to be physically active on our vacations. any suggestions?? websites to get ideas??? thnx!!

[Juliana]

How far would you be willing to travel?

When DH and I drove across country, we took a few days out of our drive to explore Utah, and we absolutely loved it. Specifically, we explored Bryce Canyon, Zion Nat Park, and drove down to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon too. The hiking was wonderful (for both DH who is very experienced and a novice like me), and the scenery was gorgeous. I don't know if this is "adventurous" enough, but it sure was lots of outdoorsy things to do.

Also, being an Oregon girl at the moment, I'll throw in a plug for the Pacific Northwest- tons of scenery and outdoor possibilities! Let me know if you want any specifics or pics or anything- I've driven across the country twice and I'd love to help!!

Juliana

[tinkerbelljenny]

Backroads company is an awesome website of places that they travel to. I would also recommend Glacier National Park (MT) and Waterton Park (Canada), those two places are really beautiful!

[numberlady]

I was going to recommend Backroads if you want some organized adventure, but tinkerbelljenny beat me to it. DH and I have talked about using them for a vacation in the near future.

[tinkerbelljenny]

Backroads is an amazing company. Sign up for their beautiful catalogs. I used to have a job with them in Berkeley, very briefly. I see their trucks in Glacier National Park every summer. I have always wanted to take a trip with them.

[daener]

I second the vote for Utah. Several years ago I took a 2-week hiking/biking/camping trip through Southern Utah and it was just amazing. The landscape is very different from park to park. We went to Arches, Canyonlands (upper and lower), Zion, and Bryce Canyon. We hiked in all of them, but bikes were only allowed on the paved roads. However, we did go to Moab and biked just outside there for a couple of days. It was one of the best vacations I've ever been on!!! Amazing. And so much fun! We did not use a tour group, we drove and that was fine. It was just such a gorgeous and fun trip, I'll remember it forever (sadly, it was with an ex-boyfriend and not DH. Bummer.).

We were there in mid-July and it was warm. We stopped in Las Vegas for a couple of nights on our way home just for fun, showers and air conditioning ;) .

[wander_woman]

I love visiting Colorado. So much to do ... hiking, biking, rafting, camping, etc. August is a good time to visit. The Grand Canyon is always a great trip. A road trip down the California coast, with stops at various parks (Yosemite, Joshua Tree, etc), would be fun. If you're into white-water rafting, Oars is a great company (they should have a website).

[Annette]

Zion Nat'l Park was awesome! We went last September and the weather was really nice. We did a canyoneering guided trip and got to rappel in the canyons, which was fun and a bit scary at first. We also hiked the Virgin Narrows river which was a really neat experience. There were a lot more hiking trails which we weren't able to get to.

The Virgin River
http://images.snapfish.com/3444858%3B23232%7Ffp63%3Dot%3E2323%3D723%3D356%3D3 232723265%3B93nu0mrj

This was about a 150 foot drop.
http://images.snapfish.com/3444858%3B23232%7Ffp45%3Dot%3E2324%3D845%3D%3C38%3 DXROQDF%3E2323632386498ot1lsi

Bryce was really neat as well.