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Things to do in USA

Top 10 Things to do in USA

Our Top Ten things to do in USA - Don't leave until you've experienced the best USA has to offer

You may not be able to live the American Dream but you can certainly experience it here where everything is larger than life, where the natives welcome you like old friends and where you’ll walk around eyes wide and mouth open. It’ll take years to see all that is on offer but try this little taster selection and you’ll be hooked.

1 Visit Disneyland

America is Disneyland and Disneyland is America. You can’t come to the states without doing either the east or west coast Magic Kingdoms. It doesn’t matter if you’re nine or ninety you’ll have fun. I guarantee too you’ll leave armed with soft toys of the characters or with a Disney character mug like we did! Buy multi day or multi park tickets for the best value, you may not want to spend much of your time here but you surely will.

2 Go to Mt Rushmore

Attracting over two million visitors annually, Mount Rushmore is a National Memorial and a tremendous feat of human endeavour. The heads of four US presidents, Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln are carved 18m high into the tops of the cliffs of the mountain in South Dakota. Gutzon Borglum and upon his death, Lincoln, his son, began work in 1927 and the memorial was completed in its present state 12 years later. Originally they were to be displayed down to their waists but funding ran out.

3 Visit the White House

The most important office in the world, the Oval Office is located inside the White House at supposedly the most famous address in the world, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW and is the home of the US President. From here, countless decisions have been made which have shaped the history of the world. Sadly, due to the threat of terrorism, access to the White House is denied but there’s still plenty of opportunities for photographs from a distance.

4 Walk in Death Valley

Definitely a walk on the wild (and dangerous) side! Take a car or a guided tour in the heat of the summer and you’ll feel just what Mother Nature is like at her fiercest! Temperatures in the shade regularly top 50C here with over 80C in the full sun. You can marvel at the creatures that choose to make this place their home from spiders and rattlesnakes to lizards who keep two feet off the hot sand at a time and scorpions that track the desert sands looking for food. It is one of the most inhospitable places on earth and well worth its name.

5 See Yellowstone National park

A massive National Park, Yellowstone covers nearly 3,500 square miles and is like a country in itself with lakes, canyons, mountain ranges and the largest high altitude lakes on the continent. Worryingly for some it also has the largest super volcano on the continent which powers the geothermal activity in the park including the main tourist attraction, the Old Faithful Geyser. The park is considered its own ecosystem and hundreds of species of living creatures have been documented there. Many of the sights are easily accessed by the good roads that criss-cross the park.

6 Walk across the Golden Gate or Brooklyn Bridges

When I was younger my parents walked with me across the Forth Road Bridge in Scotland so imagine my delight when I got the chance to walk across both the Golden Gate Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge. The noise of the traffic is thunderous but the view is extraordinary. You are balanced hundreds of feet up in the air, crossing either the San Francisco Bay or the river to Manhattan Island. Looking up at the miracle of engineering that enabled both spans to be crossed, you feel really small.

7 Eat Fast Food where it was invented

OK so fast food isn’t healthy but it’s sooo delicious!! Try some original US fast food and anything else will never taste the same. From hot dogs on a street stand where you’ll get analysed whilst buying to pizza in one of the best pizzerias in the world to prime beef burgers made from succulent American steak, they have it all and the diet’s always there when you get back home!

8 Roller Blade Venice Beach

You see them in the films, you’ve been tempted to buy the poster but now’s your chance to live the scene by hiring roller blades on in-lines and glide effortlessly up and down the promenade at Venice Beach. In the right gear you’ll fit in perfectly like one of the beautiful people that frequent the beach. The secret is to look cool and aloof. Give it a go!

9 New England in the Fall

A bit of a cliché this one and usually seen at the end of soppy films when the woman or the child dies and the partner/parents are left to walk through the beautiful autumn scenery. All that aside, New England is set alight with the reds, oranges, yellows and russets of autumn and it’s probably the best place in the world to enjoy nature’s spectacle. Set yourself up in a lovely little hotel, get wellies on and kick up some fun.

10 Do New York

I can’t understand people who go to the US and don’t visit New York. It’s the party city of North America, gritty and cool at the same time. It’s full of larger than life characters and experiences. Many people wonder why it’s not the capital, so great is its personality and power. There’s so much to do here from art galleries and museums to Central Park to Broadway. If you’re coming to the States make your stay here!