If your travels take you anywhere near Grand Junction or Fruita, Colorado, then make sure you take the time to visit the Colorado National Monument.  Compared with the larger canyon type national parks, the Colorado National Monument is small, but this makes the experience less impersonal.  It also means that it’s less likely to be overflowing with other tourists – making it a great “get away from it all” retreat for anyone needing a little solitude.

What the semi-desert Colorado National monument lacks in overall size, it makes up for in content.  Packed within its boundaries are some of America’s most impressive hoodoos, whose vibrant colors are hard to match anywhere.  Alongside the geological wonders and juniper trees, is a spectrum of wildlife that includes golden eagles and desert bighorns.  The Monument Canyon is the monument’s largest feature as it covers the entire length of the park and holds incredible rock formations.  Return to various observation points throughout the day, particular sunset and sunrise, to see how the light reflects across the canyon’s natural structures.

For any couple with a passion for the great outdoors, or an interest in geology, or even just a desire to organize a wedding with a difference, the Colorado National Monument allows couples to be married at certain locations within its boundaries – remember to allow 14 days for the processing of your special use permit application.  Choose your location well to have wedding photos that will be second to none as regards the spectacular backdrop provided by nature. 

Close the world’s largest flat topped mountain, Grand Mesa, the Colorado National Monument allows activities such as horse riding, biking, and of course hiking.  It’s also possible to camp in the area at the Saddlehorn Campground if you wish to spend longer in the park.  

Converted from a military installation to a federal prison in 1934, Alcatraz is one of America’s foremost notorious prisons.  Despite the fact it was only used as a prison for 29 years, it’s probably the most famous.  There are two main reasons for its being so well known; firstly the notability of prisoner which were housed there, and secondly, its image recorded by Hollywood’s moviemakers.

By current standards, the prison wasn’t large, housing only 250 inmates, but because of its island location, there were never any escapes recorded from it – thus adding fuel for entertainment industry to create movies such as “Escape from Alcatraz” where real life escape attempts were transposed into movies for the big screen.  TV’s “Mythbusters” have since proved that escape was in fact a possibility, despite Alcatraz’s reputation to the contrary.

Today Alcatraz, known also as the Rock, is overseen by the National Parks Service who have representatives on the island.  Visitors will be able to ask NPS staff any questions they have, but there are no formal tours around the prison.  There are self-guided tours – including the cellhouse audio tour - however, which together with videos and exhibits make for an interesting trip around this famous building.  The evening ferry ride out to Alcatraz offers a greater insight into the island than the daytime ones as it circles the island, and has a narration about the island’s history – this should be balanced against the fact that there are some areas of the island that not open at night because of safety issues.  There’s no fee for actually visiting Alcatraz, but the ferry companies that transport visitors across the Bay do charge for their services. 

Whether you are interested in the Alcatraz myth, the celebrity inmates such as Al Capone, and Alvin Karpis, movie locations, or the historical past of San Francisco, you’ll find Alcatraz an interesting way to spend a few hours.

Disneyworld’s newest addition, Animal Kingdom is a wonderful place for kids of all ages to learn about animals and the environments in which they live, as well as taking a closer look at the world of dinosaurs – all in the traditional Disney package of feel good exhibits and varying thrill-level rides.  Upon arrival, check out the visitors center for news on any special events happening daily in the park.

In the Boneyard play in a maze filled with fun fossils.  Any would-be palaeontologist in your family will love this one!  Then there’s DINOSAUR which will be more entertaining for those who desire more thrills and spills from their visit.  Other areas of interest in this Dinoland section of the Animal Kingdom are the TriceraTop Spin, the Cretacaeous Trail and of course, a Disney musical exhibit based around the Finding Nemo movie.  Amidst these various attractions are wildlife such as storks and Asian brown tortoises.

In the Flights of Wonder section, you can learn how to (and how not to!) handle birds and see such beautiful bird as an American Bald Eagle, and magnificent macaws up close – but don’t get too close!

If you’re ready for some more excitement, take a trip down the Kali River Rapids – watch out for the rushing geysers however as you raft down the Chakrandadi River escaping a jungle fire by traveling down a waterfall!   If you’re up for another thrill, the Expedition Everest ride is a roller coaster ride which has your on a refurbished steam train en route to your Mount Everest base camp taking a yeti guarded short cut! 

The animals of the Animal Kingdom shouldn’t be forgotten, and a trip through the Maharajah Jungle will take you in the Anandapur Royal Forest of Southeast Asia where you can wander around the ruins of an ancient palace, home to many different animals.

The Animal Kingdom has its share of Disney rides, but with an overall theme of protecting wildlife, it’s a good place to teach kids about wildlife and how to preserve it.

If you’re a geologist, a naturalist, or just someone that’s interested in a place a bit off the beaten track, then The Badlands, South Dakota is the place for you.

A mixture of spires, valleys, buttes and sharply eroded sandstone, this mixed prairie grass preserve is a great place to go whether you’re a fossil hunter, or just interested in natural beauty.

Badlands National park is a gorgeous place – with unique and unusual sandstone rock that layers in ways that has to be seen to be believed.  The spires, and erosions formed over several thousand millenia make for a unique skyline.  Vegetation and fauna sprinkle crevices and valleys, making for interesting walks, and of course, the badlands are home to all kinds of wild animals, from Bison that graze by the side of the road as you’re driving through, to Prairie dogs, Elk, Coyotes, and wild Horses.

Many interesting fossils have been found there, since the interest in paleontology kicked up in 1840 or so.  Several species of fossils have since been discovered in the White River area of the Badlands – more than 3/4s of the total found by 1854 had come from that one area.

Theodore Roosevelt national park is the most interesting of the Badlands parks, made up of three packages of land that are separate from one another – and are all connected by The Maah Daah Hey   trail.  It is said that Theodore Roosevelt associated strongly with the ‘dying’ way of life of the Western cowboy, and rancher and had his own ranch there to recover from the loss of his mother and later, his wife.  His Ranch is set deep within the heart of one of the packets of land and though there’s nothing left of it now, he wrote about the peace he found there, before returning to politics later in his life.

The story of the doomed ocean liner Titanic has captured the imagination of people all over the world since the day it sank.  Halifax, in Nova Scotia, Canada is a largely unknown part of Titanic history.

After the Titanic sank, the White Star Line chartered four ships from Canada to search for survivors.  Two of them, the MacKay-Bennett and the Minia, were from Halifax. 

Of the 328 bodies recovered from the disaster site, 119 were so badly damaged or deteriorated they were buried at sea.  The remaining 209 were brought to Halifax for identification, where possible.  150 of those people were buried in one of three Halifax cemeteries, based on religion (Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish), giving Halifax one of the largest concentrations of Titanic passenger burials in the world.

The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax houses the largest collection of wooden Titanic artifacts in the world in their permanent exhibit, Titanic: The unsinkable ship and Halifax, which opened in 1998. 

One of the centerpieces of the collection is a wooden deck chair, one of the only intact ones in the world known to match those in photos of the ship.  A grandchild of Reverend Henry W. Cunningham gave the chair to the museum. Reverend Cunningham received the chair in recognition for his services in conducting many of the sea burials for Titanic victims.

One of the most moving items on display is the log of wireless operator Robert Hunston, from Cape Race, Newfoundland.  It is a condensed log of all the distress calls from the ocean liner the night it sank.  Reading the log brings home the reality of the disaster and the amazingly short time in which it occurred.

For more information on Halifax’s role in the Titanic aftermath, visit the city’s Titanic web page at http://www.halifax.ca/history/titanicmain.html.