Sherry, If you go to see the giant redwood/sequoia trees, please realize that there are dozens of places worth seeing them along the coast from the CA/OR border to central California and in the Sierra Nevada Mountains along the CA/NV border that each have their own unique appeal. It would take a week just to explore all of the big tree NP's, SP's, SRA's, SNR's and Monuments in CA alone. When I lived in San Francisco, Russian Gulch, Big Basin SP and Mount Madonna were favorites, but after I moved to Carmel it was all about Polo Colorada Canyon and the many spots around Pfeiffer Big Sur. I'll have to tell you about my very rare and unique coffee table made from a Polo Colorado Cyn giant and Bixby Creek driftwood sometime. Yes, "mesa" is a term loosly applied to any landform in the arid west with a flat top and verticle cliff sides, and they are quite common. They are also referred to as table mountains, buttes, potrero or tuya depending on how they were formed and their characteristics and can vary from small ones like those in the BDW to the Grand Mesa in CO which is the largest in the world at around 500 square miles on top. Sometimes plateau is also used wrongly. They don't always have the verticle sides and are much bigger covering huge areas up to millions of square miles. Yes I could move back to St.George I guess, although in many ways the cost of living is higher there than Vegas. I'm sure some of my old friends are still there and kicking. But since my Dad lives there now I wouldn't even consider it.

Cathy, if you want a feeling of what a massive piece of sculpture it is, you won't get close to Crazy Horse, they are still working and so there is a "demolition zone". You can get much closer to the faces at Rushmore. Plus, Rushmore is a National Park and Crazy Horse is administered by a non-profit organization. That means no government money goes into Crazy Horse, so it's going slowly. Crazy Horse was a hero to his people, caring for the ill and elderly, protecting the children, and he died from a knife in his back, ostensibly from a soldier at the fort where he went to talk about treaties between the U.S. Government and the Lakota. The faces on Rushmore, though, were national figures, not simply ethnic ones. Each has its own history and significance. Rushmore, though, has historical significance for everyone, not just the Native Americans. And walking down that walk of flags, with a flag from every state, is very cool! Annie

If you really want to experience the Grand Canyon you could do what a coworker did. He started on one side, ran down, then ran up the other side. Once there, the group thought maybe doing the reverse as they intended might not be a great idea since one of the guys had a cold. They found someone willing to give them a ride back to the other side but then discovered it would be a four hour drive. So they decided they might as well run back. So they did. They had started the trip at about 1 AM (lighting their way with head lamps) and figured on 13 hours. Took more like 16. Actually, I do not recommend this at all! lol Among other reasons - the park rangers, apparently, really frown on this running down and up and down and up adventure.

Have you done the Exploratorium? It's a science museum but different from any other I've ever been to. Very hands on and more to do for all ages. We thought we'd spend an hour or two there and ended up spending most of the day. Also, the musee mecanique is an arcade down near one of the piers filled with antique coin-op game machines - many dating to the 1920s and even earlier. It's free to get in - it only costs the quarters that you spend on the machines. My 13 year old loved it -- it was the one thing he asked to go back to. Several times! http://museemecaniquesf.com/