State Attractions in California and Arizona.

By: A. Roark

California

Golden Gate Bridge

The construction of the Golden Gate Bridge began on January 5, 1933. It costed between 25-30 million dollars to build. With a main span of 4000 feet. The bridge officially opened on May 27, 1937. It had the largest bridge span in the world at that time.

Tunnel View Yosemite National Park

Tunnel View provides on of the most famous views of Yosemite Valley. From here you can see El Captain & Bridalveil Fall rising from Yosemite Valley, with half dome in the background. This view point is at the east end of the Wawona Tunnel along Wawona Road.

Venice Beach

Venice Beach includes the beach, The Promenade that runs parallel to the beach (The Boardwalk), Muscle Beach, the handball courts, paddle tennis courts, the bike trail, skate dancing plaza, many volleyball courts, and business on the boardwalk.

Arizona

Havasu Falls

Havasu Falls offers a variety of year-round adventures for all types of people. The weather from March to November is the best, but winter trips offer the most solitude. The most popular option is hiking. Havasu is one of four major waterfalls in the heart of the Havasupai Tribes homeland.

Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon is a wonderful year round vacation place. It has a beach of 277 miles long and up to 18 miles wide. The canyon itself took between 3-6 million years to form. It includes about 70 species of mammals, 250 species of birds, 25 types of reptiles, and 5 species of amphibians. The canyon was formed by the Colorado River which flows 100 ft. deep and about 4 mph.

Barringer CraterAbout 50,000 years ago, a rock fragment broke away from the asteroid belt and hurtled towards the earth. The rock was about 50 meters across and weighed 300,000 tons when it crashed into the earth. The crater is roughly one mile across, 2.4 miles in circumference and more than 550 ft. deep. It is an international tourist venue with out door observation trails, air conditioned indoor viewing, wide screen movie theater, interactive discovery center, unique gift shop, and astronaut memorial pars.