I'm very excited at the prospect of heading to the US in November of this year. It's a bit unexpected as we've only decided in the past week about taking a holiday. I just have to line up leave, find some cheap flights and work out an itinerary. Hubby is heading over to the US with his workmates in November. He's planning on taking some leave and I'll join him for about two weeks (that's all the leave I have left at the moment).

I was hoping to catch up with minn and gurdonark but unfortunately I'm not sure if I can. We'll be in California, probably around San Francisco (I'm not sure yet as it depends on dates, time, cost of flights etc). Hubby will be in Redwood City for his work then we plan on heading out from there (or I'll join him else where - undecided at this stage).

We'll have a maximum of about two weeks to try to get around to:

• One of the Six Flags theme parks - probably Magic Mountain? I'm personally not keen on theme parks but hubby loves roller coasters.
• Skiing at Lake Tahoe - depending upon when the ski season opens! Hubby will definitely want to spend as long as possible here but realistically, I don't want to spend our entire holiday at the ski fields.
• Visit Yosemite National Park for photography
• Visit Las Vegas
• While at Las Vegas, go check out the Grand Canyon

The list above is still fairly rough as we haven't sat down together and nutted out what we each want to do. I'm really keen on heading in to San Francisco - the heart of all the cool web stuff! I'm also keen on a shopping expedition (which hubby will hate - lol!) and I'll love to check out the art museums.

For the Americans on my friend's list, please feel free to post any suggestions such as where to go, where to stay, cheap airlines, any travel tips... I haven't been to the US since I was eight years old. I'm feeling slightly overwhelmed by how large the country is and the shortness of our trip.

I know that this will probably be a 'taster' kind of trip - short enough to give me a taste of what that part of the US is like. I'm relying on your collective wisdom :)