Sierra

I've been in all those cities except the one in Georgia. I think the most exciting for tourist is San Francisco. It will be a little foggy, possibly, but that burns off by mid morning. You can walk from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Embarkadero to Coit Tower to China town, and if that gets tiring you can take the bus (the famous trolly is fun, but the wait can be long, but maybe not so much in winter). There is Golden Gate Park, fabulous museums, including The Exploratorium that isn’t just a museum, but "an ongoing exploration of science, art, and human perception—a vast collection that feed your curiosity" and in nearby San Jose is a TECH museum which is astounding. Is is a world-wide cosmopolitan city with representation of an incredible number of cultures. We have taken a lot of people to San Francisco (and we live 2.5 hours away) and every one of them has been impressed. Across the Golden Gate is a wonderful fishing village with a lot of arts and crafts places, and of course the Bay itself which is a thrill to tour by ferry and includes Alcatraz (an old prison) and Angel Island (which was a "clearing" place for Asian immigrants; both are full of incredible history. Do you get the feeling I could go on and on.....?

Yes, San Diego is probably warmer, and it is lovely, is near the lego museum, etc., but it is not compact and you would spend more time on buses while in San Francisco you can mingle more.

Portland and Seattle will be rainy for sure, although both are nice cities. Phoenix is the one I can tell you to skip! It is essentially a series of towns and it is totally geared for the retired. It has very few interesting places to visit (we go biking there in the winter because they have wonderful biking trails and we've looked for "places of interest"). It is close enough to take day and two day trips to some astounding canyons, but frankly, that would mean hours on buses because it is so far flung between places that even people from the eastern U.S. are "dismayed" at the "wide open spaces."

Hope this is helpful! If you do deicde on San Francisco, pm me and I'll send your husband a list of places which would be expecially fun for teens.

rjwilder

I live in the Sacramento area and think teenagers would find it boring. I think San Diego would be the best choice, so much to see and do there. My second choice would be San Francisco. I have teenage granddaughters and these are their favorite places also.

willferg

I'd say any of the four on the coast: Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, San Diego. The first two don't have the best weather, it's true, but they are not bad choices. With the last two, you can't go wrong.

purplemem

Definitely San Diego or San Francisco. The weather will be warm and sunny. Lovely attractions.

DogHouseMom

Since they will be visiting San Diego and San Francisco anyway ... I would choose one of the other cities!!

What does daughter like to do? Does she like hiking, does she want to see flora and fauna, does she like (need) shopping? Is there any climate that she dislikes??

Portland and Seattle can be quite *wet* in January/February - but if it were me I would still choose one of these cities. I like the Pacific Northwest - one of my favorite places to hike. Even if she's in the City - you don't have to travel far to be in the wide open spaces. Seattle has all of the waterways to explore, and Vancouver Island a short trip across the border and well worth the trip (she can add Canada to her list of countries - if this is possible on her VISA). Portland has *The Hood* and several other isolated volcano's that are sooo beautiful - and Columbia River Gorge is AWESOME scenery/hiking/fishing!!! Portland is a smaller city than Seattle.

Phoenix doesn't interest me at all, too hot and dry and too populated (with population pretty wide spread - you have to go further from the center to get to "breathing space"). But it does offer some great hiking adventures in the surrounding desert.

I've not been to Valdosta, the closest I've been is Macon - but I'm not a fan of the South East ... just not.

My choice would be Portland ... but a lot depends on what kind sights/sounds/surroundings your daughter wants to experience.

woody

Thanks so much everyone, DD is so excited and says that no matter where she ends up going it will be fun ( I wish I could go too ) DD loves hiking, fishing and the outdoors, but although I would have thought Phoenix would have been great maybe it isn't the best place for a bunch of teenagers. I think the main reason she is a bit worried about going up north is that she would have to fill her suitcase with warm clothes (they are only allowed 1 suitcase with a 23kg /50lb weight limit) then she wouldn't have as much room for shopping LOL. Our winters here are usually from around -4 Celcius/24F to around 12 C / 53F during the day, so she is used to those kind of temperatures.
We won't find out her host family until December next year, but I hope there will be a quilter in the family so that she can take DD shopping for some quilt stuff for me LOL

DogHouseMom

Woody ... Portland/Seattle do not get much colder (on average) than Canberra in the winter - but they do get WET (about 5" rain fall in the month). As far as packing *more* and having less space to bring back stuff she bought ... ship it!! Also, check into if they are allowed to bring 2 suitcases HOME. Sometimes the restrictions are just on the trip to the new home (possibly to not overburden the host family with too much *stuff*). If she can bring two home - perhaps she can buy a cheap suitcase when she's here to fill with *stuff* she bought. My husbands kids come to visit us and we always end up buying each of them a 2nd suitcase to take home. I rather suspect they have about a dozen suitcases between them now!!

Tothill

Those are pretty much to temps in Seattle in winter. You need waterproof more than warm clothing in the Pacific Northwest. She would probably find that her host family would either have an extra waterproof jacket or umbrella she could use, if she chooses Seattle. If she has never been skiing and would have a chance to experience that head to Seattle. Most ski hills will rent snow wear. Even a day of tubing on the slopes is incredibly fun.

My choice for my teens would be San Francisco, mostly because we live close to Seattle, it is too much like home. The Cable Cars, Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, the Piers, Ghiradeli Square, China Town and so much more.

jitkaau

Fisherman's Wharf was the one I liked when I was young. My vote would be for San Fran.

riutzelj

portland and seattle are wet in january. seattle more likely than portland to have snow and cold. That said, there is skiing and snowboarding in closer to Portland, than Seattle. there is the coast an hour away . The willamette valley is GREEN in the winter especially. Portland is a great small (400k) city, with lots of stuff to do and good public transportation. Kids can go out and about on their own for the most part. san diego is nice, more pollution though and very urban. Definitely warmer in January though