There may be a nip in the air but in much of America they're still enjoying those golden days and blue skies of 'Indian Summer' - a time when you can still take a dip in the Atlantic as well as slip into the launch of new autumn attractions in the theatres, museums and theme parks. Here are just a few of the options on offer:

VALLEY FORGE

Shop (tax-free) & Stay in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania! King of Prussia Mall (USA's biggest); Philadelphia Premium Outlets. Win a $500 Spree!
www.valleyforge.org/shoppingspree

BRAND USA

DiscoverAmerica.com is the official travel and tourism website for the USA. It includes trip ideas, travel photos, visa and customs requirements, flight and hotel information and much more.

THE ALASKA MARINE HIGHWAY SYSTEM

See a side of Alaska you can see in no other way. Where the road ends, the Alaska Marine Highway begins - 3,500 nautical miles of mountains, glaciers, gold rush towns, Native Alaskan villages and wildlife. www.ferryalaska.com

SHOPPERS' MECCA

Experience 20 new stores and restaurants at Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. Enjoy tax-free shopping for clothing and shoes at more than 500 stores and hours of family fun at leading attractions like Nickelodeon Universe indoor amusement park. Visit www.moaspecialoffers.com for attractive Bloomington hotel packages.

HOTEL BEACON

The Hotel Beacon, located on the Upper West Side of New York City, offers a haven of comfort amid the bustling excitement of the city.
www.beaconhotel.com

OKLAHOMA'S AMERICAN INDIAN AUTUMN FESTIVALS & POWWOWS

Autumn in Oklahoma is beautiful, and is the perfect time to experience the dance, song, regalia, and customs of four unique Indian Nations. The Comanche Nation Fair in Lawton, Chickasaw Nation Annual Meeting & Festival in Tishomingo, Standing Bear Powwow in Ponca City, and the Choctaw Nation Powwow in Durant each offers direct interaction and introduction to their unique culture and customs.
www.travelok.com

DALLAS SPARKS TOURISM TO TEXAS

The return to British TV of a new version of Dallas starring not only the original rival Ewing brothers, villainous JR (Larry Hagman) and relatively noble Bobby (Patrick Duffy), Sue Ellen (Linda Gray), JR's former alcoholic wife (now set to run for Texas governor), and Bobby's new wife, Ann (Brenda Strong), but also a whole new generation of feuding folk, is inspiring UK tour operators such as America As You Like It (www.americaasyoulikeit.com) to offer new tours to Big D and other parts of the flamboyant Lone Star State. Its 10-day Texas Taster fly-drive package (from £935 per person) includes not only Dallas and Fort Worth but also Austin, San Antonio, Houston and Corpus Christi.

FOLLOW SPIELBERG TO VIRGINIA

Richmond, Virginia's handsome capital city, is expecting an influx of fans of both filmmaker Steven Spielberg and US President Abraham Lincoln in anticipation of the January 2013 release of Spielberg's latest film Lincoln. The film was largely shot in Richmond, which the president and his young son Tad visited the day after the city was defeated in the American Civil War and only10 days before he was assasinated in Washington, DC. The film stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Tommy Lee Jones and Sally Field and includes many Civil War era sites both in Richmond and in nearby Petersburg. For more information about Virginia and the surrounding Capital Region visit www.CapitalRegionUSA.co.uk

A MIDTOWN BASE FOR NYC FESTIVITIES

The centrally located and reasonably priced Hotel@TimesSquare is positioning itself as the ideal base for enjoying such forthcoming New York City festivities as the October 12 Columbus Day Parade, said to be the largest parade in the USA, the Halloween Extravaganza and Procession of Ghouls, which takes place every year at the largest Gothic cathedral in the world, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and the world-renowned Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, always held the last Thursday of November. Prices at the Times Square-sited hotel range from £81-£88 per person per night, based upon two sharing. For details visit thehotelattimessquare.co.uk. To include flights in JFK International Airport (from £361 this autumn) tap into DialAFlight.

GRAND CANYON RANCH AND HELI ADVENTURES

You can combine a visit to the picturesque Wild West-style Grand Canyon Ranch (www.grandcanyonranch.com) with an exhilarating ride into the Grand Canyon on one of Heli USA's new $4 million helicopters (www.heliusa.com). The full-day, narrated Grand Canyon to the Edge and Beyond tour runs out of Las Vegas by air-conditioned coach or mini-bus. It also includes a stop at the spectacular Hoover Dam and, at the ranch, a cowboy demonstration and a Western-style meal, complete with authentic country & western musicians. Prices are from $269 (£165) for adults and $169 (£104) for children, plus, in each case, $30 (£18.46) local fees.

UNITED AIRLINES' NEW DREAMLINER ON USA-UK ROUTE

United Airlines will operate the newest addition to its fleet, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, on its Houston-London/Heathrow route on a temporary basis early next year. The aircraft will fly one of the airline's daily, non-stop services from Texas's largest city to London/Heathrow from February 4 to March 29, 2013, eastbound, as well as on United's Houston-Amsterdam service, also temporarily, from December 4, 2012. The airline, which has 50 Dreamliners on order, claims that the aircraft, with 36 seats in United BusinessFirst, 72 seats in United Economy Plus and 111 seats in United Economy, will 'revolutionize the flying experience' through improved comfort, operating efficiency and lower emissions. Details on www.unitedairlines.co.uk

FAREWELL, FEAR OF FLYING

British Airways has launched a brand new instructional video for nervous flyers on its in-flight entertainment system. Presented by BA pilot, Captain Steve Allright, instructor of its Flying with Confidence course, it addresses the technical side of flying, how an aircraft operates, areas of concern such as turbulence and gives advice from clinical psychologists on relaxation techniques and how best to deal with anxiety and feelings of panic. Want to see it before you fly? Then tap into YouTube's youtube.com/watch?v=qEPeDhkrSzY

SAN DIEGO'S FAMILY TREATS

October is the ideal time for families to head for sunny San Diego, California. Not only does one child per one adult travel free on the Amtrak rail services from Los Angeles (and other California destinations) to the city - and on local trolley tours - but there are special deals for families with children at more than 105 San Diego hotels, restaurants, museums and attractions. For instance, kids 11 and younger are admitted free to the world-famous San Diego Zoo particularly known for its giant pandas, and those 3-9 years are admitted free into the popular SeaWorld San Diego theme park. For more details visit "Kids Free San Diego"

MARILYN RETURNS TO PALM SPRINGS

Marilyn Monroe, who would be 86 if she were alive today, has returned to Palm Springs where she was 'discovered' in 1949 at Charlie Farrell's Racquet Club. The 26ft-tall Forever Marilyn open air sculpture, which will be on display until June 2013, represents the most famous image of Marilyn, taken from the film The Seven Year Itch. www.VisitPalmSprings.com

A BIG APPLE SALUTE TO ANDY WARHOL

On September 18 New York City's prestigious Metropolitan Museum of Art unveiled an exhibition of 45 works by ground-breaking artist Andy Warhol plus 100 works by 60 other articles who in key ways reinterpreted, responded, or reacted to his work. The exhibition by the artist, whose subjects ranged from Campbell soup tins to Marilyn Monroe, will run until December 31, 2012.
www.metmuseum.org

UK TICKETS AVAILABLE FOR BROADWAY SHOWS

The Broadway Collection (www.broadwaycollection.com) has announced autumn Broadway show openings with ticket availability through such UK sources as TUI, Virgin, Attraction Tickets Direct and Lastminute.com. They include Chaplin, opening September 10; Annie, November 8; Rebecca, November 18 and The Mystery of Edwin Drood, November 29. In all, the collection has 24 shows on offer, 14 of them new this year.

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HAPPY HAUNTINGS IN ARIZONA

Get into the spirit - or perhaps we should say spirits - of things in Arizona on October weekends by viewing Old Tucson's special Halloween show, Nightfall-20 Years of Terror!, and/or joining the 89th Halloween Haunted Ruins trek though Tucson's Valley of the Moon. Alternatively, head south-east to the former copper mining town of Bisbee to join the Old Bisbee Ghost Tours.

JOIN A WYOMING CATTLE DRIVE

You too can live out your cowboy/girl fantasies by joining a two-state cattle drive through Dances with Wolves-style country while based on Wyoming's New Haven Working Branch, sited near the South Dakota border. Based on two sharing, the seven-night holiday offered by UK tour operator Ranch Rider costs £995 per person. For details visit www.ranchrider.com

FORT WORTH'S TRIBUTE TO JFK

In anticipation of the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F Kennedy in nearby Dallas, Fort Worth, Texas, where the president spent his last night and made his last speech, will be unveiling a 10ft bronze statue this autumn on the relevant site. It is on a plaza in front of the Hilton Hotel - then the Texas Hotel - where JFK spoke spontaneously to a huge crowd in the drenching rain before making a formal speech to the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce inside. A semi-circle wall framing the statute will include photos and quotes from the president.
www.jfktribute.com

THE US CAPITAL + A BEACH HOLIDAY

If you're headed for majestic Washington, DC this autumn but would still like a last gasp at sun, sand and sea consider a quick visit to nearby Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, about two hours' drive to the east. The 26 miles of white sand beach are uncrowded, the Atlantic Ocean waters are still warm and there are numerous festivals both on the beach and inland, among them Rehoboth's October 26-28 Sea Witch Halloween & Fiddlers Festival. For more about the beach and nearby area visit www.visitsoutherndelaware.com

A SALUTE TO THE MUNCHKINS

Margaret Pelligrini, 89, one of the original Munchkins in the 1939 MGM film The Wizard of Oz, will be the featured guest at the September 29-20 Oztoberfest (www.Oztoberfest.com) held in Wamego, Kansas. She is one of the three surviving little people who were cast in the film starring Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale, the Kansas girl carried off by a tornado with her dog Toto to the wonderful land of Oz. Wamego is also home to the Oz Museum (www.OzMuseum.com) which is crammed with memorabilia of the film and of the L Frank Baum novels which inspired it.

DON'T MISS THE CURRENT ISSUE OF ESSENTIALLY AMERICA!

Including features on the magical music cities of Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee, where and how to buy native crafts in the USA and Canada, the delights of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Florida's winter sunshine holidays, North America's best fall foliage towns and villages, exploring the Rockies by RV and how to photograph the USA. www.EssentiallyAmerica.com.