Top tourist attractions in United States
Here is a list of top tourist attractions in United States. Only the topmost tourist destinations are presented here. To see other destinations, please check the images from United States section.
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Walt Disney World
Tourist attraction
The Walt Disney World Resort, informally known as Walt Disney World or simply Disney World, is an entertainment complex that opened October 1, 1971, in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, and is the most visited attraction in the world, with attendance of 52.5 million annually. It is owned by The Walt Disney Company through its division Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. The property covers 30,080 acres, in which it houses 24 themed resorts, four theme parks, two water parks, and several additional recreational and entertainment venues. Magic Kingdom is the original theme park on the complex, and Epcot, Disney's Hollywood Studios, and Disney's Animal Kingdom opened throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Designed to supplement Disneyland in Anaheim, California, which had opened in 1955, Walt Disney developed the complex in the 1960s, though he died in 1966 before construction on "The Florida Project" began. After extensive lobbying, the Government of Florida created the Reedy Creek Improvement District, a special government district that essentially gave The Walt Disney Company the standard powers and autonomy of an incorporated city. Original plans called for the inclusion of an "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow", a planned city that would serve as a test bed for new innovations for city living.
White House
Neoclassical Structure
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States, located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C. It has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800, and the term is often used by journalists as a metonym to refer to the acts of the President and his top advisors. The house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia Creek sandstone in the Neoclassical style. When Thomas Jefferson moved into the house in 1801, he expanded the building outward, creating two colonnades that were meant to conceal stables and storage. In 1814, during the War of 1812, the mansion was set ablaze by the British Army in the Burning of Washington, destroying the interior and charring much of the exterior. Reconstruction began almost immediately, and President James Monroe moved into the partially reconstructed Executive Residence in October 1817. Construction continued with the addition of the South Portico in 1824 and the North in 1829. Because of crowding within the executive mansion itself, President Theodore Roosevelt had all work offices relocated to the newly constructed West Wing in 1901. Eight years later, President William Howard Taft expanded the West Wing and created the first Oval Office which was eventually moved as the section was expanded. The third-floor attic was converted to living quarters in 1927 by augmenting the existing hip roof with long shed dormers. A newly constructed East Wing was used as a reception area for social events; Jefferson's colonnades connected the new wings.
Disneyland
Amusement Park
Disneyland Park, originally Disneyland, is the first of two theme parks built at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, opened on July 17, 1955. It is the only theme park designed and built under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. It was originally the only attraction on the property, though it was slightly renamed to distinguish it from the expanding complex in the 1990s. Walt Disney came up with the concept of Disneyland after visiting various amusement parks with his daughters in the 1930s and 1940s. He initially envisioned building a tourist attraction adjacent to his studios in Burbank to entertain fans who wished to visit; however, he soon realized that the proposed site was too small. After hiring a consultant to help him determine an appropriate site for his project, Walt bought a 160-acre site near Anaheim in 1953. Construction began in 1954 and the park was unveiled during a special televised press event on the ABC Television Network on July 17, 1955. Since its opening, Disneyland has undergone a number of expansions and renovations, including the addition of New Orleans Square in 1966, Bear Country in 1972, and Mickey's Toontown in 1993. Disney California Adventure Park was built on the site of Disneyland's original parking lot and opened in 2001.
Pearl Harbor
Body Of Water
Pearl Harbor is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the United States Pacific Fleet. The attack on Pearl Harbor by the Empire of Japan on Sunday, December 7, 1941 brought the United States into World War II.
Madison Square Garden
Sports Facility
Madison Square Garden is a multi-purpose indoor arena in midtown Manhattan in New York City. Located between Seventh and Eighth Avenues from 31st to 33rd Streets, it is situated atop Pennsylvania Station. It is the fourth venue to bear the name, the first two of which were located on Madison Square, with the third Madison Square Garden further uptown at Eighth Avenue and 50th Street. The Garden is used for professional basketball and ice hockey, as well as boxing, concerts, ice shows, circuses, and other forms of sports and entertainment. It resides in close geographic proximity to other midtown Manhattan landmarks, including the Empire State Building, Koreatown, and Macy's at Herald Square. It is home to the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League and the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association. Opening on February 11, 1968, it is now considered to be the oldest, and most active major sporting facility in the New York metropolitan area. It is the oldest arena in the National Hockey League and the second-oldest arena in the National Basketball Association. Madison Square Garden is the third-busiest music arena in the world in terms of ticket sales, behind the Manchester Arena and The O2 Arena, both in England. At a total construction cost of approximately $1.1 billion, Madison Square Garden has been ranked as one of the ten most expensive stadium venues ever built. It is part of the Pennsylvania Plaza office and retail complex. Several other operating entities related to the Garden share its name.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Art Gallery
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is a modern art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art and was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th century art. The museum’s current collection includes over 26,000 works of painting, sculpture, photography, architecture, design, and media arts. The building complex was designed by Swiss architect Mario Botta. The facility closed temporarily in June, 2013 for a three-year remodeling and expansion project. SFMOMA's Research Library was established in 1935 and contains extensive resources pertaining to modern and contemporary art, including books, periodicals, artists’ files, and lecture recordings. The museum also houses a restaurant, Caffè Museo, and a coffee bar run by the Blue Bottle Coffee Company.
Yellowstone National Park
National park
Yellowstone National Park is a national park located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, although it also extends into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872. Yellowstone, widely held to be the first national park in the world, is known for its wildlife and its many geothermal features, especially Old Faithful Geyser, one of the most popular features in the park. It has many types of ecosystems, but the subalpine forest is dominant. Native Americans have lived in the Yellowstone region for at least 11,000 years. The region was bypassed during the Lewis and Clark Expedition in the early 19th century. Aside from visits by mountain men during the early-to-mid-19th century, organized exploration did not begin until the late 1860s. The U.S. Army was commissioned to oversee the park just after its establishment. In 1917, administration of the park was transferred to the National Park Service, which had been created the previous year. Hundreds of structures have been built and are protected for their architectural and historical significance, and researchers have examined more than 1,000 archaeological sites.²
Arlington National Cemetery
Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington County, Virginia, directly across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial, is a United States military cemetery beneath whose 624 acres have been laid casualties, and deceased veterans, of the nation's conflicts beginning with the American Civil War, as well as reinterred dead from earlier wars. It was established during the Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House, which had been the estate of the family of Confederate general Robert E. Lee's wife Mary Anna Lee.
Statue of Liberty
Neoclassical Structure
The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in the middle of New York Harbor, in Manhattan, New York City. The statue, designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886, was a gift to the United States from the people of France. The statue is of a robed female figure representing Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom, who bears a torch and a tabula ansata upon which is inscribed the date of the American Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776. A broken chain lies at her feet. The statue is an icon of freedom and of the United States: a welcoming signal to immigrants arriving from abroad. Bartholdi was inspired by French law professor and politician Édouard René de Laboulaye, who commented in 1865 that any monument raised to American independence would properly be a joint project of the French and American peoples. Due to the troubled political situation in France, work on the statue did not commence until the early 1870s. In 1875, Laboulaye proposed that the French finance the statue and the Americans provide the site and build the pedestal. Bartholdi completed the head and the torch-bearing arm before the statue was fully designed, and these pieces were exhibited for publicity at international expositions.
Yosemite National Park
National park
Yosemite National Park is a United States National Park spanning eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in the central eastern portion of the U.S. state of California. The park, which is managed by the National Park Service, covers an area of 761,268 acres and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain. Over 3.7 million people visit Yosemite each year: most spend their time in the seven square miles of Yosemite Valley. Designated a World Heritage Site in 1984, Yosemite is internationally recognized for its spectacular granite cliffs, waterfalls, clear streams, Giant Sequoia groves, and biological diversity. Almost 95% of the park is designated wilderness. Yosemite was central to the development of the national park idea. First, Galen Clark and others lobbied to protect Yosemite Valley from development, ultimately leading to President Abraham Lincoln signing the Yosemite Grant in 1864. Later, John Muir led a successful movement to establish a larger national park encompassing not just the valley, but surrounding mountains and forests as well - paving the way for the United States national park system.
Art Institute of Chicago
Art Gallery
The Art Institute of Chicago is an encyclopedic art museum located in Chicago's Grant Park. It features a collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art in its permanent collection. Its holdings also include American art, Old Masters, European and American decorative arts, Asian art, modern and contemporary art, and architecture and industrial and graphic design. In addition, it houses the Ryerson & Burnham Libraries. Tracing its history to a free art school and gallery founded in 1866, the museum is located at 111 South Michigan Avenue in the Chicago Landmark Historic Michigan Boulevard District. It is associated with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is overseen by Director and President Douglas Druick. At one million square feet, it is the second largest art museum in the United States, after the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Central Park
National Register of Historic Places Location
Central Park is a public park at the center of Manhattan in New York City. The park initially opened in 1857, on 778 acres of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan. Construction began the same year, continued during the American Civil War, and was completed in 1873. Central Park is the most visited urban park in the United States. Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1962, the park is currently managed by the Central Park Conservancy under contract with the city government. The Conservancy is a non-profit organization that contributes 83.5% of Central Park's $37.5 million annual budget, and employs 80.7% of the park's maintenance staff.
Grand Canyon
Tourist attraction
The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in the United States in the state of Arizona. It is contained within and managed by Grand Canyon National Park, the Hualapai Tribal Nation, and the Havasupai Tribe. President Theodore Roosevelt was a major proponent of preservation of the Grand Canyon area, and visited it on numerous occasions to hunt and enjoy the scenery. It is considered one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. The Grand Canyon is 277 miles long, up to 18 miles wide and attains a depth of over a mile. Nearly two billion years of the Earth's geological history has been exposed as the Colorado River and its tributaries cut their channels through layer after layer of rock while the Colorado Plateau was uplifted. While the specific geologic processes and timing that formed the Grand Canyon are the subject of debate by geologists, recent evidence suggests the Colorado River established its course through the canyon at least 17 million years ago. Since that time, the Colorado River continued to erode and form the canyon to its present-day configuration.
Empire State Building
Streamline Moderne Structure
The Empire State Building is a 103-story skyscraper located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. It has a roof height of 1,250 feet, and with its antenna spire included, it stands a total of 1,454 ft high. Its name is derived from the nickname for New York, the Empire State. It stood as the world's tallest building for nearly 40 years, from its completion in early 1931 until the topping out of the World Trade Center's North Tower in late 1970. Following the September 11 attacks in 2001, the Empire State Building was again the tallest building in New York, until One World Trade Center reached a greater height on April 30, 2012. The Empire State Building is currently the fourth-tallest completed skyscraper in the United States, and the 23rd-tallest in the world. It is also the fourth-tallest freestanding structure in the Americas. The Empire State Building is generally thought of as an American cultural icon. It is designed in the distinctive Art Deco style and has been named as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers. The building and its street floor interior are designated landmarks of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, and confirmed by the New York City Board of Estimate. It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1986. In 2007, it was ranked number one on the List of America's Favorite Architecture according to the AIA.
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
Hall of fame
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 25 Main Street in Cooperstown, New York, and operated by private interests. It serves as the central point for the study of the history of baseball in the United States and beyond, displays baseball-related artifacts and exhibits, and honors those who have excelled in playing, managing, and serving the sport. The Hall's motto is "Preserving History, Honoring Excellence, Connecting Generations." The word Cooperstown is often used as shorthand for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
Staples Center
Sports Facility
Staples Center is a large multi-purpose sports arena in Downtown Los Angeles. Adjacent to the L.A. Live development, it is located next to the Los Angeles Convention Center complex along Figueroa Street. Opening on October 17, 1999, it is one of the major sporting facilities in the Greater Los Angeles Area. It is owned and operated by the L.A. Arena Company and Anschutz Entertainment Group. The arena is home to the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association, the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League, and the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association. The Los Angeles Avengers of the Arena Football League and the Los Angeles D-Fenders of the NBA D-League were also tenants until both franchises were discontinued; the D-Fenders moved to the Lakers' practice facility at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo, California for the 2011–12 season. Staples Center is also host to over 250 events and nearly 4,000,000 guests a year. It is the only arena in the NBA shared by two teams.
Cedar Point
Amusement Park
Cedar Point is a 364-acre amusement park located on a Lake Erie peninsula in Sandusky, Ohio, United States. Opened in 1870, it is the second-oldest operating amusement park in the United States behind Lake Compounce. It is the flagship park of Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, who owns and operates the park. Known as "America's Roller Coast", Cedar Point features a world-record 72 rides, including 16 roller coasters making it the park tied with Canada's Wonderland for the second-most roller coasters in the world. Its newest roller coaster, GateKeeper, opened in May 2013. Cedar Point's normal operating season runs from mid-May until Labor Day, when the park is open daily. The park is then open only on weekends until the end of October for HalloWeekends, a Halloween event. Other attractions near the park include a one mile-long white-sand beach, an outdoor water park called Soak City, an indoor water park called Castaway Bay, an area known as Challenge Park, two marinas, and several nearby resorts. The park has reached several milestones. It is the only amusement park in the world with four roller coasters taller than 200 feet – Magnum XL-200, Millennium Force, Wicked Twister, and Top Thrill Dragster – and is the only park with roller coasters in all four height classifications. Cedar Point has also received the Golden Ticket Award for "Best Amusement Park in the World" from Amusement Today for 16 consecutive years. As of 2012, the park is the most visited seasonal amusement park in the United States with an estimated 3.22 million visitors in 2012. The park also has several buildings that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Hollywood Walk of Fame
Tourist attraction
The Hollywood Walk of Fame comprises more than 2,500 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California. The stars are permanent public monuments to achievement in the entertainment industry, bearing the names of a mix of actors, musicians, directors, producers, musical and theatrical groups, fictional characters, and others. The Walk of Fame is administered by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and maintained by the self-financing Hollywood Historic Trust. It is a popular tourist destination, with a reported 10 million visitors in 2003.
Glacier National Park
National park
Glacier National Park is a national park located in the U.S. state of Montana, on the Canada–United States border with the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. The park encompasses over 1,000,000 acres and includes parts of two mountain ranges, over 130 named lakes, more than 1,000 different species of plants and hundreds of species of animals. This vast pristine ecosystem is the centerpiece of what has been referred to as the "Crown of the Continent Ecosystem", a region of protected land encompassing 16,000 square miles. The region that became Glacier National Park was first inhabited by Native Americans and upon the arrival of European explorers, was dominated by the Blackfeet in the east and the Flathead in the western regions. Soon after the establishment of the park on May 11, 1910, a number of hotels and chalets were constructed by the Great Northern Railway. These historic hotels and chalets are listed as National Historic Landmarks, and a total of 350 locations are on the National Register of Historic Places. By 1932, work was completed on the Going-to-the-Sun Road, later designated a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, which provided greater accessibility for automobiles into the heart of the park.
Alcatraz Island
National Register of Historic Places Location
Alcatraz Island is located in the San Francisco Bay, 1.5 miles offshore from San Francisco, California, United States. Often referred to as "The Rock", the small island was developed with facilities for a lighthouse, a military fortification, a military prison, and a federal prison from 1933 until 1963. Beginning in November 1969, the island was occupied for more than 19 months by a group of Aboriginal peoples from San Francisco who were part of a wave of Native activism across the nation with public protests through the 1970s. In 1972, Alcatraz became a national recreation area and received designation as a National Historic Landmark in 1986. Today, the island's facilities are managed by the National Park Service as part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area; it is open to tours. Visitors can reach the island by ferry ride from Pier 33, near Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco. Hornblower Cruises and Events, operating under the name Alcatraz Cruises, is the official ferry provider to and from the island. Hornblower launched the nation's first hybrid propulsion ferry in 2008, the Hornblower Hybrid, which now serves the island, docking at the Alcatraz Wharf.
Coney Island
Tourist attraction
Coney Island is a residential neighborhood, peninsula and beach on the Atlantic Ocean in southwestern Brooklyn, New York City. The site was formerly an outer barrier island, but became partially connected to the mainland by landfill. The residential portion of the peninsula is a community of 60,000 people in its western part, with Sea Gate to its west, Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach to its east, and Gravesend to the north. Coney Island is well known as the site of amusement parks and a seaside resort. The attractions reached their peak during the first half of the 20th century, declining in popularity after World War II and years of neglect. In recent years, the area has seen the opening of MCU Park and has become home to the Brooklyn Cyclones minor league baseball team.
Kings Island
Amusement Park
Kings Island is a 364-acre amusement park located 24 miles northeast of Cincinnati in Mason, Ohio. It is owned and operated by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company. The park was opened in 1972 by the Taft Broadcasting Company and after more than $275 million in capital investments, the park features over 80 rides, shows and attractions including 13 roller coasters and a 33-acre water park. Kings Island has won Amusement Today's Golden Ticket Award for having the "Best Kids' Area" in the world for thirteen consecutive years. Kings Island operates from late April through Labor Day. The park reopens several weeks later for Halloween-themed events held every weekend until the end of October. As of 2012, Kings Island is the second most visited seasonal amusement park in the U.S. behind Cedar Point. It had an estimated 3.21 million visitors in 2012. Both parks are second and third overall for seasonal attendance in North America behind Canada's Wonderland.
United States Capitol
Neoclassical Structure
The United States Capitol is the meeting place of the U.S. Congress, the legislature of the U.S. federal government. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall. Though it has never been the geographic center of the federal district, the Capitol is the origin by which the quadrants of the District are divided and the city was planned. Officially, both the east and west sides of the Capitol are referred to as fronts. Historically, however, only the east front of the building was intended for the arrival of visitors and dignitaries. Like the federal buildings for the executive and judicial branches, it is built in the distinctive neoclassical style and has a white exterior.
Fenway Park
Sports Facility
Fenway Park is a baseball park near Kenmore Square in Boston, Massachusetts. Located at 4 Yawkey Way, it has served as the home ballpark of the Boston Red Sox baseball team since it opened in 1912 and is the oldest Major League Baseball stadium in use. Because of the ballpark's age and constrained location in the dense Fenway–Kenmore neighborhood, the park has had many renovations and additions over the years not initially envisioned, resulting in unique, quirky features, including "The Triangle", "Pesky's Pole", and most notably the famous Green Monster in left field. Fenway Park has a low seating capacity, the fourth lowest in seating capacity and second lowest in total of all Major League Baseball stadiums; it is one of the seven Major League ballparks that cannot accommodate at least 40,000 spectators. It has hosted 11 World Series, beginning with the 1912 World Series and most recently the 2013 World Series. In addition to Major League Baseball, Fenway Park has been the site of many other sporting and cultural events, including professional football games for the Boston Redskins and the Boston Patriots, concerts, soccer and hockey games, political and religious campaigns. April 20, 2012, marked Fenway Park's centennial. On March 7, 2012, the park was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Golden Gate Bridge
Suspension Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate strait, the mile-wide three mile long channel between San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, to Marin County. It is one of the most internationally recognized symbols of San Francisco, California, and the United States. It has been declared one of the Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers. The Frommers travel guide considers the Golden Gate Bridge "possibly the most beautiful, certainly the most photographed, bridge in the world". It opened in 1937 and had until 1964 the longest suspension bridge main span in the world, at 4,200 feet.
Kennedy Space Center
Spaceport
The John F. Kennedy Space Center is the United States launch site that has been used for every NASA human space flight since December 1968. Although such flights are currently on hiatus, KSC continues to manage and operate unmanned rocket launch facilities for the U.S. government's civilian space program from three pads at the adjoining Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Its Vehicle Assembly Building is the fourth-largest structure in the world by volume, and was the largest when completed in 1965. Located on Merritt Island, Florida, the center is north-northwest of Cape Canaveral on the Atlantic Ocean, midway between Miami and Jacksonville on Florida's Space Coast. It is 34 miles long and roughly 6 miles wide, covering 219 square miles. A total of 13,100 people worked at the center as of 2011. Approximately 2,100 are employees of the federal government; the rest are contractors. Since December 1968, all launch operations have been conducted from Pads A and B at Launch Complex 39. Both pads are on the ocean, 3 miles east of the VAB. From 1969–1972, LC-39 was the departure point for all six Apollo manned Moon landing missions using the Saturn V, the largest and most powerful operational launch vehicle in history, and was used from 1981–2011 for all Space Shuttle launches. The Shuttle Landing Facility, located just to the north, was used for most Shuttle landings and is among the longest runways in the world.
Hollywood Bowl
Venue
The Hollywood Bowl is a 1920's amphitheater in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles, California, United States that is used primarily for music performances. The Hollywood Bowl is known for its band shell, a distinctive set of concentric arches that graced the site from 1929 through 2003, before being replaced with a somewhat larger one beginning in the 2004 season. The shell is set against the backdrop of the Hollywood Hills and the famous Hollywood Sign to the Northeast. The "bowl" refers to the shape of the concave hillside the amphitheater is carved into. The bowl is owned by the County of Los Angeles and is the home of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the host of hundreds of musical events each year. It is located at 2301 North Highland Avenue, north of Hollywood Blvd and the Hollywood & Highland subway station and south of Route 101.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial
Protected Site
The Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore near Keystone, South Dakota, in the United States. Sculpted by Danish-American Gutzon Borglum and his son, Lincoln Borglum, Mount Rushmore features 60-foot sculptures of the heads of four United States presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. The entire memorial covers 1,278.45 acres and is 5,725 feet above sea level. South Dakota historian Doane Robinson is credited with conceiving the idea of carving the likenesses of famous people into the Black Hills region of South Dakota in order to promote tourism in the region. Robinson's initial idea was to sculpt the Needles; however, Gutzon Borglum rejected the Needles site because of the poor quality of the granite and strong opposition from Native American groups. They settled on the Mount Rushmore location, which also has the advantage of facing southeast for maximum sun exposure. Robinson wanted it to feature western heroes like Lewis and Clark, Red Cloud and Buffalo Bill Cody but Borglum decided the sculpture should have a more national focus, and chose the four presidents whose likenesses would be carved into the mountain. After securing federal funding through the enthusiastic sponsorship of "Mount Rushmore's great political patron", U.S. Senator Peter Norbeck, construction on the memorial began in 1927, and the presidents' faces were completed between 1934 and 1939. Upon Gutzon Borglum's death in March 1941, his son Lincoln Borglum took over construction. Although the initial concept called for each president to be depicted from head to waist, lack of funding forced construction to end in late October 1941.
Las Vegas Strip
Location
The Las Vegas Strip is an approximately 4.2-mile stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard South in Clark County, Nevada. The Strip is not located within the City of Las Vegas but is in the unincorporated towns of Paradise and Winchester, which are south of the Las Vegas city limits. Most of the Strip has been designated an All-American Road, and is considered a scenic route at night. Many of the largest hotel, casino, and resort properties in the world are located on the Las Vegas Strip. Fifteen of the world's 25 largest hotels by room count are on the Strip, with a total of over 62,000 rooms. One of the most visible aspects of Las Vegas' cityscape is its use of dramatic architecture. The modernization of hotels, casinos, restaurants, and residential high-rises on the Strip has established the city as one of the most popular destinations for tourists.
Mall of America
Shopping center
The Mall of America is a shopping mall owned by the Triple Five Group. It is located in Bloomington, Minnesota, southeast of the junction of Interstate 494 and Minnesota State Highway 77, north of the Minnesota River and is across the interstate from the Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport. Opened in 1992, the mall receives 40 million visitors annually while the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro only receives 18 million visitors each year. 80 percent of the visitors to the Mall of America come from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, the Dakotas, Illinois, Ohio, and Canada. The 40 million statistic includes same day visitors too. The Triple Five Group, owned by Canada's Ghermezian family, owns and manages the Mall of America, as well as the West Edmonton Mall.
San Diego Zoo
Zoo
The San Diego Zoo is a zoo in Balboa Park, San Diego, California housing over 3,700 animals of more than 650 species and subspecies. Its parent organization, San Diego Zoo Global, is the largest zoological membership association in the world, with more than 250,000 member households and 130,000 child memberships, representing more than a half million people. San Diego Zoo pioneered the concept of open-air, cageless exhibits that re-create natural animal habitats. It is one of the few zoos in the world that houses the giant panda. Most recently, the San Diego Zoo has added a new Koalafornia Adventure - providing an entire Australian experience of its native birds and animals. It is privately operated by the nonprofit Zoological Society of San Diego on 100 acres of parkland leased from the City of San Diego, and ownership of all animals, equipment and other assets rests with the City of San Diego. The San Diego Zoo is an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the American Alliance of Museums, and a member of the Zoological Association of America and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums. San Diego Zoo Global also operates the San Diego Zoo Safari Park and the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research.
Palomar Observatory
Astronomical Observatory
Palomar Observatory is a privately owned astronomical observatory located in San Diego County, California, 145 kilometers southeast of Los Angeles, California, in the Palomar Mountain Range. It is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology located in Pasadena, California. Research time is granted to Caltech and its research partners, which include the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Cornell University. The observatory operates several telescopes, including the famous 200-inch Hale Telescope and the 48-inch Samuel Oschin Telescope. In addition, other instruments and projects have been hosted at the observatory, such as the Palomar Testbed Interferometer and the historic 18-inch Schmidt telescope, Palomar Observatory's first telescope, dating from 1936.
Six Flags Magic Mountain
Amusement Park
Six Flags Magic Mountain is a 262-acre theme park located in Valencia, Santa Clarita, California, north of Los Angeles. It opened on Memorial Day weekend on May 30, 1971 as Magic Mountain, by the Newhall Land and Farming Company. In 1979, Six Flags purchased the park and added the name Six Flags to the park's title. In 2009, 2.5 million visitors visited the park. As of 2013, Six Flags Magic Mountain has the most roller coasters in the world with 18. Moreover, as of 2013, Six Flags Magic Mountain is currently the top 19 theme/amusement park in the world in terms of attendance, falling short behind Knott's Berry Farm.
Six Flags Great America
Amusement Park
Six Flags Great America is a Six Flags theme park in the Chicago metropolitan area, located in Gurnee, Illinois. It first opened in 1976 as Marriott's Great America. Six Flags purchased the park from the Marriott Corporation in 1984, making it the seventh park in the chain. As of 2012, the park has nine themed sections, a 16-acre water park, two specially themed children's areas, and various other forms of entertainment.
Grand Central Terminal
Beaux-Arts Structure
Grand Central Terminal is a commuter railroad terminal at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States. Built by and named for the New York Central Railroad in the heyday of American long-distance passenger rail travel, it is the largest such facility in the world by number of platforms with 44 serving 67 tracks along them. They are on two levels, both below ground, with 41 tracks on the upper level and 26 on the lower, though the total number of tracks along platforms and in rail yards exceeds 100. The terminal covers an area of 48 acres. The terminal serves commuters traveling on the Metro-North Railroad to Westchester, Putnam, and Dutchess counties in New York State, and Fairfield and New Haven counties in Connecticut. Until 1991 the terminal served Amtrak, which moved to nearby Pennsylvania Station upon completion of the Empire Connection. Although the terminal has been properly called “Grand Central Terminal” since 1913, many people continue to refer to it as “Grand Central Station,” the name of the previous rail station on the same site, and of the U.S. Post Office station next door, which is not part of the terminal. It is also sometimes used to refer to the Grand Central – 42nd Street subway station, which serves the terminal.
Appalachian National Scenic Trail
Protected Site
The Appalachian National Scenic Trail, generally known as the Appalachian Trail or simply the A.T., is a marked hiking trail in the eastern United States extending between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine. The precise length of the trail changes over time as trails are modified or added. The total length is approximately 2,200 miles. The trail passes through the states of Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. The path is maintained by 30 trail clubs and multiple partnerships, and managed by the National Park Service and the nonprofit Appalachian Trail Conservancy. The majority of the trail is in wilderness, although some portions traverse towns, roads and cross rivers. The Appalachian Trail is famous for its many hikers, some of whom, called thru-hikers, attempt to hike it in its entirety in a single season. Many books, memoirs, web sites and fan organizations are dedicated to this pursuit. An unofficial extension known as the International Appalachian Trail continues north into Canada and to the end of the range, where it enters the Atlantic Ocean, whereas unofficial extensions heading south into Florida create what is known as the Eastern Continental Trail.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Art Gallery
The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the largest museums in the United States. It contains more than 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas. With more than one million visitors a year, it is the 62nd most-visited art museum in the world. Founded in 1870, the museum moved to its current location in 1909. The museum is affiliated with an art academy, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, and a sister museum, the Nagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts, in Nagoya, Japan. The director of the museum is Malcolm Rogers.
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca
Tourist attraction
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca is a paved road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and motorcycle racing, originally constructed in 1957 near both Salinas and Monterey, California, USA. The current racetrack is 2.238 miles in length with a 180 feet elevation change. It has eleven turns, including the famous "Corkscrew" at Turns 8 and 8A. A variety of racing, exhibition and entertainment events are held at the raceway, ranging from superkarts to sports car racing to music festivals. The name Laguna Seca is Spanish for "dry lagoon". The area where the track is was originally a lake. The course was built around the dry lake bed. After the course was reconfigured, two artificial ponds were added.
Brooklyn Museum
Art Gallery
The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At 560,000 square feet, the museum holds New York City's second largest art collection with roughly 1.5 million works. Founded in 1895, the Beaux-Arts building, designed by McKim, Mead and White, was planned to be the largest art museum in the world. The museum initially struggled to maintain its building and collection, only to be revitalized in the late 20th-century, thanks to major renovations. Significant areas of the collection include antiquities, specifically their collection of Egyptian antiquities spanning over 3,000 years. African, Oceanic, and Japanese art make for notable antiquities collections as well. American art is heavily represented, starting at the Colonial period. Artists represented in the collection include Mark Rothko, Edward Hopper, Norman Rockwell, Winslow Homer, Edgar Degas, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Max Weber. The museum also has a "Memorial Sculpture Garden" which features salvaged architectural elements from throughout New York City.
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Art Museum
The Philadelphia Museum of Art is among the largest art museums in the United States. It has collections of more than 227,000 objects that include "world-class holdings of European and American paintings, prints, drawings, and decorative arts." The Main Building is visited by more than 800,000 people annually, and is located at the west end of Philadelphia's Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Other museum sites include the Rodin Museum, also located on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway; the Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman Building, across the street from the Main Building; and historic houses in Fairmount Park. The Perelman Building opened in 2007, and houses some of the more popular collections, as well as the Museum's library, with over 200,000 books and periodicals, and 1.6 million other documents. The museum is closed on Mondays, and the basic entrance price is $20, with various concessions. The museum holds a total of about 25 special exhibitions every year, including touring exhibitions arranged with other museums in the United States and abroad. Some have an extra charge for entrance.
Six Flags Great Adventure
Amusement Park
Six Flags Great Adventure & Safari is a theme park in Jackson Township, Ocean County, New Jersey, United States, owned by Six Flags Entertainment Corp. Situated between New York City and Philadelphia, the park complex also contains the Hurricane Harbor water park. The park opened in 1974 under restaurateur Warner LeRoy. Six Flags took over ownership of the park in 1977. Today, the park contains eleven themed areas, three of which are designed for small children. Including the parks animal safari, Six Flags Great Adventure covers more land than any other amusement park in the world — 510 acres — 10 acres larger than Disney's Animal Kingdom. In August 30, 2012, Six Flags combined its 160-acre Great Adventure Park with its 350-acre Wild Safari animal park to form the 510-acre Great Adventure & Safari park which it claimed it would make it the largest theme park in the world — 10 acres larger than Disney's Animal Kingdom's reported 500 acres. However various sources say that Disney Animal Kingdom is still bigger with 580 acres. Other references including one on Disney's official corporate site say Disney Animal Kingdom is 500 acres and thus 10 acres smaller than the new Great Adventure park.
Daytona International Speedway
Venue
Daytona International Speedway is a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida, United States. Since opening in 1959, it has been the home of the Daytona 500, the most prestigious race in NASCAR. In addition to NASCAR, the track also hosts races of ARCA, AMA Superbike, Grand-Am, SCCA, and Motocross. The track features multiple layouts including the primary 2.5 miles high speed tri-oval, a 3.56 miles sports car course, a 2.95 miles motorcycle course, and a .25 miles karting and motorcycle flat-track. The track's 180-acre infield includes the 29-acre Lake Lloyd, which has hosted powerboat racing. The speedway is owned and operated by International Speedway Corporation. The track was built in 1958 by NASCAR founder William France Sr. to host racing that was being held at the former Daytona Beach Road Course. His banked design permitted higher speeds and gave fans a better view of the cars. Lights were installed around the track in 1998, and today it is the third largest single lit outdoor sports facility. The speedway has been renovated three times, with the infield renovated in 2004, and the track repaved in 1978 and 2010. On January 22, 2013, the track unveiled artist depictions of a renovated speedway with five new entrances, another pedestrian bridge, and an expanded grandstand.
Rockefeller Center
Tourist attraction
Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commercial buildings covering 22 acres between 48th and 51st streets in New York City, United States. Built by the Rockefeller family, it is located in the center of Midtown Manhattan, spanning the area between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Venue
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, located in Speedway, Indiana in the United States, is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400. It has existed since 1909, and is the original Speedway, the first racing facility so named. With a permanent seating capacity for an estimated 257,325 people, and infield seating raises capacity to an approximate 400,000, it is the highest-capacity stadium-type facility in the world. Considered relatively flat by American standards, the track is a two-and-a-half-mile, nearly rectangular oval with dimensions that have remained essentially unchanged since its inception: four 1/4-mile turns, two 5/8-mile long straightaways between the fourth and first turns and the second and third turns, and two 1/8-mile short straightaways, termed "short chutes," between the first and second, and third and fourth turns. A modern infield road course was constructed between 1998 and 2000, incorporating the western and southern portions of the oval to create a 2.605-mile track. In 2008, the road course was modified to replace the southwest turn with an additional infield section, for motorcycle use, resulting in a 2.621-mile course. Altogether, the current grounds have expanded from an original 320 acres on which the Speedway was first built to cover an area of over 559 acres. Placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987, it currently remains the only such landmark to be affiliated with automotive racing history.
Adirondack Mountains
Mountain range
The Adirondack Mountains are an unusual geological formation located in the northeastern lobe of Upstate New York in the United States. The mountains rise in Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, St. Lawrence, Saratoga, Warren, and Washington counties. Unlike other mountain ranges that run along fault lines, the Adirondack mountains resemble a dome. They were formed by recent uplift that has exposed previously deeply buried and ancient rocks more than a billion years old. The same rocks can be found in the Laurentian Mountains of Quebec, Canada, and the Adirondacks can be considered the southernmost expression of this range. They are bordered on the east by Lake Champlain and Lake George, which separate them from the Green Mountains in Vermont. They are bordered to the south by the Mohawk Valley, and to the west by the Tug Hill Plateau, separated by the Black River. This region is south of the Saint Lawrence River.
Universal Orlando
Amusement Park
The Universal Orlando Resort, commonly known as Universal Orlando, is a theme park resort in Orlando, Florida. It is wholly owned by NBCUniversal and its affiliates. Universal Orlando is the largest property operated by Universal Parks & Resorts, is the largest resort in Orlando, Florida, and is the second-largest resort in Greater Orlando after Walt Disney World. Universal Orlando consists of two theme parks, a night-time entertainment complex, and three Loews Hotels.
TD Bank Garden
Sports Facility
The TD Garden is a multi-purpose arena in Boston, Massachusetts. It is named after its sponsor, TD Bank, a subsidiary of Canada's Toronto-Dominion Bank. TD Garden is the home arena for the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League and Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association. It is owned by Delaware North, whose CEO, Jeremy Jacobs, also owns the Bruins. It is the site of the annual Beanpot college hockey tournament, and hosts the annual Hockey East Championships. The arena has also hosted many major national sporting events including the 1999, 2003, and 2009 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball regional first and second rounds, the 2009 and 2012 Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight, the 1998 Frozen Four, the 2004 Frozen Four, and the 2006 Women's Final Four. It hosted the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals and the 2013 Stanley Cup Finals for the Bruins, and the home games of the 2008 NBA Finals and 2010 NBA Finals for the Celtics.
Grand Teton National Park
National park
Grand Teton National Park is a United States National Park in northwestern Wyoming. At approximately 310,000 acres, the park includes the major peaks of the 40-mile-long Teton Range as well as most of the northern sections of the valley known as Jackson Hole. It is only 10 miles south of Yellowstone National Park, to which it is connected by the National Park Service-managed John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway. Along with surrounding National Forests, these three protected areas constitute the almost 18,000,000-acre Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, one of the largest intact mid-latitude temperate ecosystems in the world. Human history of the Grand Teton region dates back at least 11,000 years, when the first nomadic hunter-gatherer Paleo-Indians began migrating into the region during warmer months pursuing food and supplies. In the early 19th century, the first White explorers encountered the eastern Shoshone natives. Between 1810 and 1840, the region attracted fur trading companies that vied for control of the lucrative beaver pelt trade. U.S. Government expeditions to the region commenced in the mid-19th century as an offshoot of exploration in Yellowstone, with the first permanent white settlers in Jackson Hole arriving in the 1880s. Efforts to preserve the region as a national park commenced in the late 19th century, and in 1929 Grand Teton National Park was established, protecting the major peaks of the Teton Range. The valley of Jackson Hole remained in private ownership until the 1930s, when conservationists led by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. began purchasing land in Jackson Hole to be added to the existing national park. Against public opinion and with repeated Congressional efforts to repeal the measures, much of Jackson Hole was set aside for protection as Jackson Hole National Monument in 1943. The monument was abolished in 1950 and most of the monument land was added to Grand Teton National Park.
Universal Studios Hollywood
Amusement Park
Universal Studios Hollywood is a movie studio and theme park in the unincorporated Universal City community of Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is one of the oldest and most famous Hollywood movie studios still in use. Its official marketing headline is "The Entertainment Capital of LA", though during the summer it is often advertised as "The Coolest Place in LA." It was initially created to offer tours of the real Universal Studios soundstages and sets. It is the first of many full-fledged Universal Studios Theme Parks located across the world. Woody Woodpecker is the mascot for Universal Studios Hollywood. The entrance to the theme park may be accessed by the Metro Red line subway line at Universal City Station and other Metro bus routes. Outside the theme park, Universal City includes hotels Universal Hilton & Towers, the Sheraton Hotels and Resorts, the multi-screen Globe Theatre, often used for banquets and receptions, and Universal CityWalk, which offers a collection of shops and restaurants.
Six Flags Over Texas
Amusement Park
Six Flags Over Texas is a 212-acre theme park located in Arlington, Texas, east of Fort Worth and about 15 miles west of Dallas. It was the first Six Flags Theme Park, but because of later acquisitions it is not the oldest park of the Six Flags chain. The park opened on August 5, 1961, following just a year of construction and an initial investment of US$10 million by real estate developer Angus G. Wynne, Jr. Since its opening, Six Flags Over Texas has consistently performed well in terms of attendance and revenue, despite its history of ever-changing owners and expansions. The park currently has several amusement rides and attractions, bringing in thousands of visitors daily. The park is managed, but not owned, by the Six Flags corporation, in an arrangement similar to that for Six Flags Over Georgia. Six Flags Over Texas is owned by a group of approximately 120 limited partners—some the heirs of Angus G. Wynne. Starting in 1991, the park was managed by Time Warner Entertainment. In 1998, Time Warner sold its interests in the Six Flags parks to Premier Parks of Oklahoma City, which later changed its name to Six Flags Theme Parks, Inc.
MGM Grand Las Vegas
Accommodation
The MGM Grand Las Vegas is a hotel casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The MGM Grand is the second largest hotel in the world by number of rooms and the largest hotel resort complex in the United States, ahead of The Venetian. When it opened in 1993, the MGM Grand was the largest hotel in the world. Owned and operated by MGM Resorts International, the 30-floor main building is 293 ft high. The property includes five outdoor pools, rivers, and waterfalls that cover 6.6 acres, a 380,000 sq ft convention center, the MGM Grand Garden Arena, and the Grand Spa. It also houses numerous shops and night clubs, restaurants, the Grand Garden Arena and the largest casino in Clark County, which occupies 171,500 sq ft. Located on the Tropicana - Las Vegas Boulevard intersection, pedestrians are not allowed to cross at street level. Instead, the MGM Grand is linked by overhead pedestrian bridges to its neighboring casinos: to the south across Tropicana Avenue, the Tropicana, and to the west across the Strip, the New York-New York.
Ellis Island
Tourist attraction
Ellis Island, in Upper New York Bay, was the gateway for millions of immigrants to the United States as the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station from 1892 until 1954. The island was greatly expanded with land reclamation between 1892 and 1934. Before that, the much smaller original island was the site of Fort Gibson and later a naval magazine. The island was made part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument in 1965, and has hosted a museum of immigration since 1990. Long considered part of New York, a 1998 United States Supreme Court decision found that most of the island is in New Jersey. The south side of the island, home to the Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital, is closed to the general public and the object of restoration efforts spearheaded by Save Ellis Island.
Willis Tower
Skyscraper
Willis Tower is a 108-story, 1,451-foot skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois. At the time of its completion in 1973, it was the tallest building in the world, surpassing the World Trade Center towers in New York, and it held this rank for nearly 25 years. Willis Tower is the second-tallest building in the United States and the eighth-tallest freestanding structure in the world. The skyscraper is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Chicago, and over one million people visit its observation deck each year. Named the Sears Tower throughout its history, in 2009 the Willis Group obtained the right to rename the building, as part of their lease on a portion of its offices. On July 16, 2009, the building was officially renamed Willis Tower. On August 13, 2012, United Airlines announced it will be moving its corporate headquarters from 77 West Wacker Drive to Willis Tower.
Field Museum of Natural History
Neoclassicism Structure
The Field Museum of Natural History is located in Chicago, IL in the US. It sits on Lake Shore Drive next to Lake Michigan, part of a scenic complex known as the Museum Campus Chicago. The museum collections contain over 24 million specimens, of which only a small portion are ever on display. The president of the museum is Richard W. Lariviere. Some prized exhibits in the Field Museum include a large collection of dinosaur skeletons in the Evolving Planet exhibit, a comprehensive set of human cultural anthropology exhibits, a large and diverse taxidermy collection, the Ancient Americas exhibit devoted to a large collection of Native American artifacts, and Sue.
Kings Dominion
Amusement Park
Kings Dominion is an amusement park in Doswell, Virginia 20 miles north of Richmond and 75 miles south of Washington, DC, off Interstate 95. The 400-acre park in Hanover County was originally built and owned in a joint venture between the Taft Broadcasting Company and the Kroger Company. Kings Dominion opened in 1975 and is currently owned by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company. It offers over 60 rides, shows and attractions including 14 roller coasters and a 20-acre water park. The name given to the park is derived from the name of its sister park, Kings Island, and the nickname for the state of Virginia, "Old Dominion".
Brooklyn Bridge
Suspension Bridge
The Brooklyn Bridge is a bridge in New York City and is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States. Completed in 1883, it connects the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn by spanning the East River. With a main span of 1,595.5 feet, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world from its opening until 1903, and the first steel-wire suspension bridge. Originally referred to as the New York and Brooklyn Bridge and as the East River Bridge, it was dubbed the Brooklyn Bridge, a name from an earlier January 25, 1867, letter to the editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, and formally so named by the city government in 1915. Since its opening, it has become an icon of New York City, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964 and a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1972.
National Air and Space Museum
Tourist attraction
The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution holds the largest collection of historic aircraft and spacecraft in the world in 161,145 square feet of exhibition floor space. It was established in 1946, as the National Air Museum and opened its main building in 1976. Located in Washington, D.C., United States, it is a center for research into the history and science of aviation and spaceflight, as well as planetary science and terrestrial geology and geophysics. Almost all space and aircraft on display are originals or backups to the originals. It operates an annex, the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, at Dulles International Airport, which opened in 2003 and itself encompasses 760,000 square feet. The museum currently conducts restoration of its collection at the Paul E. Garber Preservation, Restoration, and Storage Facility in Suitland, Maryland.
Franklin Institute
Greek Revival Structure
The Franklin Institute is a museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and one of the oldest centers of science education and development in the United States, dating to 1824. The Institute also houses the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial.
Zion National Park
National park
Zion National Park is located in the Southwestern United States, near Springdale, Utah. A prominent feature of the 229-square-mile park is Zion Canyon, which is 15 miles long and up to half a mile deep, cut through the reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone by the North Fork of the Virgin River. The lowest elevation is 3,666 ft at Coalpits Wash and the highest elevation is 8,726 ft at Horse Ranch Mountain. Located at the junction of the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert regions, the park's unique geography and variety of life zones allow for unusual plant and animal diversity. Numerous plant species as well as 289 species of birds, 75 mammals, and 32 reptiles inhabit the park's four life zones: desert, riparian, woodland, and coniferous forest. Zion National Park includes mountains, canyons, buttes, mesas, monoliths, rivers, slot canyons, and natural arches. Human habitation of the area started about 8,000 years ago with small family groups of Native Americans; the semi-nomadic Basketmaker Anasazi stem from one of these groups. In turn, the Virgin Anasazi culture developed as the Basketmakers settled in permanent communities. A different group, the Parowan Fremont, lived in the area as well. Both groups moved away by 1300 and were replaced by the Parrusits and several other Southern Paiute subtribes. Mormons came into the area in 1858 and settled there in the early 1860s. In 1909, U.S. President William Howard Taft named the area a National Monument to protect the canyon, under the name of Mukuntuweap National Monument. In 1918, however, the acting director of the newly created National Park Service changed the park's name to Zion. According to historian Hal Rothman, "The name change played to a prevalent bias of the time. Many believed that Spanish and Indian names would deter visitors who, if they could not pronounce the name of a place, might not bother to visit it. The new name, Zion, had greater appeal to an ethnocentric audience." The United States Congress established the monument as a National Park on November 19, 1919. The Kolob section was proclaimed a separate Zion National Monument in 1937, but was incorporated into the park in 1956.
Epcot
Amusement Park
Epcot is the second of four theme parks built at Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida. It opened on October 1, 1982, and spans 300 acres, more than twice the size of the Magic Kingdom park. It is dedicated to the celebration of human achievement, namely technological innovation and international culture, and is often referred to as a "Permanent World's Fair." In 2011, the park hosted approximately 10.83 million guests, making it the third most visited theme park in the United States, and sixth most visited theme park in the world. The park is represented by Spaceship Earth, a geodesic sphere that also serves as an attraction.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Neoclassical Structure
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is the United States' official memorial to the Holocaust. Adjacent to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the USHMM provides for the documentation, study, and interpretation of Holocaust history. It is dedicated to helping leaders and citizens of the world confront hatred, prevent genocide, promote human dignity, and strengthen democracy. With an operating budget of just under $78.7 million in 2008, the Museum had a staff of about 400 employees, 125 contractors, 650 volunteers, 91 Holocaust survivors, and 175,000 members. It had local offices in New York, Boston, Boca Raton, Chicago, Los Angeles and Dallas. Since its dedication on April 22, 1993, the Museum has welcomed nearly 30 million visitors, including more than 8 million school children. It has also welcomed 91 heads of state and more than 3,500 foreign officials from over 132 countries. The Museum's visitors came from all over the world, and less than 10 percent of the Museum's visitors are Jewish. Its website had 25 million visits in 2008 from an average of 100 different countries daily. 35% of these visits were from outside the United States, including more than 238,000 visits from Muslim-majority countries.
Magic Kingdom
Amusement Park
Magic Kingdom Park, commonly known as Magic Kingdom, is the first of four theme parks built at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, opened on October 1, 1971. Designed and built by WED Enterprises, its layout and attractions are similar to Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California, and is dedicated to fairy tales and Disney characters. In 2012, the park hosted 17.54 million visitors, making it the most visited theme park in the world for 2012. The park is represented by Cinderella Castle, a replica of the fairy tale castle seen in the 1950 film.
Busch Gardens Williamsburg
Amusement Park
Busch Gardens Williamsburg is a 383-acre theme park located in James City County, Virginia, about 3 miles southeast of Williamsburg, originally developed by Anheuser-Busch and currently owned by SeaWorld Entertainment, a division of Blackstone Group. The park opened on May 16, 1975, adjacent to Anheuser-Busch's brewery and near its other developments including the Kingsmill Resort complex. The park is themed around old-world Europe. The park was originally called Busch Gardens: The Old Country, reflecting the European theme. In 1993, the park was renamed Busch Gardens Williamsburg before briefly being named Busch Gardens Europe in 2006 until it returned to the Williamsburg name in 2008. Similarly, its sister park in Florida was originally called Busch Gardens: The Dark Continent until it was officially renamed Busch Gardens Tampa Bay until the same brief switch to Busch Gardens Africa. In 2010, the estimated attendance of 2.8 million placed it in the top 20 most-visited parks in the US. In addition to its landscaping and European theme, Busch Gardens is widely known for its roller coasters, including Alpengeist and Apollo's Chariot, which won #4 best steel coaster in 2012 from the Golden Ticket Awards.
Cowboys Stadium
Sports Facility
AT&T Stadium is a city-owned stadium with a retractable roof in Arlington, Texas, United States. It serves as the home of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League. It replaced the partially covered Texas Stadium, which opened in 1971, and served as the Cowboys' home through the 2008 season. It was completed on May 27, 2009. The stadium seats 80,000, making it the fourth largest stadium in the NFL by seating capacity. The maximum capacity of the stadium, including standing room, is 105,000. The Party Pass sections are behind seats in each end zone and on a series of six elevated platforms connected by stairways. It has the world's largest column-free interior and the fourth largest high definition video screen, which hangs from 20-yard line to 20-yard line. The facility can also be used for a variety of other activities outside of its main purpose such as concerts, basketball games, boxing matches, college football and high school football contests, soccer matches, and motocross races.
University of North Dakota
College/University
The University of North Dakota is a public research university located in Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States. Established by the Dakota Territorial Assembly in 1883, six years before the establishment of the state of North Dakota, UND is the oldest and largest university in the state. UND was founded as a university with a strong liberal arts foundation and is classified by the Carnegie Foundation as a doctoral/research-intensive institution. UND is ranked among the top 100 public universities in the country by U.S. News & World Report and is the only university in the states of North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana to do so. UND offers a variety of professional and specialized programs, including the only schools of law and medicine in the state, but is perhaps best known for its John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences which trains air traffic controllers and pilots from around the world. It is the first university to offer a degree in unmanned aircraft systems operations. UND specializes in aerospace, health sciences, nutrition, energy and environmental protection, and engineering research. Several research institutions are located on the UND campus including the Energy and Environmental Research Center, the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, and the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center.
Greensboro Coliseum Complex
Sports Facility
The Greensboro Coliseum Complex is an entertainment and sports complex located in Glenwood neighborhood of Greensboro, North Carolina, United States. Opening in 1959, the arena was once one of the largest venues in the South, with a seating capacity of over 23,000. The complex holds nine venues that includes an amphitheater, arena, aquatic center, banquet hall, convention center, museum, performing arts center, theatre and an indoor pavilion. It is the home of the UNC Greensboro Spartans men's basketball team, as well as the Atlantic Coast Conference Men's and Women's Basketball Tournament. It has hosted the Men's ACC Tournament 23 times since 1967 and the Women's ACC Tournament 12 times since 2000. The coliseum is contracted to host both tournaments until 2015. Other notable sporting events include the NCAA Men's Final Four in 1974 and the East Regionals in 1976, 1979 and 1998. It is also the former home of several professional hockey teams including the Greensboro Generals, Greensboro Monarchs and the Carolina Hurricanes. The complex has hosted the "Central Carolina Fair" since 1999. It is the largest arena in the Southern United States, and the second-largest nationally behind the United Center of Chicago.
National Museum of Natural History
Museum
The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. With free admission and open doors 364 days a year, it is the most visited natural history museum in the world. Opened in 1910, the museum on the National Mall was one of the first Smithsonian buildings constructed exclusively to hold the national collections and research facilities. The main building has an overall area of 1,320,000 square feet with 350,000 square feet of exhibition and public space and houses over 1,000 employees. The museum's collections total over 126 million specimens of plants, animals, fossils, minerals, rocks, meteorites, and human cultural artifacts. With 7.4 million visitors in 2009, it is the most visited of all of the Smithsonian museums that year and is also home to about 185 professional natural history scientists — the largest group of scientists dedicated to the study of natural and cultural history in the world.
Hersheypark
Amusement Park
Hersheypark is a family theme park situated in Hershey, Derry Township, Pennsylvania, United States, about 15 miles east of Harrisburg, and 95 miles west of Philadelphia. Founded in 1905 by Milton S. Hershey, as a leisure park for the employees of the Hershey Chocolate Company, as of 2012, the park is wholly and privately owned by Hershey Entertainment & Resorts Company. The park has won several awards, including the IAAPA Applause Award. The park opened its first roller coaster in 1923, the The Wild Cat, an early Philadelphia Toboggan Company coaster. In 1970, Hershey Park began a redevelopment plan which made the park into the new Hersheypark. The 1970s brought the first looping roller coaster on the East Coast, as well as a 330 foot tall observation tower, the Kissing Tower. Beginning in the mid-1980s, the park rapidly expanded. Between 1991 and 2008, the park added eight roller coasters and a water park. As of 2011, the park's area covers over 110 acres, containing over 60 rides and attractions. The park contains a waterpark called The Boardwalk at Hersheypark, and a zoo called ZOOAMERICA - North American Wildlife Park. Adjacent is Hershey's Chocolate World, a visitors' center that is open to the public and that contains shops, restaurants, and a chocolate factory-themed ride.
Yankee Stadium
Sports Facility
Yankee Stadium was a stadium located in the South Bronx in New York City, in the U.S. state of New York. It was the home ballpark of the New York Yankees, one of the city's Major League Baseball franchises, from 1923 to 1973 and from 1976 to 2008. The stadium hosted 6,581 Yankees regular season home games during its 85-year history. It was also the former home of the New York Giants football team from 1956 through the first part of the 1973-74 football season. The stadium's nickname, "The House That Ruth Built", is derived from Babe Ruth, the legendary baseball superstar whose prime years coincided with the stadium's opening and the beginning of the Yankees' winning history. It has also been known as "The Big Ballpark in The Bronx", "The Stadium", and "The Cathedral of Baseball". The venue was constructed for $2.4 million between 1922–1923 specifically for the Yankees, who had been sharing the Polo Grounds with the New York Giants baseball team for 10 years. Yankee Stadium opened during the 1923 MLB season, and at the time, it was hailed as a one-of-a-kind facility in the country for its size. Over the course of its history, it became one of the most famous venues in the United States, having hosted a variety of events and historic moments during its existence. While many of these moments were baseball-related—including World Series games, no-hitters, perfect games, and historic home runs—the stadium also hosted boxing matches, concerts, Jehovah's Witnesses conventions, and three Papal Masses. The stadium went through many alterations and playing surface configurations over the years. The condition of the facility worsened in the 1960s and 1970s, prompting its closing for renovation from 1974–1975. The renovation significantly altered the appearance of the venue and reduced the distance of the outfield fences.
Washington Monument
National Register of Historic Places Location
The Washington Monument is an obelisk on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built to commemorate George Washington, commander-in-chief of the Continental Army and the first American president. The monument, made of marble, granite, and bluestone gneiss, is both the world's tallest stone structure and the world's tallest obelisk, standing 555 feet 5 1⁄8 inches tall. Taller monumental columns exist, but they are neither all stone nor true obelisks. Construction of the monument began in 1848, was halted from 1854 to 1877, and finally completed in 1884. The hiatus in construction happened because of co-option by the Know Nothing party, a lack of funds, and the intervention of the American Civil War. A difference in shading of the marble, visible approximately 150 feet or 27% up, shows where construction was halted. Its original design was by Robert Mills, an architect of the 1840s, but his design was modified significantly when construction resumed. The cornerstone was laid on July 4, 1848; the capstone was set on December 6, 1884, and the completed monument was dedicated on February 21, 1885. It officially opened October 9, 1888. Upon completion, it became the world's tallest structure, a title previously held by the Cologne Cathedral. The monument held this designation until 1889, when the Eiffel Tower was completed in Paris, France.
Rocky Mountain National Park
National park
Rocky Mountain National Park is a national park located in the north-central region of the U.S. state of Colorado. It features majestic mountain views, mountain lakes, a variety of wildlife, varied climates and environments—from wooded forests to mountain tundra—and easy access to back-country trails and campsites. The park is located northwest of Boulder, Colorado, in the Rockies, and includes the Continental Divide and the headwaters of the Colorado River. The park has five visitor centers. The park headquarters, Beaver Meadows Visitor Center, is a National Historic Landmark, designed by the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture at Taliesin West. The park may be accessed by three roads: U.S. Highway 34, 36, and State Highway 7. Highway 7 enters the park for less than a mile, where it provides access to the Lily Lake Visitor Center which is closed indefinitely. Farther south, spurs from route 7 lead to campgrounds and trail heads around Longs Peak and Wild Basin. Highway 36 enters the park on the east side, where it terminates after a few miles at Highway 34. Highway 34, known as Trail Ridge Road through the park, runs from the town of Estes Park on the east to Grand Lake on the southwest. The road reaches an elevation of 12,183 feet, and is closed by snow in winter.
Graceland
Colonial Revival Structure
Graceland is a large white-columned mansion and 13.8-acre estate in Memphis, Tennessee that was home to Elvis Presley. It is located at 3764 Elvis Presley Boulevard in the vast Whitehaven community about 9 miles from Downtown and less than four miles north of the Mississippi border. It currently serves as a museum. It was opened to the public on June 7, 1982. The site was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on November 7, 1991 and declared a National Historic Landmark on March 27, 2006. Graceland has become one of the most-visited private homes in America with over 600,000 visitors a year, behind the White House and Biltmore Estate. The most famous icon of the estate is the front gate, shaped like a book of sheet music, with green colored musical notes, and a silhouette of Elvis, it has come to symbolize the estate more than the mansion itself. Elvis Presley died at the estate on August 16, 1977. Presley, his parents Gladys and Vernon Presley, and his grandmother, are buried there in what is called the Meditation Garden. A memorial gravestone for Presley's stillborn twin brother, Jesse Garon, is also at the site.
SeaWorld Orlando
Amusement Park
SeaWorld Orlando is a theme park, and marine-life based zoological park, in Orlando, Florida. It is owned and operated by SeaWorld Entertainment, a subsidiary of Blackstone Group. When combined with its neighbor Discovery Cove and Aquatica, it forms Seaworld Parks and Resorts Orlando, an entertainment complex consisting of the three parks and many neighboring hotels and eateries. In 2010, SeaWorld Orlando hosted an estimated 5.1 million guests, ranking it the ninth-most visited amusement park in the United States. However, SeaWorld's owners have challenged the estimated figures in the past; in 2007, the estimate was 5.8 million guests, while the park's internal data, normally not released to the public, was closer to 6.2 million guests. A spokesperson for then-owner Busch Entertainment Corporation disagreed with the report, saying, "They are wrong across the board."
Bronx Zoo
Zoo
The Bronx Zoo is located in the Bronx borough of New York City, within Bronx Park. It is the world's largest metropolitan zoo, with some 6,000 animals representing about 650 species from around the world. The zoo comprises 265 acres of park lands and naturalistic habitats, through which the Bronx River flows. The Bronx Zoo is part of an integrated system of four zoos and one aquarium managed by the Wildlife Conservation Society, and is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.
Lincoln Memorial
Beaux-Arts Structure
The Lincoln Memorial is an American national monument built to honor the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It is located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. across from the Washington Monument. The architect was Henry Bacon, the sculptor of the primary statue – Abraham Lincoln, 1920 – was Daniel Chester French, and the painter of the interior murals was Jules Guerin. Dedicated in 1922, it is one of several monuments built to honor an American president. The building is in the form of a Greek Doric temple and contains a large seated sculpture of Abraham Lincoln and inscriptions of two well-known speeches by Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address and his Second Inaugural Address. The memorial has been the site of many famous speeches, including Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, delivered on August 28, 1963 during the rally at the end of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Like other monuments on the National Mall – including the nearby Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial, and National World War II Memorial – the memorial is administered by the National Park Service under its National Mall and Memorial Parks group. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since October 15, 1966. It is open to the public 24 hours a day. In 2007, it was ranked seventh on the List of America's Favorite Architecture by the American Institute of Architects.
Dodger Stadium
Sports Facility
Dodger Stadium, occasionally referenced by local sportscasters with the metonym Chavez Ravine, is a stadium in Los Angeles. Located adjacent to Downtown Los Angeles, Dodger Stadium has been the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers team since 1962. Dodger Stadium was constructed from 1959 to 1962 at a cost of $23 million, financed by private sources. Dodger Stadium is currently the third-oldest ballpark in Major League Baseball, after Fenway Park in Boston and Wrigley Field in Chicago and is, by seating capacity, the largest baseball-specific stadium in the United States. The stadium hosted the 1980 MLB All-Star Game, as well as games of the 1963, 1965, 1966, 1974, 1977, 1978, 1981, and 1988 World Series. It also hosted the semifinals and finals of the 2009 World Baseball Classic as well as exhibition baseball during the 1984 Summer Olympics. The 2012 season marked the fiftieth anniversary of the stadium. For the first time at Dodger Stadium, a soccer tournament featuring four clubs, Real Madrid, Everton, Juventus, and Los Angeles Galaxy, were played on August 3, 2013, in a doubleheader. The field dimensions were from the third base side to right field, temporary grass was covered on the pitcher's mound and the infield. The tournament was a semifinal and Real Madrid defeated Everton 2-1 and Los Angeles Galaxy defeated Juventus 3-1.
Smithsonian National Zoological Park
Zoo
The National Zoological Park, commonly known as the National Zoo, is one of the oldest zoos in the United States, and as part of the Smithsonian Institution, does not charge admission. Founded in 1889, its mission is to provide leadership in animal care, science, education, sustainability, and visitor experience. The National Zoo has two campuses. The first is a 163-acre urban park located in northwest Washington, D.C. that is 20 minutes from the National Mall by Metro to the Woodley Park station, or downhill walk from the Cleveland Park station. The other campus is the 3,200-acre Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Virginia. SCBI is a non-public facility devoted to training wildlife professionals in conservation biology and to propagating rare species through natural means and assisted reproduction. The National Zoo is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Altogether, the two facilities contain 2,000 animals of 400 different species. About one-fifth of them are endangered or threatened. Most species are on exhibit at the Zoo's Rock Creek Park campus. The best known residents are the giant pandas, but the Zoo is also home to birds, great apes, big cats, asian elephants, insects, amphibians, reptiles, aquatic animals, small mammals and many more. The SCBI facility houses between 30 and 40 endangered species at any given time depending on research needs and recommendations from the Zoo and the conservation community. The National Zoo, as part of the Smithsonian Institution, receives federal appropriations for operating expenses. A new master plan for the park was introduced in 2008 to upgrade the park's exhibits and layout.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
National park
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a United States National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site that straddles the ridgeline of the Great Smoky Mountains, part of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which are a division of the larger Appalachian Mountain chain. The border between Tennessee and North Carolina runs northeast to southwest through the centerline of the park. It is the most visited national park in the United States. On its route from Maine to Georgia, the Appalachian Trail also passes through the center of the park. The park was chartered by the United States Congress in 1934 and officially dedicated by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1940. It encompasses 522,419 acres, making it one of the largest protected areas in the eastern United States. The main park entrances are located along U.S. Highway 441 at the towns of Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and Cherokee, North Carolina. It was the first national park whose land and other costs were paid for in part with federal funds; previous parks were funded wholly with state money or private funds.
Bellagio
Contemporary Structure
Bellagio is a luxury hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned by MGM Resorts International and was built on the site of the demolished Dunes hotel and casino. Inspired by the Lake Como town of Bellagio in Italy, Bellagio is famed for its elegance. One of its most notable features is an 8-acre lake between the building and the Strip, which houses the Fountains of Bellagio, a large dancing water fountain synchronized to music. Inside Bellagio, Dale Chihuly's Fiori di Como, composed of over 2,000 hand-blown glass flowers, covers 2,000 sq ft of the lobby ceiling. Bellagio is home to Cirque du Soleil's aquatic production "O". The main tower of Bellagio, with 3,015 rooms, has 36 floors and a height of 508 ft. The Spa Tower, which stands to the south of the main tower, has 33 floors, a height of 392 ft, and contains 935 rooms.
Six Flags New England
Amusement Park
Six Flags New England, formerly Riverside Amusement Park, is a Six Flags theme park, named for the New England region, in which it is located. Located off of Massachusetts State Route 159, Six Flags New England is located less than 3 miles from the major City of Springfield, Massachusetts, in the nearby town of Agawam, Massachusetts. Six Flags New England is less than a mile from the Connecticut border, making it very popular with Connecticut residents as well as Massachusetts residents. Like most Six Flags parks, Six Flags New England consists of a theme park and a water park. Technically speaking, it's the oldest of the Six Flags parks, though it did not originally open as such.
Prudential Center
Sports Facility
Prudential Center is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the central business district of Newark, New Jersey, United States. The arena was designed by HOK Sport, with the exterior designed by Morris Adjmi Architects. Opened in 2007, it is the home of the National Hockey League's New Jersey Devils and the NCAA's Seton Hall Pirates men's basketball team. It was also the temporary home of the Women's National Basketball Association's New York Liberty during the renovation of Madison Square Garden between 2011 and 2013. The arena seats 17,625 patrons for hockey and 18,711 for basketball. Fans and sports writers have affectionately nicknamed the arena "The Rock" in reference to the Rock of Gibraltar, the corporate logo of Prudential Financial, a financial institution that owns the naming rights to the arena and is headquartered within walking distance of the arena. The arena was built amidst financial concerns and years of speculation that the Devils would relocate, despite the fact that the Devils were perennial playoff contenders and were often at or near the top of the NHL's standings for nearly two decades. The arena is located two blocks from Newark Penn Station in downtown Newark, just west of Newark's Ironbound district, making it easily accessible via New Jersey Transit, PATH, Newark Light Rail, and Amtrak. At the time of its opening, Prudential Center was the first major league sports venue to be built in the New York metropolitan area since the Brendan Byrne Arena, the Devils' former home, opened in 1981. It is hoped that Prudential Center might play an important role in the revitalization of Newark.
Death Valley National Park
National park
Death Valley National Park is a national park in the U.S. states of California and Nevada located east of the Sierra Nevada, occupying an interface zone between the arid Great Basin and Mojave deserts in the United States. The park protects the northwest corner of the Mojave Desert and contains a diverse desert environment of salt-flats, sand dunes, badlands, valleys, canyons, and mountains. It is the largest national park in the lower 48 states and has been declared an International Biosphere Reserve. Approximately 95% of the park is a designated wilderness area. It is the hottest and driest of the national parks in the United States. The second-lowest point in the Western Hemisphere is in Badwater Basin, which is 282 feet below sea level. The park is home to many species of plants and animals that have adapted to this harsh desert environment. Some examples include creosote bush, Bighorn Sheep, Coyote, and the Death Valley Pupfish, a survivor of much wetter times. A series of Native American groups inhabited the area from as early as 7000 BC, most recently the Timbisha around 1000 AD who migrated between winter camps in the valleys and summer grounds in the mountains. A group of European-Americans that became stuck in the valley in 1849 while looking for a shortcut to the gold fields of California gave the valley its name, even though only one of their group died there. Several short-lived boom towns sprang up during the late 19th and early 20th centuries to mine gold and silver. The only long-term profitable ore to be mined was borax, which was transported out of the valley with twenty-mule teams. The valley later became the subject of books, radio programs, television series, and movies. Tourism blossomed in the 1920s, when resorts were built around Stovepipe Wells and Furnace Creek. Death Valley National Monument was declared in 1933 and the park was substantially expanded and became a national park in 1994.
Six Flags Over Georgia
Amusement Park
Six Flags Over Georgia is a 290-acre theme park located west of Atlanta and near Austell, in unincorporated Cobb County, Georgia, United States. Opened in 1967, it is the second park in the Six Flags chain, after the original opening in 1961 in Texas. Six Flags Over Georgia and its two sister parks, Six Flags Over Texas and Six Flags St. Louis, are the only three parks in the Six Flags chain to have been constructed by Angus G. Wynne, and thus they are the only parks to have used the "Six Flags" name since their original grand openings. As with the other Six Flags parks, Six Flags Over Georgia hosts characters from the Warner Bros. animation library, notably the Looney Tunes characters and Justice League from DC Comics.
University of Louisiana at Lafayette
College/University
The University of Louisiana at Lafayette, or UL Lafayette, is a coeducational, public, research university located in Lafayette, in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It has the largest enrollment within the nine-campus University of Louisiana System and has the second largest enrollment in Louisiana. Founded in 1898 as an industrial school, the institution developed into a four-year university during the twentieth century and became known by its present name in 1999. Concurrently the university evolved into a national research and doctoral university as noted by its Carnegie categorization as a RU/H: research university. It offers Louisiana's only Ph.D. in francophone studies and Louisiana's only industrial design degree. The university has achieved several milestones in computer science, engineering and architecture. It is also home to a distinct College of the Arts.
Universal Studios Florida
Amusement Park
Universal Studios Florida is a theme park located in Orlando, Florida. Opened on June 7, 1990, the park's theme is the entertainment industry, in particular movies and television. Universal Studios Florida inspires its guests to "ride the movies", and it features numerous attractions and live shows. The park is one component of the larger Universal Orlando Resort. In 2010, the park hosted an estimated 5.9 million guests, ranking it the eighth-most visited theme park in the United States.
Gateway Arch
High-Tech Structure
The Gateway Arch is a 630-foot monument in St. Louis, Missouri. Clad in stainless steel and built in the form of a flattened catenary arch, it is the tallest man-made monument in the United States, Missouri's tallest accessible building, and the world's tallest arch. Built as a monument to the westward expansion of the United States, it is the centerpiece of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial and has become an internationally famous symbol of St. Louis. The arch sits at the site of St. Louis' foundation on the west bank of the Mississippi River. The Gateway Arch was designed by Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen and German-American structural engineer Hannskarl Bandel in 1947. Construction began on February 12, 1963, and ended on October 28, 1965, costing US$13 million at the time. The monument opened to the public on June 10, 1967.
Carowinds
Amusement Park
Carowinds is a 398-acre amusement park, located adjacent to Interstate 77 on the border between North and South Carolina, in Charlotte and Fort Mill, respectively. The park opened on March 31, 1973, at a cost of $70 million. This was the result of a four-year planning period spearheaded by Charlotte businessman Earl Patterson Hall, who was inspired to build the park by a 1956 trip to Disneyland and a dream of bringing the two states closer together. It is owned and operated by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company. Boomerang Bay is a 20 acre water park located within Carowinds's 398 acres and is included in regular park admission.
Churchill Downs
Venue
Churchill Downs, located on Central Avenue in south Louisville, Kentucky, United States, is a Thoroughbred racetrack most famous for hosting the Kentucky Derby annually. It officially opened in 1875, and held the first Kentucky Derby and the first Kentucky Oaks in the same year. Churchill Downs has also hosted the renowned Breeders' Cup on eight occasions, most recently in 2011. Churchill Downs Incorporated owns and operates the racetrack. In 2009, the Horseplayers Association of North America introduced a rating system for 65 Thoroughbred racetracks in North America. Churchill Downs was ranked number 5 on this list.
Pikes Peak
Mountain
Pikes Peak is a mountain in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains within Pike National Forest, 10 mi west of Colorado Springs, Colorado, in El Paso County in the United States of America. Originally called "El Capitán" by Spanish settlers, the mountain was renamed Pike's Peak after Zebulon Pike, Jr., an explorer who led an expedition to the southern Colorado area in 1806. The Arapaho name is heey-otoyoo’. At 14,115 feet, it is one of Colorado's 54 fourteeners, mountains that rise more than 14,000 feet above mean sea level, and rises 8,400 feet above the city of Colorado Springs. Pikes Peak is a designated National Historic Landmark.
Bryce Canyon National Park
National park
Bryce Canyon National Park is a national park located in southwestern Utah in the United States. The major feature of the park is Bryce Canyon, which despite its name, is not a canyon but a collection of giant natural amphitheaters along the eastern side of the Paunsaugunt Plateau. Bryce is distinctive due to geological structures called hoodoos, formed by frost weathering and stream erosion of the river and lake bed sedimentary rocks. The red, orange, and white colors of the rocks provide spectacular views for park visitors. Bryce sits at a much higher elevation than nearby Zion National Park. The rim at Bryce varies from 8,000 to 9,000 feet. The Bryce Canyon area was settled by Mormon pioneers in the 1850s and was named after Ebenezer Bryce, who homesteaded in the area in 1874. The area around Bryce Canyon became a National Monument in 1923 and was designated as a National Park in 1928. The park covers 35,835 acres and receives relatively few visitors compared to Zion National Park and the Grand Canyon, largely due to its remote location.
Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom
Amusement Park
Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom is an amusement and water park located in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The park features eight roller coasters, other adult and children's rides, and a waterpark, Wildwater Kingdom. It features some of the world's most prominent rollercoasters, including Steel Force, the ninth longest steel rollercoaster in the world and the longest on the U.S. East Coast. The park is accessible from Interstate 78, U.S. Route 222 and Cedar Crest Boulevard. The region is served by Lehigh Valley International Airport, about 10 miles east of Dorney Park. Bieber Tourways has a nearby bus terminal at the former Charcoal Drive-In, with daily service to and from New York City's Port Authority Bus Terminal, Philadelphia Greyhound Terminal and other regional locations.
Belmont Park
Sports Facility
Belmont Park is a major Thoroughbred horse-racing facility located in Elmont in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, on Long Island adjoining New York City. It first opened on May 4, 1905. It is typically open for racing throughout May and June and into late July, and again from late September through late October. It is world famous as the home of the Belmont Stakes, known as the "Test of the Champion", the third leg of the Triple Crown.
Georgia Dome
Sports Facility
The Georgia Dome is a domed stadium located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, between downtown to the east and Vine City to the west. It is owned and operated by the State of Georgia as part of the Georgia World Congress Center Authority. It is primarily the home stadium for the NFL's Atlanta Falcons and the NCAA's Georgia State Panthers football team. The Dome has also hosted several soccer matches since 2009 that have drawn over 50,000 fans. The Dome is accessible by rail via MARTA's Blue and Green lines, which service the nearby Dome/GWCC/Philips Arena/CNN Center and Vine City stations. The Georgia Dome was the largest domed structure in the world when it opened, but it has since been surpassed by the Millennium Dome in London and the Docklands Stadium in Melbourne, Australia.
Mercedes-Benz Superdome
Sports Facility
The Mercedes-Benz Superdome is a domed sports and exhibition venue, located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Plans were drawn up in 1967, by the New Orleans modernist architectural firm of Curtis and Davis. Its steel frame covers a 13-acre expanse. Its 273-foot dome is made of a lamellar multi-ringed frame and has a diameter of 680 feet, making it the largest fixed domed structure in the world. Because of the size and location in one of the major tourist destinations in the United States, the Superdome routinely makes the "short list" of candidates being considered for major sporting events, such as the Super Bowl and the Final Four. It is the home stadium of the New Orleans Saints American football team. In 2005, the Superdome gained international attention of a different type when it housed thousands of people seeking shelter from Hurricane Katrina. The building suffered extensive damage as a result of the storm, and was closed for many months afterward. On October 3, 2011, it was announced that German automaker Mercedes-Benz purchased naming rights to the stadium. The new name took effect on October 23, 2011. It is the third stadium that has naming rights from Mercedes-Benz, after the Mercedes-Benz Arena, the stadium of Bundesliga club VfB Stuttgart, in Stuttgart, Germany and the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai, China.
Honda Center
Sports Facility
The Honda Center, previously known as the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim and colloquially called The Pond or The Ponda, is an indoor arena in Anaheim, California, United States. The arena is home to the National Hockey League's Anaheim Ducks and was home of the former National Lacrosse League's Anaheim Storm, which folded in 2005. Beginning in 2014, it will be home to the Los Angeles Kiss of the Arena Football League. Originally named the Anaheim Arena during construction, it was completed in 1993 at a cost of $123 million. Arrowhead Water paid $15 million for the naming rights over 10 years in October 1993. In the short period of time between the enfranchisement of the Mighty Ducks and the naming rights deal with Arrowhead, Disney referred to the Arena as the Pond of Anaheim. Honda, in October 2006 acquired the naming rights for $60 million over 15 years.
Disney California Adventure
Amusement Park
Disney California Adventure is a theme park located in Anaheim, California, it is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks and Resorts division. The 72-acre park is themed after the history and culture of the state of California. The park opened in 2001, and it is the second of two theme parks built at the Disneyland Resort complex, after Disneyland Park. The concept of a theme park dedicated to California arose from a meeting of Disney executives in 1995, following the cancellation of the WestCOT project. Construction of the park began in 1998, and was completed by early 2001. Disney initially projected high attendance rates at the new park, but a series of preview openings held in January 2001 led to negative reviews, and after the park officially opened to the public on February 8, 2001, the company's attendance projections were never met. Disney spent the next several years incrementally adding new rides, shows, and attractions, and implementing other promotions aimed at boosting attendance. In 2007, Disney announced a major expansion of the park as well as a major overhaul of a significant portion of the park. Construction lasted for five years and was completed in stages, culminating with the opening of Cars Land in June 2012.
Mammoth Cave National Park
National park
Mammoth Cave National Park is a U.S. National Park in central Kentucky, encompassing portions of Mammoth Cave, the longest cave system known in the world. The official name of the system is the Mammoth-Flint Ridge Cave System for the ridge under which the cave has formed. The park was established as a national park on July 1, 1941. It became a World Heritage Site on October 27, 1981, and an international Biosphere Reserve on September 26, 1990. The park's 52,830 acres are located primarily in Edmonson County, Kentucky, with small areas extending eastward into Hart County and Barren County. It is centered around the Green River, with a tributary, the Nolin River, feeding into the Green just inside the park. With 400 miles of surveyed passageways Mammoth Cave is by far the world's longest known cave system, being over twice as long as the second-longest cave system, Mexico's Sac Actun underwater cave.
RMS Queen Mary
Ship
RMS Queen Mary is a retired ocean liner that sailed primarily in the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967 for the Cunard Line. Built by John Brown & Company in Clydebank, Scotland, Queen Mary along with her running mate, the RMS Queen Elizabeth, were built as part of Cunard's planned two-ship weekly express service between Southampton, Cherbourg, and New York City. The two ships were a British response to the superliners built by German and French companies in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Queen Mary was the flagship of the Cunard Line from May 1936 until October 1946 when she was replaced in that role by Queen Elizabeth. The vessel also held the Blue Riband from 1936 to 1937 and then from 1938 to 1952 when she was beaten by the new SS United States. Queen Mary sailed on her maiden voyage on 27 May 1936 and captured the Blue Riband in August of that year; she lost the title to SS Normandie in 1937 and recaptured it in 1938. With the outbreak of World War II, she was converted into a troopship and ferried Allied soldiers for the duration of the war. Following the war, Queen Mary was refitted for passenger service and along with Queen Elizabeth commenced the two-ship transatlantic passenger service for which the two ships were initially built. The two ships dominated the transatlantic passenger transportation market until the dawn of the jet age in the late 1950s. By the mid-1960s Queen Mary was aging and though still among the most popular transatlantic liners, was operating at a loss.
National Mall
Protected Site
The National Mall is a national park in downtown Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. The National Park Service administers the National Mall, which is part of its National Mall and Memorial Parks unit. The term National Mall commonly includes areas that are officially part of West Potomac Park and Constitution Gardens to the west, and often is taken to refer to the entire area between the Lincoln Memorial and the United States Capitol, with the Washington Monument providing a division slightly west of the center. The National Mall receives approximately 24 million visitors each year.
Golden Gate Park
Venue
Golden Gate Park, located in San Francisco, California, is a large urban park consisting of 1,017 acres of public grounds. Configured as a rectangle, it is similar in shape but 20 percent larger than Central Park in New York, to which it is often compared. It is over three miles long east to west, and about half a mile north to south. With 13 million visitors annually, Golden Gate is the fifth most-visited city park in the United States after Central Park in New York City, Lincoln Park in Chicago, and Balboa Park and Mission Bay Park in San Diego.