10457 Best Sights in USA

Sourcing from 180 acres of vineyards in Zillah, Hyatt has long been respected for Merlot and Syrah, as well as a dessert-friendly late-harvest Riesling. The well-appointed tasting room and well-manicured gardens and lawns are nice for picnicking and offer grand views to the west of the Cascades.

While Alaskans of Haida ancestry live throughout Southeast, Hydaburg and Kasaan are the two main Haida communities in the state. The Alaskan Haida population can be traced back to a migration from Canada in the 1700s; the majority of tribal members continue to live in Canada, in Haida Gwaii (an area of British Columbia formerly called the Queen Charlotte Islands). The village of Hydaburg lies approximately 40 miles south of Klawock (via chip-sealed road), along scenic Sukkwan Strait. A small collection of totem poles occupies the center of town, and a nearby carving shed allows visitors to view artists at work. Contact the Hydaburg Cooperative Association ( www.hcatribe.org) for details.

Its legacy is as remarkable as its architecture: from the time it was built in 1819 until it was sold to New York State in 1964, Hyde Hall remained in the same family. Money from estates here, in Europe, and in the Caribbean enabled George Clarke (1768–1835), a prominent figure in colonial New York, to finance what is, according to many historians, the largest residence built in this country before the Civil War. Ongoing restoration projects—and the chance to question artisans about their work—add texture to a tour of the 50-room mansion. The property adjoins Glimmerglass State Park on the north end of Otsego Lake.

Built in 1783, this log cabin on South Hero is often cited as the country's oldest surviving specimen. It's now home to the Grand Isle Historical Society.

Franklin D. Roosevelt frequently used this 1914 train station, which was designed by the same architects who designed New York's Grand Central Terminal. Today, it houses an extensive collection of railroad paraphernalia and has running displays of model trains all manned by knowledgeable enthusiasts.

Dubbed "the wise man of Carneros" by Wine Spectator, winegrower Larry Hyde began farming grapes in the southern Napa Valley in 1979. For years, high-scoring brands like Massican and DuMol have purchased his fruit. With this exalted a pedigree—experts consider Hyde Vineyards not merely among California's finest vineyards but also the world—it was only a matter of time before wines bearing the Hyde name would appear. Pinot Noir came first, followed by Chardonnay and later Viognier, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, and Syrah, poured at the appointment-only tasting room Hyde and his son, Chris, opened. During midsummer heat waves, San Pablo Bay breezes keep patrons on the vineyard-edge terrace blessedly cool.

This simple mural, featuring the phrase "i love you" scrawled in red spray paint on the side of Jo's Coffee on South Congress, has become an unlikely art installation and permanent photo op for locals and visitors alike. On any given day, you could see a couple getting their engagement photos snapped or families taking their Christmas card portraits in front of the cheekily scrawled love letter. Lines for a quick photo in front of the now-famous green wall can stretch around the block, especially on weekends, but it doesn't seem to matter to most folks who use the same line to queue up for one of Jo's signature lattes and turbo cold brews.

The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston's seasonal outpost first opened in 2018 after renovations to a dilapidated former copper-pipe facility in East Boston's working shipyard and marina. Every summer, a single large-scale, immersive art installation makes the 15,000-square-foot space its own. A smaller gallery delves into the shipyard's history.

Despite its unabashed commercialism (announced by its many somewhat-over-the-top, retro-style billboard advertisements), this roadside curiosity, set squarely on the Continental Divide, easily merits an hour of your time—the short trail from the 1930s trading post (now the gift shop) just off NM 53 affords unusual vistas of blackened lava fields and gnarled juniper and ponderosa stands. It's about a 20-minute moderately strenuous jaunt up to the 1,200-foot-diameter crater of Bandera Volcano, which last unleashed a torrent of lava 10,000 years ago. An even shorter walk leads to an old wooden staircase that descends 100 feet into the bowels of a collapsed lava tube, where the Ice Cave never rises above 31°F year-round and has a perpetual floor of blue-green ice. The ice remains year after year because of the combination of the air flow patterns in the lava tube and the insulating properties of the lava itself.

This moderately strenuous, 9-mile, round-trip hike passes the gushing Ptarmigan Falls, then climbs to its namesake, where icebergs bob in the chilly mountain loch. Mountain goats hang out on sheer cliffs above, bighorn sheep graze in the high mountain meadows, and grizzly bears dig for glacier lily bulbs, grubs, and other delicacies. Rangers lead hikes here almost daily in summer, leaving at 8:30 am. Moderate.

A design by John E. Tourtellotte and the classic German engineering of Charles Hummel have made the “Capitol of Light” an architectural intrigue, and a 12-year restoration project has spruced up the natural skylights, acres of carved white marble, colored Italian scagliola from the original building, and the bronze eagle perched atop the 208-foot dome. Inside, historic art includes a statue of Nike of Samothrace—a gift from France after World War II—and a golden statue of George Washington. Trees line the property, including a sugar maple planted by President Teddy Roosevelt in 1903. Pick up a self-guided tour brochure from the visitors' welcome desk on the garden level.

The first mile of the historic original trail—at first called the Seward-to-Nome Mail Trail—runs along the beach and makes for a nice, easy stroll.

The famous competition's headquarters displays dogsleds, mushers' clothing, and trail gear, and you can watch video highlights of past races. The gift shop sells Iditarod items. Dogsled rides take place year-round; in summer the sleds are on wheels.

At the center you can learn about the area's Native American and natural history. Outside are several miles of hiking trails, plus biking and equestrian trails and picnic areas. The park is pet friendly.

In this interactive Seussian maze, kids can leave the adults behind and have fun at their level. Exploring involves climbing, jumping, and crawling around several of Dr. Seuss's fantasy creatures, as well as pushing buttons to animate them. Park designers have learned that kids' basic needs include eating, sleeping, and getting splashed, so they've thoughtfully added some interactive fountains as well. For people with disabilities: The area is wheelchair accessible. If you can talk your little ones into waiting, come at the end of your visit.

In a state with few wineries, this popular operation in downtown Cedar City sources grapes from respected vineyards in California's Napa and Sonoma Valleys, Washington's Columbia Valley, and Oregon's Rogue Valley. The Bordeaux-style reds are well-crafted, though spendy, while more moderately priced Tempranillo and Sangiovese also have plenty of fans. With exposed brick walls and hardwood floors, the handsome tasting room is hung with local art and warmed by a fireplace in winter. There's also a sunny patio, and live bands perform regularly.

When church services, weddings, funerals, and other regularly scheduled functions are not taking place here, Lincoln's historic Iglesia de San Juan Bautista, originally built in 1887, can be viewed free. The tiny church was built and restored entirely from local materials. Roof beams and other wood elements including latillas (small branches laid on top of larger, rounded wood beams known as vigas) were dragged by oxcart from the nearby Capitan Mountains.

If you like vintage signs, clocks, and neon art, check out this quirky and cleverly designed museum, a labor of love (and ingenuity) by Tucson sign artist Jude Cook and his wife Monica. The collection, impressive in its breadth, includes rescued, restored signs from mid-century businesses, as well as vintage wall thermometers, soda and beer signs, and items that you would never guess used neon, like old medicinal remedies for sore throats and balding hair. Demonstrations of glass bending and neon sign-making are given on most days.

The counterpart to the Honu four-passenger raft is a few feet away in this five-passenger raft. The ride is slow, sloshy, and easy to handle, even when the raft glides around turns and passes over geysers that erupt like whale spouts. For people with disabilities: Guests in wheelchairs must transfer to the ride raft unassisted or with help from members of their party.

When neo-nazis planned to march in the predominantly Jewish suburb of Skokie in the 1970s, local Holocaust survivors reacted by creating the Holocaust Memorial Foundation of Illinois, a group determined to educate the public about the atrocities of World War II. In 2009, the foundation unveiled the 65,000-square-foot Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center. The collection includes more than 20,000 items that belonged to Holocaust victims and survivors. Permanent exhibits include the Richard & Jill Chaifetz Family Virtual Reality Gallery, which takes visitors on a journey with Holocaust survivors, and the Spagat Family Voices of Genocide Exhibition, which explores how and why genocide continues to occur across geography and time. The Abe & Ida Cooper Survivor Stories Experience features interactive holograms of Holocaust survivors telling their stories.

The twist at this new-in-2023, laser-shootout attraction is that instead of sitting in a ride vehicle and blasting away, you're issued a colorful handheld E-Liminator X blaster that's charged up and ready to go, and you step onto a conveyor belt. You then roll through a succession of towering rooms flooded from floor to ceiling with a colorful montage of rapidly moving animated figures—including a mess of minions and a volume of villains—that are nearly all potential targets for you to blast and rack up points, which are tallied on your weapon. It's an immersive, video-game-like experience that's both mighty weird and mighty fun. That said, if you're bothered by flashing lights and loud noises, you might want to skip this. For people with disabilities: Although it's accessible to guests in stationary wheelchairs, this attraction doesn't accommodate mobility scooters or ECV vehicles. As a new attraction, there may be a line which, with the conveyor belt process, may flow smoothly. If not, use Express Pass.

On some weekend evenings, rangers give free presentations at the east entrance's campground amphitheater. The topics depend on the ranger's particular interests but always relate to the park's main stories and its geology, plants, or wildlife. Times vary, so check the Pinnacles website or the Activity Boards at the east or west entrances or the Bear Gulch Nature Center.

This engaging spot for kids is on a pioneer homestead built in the 1800s. Interactive exhibits and crafts are part of the fun; wee ones love the magic school bus as well.

Explore more than 500 contemporary works of glass art at this gorgeous, world-class museum. The 34,000-square-foot gallery space features stunning translucent pieces that play with color, light, and shape by standout American and international artists, including Harvey Littleton, an early 1960s pioneer in the medium, as well as modern artists who have taken glass-blowing, glass-casting, and sand-casting techniques to the next level.

Highlights of this stunning church, which was established in 1832 and rebuilt in 1857, include a gleaming, restored koa interior and unusual wooden calabashes hanging from the ceiling. Be careful not to walk in while a service is in progress, as the front entry is behind the pulpit.

The churchyard provides a sterling view of the city.

A guided, volunteer-led tour is a good way to visit this wildlife refuge and birder's paradise. The peak seasons for bird-watching are spring and fall, when you can expect to see everything from pelicans and cormorants to Canada geese, snowy egrets, and some rarer species. Mid-October through May is the most pleasant time to visit, as it's cooler and the ever-present mosquitoes are least active.

Kids especially enjoy the 1¼-mile Painted Desert Trail, which winds through the different levels of the Sonoran Desert. From an observation tower at the visitor center, you can see the river as well as the fields where migrating birds like to feed. You can sign up for guided walks from November through March.

The intimate Palais du Cinema, inspired by the royal theater at Fontainebleau, screens this homage to the glories of the country. Shown on five screens spanning 200 degrees, in an air-conditioned, sit-down theater, the film takes you to vineyards at harvest time, Paris on Bastille Day, the Alps, Versailles, Normandy's Mont-Saint-Michel, and the stunning châteaux of the Loire Valley. The music sweeps you away with familiar segments from Offenbach, Debussy, and Saint-Saëns, all woven together by longtime Disney musician Buddy Baker. For people with disabilities: Wheelchair- and ECV-accessible; reflective captioning and equipped for assisted-listening and audio-description devices. The Beauty and the Beast Sing-Along has proved so popular, that Impressions de France is now only shown at select times. Check the My Disney Experience app.

Part culinary class, part tasting session, In Alaska's Wildest Kitchen offers visitors to Icy Strait Point a quick tutorial in preparing Alaska seafood. Led by Dodie Lunda, a retired commercial fisherwoman, this 90-minute, hands-on activity includes simple preparation techniques, recipe suggestions, and a filleting lesson. Participants gather around a horseshoe-shape counter for the prep portion and then assemble outside around a giant alder-fired grill to cook their own fillets of salmon or halibut.

Just seeing this attraction from the sidewalk is a thrill: its cars shoot out from a 150-foot catapult that propels them from 0 to 40 mph in less than two seconds. If this piques your interest, get in line, where the wait for the prized front-row seats is the longest. That said, every seat lets you experience flesh-pressing g-forces that match those of an F-16 fighter. When you're launched into the ride (and we mean launched), you're whipped into an upside-down, zero-g position more than 10 stories up before being zipped into a dive at some 60 mph. You then race along the track before spinning through seven rollovers and plunging into two deep, foggy, subterranean enclosures. Just when you think it's over—it's not. This coaster seems to keep rolling along well after you've exhausted your supply of screams and shrieks. Powerful.

The smooth track creates a smooth ride for the neon-trimmed train cars; this also makes the ride itself quieter—an aspect that seems to amplify the sound effects and screams. Pregnant women and people with neck, back, heart problems, or motion-sickness issues shouldn't ride. For people with disabilities: Guests using wheelchairs must transfer to a ride vehicle. Come here first (effects are best in the morning and up front). Loose articles are not permitted, so stow things in a convenient locker.