10457 Best Sights in USA

On November 22, 1963, shots rang out on Dealey Plaza, at the west end of Downtown, as the presidential motorcade rounded the corner from Houston Street onto the Elm Street approach to the Triple Underpass. Eventually the Warren Commission concluded that President Kennedy was gunned down by Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone and firing from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository. The building is now known as the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, where exhibits explore the life and legacy of JFK, offering context of the politics of the early 1960s and the importance of Kennedy's Texas visit. One of the most popular exhibits is the re-creation of the sniper's nest at the southeast window, viewable but not accessible.

This hilltop museum surveys domestic life in early Skagit County and Northwest Coastal Native American history. There's an interesting gallery showcasing goods commonly found in the region's early general stores, and rotating exhibits interpret the different aspects of the community's rich heritage.

This center is operated by Seattle City Light, North Cascades Institute, and the national park. It's the gathering point for various tours run by North Cascades Institute and Seattle City Light and has exhibits about the utility's hydroelectric projects in the North Cascades. Pick up a map of a self-guided walking tour of historic Newhalem, as well as other park information.

This nicely designed museum—also known as the Trail of '98 Museum—occupies the ground floor of the beautiful building that also houses Skagway City Hall. Inside, you'll find a 19th-century Tlingit canoe (one of only two like it on the West Coast), historic photos, a red-and-black sleigh, and other gold rush–era artifacts, along with a healthy collection of contemporary local art and post–gold-rush history exhibits.

On Cape Cod Bay, Skaket Beach is a sandy stretch with calm, warm water good for children. When the tide is out, you can walk seemingly endlessly on the sandy flats. The parking lot fills up fast on hot July and August days; try to arrive before 10 or after 2. The many tide pools make this a favorite spot for families. Sunsets here draw a good crowd. Amenities: food and drink; lifeguards; parking (fee); showers; toilets. Best for: sunset; swimming; walking.

Three miles south of Hamilton, turn east onto Route 38, also known as the Skalkaho Highway, and you'll find yourself on a beautiful 45-mile route leading into the Sapphire Mountains, past towering Skalkaho Falls and on to Philipsburg and the Georgetown Lake area. This fair-weather road is best traveled in summer, since 20 miles of it are gravel. Mountain bikers tour here, and there are plenty of hiking trails through the 23,000-acre Skalkaho Wildlife Management Area. Note that trailers are not recommended. Only 10 miles of the Skalkaho Highway are plowed in winter, which means the area is excellent for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing.

During the town's early years, Gig Harbor's waterfront was lined with wooden structures set on pilings over the water; fishermen used these netsheds to store gear and tackle. Today just 17 of these structures remain, with the town's still active commercial fishing fleet still using some of them. This 3-acre park preserves the historic home and netshed once owned by the Skansie Brothers, lifelong fishermen and boat builders. Festivals and a summer farmers' market are held on the grassy lawn, which includes a pavilion, picnic tables, and a platform overlooking the harbor.

Surrounded by trees and a white picket fence, this historic landmark is located in Ketchum’s quaint Forest Service Park. Best visited in the winter, when the town’s ski fever is running high, the museum includes a Sun Valley Ski Hall of Fame with pros like Picabo Street and Bobbie Burns, Olympic gold-medalist Gretchen Fraser, and vintage gear, including a pair of skis from the 1800s. Seasonal exhibits at the next-door Heritage Museum highlight the influences of Ernest Hemingway, the Native Americans, and the sheep-herding history of the valley.

Preteens might want to spend most of their time on the T-bar drop, Cool Runners slides, and Snow Falls downhill body slide. In addition, there's a chance to take on the Thin Ice Training Course, a wide-open area where kids can jump from one slippery mogul to the next. The moguls really look more like bobbing baby icebergs, and kids don't mind when they miss a berg and plop into the pool. For people with disabilities: Guests using water-appropriate wheelchairs can enjoy wading areas here. The optimum time to come is early in the day or after a thunderstorm, when crowds thin out. That said, lines are often short at the zipline drop and the iceberg obstacle course.

Winding trails through maritime forest and along the Intracoastal Waterway invite hikers, naturalists, and wildlife seekers into a 588-acre world of natural beauty and history. Pack a picnic to explore saw palmettos and the old moonshine still, or reserve a camping spot to marvel at the night sky over the Skidaway Narrows. RV hookups, group shelter, and cabins available.

This four-year coeducational college, founded in 1903, sponsors year-round cultural events and entertainment, and is the summer home of the New York State Writer's Institute.

This unusually graceful fountain, built in 1888, is the centerpiece of Ankeny Square, a plaza around which the Portland Saturday Market takes place. Two nymphs uphold the brimming basin on top; citizens once quenched their thirst from the spouting lions' heads below, and horses drank from the granite troughs at the base of the fountain.

Rising from the south bank of the Willamette River, this forested enclave provides the best views of any of the city's parks; it also has the greatest historic cachet, since it was here that Eugene Skinner staked the claim that put Eugene on the map. Children can scale a replica of Skinner Butte, uncover fossils, and cool off under a rain circle. Skinner Butte Loop leads to the top of Skinner Butte, traversing sometimes difficult terrain through a mixed-conifer forest.

Jewish history and culture are the focus at this museum on the campus of Hebrew Union College—Jewish Institute of Religion. Exhibits explore immigration, Jewish life-cycle events, the Holocaust, and the Torah.

The mission of this Jewish cultural institution in the beautiful Santa Monica Mountains is to explore the connections "between 4,000 years of Jewish heritage and the vitality of American democratic ideals." The extraordinary museum, featuring exhibits like Visions and Values: Jewish Life from Antiquity to America, has a massive collection of Judaica—the third largest in the world. A big family draw is the Noah's Ark interactive exhibition, where children are invited to re-create the famous tale using their own imagination.

As you wind along a path into the heart of a towering mountain, the mood grows more ominous. Navigating darkened corridors that are inhabited by "scare actors" (hence the warning that kids might find the preshow too intense), you pass a proliferation of skulls and then meet an old crone, who hints that something unsettling lies ahead—and you'll find that out when you and your fellow travelers enter a primeval world where things get very scary, very quickly.

To the eerie chants of "Kong! Kong! Kong!" your guided tram drives through a towering set of doors where the skeletal remains of a great ape greet you. Put on your 3-D glasses, and soon other amazing sights will appear—namely Peg, a steely nerved scientist whose exploits are the centerpiece of the attraction. Swarms of bats are followed by swarms of pteranodons that lift her up and away, and now it's up to you to come to her rescue. Although Peg works to save herself, she lands in the middle of swamp infested with scorpions and slimy snakelike creatures. As she blasts them with a machine gun, you feel the splash of their guts before the tram speeds to the next scene, where velociraptors try taking a bite out of your tram. Those agile, snapping dinosaurs are soon overshadowed by a Tyrannosaurus rex, who is soon overshadowed by your hero: King Kong.

With the action taking place on both sides of the tram, you're in the middle of a high-energy, over-the-top battle that's thrilling from start to finish. Hint: after riding it once, go back again and wait for a seat on the opposite side to catch scenes you may have missed (they're just as exciting). This ride might be too intense for preteens. Pregnant women and guests with heart, back, neck, or motion-sickness problems should also skip this one. For people with disabilities: Guests using wheelchairs must transfer to a ride vehicle. The preshow is part of the fun, so go even if the line is long.

The 1.7-mile loop takes you through boulder piles, desert washes, and a rocky alley. It's named for the park's most famous rock formation, which resembles a human skull. Access the path from within Jumbo Rocks Campground or from a small parking area just east of the campground. Easy.

A reproduction train travels a few miles of the route of its 1920s predecessor, a fume-spewing gas-powered motorcar that shuttled passengers along a rail line dating from the 1880s logging days. Nicknamed the Skunk Train, the original traversed redwood forests inaccessible to automobiles. There are also excursions from the town of Willits and seasonal and holiday-theme tours.

For a separate fee you can pedal the same rails as the Skunk Train on two-person, side-by-side, reclining bikes outfitted for the track, an experience many patrons find more diverting (albeit pricier) than the train trip.

Run by a dedicated, local nonprofit, this volunteer-staffed 15-acre park near the northern entrance to Joshua Tree National Park educates visitors on the region's celestial and terrestrial attributes. It has an observatory dome with a 14-inch telescope, nature trails that feature desert plants, a meditation garden, numerous sculptures, and an orrery (a 20 billion–to-1 scaled model of the solar system). The campus is always open for walks or stargazing with your own equipment, but the big dome and telescope are only available during the free Night Sky Programs, which are held once a month on the Saturday night nearest the new moon. Programs usually start an hour after sunset and last two hours. The observatory also hosts an annual Night Sky Festival.

Sevierville's newest major attraction includes the Southeast's longest mountain coaster and a hilltop village with farm animals and a restaurant accessed via chairlift. The Western-themed complex includes two attractive white barns framing a courtyard where live bluegrass musicians and rodeo-style lasso experts perform. 

A quick walk from the parking lot at Skyline Arch, 16½ miles from the park entrance, gives you closer views and better photos. The short trail is less than a ½ mile round-trip and takes only a few minutes to travel. Mostly flat, this is an especially great hike for little kids or people whose mobility issues keep them from longer treks, though you should still be cautious of uneven ground.

Check out a bit of surviving Americana at this dusty drive-in, where you can watch the latest Hollywood flicks among the Joshua trees and starry night sky. Keep in mind the old-time speakers are no more; sound is tuned in via car radio.

Why get a crick in your neck—or worse, risk looking like a tourist—while appreciating New York City's famous skyscrapers? Instead, visit this small museum, where you can appreciate highly detailed, hand-carved miniature wood models of Midtown and Lower Manhattan; explore the past, present, and future of the skyscraper—from New York City's Empire State Building to Dubai's Burj Khalifa (taller than the Empire State Building and Chicago's Willis Tower combined)—and examine the history of the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center. Exhibits continue to evolve, so expect models of current or future buildings, videos, drawings, floor plans, and talks that reveal the influence of history, real estate, and individuals on shaping city skylines.

Take a seat in one of the Ferris wheel’s 42 climate-controlled cars perched 20 stories above Downtown for spectacular views of Centennial Olympic Park and miles beyond. The ride lasts 15 minutes. The wheel comes alive at night with an ever-changing display of colors outlining its rim and spokes powered by the same lighting system as the Eiffel Tower. In true Atlanta fashion, there’s a VIP experience that lets you skip long lines and sit privately with your group in a gondola outfitted with Ferrari leather seats and a glass floor for a longer ride. Discount parking is available in nearby lots.

A formerly industrial slice of Northwest, this mini neighborhood epitomizes New Portland, with a walking-scale grid of stylish apartment buildings and repurposed warehouses filled with some of the city’s most hyped restaurants. While Slabtown loosely refers to the blocks stretching north from Lovejoy Street to the Willamette River, most of the action is sandwiched between Northrup and Thurman Streets.

Located just south of downtown Fredericksburg, this collaborative concept evolved from a family-operated boutique winery called 1851 Vineyards before restructuring as Slate Mill Collective. The collective expanded the vineyard, winery, and tasting room to include 35 planted acres and a state-of-the-art wine-making facility. It’s also a great place for visitors to come for a production tour (with plenty of samples along the way) to learn more about the Texas wine industry. Afterward, head to the tasting room to enjoy labels from multiple local producers, like Wine for the People, Tatum Cellars, and C.L. Butaud.

Within the stately grounds of this park along the Ten Mile River are picnic tables, tennis courts, a playground, dog park, bike path, and a disc golf course. The park's Looff Carousel, built by Charles I. D. Looff in 1895, has 44 horses, three dogs, a lion, a camel, a giraffe, and two chariots that are the earliest examples of the Danish immigrant's work—rides operate spring through fall and cost 50¢. The Haunted Tunnel in the park is a popular Halloween attraction.

Discovered in the 1930s by a local goatherd, this cave is one of the most popular secondary sites in the park, about a 40-minute drive southwest of the visitor center (you'll follow a ranger in your own vehicle from the visitor center to get there). Both the hike to the cave mouth and the tour will take about half a day, but it's worth it to view the deep cavern darkness as it's penetrated only by flashlights and sometimes headlamps. From the Slaughter Canyon parking area, it takes about 45 minutes to make the steep ½-mile climb up a trail leading to the mouth of the cave. The cave consists primarily of a single corridor, 1,140 feet long, with numerous side passages.

Wear hiking shoes with ankle support, and carry plenty of water. No kids under 10. It's a great adventure if you're in shape and love caving. Tours are sometimes suspended due to staffing issues.

Beginning at the Slaughter Canyon Cave parking lot (four-wheel-drive or high-clearance vehicles are recommended; check with visitor center for road conditions before setting out), the trail traverses a heavily vegetated canyon bottom into a remote part of the park. As you begin hiking, look off to the east (to your right) to see the dun-color ridges and wrinkles of the Elephant Back formation, the first of many dramatic limestone formations visible from the trail. The route travels 5½ miles one-way, the last 3 miles steeply climbing onto a limestone ridge escarpment. Allow a full day for the round-trip, and prepare for an elevation gain of 1,850 feet. Difficult.