10457 Best Sights in USA

Thurmond Depot Visitor Center is a seasonal visitor center located inside a historic train depot. It's steps from the historic district, which includes restored retail stores and a bank.

One of the park's star attractions, Thurston Lava Tube (named "Nahuku" in Hawaiian) spans 600 feet underground. The massive cavelike tube, discovered in 1913, was formed by hot molten lava traveling through the channel. To reach the entrance of the tube, visitors descend a series of stairs surrounded by Hawaiian rain forest and the sounds of native birds. The Kilauea eruption of 2018 resulted in an almost two-year closure of the tube. During the closure, the drainage system was improved to reduce standing water on the cave’s floor, and electrical lines and lighting were replaced. Visitors should not touch the walls or delicate tree root systems that grow down through the ceiling. Parking is limited near the tube. If the lot is full, you can park at the Kilauea Iki Overlook parking lot, ½ mile away.

Established in 1987, one of Prosser's top mid-price wineries features Wade Wolfe's unusual blends, including a tropical fruit–forward white Pinot Gris–Viognier and a velvety Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Lemberger blend known as Dr. Wolfe's Family Red.

Hidden atop a hill above Route 3, this peaceful Land & Garden Preserve property invites with elegant formal perennial beds on land that was once the summer home of Boston landscape designer and engineer Joseph Henry Curtis. Mount Desert Island native Charles Savage, a self-taught landscape designer, was the garden's mastermind and named it for the property’s majestic white cedars, Thuja occidentalis. Welcoming the public since 1962, it's filled with colorful blooms throughout summer: there are delphiniums, daylilies, dahlias, heliotropes, snapdragons, and other vegetation. Walk the immaculately groomed grass paths or enjoy the view from a well-placed bench. You can also take a look at the sitting room in the circa-1914 Curtis home, which has a large collection of books compiled by Savage. Check the website for docent-led tours of the “lodge” as it’s known and special events like Garden Walks & Talks. There is a small parking area at the garden, or park below it on Route 3 and walk up on the Asticou Terraces trail.

Brand-new to the Magic Kingdom, this attraction will follow the same general track as its predecessor, Splash Mountain, but will feature songs and Audio-Animatronic characters from the beloved Princess and the Frog movie. Join Tiana on a trip through the bayou as she and her alligator friend, Louis, plan a one-of-a-kind Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans. Expect a good few twists, turns, and at least one major drop along the way. In addition, Princess Tiana will be expanding her restaurant to include Tiana's Foods, an employee-owned co-op and salt mine. The opening date for this ride was expected to be some time late in 2024; check the Walt Disney World website for updates on its status.

One of the oldest lighthouses on the Great Lakes looks out over the outlet of Lake Ontario. The Coast Guard left in 1981, and the building is now used as a youth hostel. Off-season reservations at the hostel must be made by e-mail at [email protected]. The lighthouse is 12 mi west of Clayton.

The brick building that houses this museum served as the main office of the Ticonderoga Pulp and Paper Company in the late 1800s. Exhibits here focus on the industrial history of Ticonderoga, which was known as a center for paper- and pencil-making.

One of New England’s best-known reversing falls—the phenomenon is created when the current “reverses” en route from bay to harbor—roils just below the U.S. 1 bridge linking Hancock and Sullivan. Frenchman Bay Conservancy’s 8-acre preserve (no dogs allowed) beside the falls on the Hancock side is a great picnic spot, with tables strung along the waterfront. Two hours before and two hours after low tide is the best time for viewing the falls. The preserve has a viewing platform, and placards explain the area's rich history and ecology. Granite was quarried nearby and shipped in schooners over the falls, once the site of a ferry and train terminal for Bar Harbor visitors. The mingling of fresh and salt water creates an environment that attracts wildlife, especially birds and waterfowl. Check the conservancy's website for information about free concerts at 6 pm on Mondays in the peak summer season—food trucks will be there. The website also lists hiking opportunities at its many other preserves in the region, from Ellsworth to the Schoodic Peninsula.

Opened by a third-generation apple farmer, this 55-acre orchard and artisan cidery is one of the most celebrated in the country, turning out several year-round sippers, including a semisweet cherry and crisp dry-hopped apple variety, along with numerous seasonal varieties. Try a sampler at the tasting room, which also has a big outdoor patio, bocce ball court, and an outdoor stage featuring live music.

Five miles of nature trails, boardwalks, and a cattail marsh make this wildlife refuge near the Lake Erie shore an ideal place for hiking, bird-watching, and picnics. The 264-acre preserve is part of the Buffalo Museum of Science.

Started on a five-generation-old family farm in 1995, Tiger Mountain Vineyards is known for unusual varietals of French and Portuguese grapes, such as Touriga Nacional and Tannat, as well as the native Norton grape—grown on the slopes of Tiger Mountain. Tastings are available for a small fee. Lunch, dinner and Sunday brunch are served on the weekends in The Vineyard Café, housed in a lovely restored barn. The tasting room frequently features live music and events; call ahead for the schedule.

On the northwest side of the island is 2,500 feet of both developed and undeveloped areas. Once Gulf-front, in recent years a sand spit known as Sand Dollar Island has formed, which means the stretch especially at the north end has become mud flats—great for birding. There's plenty of powdery sand farther south and across the lagoon that draws a broad base of fans for its playgrounds, butterfly garden, volleyball nets, and kayak and umbrella rentals. Beach wheelchairs are also available for free use. Amenities: food and drink; parking (fee); showers; toilets; water sports. Best for: sunset; swimming; walking.

In the world's largest wooden structure, a former blimp hangar south of town displays a fine collection of vintage aircraft and vehicles, mostly from around the World War II era, as well as a vast trove of artifacts and memorabilia, including war uniforms, photos, and remains from the Hindenburg. The 20-story-high building is big enough to hold half a dozen football fields.

Don’t miss this short hike at the end of Kolob Canyons Road (keeping in mind that the final 2½ miles of the road are closed to vehicles—but not pedestrian or bike traffic—through at least early 2024). Covered with desert wildflowers in spring and early summer, it’s barely a mile round-trip on a sandy, relatively exposed plateau above the surrounding valleys. Get a good look at the Kolob Canyons “skyline,” including Shuntavi Butte in the shadow of 8,055-foot Timber Top Mountain. The last few hundred yards are a little rockier with a 100-foot ascent, but even kids and novice hikers shouldn’t have any trouble with it. At the picnic area at the trailhead, you might spy lizards, chipmunks, squirrels, and the occasional long-eared, black-tailed jackrabbit. Easy.

This museum highlights Forks's logging history since the 1870s; a garden and fire tower are also on the grounds.

This 50,000-square-foot food hall sports a rotating roster of counter-service stalls, representing 18 hand-picked Chicago eateries. Collected under one roof along with three bars, an outdoor terrace, and a working demo kitchen for chef-driven classes, it's a sort of EPCOT Center of Chicago food for those who don't have time to visit many different neighborhoods.

This is the most energetic part of New York City, a cacophony of flashing lights and shoulder-to-shoulder crowds that many New Yorkers studiously avoid. Originally named after the New York Times (whose headquarters has since relocated to 8th Avenue), the area has seen many changes since the first subway line, which included a 42nd Street station, opened in 1904. The area was once a bastion of the city's unseemly side, but today it's a vibrant, family-friendly destination, with pedestrian-only plazas that line Broadway with tables, chairs, and granite benches. There’s no longer a visitor center here, since the Official NYC Information Center is down at 151 West 34th Street in Herald Square, with maps, brochures, coupons, and a bilingual staff.

The focus of the entertainment might have shifted over the years, but live shows are still the heart of Midtown's theater scene, and there are 40 Broadway theaters nearby. (A few of the most historic theaters are spotlighted in this chapter's introduction.) Learn about Broadway's history and architecture on a two-hour Times Square walking tour by Manhattan Walking Tours ( $50  Daily at 10:30 am  www.manhattanwalkingtour.com) or join the two-hour guided Inside Broadway tour ( $39  Daily at 4 pm  www.insidebroadwaytours.com) that leaves from the George M. Cohan statue at West 46th Street and Broadway.

Though somewhat out of place architecturally, this small and modern structure, made of travertine imported from Italy, is a jewel box. The free museum houses works by major European and American artists as well as a superb collection of Russian icons.

Soaring to 11,750 feet, Mount Timpanogos is the centerpiece of a wilderness area of the same name and towers over Timpanogos Cave National Monument along Highway 92 within American Fork Canyon. After a somewhat strenuous hike up the paved 1½-mile trail to the entrance, you can explore three caves connected by two man-made tunnels. Stalactites, stalagmites, and other formations make the three-hour round-trip hike and tour worth the effort. No refreshments are available on the trail or at the cave, and the cave temperature is 45°F throughout the year, so bring water and warm clothes. Although there's some lighting inside the caves, a flashlight will make your explorations more interesting; it will also come in handy if you're heading back down the trail after dusk. These popular tours often sell out; it's a good idea to book online in advance, especially on weekends.

This quirky and utterly fascinating homage to folk art, found art, and kitsch contains a world of miniature carved-wood characters. Its late founder, Ross Ward, spent more than 40 years carving and collecting the hundreds of figures that populate this cheerfully bizarre museum, including an animated miniature Western village, a Boot Hill cemetery, and a 1940s circus exhibit. Ragtime piano music, a 40-foot sailboat, and a life-size general store are other highlights. The walls surrounding this 22-room museum have been fashioned out of more than 50,000 glass bottles pressed into cement. As you might expect, the gift shop offers plenty of fun oddities.

Helmed by owner Susan Tinney, Tinney Contemporary displays contemporary paintings, photography, drawings, and beyond in a stylish space on 5th Avenue. The gallery offers full-service art consultation, from purchasing to installation, and participates in the First Saturday Downtown Art Crawl on the first Saturday of each month.

Few mountain drives can compare with this 59-mile road, especially its eastern half between Lee Vining and Olmstead Point. As you climb 3,200 feet to the 9,945-foot summit of Tioga Pass (Yosemite's sole eastern entrance for cars), you'll encounter broad vistas of the granite-splotched High Sierra and its craggy but hearty trees and shrubs. Past the bustling scene at Tuolumne Meadows, you'll see picturesque Tenaya Lake and then Olmsted Point, where you'll get your first peek at Half Dome. Driving Tioga Road one way takes approximately 1½ hours. Wildflowers bloom here in July and August. By November, the high-altitude road closes for the winter; it sometimes doesn't reopen until early June.

The short, pleasant trail that circles the lake—ideal for families—provides breathtaking views. Enjoy the subalpine wildflower meadows during the summer months; in late summer to early fall huckleberries are abundant.

This public beach is next to the Vineyard Haven Yacht Club. It is only accessed by foot or bike: no parking here. But it's a nice place for a picnic. Amenities: none. Best for: swimming.

Now a National Historic Landmark, the Titan Missile Museum makes for a sobering visit. During the Cold War, Tucson was ringed by 18 of the 54 Titan II missiles maintained in the United States. After the SALT II treaty with the Soviet Union was signed in 1979, this was the only missile-launch site left intact.

Guided one-hour tours, which can be reserved in advance, take you down 55 steps into the command post, where a ground crew of four lived and waited. Among the sights is the 103-foot, 165-ton, two-stage liquid-fuel rocket. Now empty, it originally held a nuclear warhead with 214 times the explosive power of the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima.

Costing $25 million for construction—and filled with artifacts valued at more than $4.5 million—this half-scale replica of the Titanic is designed to give you an idea of what it may have felt like to be a passenger aboard the sinking ship on that fateful night during her maiden voyage. You'll have the opportunity to climb the grand staircase, touch an iceberg, and try to stand on sloped decks.

Travel down to the bottom of the North Atlantic where the \"ship of dreams\" rests after grazing an iceberg in 1912. A visit to the 25,000-square-foot exhibit inside Luxor Las Vegas starts with a boarding pass representing an actual passenger. Visitors tour replicas of guest compartments, the grand staircase, and the promenade deck that movie fans will recognize from a little film by James Cameron. Among the 350 emotionally arresting artifacts: luggage, personal toiletries, a bottle of unopened champagne, and pieces of the ship, including a 15-ton section of the iron hull. You can even see what it would feel like to touch an iceberg.

This popular, one-way, 27-mile drive starts at Nevada Highway 374 (Daylight Pass Road), 2 miles from the park's boundary. Highlights include a hike along the Fall Canyon Trail (from the parking area), the Leadville Ghost Town, and the spectacular limestone and dolomite narrows. Toward the end of the route, a two-way section of gravel road leads you into the mouth of the canyon from northern Highway 190. This dirt road is steep, bumpy, and narrow, so high-clearance, four-wheel-drive vehicles are strongly recommended.

Painterly westward-facing views of vineyards, the Napa River treeline, and Spring Mountain provide the backdrop for indoor and outdoor tastings at this valley-floor winery. The concrete-and-glass production facility and hospitality center, completed in 2015, skews new, but the setting feels timeless. After arriving in 1968, the first Titus family generation sold grapes to Beaulieu and other Napa Valley stalwarts. Next-generation brothers Eric and Phillip Titus (the latter famed Chappellet's longtime winemaker) oversaw significant replantings in the past quarter-century, ensuring a steady flow of mostly Bordeaux grapes for the family's label. Cabernet Sauvignon comprises more than half the production, with Viognier, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Zinfandel among the other bottlings.

Historic Tiverton Four Corners has been a part of Tiverton's history since 1629 when Governor Bradford of the Plymouth Colony purchased the area (then called Pocasset) from the Wampanoag tribe. The "four corners" intersection follows the original Native American trails. Today, the Four Corners Arts Center, in the circa 1800 Soule-Seabury House, hosts an annual antiques show, as well as art festivals and exhibits, concerts and movement classes, and other special events. A sculpture park behind the arts center is free and open to the public. Gray's Ice Cream and the Groundswell Cafe & Bakery also are located here.