10457 Best Sights in USA

In the amphitheater at the Natural Entrance (off a short trail from the main parking lot) a ranger discusses the park's batty residents before the creatures begin their sundown exodus. The bats aren't on any predictable schedule, so times are a little iffy. Ideally, viewers will first hear the bats preparing to exit, followed by a vortex of black specks swirling out of the cave mouth in search of dinner against the darkening sky. When conditions are favorable, hundreds of thousands of bats will soar off over the span of half an hour or longer.

Towering over the broad, sandy beach is a gorgeous, 235-foot-high dome that is one of the most photographed natural wonders on the Oregon Coast. For safety and to protect birding habitats, people are not allowed to climb on the rock, but you can walk right up to its base at low tide.

Recognized as one of the world's leading craft-beer producers, Shaun Hill runs his brewery out of a bucolic Greensboro farm. Though it's off the beaten path down a relatively empty dirt road, beer lovers find their way here to sample and buy whatever is available. Many restaurants and pubs throughout the state serve some of Hill's offerings, but this is the only place to buy bottles, cans, and growlers. The selections change regularly—check the website for details. This one's a must for craft brew aficionados.

This 16-acre site is one of the Central Valley's top museum complexes. The indoor-outdoor Kern County Museum is an open-air, walk-through historic village with more than 55 restored or re-created buildings dating from the 1860s to the 1940s. "Black Gold: The Oil Experience," a permanent exhibit, shows how oil is created, discovered, extracted, and transformed for various uses. The Lori Brock Children's Discovery Center, for ages eight and younger, has hands-on displays and an indoor playground.

A cadre of sweet, well-informed volunteers runs this jam-packed throwback of a museum that's bigger than it looks from the outside. With exhibits about Lake Isabella, minerals and gems, old tools and farming implements, pioneer and native life, and Hollywood Westerns shot in the area, you’ll likely find something to intrigue you.

As the park opens, many coaster lovers head straight for Kraken, and when you see its loops and dips you'll know why. Named after an angry sea monster, this wickedly fast coaster takes you underground three times, lifts you higher (up to 149 feet), drops you longer, and spirals you faster than you'd expect. Kraken also packs a serious punch thanks to its floorless seats (your legs dangle loosely), seven inversions, and moments of weightlessness. The line for it moves pretty quickly because of a high seating capacity. Note that bags aren't allowed past the turnstiles. It costs about 50¢ to leave them in a locker, but it's worth the investment. This is one cool coaster, though not for anyone with motion sickness or back, neck, or heart conditions. For people with disabilities: You must transfer from your wheelchair to the ride vehicle. Come as soon as the park opens—especially to snag front-row seats. Otherwise, use a Quick Queue pass (extra fee required) or come near closing or during a Blue Horizons show.

While waiting in line for this incredible coaster, you're ushered past 10 aquariums containing more than 3,000 sea creatures, including 100 species of fish, graceful rays, sea dragons, and sea horses. This alone is fascinating, but this gentle encounter is followed by the sight of row after row of guests being locked down, strapped in, and firmly secured for... what's about to happen. You'll be suspended horizontally (face down!) beneath a 12-foot, stingray-shaped, roller-coaster car, which leaps out of the station, attaining speeds of up to 56 mph on a ½-mile race of loops as it spins around and above the aquarium. At times you are so close to the water that the coaster's wings skim the surface. There are four inversions and a drop of more than 10 stories. Halfway through, the ride slows down a bit and you may think it's over—but it's not. There are even more twists and spins ahead. Kids will love the aquarium entrance; daring older children and adults will love the thrill of the ride. Avoid this ride if you're pregnant, suffer from motion sickness, or have back, neck, or heart problems. For people with disabilities: You must transfer to the ride seat, properly use the ride restraint, and be able to grip a harness with one hand. Come first thing or late in the day, or use a Quick Queue pass (extra fee required).

A desert creek flows through this verdant canyon, one of the most wondrous sights of West Texas, lined with walnut, maple, and other trees that explode into brilliant hues each autumn. Call the visitor center for foliage updates—the spectacular changing of the leaves usually extends into early November. You're likely to spot mule deer heading for the water here. The canyon is ground zero for several hiking trails, including Pratt Cabin (two to three hours) and the Grotto (four hours).

One of the nation's most iconic attractions, the giant likenesses of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt, lies just 65 miles west of Badlands. An excellent interpretive center, trail network, and patriotic night lighting ceremony make the trip even more memorable, as does a Youth Exploration Area added in 2015.

The only fully restored site of its kind in the United States, the museum at SF-88 provides a firsthand view of menacing Cold War–era Hercules and Ajax missiles and missile-tracking radar, the country's last line of defense against Soviet nuclear bombers. It's worth timing your visit to take the guided tour, which features period uniforms and vehicles and includes a visit to the missile-launching bunker. On the first Saturday of the month the site holds an open house during which Nike veterans describe their experiences.

Within this stadium, SeaWorld's iconic mascot, Shamu, and other orcas star in a choreographed spectacle. For safety the trainers stay out of the water, which dilutes the thrills, but everything—not just the animals—still seems larger than life. A three-story whale-tail backdrop, enormous LED screens, a brilliant oceanic color palette, rhythmic music, and surround sound set the scene for the killer-whale performances. Celebrating how we and other creatures are all connected to the world we share, the show also incorporates fountains, an innovation inspired by regular interactions between whales and trainers, who have long used water hoses in play sessions. Perhaps you've heard tales of so-called soak zones? They exist. It takes only a wave of these creatures' massive flukes or a well-placed belly flop to throw gallons of water into the stands. Even in the upper reaches of the splash zones, you'll still get wet—fun at the time, but less so a few hours later if you didn't bring a change of clothes. If you've seen Believe, you may be disappointed; if not, this show may still be entertaining. For people with disabilities: If you're using a wheelchair, you and a companion can sit in a special area near the front-row soak zone, and others in your party can sit nearby. Assisted-listening devices are available. The show itself lasts about 25 minutes, but there's also a 20-minute preshow, so plan accordingly. For an extra fee, reserve a seat through Signature Show Seating.

The Rand Mining District first boomed when gold was discovered in the Rand Mountains in 1895. Along with neighboring settlements, it grew further due to the success of the Yellow Aster Mine, which yielded $3 million worth of gold before 1900. Rich tungsten ore, used in World War I to make steel alloy, was discovered in 1907, and silver was found in 1919. Randsburg is one of the few gold-rush communities not to have become a ghost town; the tiny city jail is among the original buildings still standing in this town with a population under 100, and there's a museum that hosts Old West Days the third Saturday in September. In nearby Johannesburg, 1 mile south of Randsburg, spirits are said to dwell in the stunning Old West cemetery in the hills above town.

The finale of a short but vigorous hike (1.6 miles round-trip) over a steep slope is a spectacular view of the Rio Grande and sheer limestone cliffs that rise 1,500 feet to create a narrow, natural box with the U.S. on one side, and Mexico on the other. Summer can feel like a sauna, but you might have this secluded place to yourself.

Set along Division Street's white-hot restaurant row, this growing collective houses 11 small wineries and has quickly become the city's leading incubator for vino entrepreneurs. The spacious facility includes a large, light-filled tasting bar with glass roll-up doors (offering a peek at the vinification process) and a main wall and bench seating made from old wine barrels. The tasting bar is also a wine bar, so you can sample the artisanal wines produced on-site, or order a flight, glass, or bottle (to go or to enjoy on-site) as well as tasty small plates from an extensive menu. Although Oregon is chiefly known for Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, and Chardonnay, the wineries at the collective produce a richly varied assortment of varietals, including a racy Sauvignon Blanc from Pampleau, a supple Gamay Noir from Division Wine Making, and a peppery Cabernet Franc from Willful Wines.

You truly have to see Sitting Bull Falls to believe that a cascading, 150-foot-tall waterfall flowing into beautiful, crystal-clear pools exists in southeastern New Mexico. It's no mirage—and you can even swim in the waters of this oasis. A 1-mi hike from the parking lot over a paved trail takes you to a desert riparian area lush with ferns, watercress, and cottonwoods. At the parking lot, the forest service provides rock ramadas for picnics. There are viewing decks and restrooms, and 16 mi of hiking trails lace the area. The park is open for day use only. If you want to camp overnight, drive southwest on NM 137 until you reach the New Mexico–Texas state line and Dog Canyon Campground in Guadalupe Mountains National Park. During extreme drought conditions, call first to make sure the area hasn't been closed.

Set on a hilltop with spectacular mountain views, this intimate oasis has 15 treatment rooms, some of the best-trained body workers and estheticians in the Southwest, and a full complement of salon services. You'll pay more at the Four Seasons Spa than at most other properties in town (it's $165 for a 50-minute massage), but there's a reason both hotel guests and locals rave about their experiences here. Specialties include regionally inspired treatments, like the Blue Corn and Honey Renewal body wrap. A few different private couples' retreat packages are offered, including the three-hour Mountain Spirit Initiation, which includes a sage smudge, clay body mask, foot and scalp massage, and a full-body hot-stone juniper-sage massage. Do stick around and enjoy time in the impressive fitness center or relaxing by the pool (closed winter). Many guests combine their spa day with lunch or dinner on the peaceful patio of the resort's outstanding restaurant, Terra. The resort's Adventure Center also offers all sorts of excursions designed to get your blood flowing, from mountain-biking to hiking at nearby waterfalls.

The first-rate 4,500-square-foot spa at this historic Downtown resort emphasizes regional ingredients in its extensive offerings of treatments and services, including a signature Spirit of Santa Fe body rub that uses ground blue corn as a skin exfoliant, and a body wrap using chocolate and red chiles from nearby Chimayó. The 15-minute Shea Butter facial wrap is a great way to combat the effects on the skin of New Mexico's sunny, high-desert climate. Hair and nail services are also available, and there's an expansive fitness center (24-hour access for hotel guests) with Cybex equipment and personal-training as well as private yoga sessions offered. After working out, or being worked on, go for a swim in the heated outdoor pool, or just soak up the Sangre de Cristo views on the rooftop terrace. There's also a poolside patio grill serving light fare. Rates start at $185 for an 80-minute massage.

This renowned Japanese-style spa with outstanding facilities and treatments is just 10 minutes north of Santa Fe toward the ski basin, nestled peacefully among the piñon trees on a sheltered hillside. Primarily a day spa—the private and communal hot tubs, especially nice in the evening under a starry sky, are a popular option—Ten Thousand Waves also has 14 sleek and inviting overnight casitas and a lovely izakaya-style restaurant, Izanami. The treatment rooms and spa facilities here are simple yet elegant, with a zenlike vibe—perfect for relaxing while undergoing a Yasuragi head and neck treatment, a salt-glow body exfoliation, or the Japanese organic facial, which includes a thorough neck and shoulder massage. If you've been skiing or hiking in the mountains up the road, stopping here on the way home is a great way to heal sore muscles. It's $119 for a 50-minute massage and $213–$473 for half-day packages. Nature walks are also offered.

In a land of many grand and spectacularly beautiful mountains, those in the 13.2-million-acre Wrangell–St. Elias National Park and Preserve are possibly the finest of them all. This extraordinarily compact cluster of immense peaks belongs to four different mountain ranges. Rising through many eco-zones, the Wrangell–St. Elias Park and Preserve is largely undeveloped wilderness parkland on a grand scale. The area is perfect mountain-biking and primitive-hiking terrain, and the rivers invite rafting for those with expedition experience. The mountains attract climbers from around the world—whereas Alaska's mountains have been summited many times over, there is the opportunity here to be the first or one of few to summit. Most climbers fly in from Glennallen or Yakutat. Although there are few facilities in Wrangell-St. Elias this is one of the few national parks in Alaska you can drive to. You don't have to be a backcountry camper to experience this park—it's possible to stay in comfortable lodgings in Kennicott or McCarthy and experience the massive glaciers that stand at the foot of Kennicott—Root Glacier and Kennicott Glacier or go on a multiday, guided rafting tour along the Nizina.

On a clear day, the short ride on the aerial tram is worth the ticket for a view that includes Downtown and the riverfront, Mt. Hood, and Mt. St. Helens. Operated by the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), the tram was designed to ferry commuters between the South Waterfront neighborhood and OHSU's main campus on Marquam Hill. Don't rush to get back on the tram; walk to the university's balcony area, where you can admire the cityscape below. Tram cabs typically depart every five minutes and get more crowded during the morning and evening commute hours. The recently developed neighborhood at the base, South Waterfront, offers a park and a few restaurants.

Less than an hour's drive southwest of Great Sand Dunes is a sanctuary for songbirds, waterbirds, and raptors (it's also home to many other types of birds, along with mule deer, beavers, and coyotes). The Rio Grande runs through the park comprising more than 12,000 acres of natural and man-made wetlands. You can take a 4-mile hike round-trip along the river or a 3½-mile wildlife drive on the park's western side or a drive along Bluff Road to an overlook on the park's eastern side. The refuge office is staffed by volunteers sporadically from March through November and closed in winter, but a self-service kiosk provides visitor information year-round.

The pavilion's key attraction is this 100-yard dash through history, and you'll be primed for the lesson after reaching the main entry hall and hearing the stirring a cappella Voices of Liberty. Inside the theater, the main event begins to the accompaniment of "The Golden Dream," performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra. This show combines evocative sets, a rear-projection screen (72 feet wide), enormous movable stages, and 35 Audio-Animatronics players.

Beginning with the arrival of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock and their grueling first winter, Benjamin Franklin and a wry, pipe-smoking Mark Twain narrate the episodes, both praiseworthy and shameful, that have shaped the American spirit. Each speech and scene seems polished like a little jewel. You feel the cold at Valley Forge. You're moved by Nez Percé Chief Joseph's forced abdication of ancestral lands, by Frederick Douglass's reminder of the miseries of slavery, and by women's rights campaigner Susan B. Anthony's speech. You laugh with Will Rogers's aphorisms and learn about the pain of the Great Depression through an affecting radio broadcast by Franklin Delano Roosevelt. For people with disabilities:wheelchair- and ECV-accessible; reflective captioning and equipped for assisted-listening and audio-description devices. Arrive 10 minutes before the Voices of Liberty are slated to perform (check the My Disney Experience app), and then head inside to enjoy the a cappella tunes.

Off U.S. 191/26/89, about 2 miles north of Moose Junction, this narrow road wanders eastward over sagebrush flats, intersecting with the gravel lane to the Mormon Row Historic District. Less than 2 miles past here is a three-way intersection where you can turn right to loop around past the tiny hamlet of Kelly and Gros Ventre campground and rejoin the main highway at Gros Ventre Junction. Keep an eye out for abundant and swift pronghorn, along with bison, foxes, raptors, and more than a few cyclists.

During the gold rush days, the Argo Gold Mine and Mill processed more than $100 million worth of the precious metal. To transport the ore from mines in Central City, workers dug through solid rock to construct a tunnel to Central City, 4½ miles away. When completed in 1910, the Argo Tunnel was the longest in the world. During a tour of the mine and mill, guides explain how this monumental engineering feat was accomplished. Admission includes a small museum and a gold-panning lesson.

Part thoroughfare, part three-ring circus, the Boardwalk is center stage for every imaginable oddity. Conceived in 1870 as a way to allow Victorian-era visitors to experience nature without getting sand in their shoes, the Boardwalk became the place to see or be seen. Named for Alexander Boardman, the promenade's inventor—and not as you might think, for its wooden boards—the 4-mi-long Boardwalk begins in Atlantic City's Inlet section (at Maine Avenue), and heads south into neighboring Ventnor, where it continues for another 1½ mi (to Jackson Avenue). Saltwater taffy was invented on the Boardwalk in 1883, as legend has it, when a storm flooded a candy dealer's wares. The Boardwalk's attractions include amusement piers, museums, arcades, bars, restaurants, carnival games, and miniature golf. The Steel Pier, which once hosted the best music acts of the day as well as the famed diving-horse show, is now home to rides and carnival games. On Schiff's Central Pier you can take a spin in go-carts or play the signature shore game: skeeball. Aside from strolling up and down the boards, the traditional way to experience the Boardwalk is to be pushed in a rolling chair. These wicker chairs evolved from the wheelchairs that infirm visitors used back when the city's promoters' claimed the salty ocean air could cure all diseases. Despite medical evidence to the contrary, after a long stroll on the Boardwalk, you might have to agree.

Together with the Arizona Memorial, the USS Missouri's presence in Pearl Harbor perfectly frames America's World War II experience, which began December 7, 1941, and ended on the "Mighty Mo's" starboard deck with the signing of the Terms of Surrender on September 2, 1945. To begin your visit on the fully restored vessel, pick up tickets online or at the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center. Then board a shuttle bus for the eight-minute ride to Ford Island and the teak decks and towering superstructure of the last American battleship ever built. Join a guided tour to learn more about the Missouri's long and dramatic history. Two options for upgraded tours (an additional $30) provide an up-close look at areas not on the main tour, including the captain's cabin, the bridge, and engine and fire rooms.

The Missouri is 887 feet long and 209 feet tall, with nine 116-ton guns capable of firing up to 23 miles. Absorb these numbers during the tour, then stop to take advantage of the view from the decks. Near the entrance is a gift shop, as well as a lunch wagon and shave ice stand that serve casual fare.

About 8 miles east of La Junta, Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site painstakingly re-creates what life was like in this adobe fort. The 1840s fort was situated along the commercially vital Santa Fe Trail, providing both protection and a meeting place for the soldiers, trappers, and traders of the era. The museum's interior reveals daily life at a trading post, providing looks at a smithy and carpenter's workshop and featuring educational films and guided tours.

The graceful arc of Bixby Creek Bridge is a photographer's dream. Built in 1932, the bridge spans a deep canyon, more than 100 feet wide at the bottom. From the north-side parking area you can admire the view or walk the 550-foot structure. The parking area is very small.  Follow all signs regarding how (e.g., single-file, parallel to the bluff) and where to park. If there are no spots, cross the bridge to one of the pullouts to the south.

The largest nesting bald eagle population north of Florida makes Blackwater its home. You can often see the birds perching on the lifeless tree trunks that poke from the wetlands here, part of nearly 28,000 acres of woods, open water, marsh, and farmland. In fall and spring, some 35,000 Canada and snow geese pass through in their familiar V formations to and from their winter home, joining more than 15,000 ducks. The rest of the year, residents include endangered species such as peregrine falcons and silver-hair Delmarva fox squirrels. Great blue heron stand like sentinels while ospreys dive for meals and tundra swans preen endlessly. By car or bike you can follow a 5-mi road through several habitats or follow a network of trails on foot. Exhibits and films in the visitor center provide background and insight.