239 Best Sights in USA

Learn about Yosemite Valley's geology, vegetation, and human inhabitants at this visitor center, which is also staffed with helpful rangers and contains a bookstore with a wide selection of books and maps. A 23-minute film, Spirit of Yosemite, plays every half hour in the theater near the visitor center.

You can pick up information about the town of Abbeville and the entire parish at the Vermillion Parish Tourist Commission. Many buildings in Abbeville's 20-block Main Street district are on the National Register of Historic Places. The tourist commission's website also updates a calendar of events for the parish.

The "Virginia Winery Guide" lists each of the state's wineries (many offer tours and tastings). It's free and can be picked up at visitor information centers throughout the state or by on the Virginia Wine Board's website. From there you can also find descriptions of more than 500 wine events and festivals that take place each year.

For information about restricted beaches, call the Wellfleet Beach Sticker Office. You can also purchase weekly or seasonal stickers here if you are renting a house in town (you'll need a proof-of-stay form).

Cultural information and local exhibits about sugar, weaving, shells, and poi-making highlight this small museum-style resource center in Waimea Town. Shop counters offer Island-made items, Niihau-shell jewelry, photographs of Kauai, children's books, and snacks. Lei-making and music sessions happen regularly on the patio, and you can get a map for a walking tour.

This small ranger station is just past the park's western entrance, about 10 miles east of Soledad. Here you can get maps and information, watch a 13-minute film about Pinnacles, and view interpretive exhibits. No food or drink is available here.

This 1925 log cabin houses a bookstore and doubles as a warming hut in winter. There are restrooms in the parking area. In summer, check for informal ranger-led discussions beneath the old sequoia tree.

The White House Visitor Center is a fantastic way to get an orientation before visiting the White House and an excellent alternative for those who could not get tickets. Displays, artifacts, photos, videos, and interactive exhibits recount the life and times of America's most famous house, providing behind-the-scenes insight into the workings of the White House. Afterward, go for a walk around the grounds of the President's park for the iconic views of the White House.

Open in summer, this small center serves almost exclusively serious hikers and campers venturing into the Stronghold or Palmer unit. If that's you, stop here to view park videos and for maps and details about road and trail conditions. The center is on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. While you're here you can see fossils and Native American artifacts, and learn about Lakota culture.

Also called the Bus Depot, this center just inside the park entrance is where you can reserve campgrounds and bus trips into the park. If you arrive after 7 pm, campground reservations are made at the Riley Creek Mercantile until 11 pm. There's also a coffee stand—your last chance for a cup of joe unless you bring the makings for campsite coffee with you.

The main stop to secure backcountry and climbing permits for North Cascades National Park and the Lake Chelan and Ross Lake recreational areas, this office has maps, a bookshop, and nature exhibits. If you arrive after hours or during winter, there's a self-register permit stop outside.

Located behind Olympic National Park Visitor Center, this facility provides all the information you'll need for a trip in the park, including trail conditions, safety tips, and weather bulletins. The office also issues camping permits, takes campground reservations, and loans bear-proof food canisters.

For more information on Franklin and its attractions, contact the Williamson Country Visitor Center.

The park's sole visitor center is the primary place to get park information and embark on cave tours. Located on top of the cave, it has three exhibit rooms, with displays on cave geology and exploration, prairie ecology and management, and Native American culture. The center also hosts ranger programs and has an auditorium that presents the film, Wind Cave, Two Worlds. Other than vending machines, there's no coffee or snacks here or elsewhere in the park.

Learn about the geology of the canyon at this museum and bookstore that doubles as a visitor center. You can also catch the park shuttle bus or pick up information for the Rim Trail here. The views of the canyon and Phantom Ranch from inside this historic building are stupendous.

The Yellowtail Dam Visitor Center in the northern unit features exhibits focusing on the life of Crow Chief Robert Yellowtail, the Crow people, the history of the Bighorn River, the dam's construction, and the wildlife in the area, including the wild mustangs that roam the high grasslands of the Pryor Mountains above the canyon. In addition to the exhibits, five different films are available upon request.

On the western edge of Yorktown Battlefield, the Yorktown Victory Center has wonderful exhibits and demonstrations that bring to life the American Revolution. Textual and graphic displays along the open-air Road to Revolution walkway cover the principal events and personalities. A Declaration of Independence entrance gallery and long-term exhibition, The Legacy of Yorktown: Virginia Beckons provide background information. Life-size tableaux show 10 "witnesses," including an African American patriot, a loyalist, a Native American leader, two Continental Army soldiers, and the wife of a Virginia plantation owner. The witnesses' testimony is very dramatic and makes the American Revolution real for children. This presentation brings the personal trials of the colonists to life more effectively than the artifacts of the war.

The exhibit galleries contain more than 500 period artifacts, including many recovered during underwater excavations of "Yorktown's Sunken Fleet" (British ships lost during the siege of 1781). Outdoors, visitors may participate in a Continental Army drill at an encampment with interpreters costumed as soldiers and female auxiliaries, who reenact and discuss daily camp life. In another outdoor area, a re-created 1780s farm includes a dwelling, kitchen, tobacco barn, crop fields, and kitchen garden, which show how many Americans lived in the decade following the end of the Revolution.

This small but striking National Historic Landmark (formerly Le Conte Memorial Lodge), with its granite walls and steeply pitched shingle roof, is Yosemite's first permanent public information center. Step inside to see the cathedral-like interior, which contains a library and environmental exhibits. To find out about evening programs, check the kiosk out front.

Learn about the area's geology, flora, and fauna at the outdoor interpretive exhibits next to a gurgling stream. Inside, a large shop sells everything from field guides to souvenirs. Zion Canyon shuttle buses leave regularly from the center, which is just a five-minute walk from Zion Canyon Village, from which you can pick up the Springdale Line shuttle bus. Ranger-guided shuttle tours depart once a day from late May through September. Within a short walk you can also access the small Zion Nature Center, the park's two main campgrounds, and both The Watchman and Pa'rus hiking trails. During busy periods, the visitor center and surrounding plaza can feel like a bit of a zoo (and spaces can be tough to come by in the parking lot); try to arrive very early or late in the day if you can.

The Zuni Visitor & Arts Center, where the helpful staff will tell you what your options are for exploring Zuni (and about any special events that might be going on), is also a tribally required stop before you begin to explore this most traditional of the New Mexico pueblos. It is here that you must inquire about photography permits and guidelines (cultural and religious activities are always off-limits).

Affiliated with Big Bend Ranch State Park of Texas, this visitor center offers a self-guided walking tour through a 2½-acre landscaped desert garden. It's a good way to get acquainted with the Trans-Pecos region before adventuring to either the national or state park. Also on the grounds are an interpretive center, a covered picnic area, a bookstore, and a gift shop.

For information on the eastern half of the wilderness, contact Custer National Forest.

The 23-acre site in Presidio County contains a thick-walled adobe fort and trading post that dates back to pioneer days. There are exhibits, a ½-mile nature trail, picnic sites, guided tours, and a store. The park is day-use only. The fort also doubles as the western visitor center for Big Bend Ranch State Park.

For information on the western half of the wilderness, contact Gallatin National Forest.

Contact the Jicarilla Apache Department of Game & Fish for information.

With the most spectacular views of the crater and lava dome of Mt. St. Helens, this observatory also has exhibits that interpret the geology of the mountain and explain how scientists monitor an active volcano.

In summer, a campground, cabin-style motel, amphitheater, gas station, and small store are open here. No gasoline is available in the park from mid-October to mid-May. Snowfall determines when the village and its facilities open and close for the season. Hours vary; call ahead.

The natural forces that created the towering sand dunes along this section of the Oregon Coast are explained in interpretive exhibits. The center, which also sells maps, books, and gifts, is a good place to pick up free literature on the area.

Called the "City of Presidents" because of the life-size bronze statues of U.S. presidents that adorn virtually every downtown street corner, Rapid City is the largest urban center in a 350-mile radius. The city is the area's cultural, educational, medical, and economic hub, and a good base from which to explore the treasures of the state's southwestern corner, including Mount Rushmore (25 miles south) and Wind Cave National Park (50 miles south).