Travel America

Home to the world’s third-largest population, with over 310 million people, it includes both densely populated cities with sprawling suburbs and vast, uninhabited and naturally beautiful areas.

With its history of mass immigration dating from the 17th century, it is a “melting pot” of cultures from around the world and plays a dominant role in the world’s cultural landscape. It’s famous for its wide array of popular tourist destinations, ranging from the skyscrapers of Manhattan and Chicago, to the natural wonders of Yellowstone and Alaska, to the warm, sunny beaches of Florida, Hawaii and Southern California.

Famous American Landmarks and Monuments, including more Scenic Nature Photography soon, this is an excerpt from my new feature ‘Travel America’; a portfolio project which is an ongoing process.. to enlarge upon the information here.. Travel and Points of Interest being such a vast subject! Other projects ‘on the simmer’ are: Travel Ireland, Travel Italy, Travel France, Travel Australia.

Just click on any image to view larger size:

Washington Monument by Ian Livingston

the-white-house-washington-monument- by richard-nowitz

Swiftcurrent Lake, Glacier National Park, Montana

Washington, D.C., as the nation’s capital, has more monuments and statuary than you could see in a day, but do be sure to visit the Washington Monument (the world’s tallest obelisk), the stately Lincoln Memorial, and the incredibly moving Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The city’s architecture is also an attraction—the Capitol Building and the White House are two of the most iconic buildings in the country and often serve to represent the whole nation to the world.

Actually, a number of American cities have world-renowned skylines, perhaps none more so than the concrete canyons of Manhattan, part of New York City. The site of the destroyed World Trade Center towers remains a gaping wound in Manhattan’s vista, however America’s tallest building, the new 1 World Trade Center, now stands adjacent to the site of the former towers. Also, the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building stand tall, as they have for almost a century. Chicago, where the skyscraper was invented, is home to the country’s single tallest building, the (former) Sears Tower, and an awful lot of other really tall buildings. Other skylines worth seeing include San Francisco (with the Golden Gate Bridge), Seattle (including the Space Needle), Miami, and Pittsburgh.

Some human constructions transcend skyline, though, and become iconic symbols in their own right. The Gateway Arch in St. Louis, the Statue of Liberty in Manhattan, the Hollywood Sign in Los Angeles, and even the fountains of the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas all draw visitors to their respective cities. Even the incredible Mount Rushmore, located far from any major city, still attracts two million visitors each year.

Museums and Galleries

In the US, there’s a museum for practically everything. From toys to priceless artifacts, from entertainment legends to dinosaur bones—nearly every city in the country has a museum worth visiting.

The highest concentrations of these museums are found in the largest cities, of course, but none compare to Washington, D.C., home to the Smithsonian Institution. With almost twenty independent museums, most of them located on the National Mall, the Smithsonian is the foremost curator of American history and achievement. The most popular of the Smithsonian museums are the National Air and Space Museum, the National Museum of American History, and the National Museum of Natural History, but any of the Smithsonian museums would be a great way to spend an afternoon—and they’re all 100% free.

New York City also has an outstanding array of world-class museums, including the Guggenheim Museum, the American Museum of Natural History,the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum, and the Ellis Island Immigration Museum.

You could spend weeks exploring the cultural institutions just in D.C. and the Big Apple, but here’s a small fraction of the other great museums you’d be missing: