If you're only able to visit a single U.S. national park, then Yellowstone should be your choice. Spanning several states, this U.S. park is the oldest in the country, opening in 1872. Yellowstone is well known for its geysers and hot springs. While Old Faithful often takes the spotlight regarding the park's geysers, the Grand Prismatic Spring is the park's most notorious hot spring, located along the Midwest Geyser Basin near the Firehole River. Prismatic Spring, in Wyoming, is the largest spring in the U.S., and third largest in the world. Only New Zealand has hot springs that are larger. It's located in the Midwest Geyser Basin, which oddly enough is smaller than many of Yellowstone's other basins. The spring is 300 fee in diameter, ...
The northern U.S state of Alaska is more than a remote icebox of the Arctic Circle and the largest state of America. This is especially true for those interested in bear watching—seeing wild Alaskan grizzly bears in their natural habitat. These huge, beautiful, often misunderstood and underestimated animals roam the great white northern regions; and if the grizzly bear is your creature of choice, then timing and positioning are key to bear watching from a safe yet intimate distance. In the fishing season of southern Alaska, in the town of Seward, grizzly bears come down from the alpine tree line to feed on the abundant sockeye river salmon. Towards the end of the season, the fish are tired and an easy catch—which is perfect for ...
The first thing they tell you at the Ice Hotel is not to put your head inside your sleeping bag. You’ll want to. It’s cold in the Ice Hotel and your nose will want to tuck itself under the covers to keep warm. But if you do, your warm breath will mix with the hotel’s cold air and you’ll end up with a sleeping bag with an opening coated in ice. The Hotel de Glace in Quebec, Canada, is a boutique hotel made entirely of snow and ice – 20,000 tonnes of it. Redesigned and rebuilt every winter, it takes over a month to complete. Construction begins in December, when steel frames and wooden walls are mounted as a base. Snow is then blown over ...
The first thing I noticed upon entering Revolution Square in Havana, Cuba, was the sheer size of it. Standing inside one can easily imagine former President Fidel Castro addressing the masses and it is quite obvious that Revolution Square is indeed one of the biggest city squares in the world. Though the name “Revolution Square” is linked to Fidel Castro and his revolution, the square was actually constructed during the regime of prior President Fulgencio Batista. It was originally named “Civic Square” and renamed “Revolution Square” only after Fidel Castro took power. One of the highest points of the city of Havana is in the square, the Jose Marti Memorial. The memorial is a 109m tall tower, where you can take an elevator to the ...
The Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming, best known from Steven Spielberg’s 1977 hit UFO movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind, is becoming an increasingly popular destination with mountain climbers as they descend on the area to ascend a challenging icon. Each year hundreds of climbers scale its almost perpendicular rock walls in an attempt to reach the pinnacle of the column. A stunning 360-degree view of the western side of the Black Hills awaits those up to the test. It’s not for everyone though, especially as American Indian legend has it that a mighty bear couldn’t reach its prey at the top. Several Native American tribes hold the Devils Tower National Monument as sacred, still performing various ceremonies on location each year. The ...
Out on the West Texas plains, at the outskirts of a dusty cowtown called Amarillo, sits one of the world's oddest and coolest roadside attractions: the Cadillac Ranch. This public art installation consists of ten antique cars, mostly early model Cadillacs, buried with their noses in the ground and their tail fins high in the air. The cars are splashed in colourful spray-painted messages and pictures, as graffiti is not only tolerated here, it is actively encouraged. The Cadillac Ranch was the brainchild of irreverent Texas millionaire Stanley Marsh III, who owns the land on which the Caddies were buried. The actual installation of the roadside attraction was done in the late 1970s by the avant-garde art firm Ant Farm, which were contracted to put ...
Depending on whom you ask, there are 54 “fourteeners” (mountains over 14,000 ft. above sea level) in the state of Colorado. This constitutes the densest collection in North America. These mountains have become an obsession for peak baggers the world over, making the centennial state a premier destination for those looking to lace up their hiking boots and set out for a stroll toward the sky. Rising a mere 14,115 ft., Pikes Peak is ranked 31st and has risen above its peers to become the most visited mountain in North America; and the second in the world behind Japan’s Mt. Fuji. Either by train, automobile, or on foot, over half a million visitors find their way to the summit house annually. Ten miles west of ...
Former U.S. Cold War missileer Craig Manson thinks the preservation of the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site in South Dakota is “a most fitting idea because the Cold War dominated the last half of the twentieth century… [and] most of American life, in one way or another, was defined by the Cold War.” The U.S. National Park Service now controls the area, preserving it as the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, standing as a reminder of the dangers faced by a standoff between the Soviet Union and the United States after the Second World War. Following the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) of 1991 by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and American President George H.W. Bush, the launch site and the missile silo, one of 150, ...
With over two million works of art, it’s possible to wander the halls of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, and see little of what's there in one visit. Hell, it’s possible to go to “the Met” several times and still not cover everything in the two-million-square-foot building. What makes it such a great museum to visit, is the amazing galleries and collections; so many, that it’s possible to go again and again for a new experience each and every time. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is the most visited museum in the United States, with nearly five million annual visitors, and the third most visited in the world after the Louvre in Paris, and the British Museum in London. It’s quite ...
London is a city of overwhelming options. There is so much to see and do that you could spend a year here and not even scratch the surface of its possibilities. From the busy, colourful markets, to the crazy, nighttime party scene and everything in between, it can be difficult to make up your mind about how to allocate your time when you're visiting London, England. A Thames river cruise is a great way to catch a glimpse of many of the main attractions and perhaps whet your appetite for a more in depth look at some of the other things you can see and do in the city. The tour guides are one of the selling features of a cruise on the River ...
