Here locally there are several interesting places to visit, all within walking distance of each other. First we have Officer Row. 21 beautiful homes that have been carefully restored. All are occupied in some fashion, mostly as offices for local businesses, one is a restuarant, several are open for tours. http://www.cityofvancouver.us/history.asp?menuid=10466&submenuid=10537&itemID=16094
Nearby is a small, but historic airfield, with a small museum containing some very interesting exhibits. http://www.pearsonairmuseum.org/home.htm
Finally, just a few dozen yards away, there is the replica of old Fort Vancouver. Originally a Hudson’s Bay Company fort and the center for exploration and settlement of the Columbia and Willamette River basins, it was the western terminus of the Oregon Trail.
I see these places on a regular basis and kind of take them for granted, but they’re definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area.
The House on the Rock in Spring Green, Wisconsin is a fantastic place to spend the day. The complex is huge and filled with interesting things. Wear comfortable shoes.
Down around Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, someone has set up a little place called the Golgotha Fun Park. I’ve never actually gone to the park, I just think that the name bears mention.
My real favorite would be Eureka Springs, Arkansas, where my parents and I vacationed every summer when I was growing up. It’s an artist’s colony, and has lots of fun shops and fudge shops, and an old-fashioned ice cream parlor. There is also a Civil War-era train you can ride, Miles Musical Museum, lots of walk-through caves, and oodles of hillbilly attractions. It’s quite close to the chain of Tablerock, Beaver, and Bull Shoals lakes, which are lovely. Oh… and if you’re in the neighborhood, you really should stop for dinner at Dowd’s Catfish. You really should.
The Cloisters in the far north of Manhattan, is a little known about treasure. It is part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
I am partial to small little roadside attractions, I enjoy caverns, dinosaur parks, lighthouses and what not. One of my favorite is the Twin Lights in the Highlands, NJ.
This is also the site of the original Marconi tower.
The Jefferson Davis Memorial is REALLY out in the middle of nowhere (Hi Pete!). I wonder if something used to be nearby, long ago.
Cave City, Ky., is really the capital of tacky in this part of the world – but if you like some of that roadside attraction type of stuff, they do have one of the surviving Wigwam Villages. It still is a thrill for the kiddies, and their kitsch-lovin’ mamas. Almost as good as the Cozy Cone.
For natural beauty, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Kentucky’s Red River Gorge and its bounty of natural arch formations.
I’d have thought that the Jefferson Building was mainstream, but if it isn’t, then the United States Air Force Museum at Dayton, Ohio, isn’t either. It has a remarkable collection of military aviation stretching back over more than a century, and isn’t just of interest to aircraft fanatics. In addition, it’s free to go in. There’s a separate section of presidential and experimental aircraft, which you need to book into to get to see – and if you’re there on a weekend or holiday, you should book early to see that part.
My favorite local attraction is the Frank Lloyd Wright Pope-Leighey House in Alexandria. I’m an admirer of Wright’s architecture, and whenever I visit this tiny Usonian house I always want to move in.
For quiet and off the beaten path I like the Holy Cross Abbey in Berryville, Va. You can tour the grounds, observe/join services, and buy homemade candy, preserves, cheese, and coffee in their gift shop.
This might be borderline mainstream, but I think that many people still haven’t heard of/been to the Udvar-Hazy extension of the Smithsonian’s National Air & Space museum. Parking is expensive and the only food available is McDonald’s, but there are some very cool planes on display (like a Concorde, the Enola Gay, and an SR-71) – and a space shuttle!
I never knew there was a garden in Wayne (I went to college in Radnor)! Cool!
One summer, while Mrs. R was off on a trip with her best friend, I took my daughters and we flew to Utah to see Dinosaur National Monument, and then we rented a Mazda and drove to Berlin, Nevada, to see Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park. It’s fifty miles down a gravel road, and the display shelter is only open when a ranger is around to open it, but it was pretty cool to see ichthyosaur skeletons in situ.
Outside is a retaining wall with a relief sculpture of an ichthyosaur in it. I told the girls that it was only decorative, not actual size–but I was wrong; the real thing (Shonisaurus?) was forty feet long! They really were the kings of the ocean in their day.
I absolutely agree with everything you just said, but you left out the best part - the main reading/research room. Giant rotunda, loaded with bookshelves and other library goodness - genuinely impressive. The only problem is that it’s not open to the “tourists” - you need a Library of Congress reader’s card to get in. Those are free for the asking, but you need to learn to ask properly. Which means . . . well . . .
You might need to tell a bit of a white lie. The office where you get the cards (ask any of the staffers for directions) has several signs up, sternly reminding applicants that reader cards are not souvenirs. In theory, you need to have a legitimate research purpose to get one. I’m not going to say whether or not that’s how I got mine, but it’s prudent to be ready to say something like “Oh yes, I need to do research on the history of American policy towards Equatorial Guinea.”
It’s worth the effort, trust me - the reading room is much cooler on the inside than it looks from the observation windows.
So many of mine have already been mentioned. I have spent a lot of time in the southwest, and I really like ancient sites such as Mesa Verde CO and Chaco Canyon NM. A few years back I visited the rock paintings and ghost town in Sego Canyon, Utah (Yeah - the guy in the photo I linked to is a douchebag though for going right up to the paintings - they are quite unprotected). It is on a wicked dirt road leading off the I-70 in Thompson Springs, UT, and worth the beating to your car (or the hike). The Barrier Style paintings there are stunning and a little creepy. Barrier Style is only one of several styles of native painting represented there.
Last year we went to the Fremont Indian State Park in UT (also off I-70 I think) and it was pretty cool. We hope to re-visit and spend a few days camping there - it was very pleasant. We went to the Mountain Meadows Massacre site on that trip as well. It was very interesting and the trip was fun.
Tahquamenon Falls has to be one of the prettiest places I’ve ever been too.
Too bad its Way up North. yanno, by Athena Holland State Park and seeing Big Red is always a pleasant diversion. Go later in the day and stay for the sunset. Get there early for front row parking and take a picnic lunch, sand-shoes and a jacket. It always gets chilly.
Finally got to see the Desert of Maine which has ubiquitous bumper stickers around here.
I don’t know if I would call it my favorite but it was interesting to hear how it got to be the way it is, and to see several dozen acres of sand in the middle of the Maine woods.
RUBY FALLS, in the Chattanooga area, is a truly spectacular caven system, with an amazing underground waterfall. Nice to visit year-round, too.
THE OLD STONE FORT STATE PARK is the closest thing to Stonehenge Tennessee has. A mysterious stone & earthenwork fortification, that pre-dates Colombus. The waterfalls there are also lovely, & the whole place is spiritually uplifting in the Spring.
