This the fifth installment in a series for my 4th Travelversay Celebration. In many ways, this list was easier than creating a list of historic places. Natural sites and national parks tend to be much larger and you have to get out of the city to experience them. Most of the sites on this list …
Southern Oregon and Northern California is a sparsely populated part of the country with some of the best scenery and natural attractions in the United States. Across California there is no shortage of beautiful places to visit, and that includes in the north of the state, where fewer travelers venture. Those road tripping the area …
I have been visiting UNESCO World Heritage Sites since I began traveling full time in 2007. Since then I have visited over 375 sites around the world and have photographed all of them. There are no typical world heritage sites. They come in all shapes and sizes, from a few square meters to sites larger …
As you may have noticed, I have a slight fetish about visiting world heritage sites. To date I have visited over 375 of sites and I have made a point of featuring each one I visit as a daily photo. Some of them are incredible and some are……less than incredible. I’ve had several people ask …
Yucca House National Monument is one of the most unique sites in the entire U.S. national park system. Despite being a declared a national monument by Woodrow Wilson in 1919, the site has had absolutely no development. There is no visitor center, no ranger, and no staff dedicated to the site. In fact, in one …
From the World Heritage inscription: In a mountainous region in the heart of Ethiopia, some 645 km from Addis Ababa, eleven medieval monolithic churches were carved out of rock. Their building is attributed to King Lalibela who set out to construct in the 12th century a ‘New Jerusalem’ after Muslim conquests halted Christian pilgrimages to …
From the World Heritage inscription for Nahanni National Park: Located in the southwest corner of Northwest Territories along the course of the South Nahanni and Flat rivers, the park lies in a diverse mountainous area comprising mountain ranges, rolling hills, elevated plateaus, deep canyons and huge waterfalls, as well as a unique limestone cave system. …
Mesa Verde is another really under-appreciated national park. While it is one of the first national parks in the U.S., it’s a cultural attraction, not a natural one. In fact, North America is seriously lacking in ancient structures (due do the nomadic nature of the original inhabitants), and Mesa Verde is one of the finest. …
From the World Heritage inscription for Monticello and the University of Virginia in Charlottesville: Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), author of the American Declaration of Independence and third president of the United States, was also a talented architect of neoclassical buildings. He designed Monticello (1769–1809), his plantation home, and his ideal ‘academical village’ (1817–26), which is still …