The 15 Best Things to Do In America

The 15 Best Things to do in America Prepared by Ceci Lumley, a traveler and writer who resides at texaschapbookpress.com, the 15 Best Best Things were compiled for the benefit of both U.S. and international travelers.
Says Lumley: “Assume for the moment that most of us are working to restore sanity to American government. Assume also that citizens of other countries still come here seeking to glimpse the best of America. For readers who are willing to hold those two assumptions, I’ve assembled a list from my own travels; call it the best of the best. Fifteen American moments that I treasure and wish to share. As digested by NAJ, the list follows—in alphabetical order.

Big Bend, Texas: Big Bend National Park is high desert punctuated by very old volcanic upheavals, razor-thin deep canyons, and a fine Shangri-La called “The Basin,” a small valley thousands of feet above the desert floor. Cell phones don’t work in the Basin, nor do TVs. Nor radios. More info: http://www.nps.gov/bibe/

Café Du Monde, New Orleans: The Ninth Ward (and environs) may come and go, but the Café du Monde by the levee in New Orleans we shall always have with us. Beignets, Louisiana coffee, the Times-Picayune, with a view of Jackson Square and the cathedral… what more could you ask? http://www.cafedumonde.com/

Caravaggio at the Cleveland (Ohio) Museum of Art: Tucked in a park adjacent to Case Western Reserve University, CMA developed its collection at a time when the sacking of Europe was still underway, and Cleveland got some major treasures. The greatest of which is, strangely, almost hidden away in a far back gallery: Caravaggio’s late masterpiece, The Crucifixion of St. Andrew. More info: http://www.clemusart.com/

Corona Del Mar, California: The orange groves are gone but, on rare occasion, weather and traffic permitting, you can still catch a glimpse of the paradise that California was. Come over the inland highway at sunset and, the gods willing, Corona del Mar will open before you as it must have looked 100 years ago. http://tinyurl.com/3b7wmn4

Fallingwater (Pennsylvania): The legendary Frank Lloyd Wright, the most American of architects, left stuff pretty widely scattered—Chicago, Phoenix, Hollywood. Best of all, tucked away in the mountainous southwestern corner of Pennsylvania is Fallingwater, the iconic over-the-top, over-the-creek house he built in the 1930s for a Pittsburgh department store owner. Fallingwater, like a great painting, has to be seen in person to be fully appreciated. The house and extensive grounds are now the property of a conservancy. Reservations are required for both tours (one-hour, or three-hour: take the longer one; you’ll see—and can photograph—everything). More info: http://www.paconserve.org/index-fw1.asp

Hippie Hollow County Park (15 miles west of Austin, Texas): The problem with nude beaches is sand, which gets into places you really don’t want sand to get into. Then there’s the sun: nice for a while but you’ll eventually be wishing for a spot of shade. Deep in the heart of Texas, Hippie Hollow avoids both problems. It’s a county park on the shores of a beautiful Hill Country lake: conveniently flat limestone shelves stairstep down from the juniper forest into the cool, clear water. It’s clothing-optional. In such a paradise, few opt for clothing.

Interstate 90 across North Dakota: The “Great” Plains, indeed. Flyovers miss ‘em. Tourists on the lower-numbered Interstates to the south miss ‘em. Set out westward from Minneapolis in your vehicle of choice and you can’t miss ‘em, hour after hour after hour after hour. http://i90.mobi/pc/answer_get.php?query=i-90&region=us/

Jemez Springs, New Mexico: A few miles southwest of Los Alamos, New Mexico, Highway 4 winds through Jemez Canyon, a thousand-foot-deep declivity whose steep, forested slopes are dotted with unspoiled hot springs. You park. You climb. You strip. You immerse. The ever-changing patch of sky is your video; the forest provides the soundtrack. Your fellow “immerses” provide the smoke (if you so desire). http://www.jemezsprings.org/

Key West, Florida: Many of the best American cities have only smidgens of uniqueness that have to be sought out. The island-city of Key West is what it is and it is so entirely. How deep does the difference make? Pretty deep. Take “time”, for example. Island time, in the Keys, is not at all the same thing as mainland time, and tourists, busy being tourists, almost never get it. http://www.fla-keys.com/

Kitty Hawk, North Carolina: The Outer Banks of North Carolina are hard to get to, but once there you’ll realize it was worth the trouble: great beaches, good surf, and the National Park Service has done itself proud at the Wright Brothers National Memorial. (Why did the brothers come all the way here from Dayton, Ohio to do it? What does “Kitty Hawk” mean anyway?). You’ll come away with a deepened appreciation for what Orville and Wilbur did on this remote North Carolina seashore. More info: http://www.nps.gov/wrbr.

Paradise, Michigan: There are two ways to get to Paradise: From the south (Detroit, etc.), which gives you the thrill of the Mackinac Straits Bridge; or from the west (Duluth, etc.) which gives you the thrill of about 300 miles of Upper Peninsula pine-forest wilderness with occasional glimpses of Lake Superior off to your left. When you finally get to Paradise, proceed to Curley’s Motel (you can’t miss it), request a room on the back, and then spend whatever time you have contemplating the deep beauty of Lake Superior about 50 feet away either through your picture window (if it’s cold) or (if it’s not) on the “beach.” http://www.paradisemichigan.org/

Seneca Falls, New York: 1848. That’s when the first international meeting on women’s rights was held. In Seneca Falls, New York, a lovely little Finger Lakes village. It all started in this unlikely place. Why? How? Go and find out. Much of the town is a national historic site. The National Park Service has an excellent museum adjacent to the remains of the building where the first meeting took place, complete with a water wall on which is inscribed the Declaration of Women’s Rights. It all comes together in a powerful sense of place, of time, of victories won, and of victories still to be won. http://www.senecafalls.com/

Slave Market, Charleston South Carolina: Six Chalmers Street, Charleston, South Carolina, known as “The Old Slave Mart.” You can search the Internet, you can search physically, and in all the United States, where for three and a half centuries every city of any size had a place for the buying and selling of slaves, you will find only one surviving building, the Old Slave Mart in Charleston. America cannot be understood without remembrance of slavery. Go to Charleston and contemplate the one extant reminder of what this “democracy” did for so long. http://charlestonlowcountry.com/about/slaveMart.html

Trail of Tears (Georgia to Oklahoma): In 1830 Congress passed the Indian Removal Act. All Native Americans east of the Mississippi were to be forcibly moved west of the Mississippi. The tragic culmination came in 1838 when some 16,000 Cherokees in the southern Appalachian Mountains were moved to what was then known as the Indian Territory (now part of Arkansas and Oklahoma). Most walked. Many died. You can read a fairly detailed summary of what happened here: http://www.nationaltota.org/the-story/ In 1987 Congress designated the Trail of Tears as a national historic trail. The northerly route is now marked, sort of. A good single place to visit is the New Echota Cherokee Capital State Historic Site in northwestern Georgia. More info: http://www.nps.gov/trte/ and http://www.nationaltota.org/

Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington, D.C. Completed in 1982, the understated, V-shaped memorial, containing the names of the more than 57,000 Americans in the armed forces who died during the long U.S. war in Vietnam is visited by millions each year. With so many of the visitors—an estimated 3 million each year—knowing someone whose name is etched on the wall, the atmosphere evokes that of an outdoor sanctuary, as visitors light candles, place objects before the wall, pray or meditate. Aside one end of the Reflecting Pool and within eyesight of the Lincoln Memorial, it is truly America’s Memorial.