Chicago, on Lake Michigan in Illinois, is among the largest cities in the U.S. Famed for its bold architecture, it has a skyline punctuated by skyscrapers such as the iconic John Hancock Center, 1,451-ft. Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower) and the neo-Gothic Tribune Tower. The city is also renowned for its museums, including the Art Institute of Chicago with its noted Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works.

Springfield is the state capital of Illinois. Downtown, the interior of Illinois State Capitol's large dome is decorated with stained glass and statues of historical figures. The 1904 Dana-Thomas House was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum traces the life of the 16th U.S. president. Lincoln's restored home is nearby. North, the Lincoln Tomb lies in Oak Ridge Cemetery.

St. Louis is a major city in Missouri along the Mississippi River. Its iconic, 630-ft. Gateway Arch, built in the 1960s, honors the early 19th-century explorations of Lewis and Clark and America's westward expansion in general. Replica paddlewheelers ply the river, offering views of the arch. The Soulard district is home to barbecue restaurants and clubs playing blues music.

Springfield is a city in southwestern Missouri. The Discovery Center of Springfield has interactive science exhibits on topics from DNA to dinosaurs. To the north, Dickerson Park Zoo features animals from around the world, plus train rides. Trams run through a cave filled with stalagmites and flowstones at Fantastic Caverns. The Nathanael Greene/Close Memorial Park has trails and botanical gardens.

Oklahoma City is the capital of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It's known for its cowboy culture and capitol complex, surrounded by working oil wells. The reflecting pool and empty glass and bronze chairs of the Oklahoma City National Memorial recall the victims of the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The Survivor Tree, an American elm nearly destroyed in the attack, is also part of the memorial.

Amarillo is a city in the Texas Panhandle. It’s a gateway to the vast, trail-lined Palo Duro Canyon State Park. The Cadillac Ranch is an installation of graffiti-decorated cars, partly buried in a field. With art deco and Spanish Revival buildings, the U.S. Route 66–Sixth Street Historic District is a hub for dining and antiques. The American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame & Museum is dedicated to the famous horse breed.

Albuquerque, New Mexico’s largest city, sits in the high desert. Its modern Downtown core contrasts with Old Town Albuquerque, dating to the city’s 1706 founding as a Spanish colony. Old Town is filled with historic adobe buildings, such as San Felipe de Neri Church, 5 museums, and shops selling Native American handicrafts. Nearby, The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center traces the area’s tribal history.

Santa Fe, New Mexico’s capital, sits in the Sangre de Cristo foothills. It’s renowned for its Pueblo-style architecture and as a creative arts hotbed. Founded as a Spanish colony in 1610, it has at its heart the traditional Plaza. The surrounding historic district’s crooked streets wind past adobe landmarks including the Palace of the Governors, now home to the New Mexico History Museum.

Taos is a town in northern New Mexico’s high desert, bounded by the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. It’s known for historic adobe buildings such as Taos Pueblo, a multistory adobe complex inhabited by Native Americans for centuries. A longtime artist colony, Taos also offers many galleries and museums showcasing regional artwork, including the Harwood Museum of Art and the Taos Art Museum.

Manitou Springs is a resort city in Colorado, just outside Colorado Springs. It’s known for its mineral springs and mountain landscapes, dominated by soaring Pikes Peak. The Manitou Cliff Dwellings are a group of reassembled ancient cliff structures. Hundreds of steps lead up a steep slope on the Manitou Incline Trail. Manitou Avenue is home to art galleries and specialty boutiques.

Pikes Peak is the highest summit of the southern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in North America. The ultra-prominent 14,115-foot fourteener is located in Pike National Forest, 12 miles west of downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado. The town of Manitou Springs lies at its base.

Independence Pass, originally known as Hunter Pass, is a high mountain pass in central Colorado, United States. It is at elevation 12,095 ft on the Continental Divide in the Sawatch Range of the Rocky Mountains. The pass is midway between Aspen and Twin Lakes, on the border between Pitkin and Lake counties.

Aspen, in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains, is a ski resort town and year-round destination for outdoor recreation. It's also known for high-end restaurants and boutiques, and landmarks like the Wheeler Opera House, built in 1889 during the area’s silver mining boom. The Wheeler-Stallard House is a local history museum set in a 19th-century, Queen Anne–style home, while the Aspen Art Museum displays contemporary artworks.

The Million Dollar Highway, also known as U.S. Route 550, is a scenic and treacherous mountain road that runs through the heart of the San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado. With stunning views of towering peaks, deep gorges, and alpine meadows, the highway is a popular destination for adventure seekers, road trippers, and outdoor enthusiasts alike.

However, the road's narrow lanes, hairpin turns, and steep cliffs have also earned it a reputation as one of the most dangerous roads in America.

Durango is a small city in southwestern Colorado, near the New Mexico border. The 19th-century Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad steam train passes mountains and canyons. In the city center, its affiliated Railroad Museum displays restored locomotives, aircraft and a baggage car converted into a movie theater. Nearby, the Powerhouse Science Center offers interactive exhibits in a former power plant.

The Four Corners Monument marks the quadripoint in the Southwestern United States where the states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah meet. It is the only point in the United States shared by four states, leading to the area being named the Four Corners region.

Valley of the Gods is a scenic backcountry area is southeastern Utah, near Mexican Hat. It is a hidden gem with scenery similar to that of nearby Monument Valley. Valley of the Gods offers isolated buttes, towering pinnacles and wide open spaces that seem to go on forever.

The Moki Dugway Scenic Backway, located in Southeastern Utah in the United States, is a remarkable and dramatic stretch of road that runs along Utah Highway 261.

The Moki Dugway is famous for its steep, unpaved, but sharp switchbacks, which descend 1,200 feet from the top of Cedar Mesa. The relatively easy gravel road extends for about three miles and has a gradient of up to 10%.

The panoramic views from the top are breathtaking, giving travelers a bird's-eye view of the Valley of the Gods, Monument Valley, and the surrounding desert landscape. This is not merely a drive but an adventure – a test of nerve and a feast for the senses. For those seeking scenic drives that are out of the ordinary, the Moki Dugway is one of a kind! 

Monument Valley, a red-sand desert region on the Arizona-Utah border, is known for the towering sandstone buttes of Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park. The park, frequently a filming location for Western movies, is accessed by the looping, 17-mile Valley Drive. The famous, steeply sloped Mittens buttes can be viewed from the road or from overlooks such as John Ford’s Point.

Petrified Forest National Park is in northeastern Arizona. In its south, the Rainbow Forest is full of colorful petrified wood. It’s home to the Rainbow Forest Museum, with its paleontology exhibits and many trail access points. In the park's center are the petroglyphs of Newspaper Rock and the ruined village of Puerco Pueblo. To the north, the Painted Desert Inn, a 1930s adobe building, is a museum with Hopi murals.

“What began as a town too tough for women and churches, is now too good to miss” Holbrook began as a town of railroaders and cattlemen, outlaws and rugged lawmen. Today it is a city steeped in Native American culture, Hispanic roots and pioneers from all walks of life. In this community is the heart of Navajo County, the gateway to the stunning Petrified Forest National Park and the trip that needs to be taken along Historic Route 66. Rich in diversity and welcoming to all, Holbrook is where your adventure begins.

The most developed area of Grand Canyon National Park, the South Rim offers amenities such as bus service, hotels and water stations, but is also more crowded than the North Rim. Scenic highlights include Pipe Creek Vista and Yavapai Point.

Located in northeastern Arizona, Page is known for being a most excellent base camp for exploring nearby outdoor attractions, including Lake Powell and the surrounding Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Vermilion Cliffs National Monument and Monument Valley.

The north rim offers beautiful and dramatic views of the canyon. Sunsets can be beautiful from the lodge there. Sunrise is truly spectacular if you drive to Cape Royal; you can get some amazing photos from there. Be careful driving as there are many deer in the area.

Las Vegas, often known as Sin City or simply Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-largest in the Southwestern United States.

Hoover Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Nevada and Arizona. Constructed between 1931 and 1936, during the Great Depression, it was dedicated on September 30, 1935, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Oatman is a census-designated place in the Black Mountains of Mohave County, Arizona, United States, at an elevation of 2,710 feet. In 1915, it began as a small mining camp when two prospectors struck US$10 million in gold, though the vicinity had already been settled for several years

Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert. It is thought to be the hottest place on Earth during summer.

Bishop is a city in California, United States. It is the largest populated place and only incorporated city in Inyo County. Bishop is located near the northern end of the Owens Valley and the Mojave Desert, at an elevation of 4,150 feet.

Yosemite National Park is in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains. It’s famed for its giant, ancient sequoia trees, and for Tunnel View, the iconic vista of towering Bridalveil Fall and the granite cliffs of El Capitan and Half Dome. In Yosemite Village are shops, restaurants, lodging, the Yosemite Museum and the Ansel Adams Gallery, with prints of the photographer’s renowned black-and-white landscapes of the area.

San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, financial, and cultural center in Northern California. With a population of 808,437 residents as of 2022, San Francisco is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of California behind Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Jose.

San Simeon is an unincorporated community on the Pacific coast of San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. Its position along State Route 1 is about halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, each of those cities being roughly 230 miles away.

The legendary Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) was first started in the 1930s, and remains a marvel of human effort that hugs over 900 kilometers (600 miles) of California’s rugged and beautiful coastlines. It is one of the most astoundingly scenic roads in the world, meant to be traversed slowly, while gasping at the mountains, towering trees, expansive beaches and endless sky. It also affords travelers an unparalleled opportunity to dip into all the character California has to offer: pioneer outposts, surfing villages, farm-fresh foods, local wine, roadside kitsch, glitz and bohemia.

Los Angeles is a sprawling Southern California city and the center of the nation’s film and television industry. Near its iconic Hollywood sign, studios such as Paramount Pictures, Universal and Warner Brothers offer behind-the-scenes tours. On Hollywood Boulevard, TCL Chinese Theatre displays celebrities’ hand- and footprints, the Walk of Fame honors thousands of luminaries and vendors sell maps to stars’ homes.