Some are beautiful, many are strange, but each of these 50 tourist attractions shows off the flavor of the state in which it’s located.

You like to think you’re a savvy traveler, and you wouldn’t be caught dead at a cheap and cheesy tourist trap swarming with gawkers in fanny packs. But just because an attraction is extremely popular with tourists  shouldn’t mean it’s automatically off your list of to-dos when you’re on the road. Every state in the U.S. has a long list of unique and often strange tourist attractions; here are 50 of the greatest and most unique, including monuments, bizarre roadside attractions, museums, tours and historic sites.

Alabama – Ave Maria Grotto

Alaska – Four-Story Igloo-Shaped Building

Arizona – Arcosanti: An Urban Laboratory

Arkansas – Diamond Mines

California – Chandelier Tree, Redwood Forest

Colorado – Cano’s Beer Can Castle

Connecticut – River Boat Ride

Delaware – Fort Delaware

Florida – Coral Castle

Georgia – The Georgia Guidestones

Hawaii – Puuhonua o Honaunau

Idaho – Craters of the Moon National Monument

Illinois – Cahokia Mounds

Indiana – Conner Prairie

Iowa – Grotto of the Redemption

Kansas – Underground Salt Museum

Kentucky – Louisville Mega Cavern

Louisiana – Zam’s Swamp Tours

Maine – Desert of Maine

Maryland – Edgar Allan Poe Museum

Massachusetts – Salem

Michigan – The Heidelberg Project

Minnesota – Cathedral of St. Paul

Mississippi – Longwood Plantation

Missouri -Billion Gallon Lake, Bonne Terre Mines

Montana – Roosevelt Arch

Nebraska – Carhenge

Nevada – Hoover Dam

New Hampshire – America’s Stonehenge

New Jersey – Lucy the Elephant, Cape May

New Mexico – Old Town, Albuquerque

New York – Top of the Rock

North Carolina – Mile High Bridge, Grandfather Mountain

North Dakota – Enchanted Highway

Ohio – Amish Country, Berlin

Oklahoma – Belle Starr Cowboy History Tour

Oregon – Astoria Column

Pennsylvania – Philadelphia Historic District

Rhode Island – WaterFire, Providence

South Carolina – Angel Oak, Charleston

South Dakota – Crazy Horse Memorial

Tennessee – Crossville Treehouse

Texas – Cadillac Ranch

Utah – Hole in the Rock, Moab

Vermont – Aerial Tramway, Jay Peak Resort

Virginia – Colonial Williamsburg

Washington – Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument

West Virginia – Coal House, Williamson

Wisconsin – House on the Rock

Wyoming – Mill Iron Ranch, Jackson Hole

Top image: Gabriella Corrado

The post 50 Roadside Attractions For An Epic U.S. Journey appeared first on EcoSalon.

Restored vintage resorts in and around Palm Springs are booked up despite scorching heat.

The seasonal exodus to and from Palm Springs is grinding to a near halt this time of year, as temperatures climb to 110 and even beyond.

Things have never looked brighter in summer. Sure, it can be hard to move vigorously at peak heat hours but visitors are getting around the intense rays and seizing good room and travel rates at highly desirable hot spots. Booking rooms well after the spring break deluge are singles and families who are finding the air can be therapeutic and the golf and swimming spectacular if you play by the rules.

“You have to get up very early, like by 6 am to play golf or walk or else it can be pretty uncomfortable,” says Andy Pritikin, a restaurant supply salesman who has been entertaining friends on the weekends at his second home in the Duna La Quinta.

The early-to-rise, early-to-take-cover approach, is routine for desert dwellers during the high season in spring. But with the season extending through June, tourists are enjoying soaking up the lush landscapes of bougainvillea and palms. Here’s some great getaways they’re choosing to stay at:

La Quinta Resort and Club, La Quinta

Among places reporting weekend bookings through the month – La Quinta Resort and Club – part of the Waldorf Astoria chain. It was built in the early 1930s by San Francisco businessman Walter Morgan using renown architect Gordon Kaufman and scores of artisan craftsman. Basically, the city of La Quinta sprang up around this attraction molded from more than 100,000 hand-formed adobe bricks and 60,000 locally fired roof tiles.

Perhaps the most family oriented of desert resorts, it was bustling on Memorial Day weekend with couples sipping wine on the patios and packs of kids cruising on scooters and bikes. The good news is that the resort is self contained with bike paths for tourists who can avoid cars and find what they need on site, including upscale organic fare in the restaurants, golf and tennis on the property. While golf is a big drain, first class resorts here and elsewhere are using reclaimed water when possible. The resort, however, has yet to replace  lush, manicured lawns with the xeriscaping associated with the desert landscape.

“Occupancy is at its peak for the beginning of the summer – as we have about a 40% average for confirmed stay each months so far which definitely places us on the upside of almost being sold out for each weekend throughout the summer,” says Norma Martinez, a resort agent. “Lately we have availability early week and by Wednesday, the weekends are either close to being booked or completely sold out.”

She says the variety of activities from spa treatments to rounds of golf, tennis, shopping and dining is the draw, along with attractive rates. You can also get available room upgrades and free breakfast for two when you book with certain credit cards.

In terms of the rooms (owned either privately or by the hotel) a five night stay from June 24-28 in a deluxe poolside casita with two queens in early California decor goes for only $100 a night. Sometimes, you have to pay in the upper $300’s a night at these kinds of resorts.

Hotel Lautner, Desert Hot Springs

“We opened in September and there has been no lull yet – this is our first summer and so far it has been wonderful with all of the people in town,” shares LA. designer, Tracy Beckmann, co-owner of the acclaimed Hotel Lautner. The four-unit compound in Desert Hot Springs was designed in 1947 by famed architect John Lautner for Hollywood producer Lucien Hubbard. Beckmann and Ryan Trowbridge restored and reopened the mid-century charmer and won an award for Best Commericial Renovation by the Palm Springs Modern committee.

Featured as the backdrop of a fashion spread in the May issue of Town & Country -it has been called a hybrid between a vacation home rental and boutique hotel.

Its lure has been the fully equipped units with the luxuries of post-modern living and a shared  common pool and patio space. “We only book two weeks in advance so it has been pretty full,” shares Beckmann. “We get some Angelinos but really it has been New Yorkers and people from San Francisco because of the great deals on Virgin American. It costs like $700 to fly from L.A. to Palm Springs but the flight deals elsewhere are really cheap.”

She has kept the rooms at the introductory rate of $225 per night during the week and $275 on weekends with a two night minimum but might lower rates to entice mid-century dwelling seekers if rates if the bookings dry up.

Orbit In, Palm Springs

It seems one of the late season draws for singles and couples is the chance to occupy spaces of architectural significance, such as the Orbit In Hotel designed by Herbert  Burns in 1947 as an ultramodern motor court.

Two hotels in one, the nine-room Hideaway is billed as a private complex for groups only (three night minimum) while the Oasis is a nine room retro-futuristic hotel with a saltwater pool and lava-lamp Boomerang bar.

For those who can break away from the work week when the best deals and most space is to be had, the Orbit is dangling weekday specials. Like other mid-century architecture of the Frank Sinatra era being revived in the Springs, it has small but chic reductionist chic allure reflecting the modernist sensibility that less  is more.

Since weekends are booking up pretty fast in the desert, you can always ask to be put on a waiting list at the popular retro hideaways. For some visitors, the heat proves too intense and space can open up for the fierce Bedouin in desperate need of an Orbitini, dip in solar heated salt water or hit some balls with recycled tees for the aggravating yet rewarding endeavor of making par.

Image: Hotel Lautner

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I wouldn’t describe myself as a world traveler, but still – I have visited the Louvre, the White House and the Tower of London. I have driven to the top of a volcano on Maui and walked with my children down the Champs Elysee. And yet, one of my favorite tourist destinations of all time is the Publix Supermarket in Tamarac, Florida.

For years, whenever we would visit my in-laws in Florida, I would look forward to wandering the clean, wide aisles of this market, gape mouthed and in awe of the gleaming rows of produce, packaged goods, and wholesome prepared foods. This store was a direct and glaring contrast to my neighborhood market in New York, which was on its very last legs and had been allowed to devolve into the Bates Motel of food emporiums. It was cramped and gloomy and badly lit, with a low ceiling and an inch of dust on its tired boxes of cereal. The store was redolent with that unmistakable old-supermarket aroma of sour milk and perspiration. The entire market was clearly past its sell-by date.

As befits a retail hell-hole, this supermarket was populated with the shadiest of employees, surly crones who sneered at my cold cut choices, sullen teenage bag boys, and one especially skeevy young man who made a point of licking his fingers before counting out my change. It was so unlike Publix with its aggressively helpful sales staff – good natured retirees who would not only insist on wheeling my cart to the parking lot, they would call me “Miss” in the bargain (by Florida standards, I am dewy and youthful).

The market, finally, was torn down, and its place sprang a structure that rivaled Publix in its size and cleanliness – a model of well-lit, high-ceilinged commercial space. I was thrilled at first, but it wasn’t long before I found fault with my spiffy new market. The size began to feel oppressive, especially if I was running in for just one thing; I began to dread having to drag myself across a space the size of a football field just to buy a pint of fat free half and half. The new store is more expensive than the one it replaced, although I qualify for discounts if I use my member card. Apparently, it is no longer enough to patronize a supermarket – now you are expected to join the supermarket. My member card allows the market to keep track of points I’ve accrued from previous shopping trips. Call me paranoid, but I’m not crazy about having some faceless corporate bureaucracy know every detail of my Chips Ahoy purchasing history.

But mostly I find myself wishing the store was not such an extreme waste of space and resources. Is it really necessary to have a supermarket the size of an airplane hangar? Are slightly cramped aisles such a big price to pay for a store that is less costly to heat and light and air condition? In addition to the reckless waste of fossil fuels, there is something overly sunny and glitzy and un-New York about the new market – buying groceries now makes me feel like one of the Real Housewives of Boca Raton.

I think I preferred this type of happy, shiny shopping experience when it was a break from the norm, a thing to do on vacation before an early dinner in a Florida strip mall. As part of my everyday life it has lost some of its allure. With supermarkets, as with all things, be careful what you wish for.

Editor’s Note: Susan Goldberg is a slightly lapsed treehugger. Although known to overuse paper products, she has the best of intentions – and a really small SUV. Catch her column, The Goldberg Variations, each week here at EcoSalon.

Image: Marcin Wichary

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The space-obsessed were treated to a Foursquare check-in from the wild black yonder last week from NASA astronaut and International Space Station Commander Doug Wheelock. For his efforts, he was told: “You are now 220 miles above Earth traveling at 17,500 mph and unlocked the NASA Explorer Badge! Show this badge and get a free scoop of astronaut ice cream.” Tons of press. Presumably, he’s the mayor of Space – for now, anyway. And for all you future-trippers, here’s something you might want to start worrying about right away. I mean, we do have our green priorities.

Bad news, says NewScientist: “Space tourism could have major consequences for Earth’s climate.” This based on brand spanking new computer simulations that say soot-spewing rockets (we recently told you about the climate evils of soot) could have an effect far nastier than airplanes, even though the model would have them “belch out” only about 600 tons of the stuff, which is less than airplanes currently bless us with.

This is because spacecraft are so far out – literally: “…plane soot occurs at low enough altitudes for rain to wash it out of the atmosphere in just days or weeks. Rockets expel the stuff at altitudes three times as high – in the stratosphere more than [about 25 miles] above sea level. There, well above the weather, it can remain for up to 10 years,” the article says.

Why should we worry about this? Well “in the next few years,” (ya think? really?) “space tourism companies hope to start routinely flying passengers on suborbital space flights.” Based on what some companies are saying, their business plans in the “by 2020” column, the simulations were based on an assumed rate of 1,000 suborbital trips per year.

The science is that the soot could warm air in the stratosphere and strengthen currents that carry air from the equator to the poles. This is “not a pretty picture for the Arctic or Antarctic,” says Charles Zender of the University of California, Irvine.

So a word of warning for you green folks who are looking to purchase advance tix for the Buck Rogers express: your eco-priorities might conflict with your moonage daydreams (or Foursquare badge aspirations). I don’t know, though. You might have some time to think about it. In the meantime, maybe stick to “unlocking” where you’re at.

Image: x-ray delta one

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I came across an article today about President Barack Obama encouraging Americans, despite the wake of the oil spill, to visit the Gulf coast. “There’s still a lot of opportunity for visitors to come down here. There are a lot of beaches that have not been affected and will not be affected,” Obama was quoted in June. “If people want to help, the best way to help is to come down here and visit.”

Although Obama is clearly trying to motivate people to continue supporting an arm of the regional economy that’s been hit hard by this oil spill, his encouragement has raised the question over what some call “disaster tourism,” traveling to a disaster area to see what’s going on. Often this kind of tourism has a negative connotation as it implies traveling to a place out of mere curiosity, without the intent of aiding with relief efforts, and in turn, often creating more of a hindrance than help.

But with a situation like the BP oil spill, it IS important to see what’s going on, to experience the culture first-hand and engage with communities that are deeply affected by this disaster. That in no way means hopping on a bus and taking a week to window shop the effects of the disaster, but traveling to the Gulf coast is another way to share with our own communities just what is going on in the region. That’s a key part of traveling to any region that has been severely affected, be it by natural or human induced causes.

When we don’t know and understand a place, it becomes that much easier to make assumptions about it, and the effects of such attitudes are much more widespread than our own social circles. Take Florida for example. According to the em>LA Times, 90 percent of the states’ beaches are still untouched by the BP oil spill. But because of fear, the tourists have pulled away, leaving an economy dependent on visitors wondering just what to do with itself.

“When national media lumps together all four of the Gulf states, that makes it look to the rest of the country as though Florida might be covered in oil,” said Kathy Torian, spokeswoman for Visit Florida.

Which brings us back to the point at hand: can disaster tourism be beneficial? Yes, if it helps people understand the true facts of what is going on in an affected area, helping to connect the dots between infrastructure, economy, culture and beyond. At a very basic level, experiencing a disaster area first hand can aid in helping us understand that often these issues may happen far away from our own homes, but ultimately the effects end up in our own backyard.

Image: minds-eye

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Understanding the threats that tourism poses to the environment and even cultures, the United Nations is launching a global initiative to make tourism worldwide more environmentally, socially and economically sustainable. The Global Partnership for Sustainable Tourism will be led initially by the French government and hosted by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).

This global approach is a huge endeavor, but by highlighting the importance of sustainable tourism, the UN is encouraging countries around the world to think about how tourism works and how it can work better, and in a more sustainable fashion. The partnership is aiming high. The goal is to transform the way tourism operates around the world by seeking out and replicating successful, sustainable policies, projects, and investments,” said Achim Steiner, Under-Secretary General for the UN and Executive Director of UNEP.

Because tourism is such an all encompassing industry, and one that is responsible for about five percent of global GDP, the initiative will cover a variety of sectors:

• policy frameworks
• climate change
• environment and biodiversity
• poverty alleviation
• cultural and natural heritage
• private sector sustainable practices
• finance and investment

How will this affect how we travel? That remains to be seen, but with such a grandiose, international initiative we can most likely expect a larger discussion on what constitutes sustainable tourism and how we can all do our part to travel in a more conscious manner.

Image: Lee Coursey

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