Western America
With more than 8.5 million people packed into some 300 square miles, it’s no wonder New York City never sleeps. And if it doesn’t, why should you? After all, there’s always something to explore, from family-friendly attractions like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Statue of Liberty to groundbreaking urban-redevelopment projects like the High Line and Brooklyn Bridge Park. There’s also a wide expanse of public beach and, yep, even a secret fishing village. —Sarah Firshein
Travel
Few structures represent the United States as powerfully as the Washington Monument. At the center of Washington, D.C., the impressive marble obelisk (555 feet tall and 55 feet wide) pays grand tribute to the first U.S. president, George Washington. It stars in tourist selfies, postcards, and nearly every movie filmed in the U.S. capital, including some in which aliens attack it (Independence Day, Earth vs. The Flying Saucers).
But the construction of this stone salute to the Revolutionary War hero and “father of our country” was far from straightforward. It took nearly four decades to build the enormous monument in the mid-19th century, during which time it was occupied by a political fringe group, beset by controversy, and stalled by a lack of funds.
