The Top Fifty Best Places in the American West (Part 5)

The world-famous Monterey Bay Aquarium features the ocean wonders off the California coast in the Monterey Bay National Wildlife Sanctuary. The many unique exhibits include the three story tall kelp forest (photo, left, note the swirling anchovy school), an outdoor tidal pool which integrates with the ocean itself, rare sea otters, plus many hands-on exhibits. The aquarium's locale in the heart of the historic Cannery Row district (made famous by author John Steinbeck) greatly enhances the experience.

• Kyla Hoffman: This aquarium scene makes me feel I'm literally under water.

For those who follow our "North to Alaska - The Ultimate Road Trip" series, you know the Alaska Highway is my obvious choice. The highway itself runs about 1,500 miles from Dawson Creek, British Columbia to Fairbanks, Alaska. And then there are all those miles required to reach northern British Columbia. Journeying for weeks and months on rural two lane roads that go on and on is the epitome of a "road trip". It is the feeling that the road never ends. It is the feeling of independence. (Photo right, the home town signs at Watson Lake, the Yukon.)

• Paul Markowski: US Hwy 50 (especially in NV) is very scenic especially for desert lovers!!

One of the best road trip segments is the Pacific Coast starting at San Francisco, following the Pacific Coast Highway, California Highway 1, to US-101 at Legget, then along Oregon's coast, around Washington's Olympic Peninsula, and finally finishing at Seattle. My recollection is one of unhurried, serene beauty. Less congested than southern California, the route offered the spectacular cliffs on (northern) Highway 1, small towns, the coastal redwood forests, the beautiful Oregon beaches (photo, left, Harris Beach State Park in Brookings, Oregon), and the wild, unspoiled beauty of Olympic National Park. All trips involving the Pacific coast are near the top of the list.

• Mary Lamphier: Highway 1 north of San Francisco offered a variety of beautiful scenery...

In his old "On the Road" series, the late Charles Kuralt called the Little Bighorn Battlefield ("Custer's Last Stand", the "Custer Battlefield") the saddest place he ever visited. When you look at all the open spaces and resources here in Montana, the "Big Sky Country", even in modern day America, it is inconceivable that there wasn't enough room for all. The monument is actually a permanent reminder of a time in history when "ethnic cleansing" was an American pasttime. (Photo, right: the "Last Stand" took place on the hill to the right of the monument.)

• Mark Holloway: Was also disturbed here... the feeling is compounded by the cemetary.

The Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota was created by sculptor Gutzon Borglum to commemorate the first 150 years of American history. The sixty foot high faces of Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Lincoln were carved on the white granite cliff over a period of 14 years (1927-41) by Borglum, his family, and a team of 400 workers. In recent years, the park service has redeveloped the area and has built a new trail which gives visitors a much closer look at the imposing sculpture.

• Mary Coak: The most imposing historical monuments are in Washington, DC...

One of my all-time greatest travel surprises was finding an impressive museum in the tiny town of Castle Dale, population 1700, and miles off the beaten path in central Utah. The Museum of the San Rafael is a natural history museum. Its beautiful and modern main hall contains dinosaur skeletons common to the area. Its other rooms contain impressive collections of smaller fossils, mounted contemporary wild life, and excellent prehistoric human artifacts some of them quite rare. How is this possible? The folks who live in this rural area love to be outdoors, hunting and exploring, and being very civic-minded as are many small town people, they made many personal donations of artifacts, fossils, animal pelts, etc. Enough to create a fascinating museum in a most unexpected place.

• George: Ouray County Historical Museum, Ouray, CO. Best collection, well labeled and laid out in wonderful historical building.

My favorite place in the American West has been the Narrows of the Virgin River ("Zion Narrows"), the heart and soul of Utah's Zion National Park, since my first trip in September, 1980. The emotional attachment is very strong. The combination of powerful and subtle beauty, the challenge of the trek, and the strong sense of mystery have always made this my "special" place.

Unlike the Grand Canyon which is almost too big to be perceived as a canyon, the profound nature of the Narrows is easy to perceive. Rocks walls of many colors soar vertically almost two thousand feet with only a ribbon of a river separating them. This combines with the delicate beauty of the many springs with their lush greenery and delicate wildflowers. Occasional wooded terraces provide camping and rest stops.

The challenges of the hike add to the experience. There is no formal "trail". You must often simply wade in the river. There are often obstacles to overcome. It is not a "technical" hike, but the hiker must work very hard to transit the Narrows. Appreciation grows when you have to work hard for something. And then the feeling of mystery. The heart of the Narrows is almost like a tunnel: dark, narrow, winding, and sometimes even foreboding. The anticipation is always there: what surprise, what new beauty lies around the next bend? It doesn't matter how many times you've already been there.

• Tom Marusa: Haven't hiked the Narrows but would really like to. The pictures I have seen have just been awesome.
• J. Meyer: I love the Narrows. Something new around every corner, especially the waterfalls after a rain...