Holiday Destinations - United States of America

Miami has always billed itself as a travel destination. Warm weather, sandy beaches and bright sunshine were selling points more than 100 years ago, just as they are today. But Miami's allure extends beyond its shores. People from all over the Caribbean and Latin America have settled in Miami, giving the city its distinctive, lively international character.

The warm-weather fun is still a big attraction, but the biggest draw is the cosmopolitan flavour coupled with all the great restaurants, sports teams (Dolphins, Heat, Hurricanes and Marlins) and upscale sheen. Plus a long list of TV shows that have "Miami" in their titles.\South Beach, with its cheerful, sherbert-coloured art-deco buildings and palm-tree-lined avenues, is the centre of Miami's trendy dining and nightlife scene. Other corners of Miami, including Coconut Grove and Coral Gables, offer their own versions of fine living and colourful happenings.

And don't overlook the natural world—though you may have to drive to the Everglades to get a good view of it.

Miami boasts great weather year-round with sunny days and breezy nights. The hottest month is August when the average high temperature is 32C. The average low temperature in January, the coldest month, is 15C. The rainy season goes from June to September. The driest months are December, January and February. These months are particularly valued by locals, who consider them the best months of the year to visit Miami.

The United States of America

A massive land mass of 50 states all with their own attractions and culture
With 50 states to choose from all with their own attractions and culture, where do you start when you travel to the USA?  Flanked by 2 oceans with a massive land mass in between the options are too great.  Those who manage to travel beyond internationally known cities such as New York or Los Angeles will inevitably conclude that this is a country difficult to define or categorize. The U.S. population of nearly 300 million is as diverse as its natural landscapes and attractions, and every visit is almost sure to generate a different impression of what U.S. life is all about. Each of the 50 states possesses its own distinctiveness, from accents to foods to beloved sports pastimes.
The world's third largest country has sights as broad and renowned as the man-made structures of the Statue of Liberty and the Golden Gate Bridge, to the natural wonders of Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon. Despite its refusal to fit within homogeneous confines, the U.S. is an economic and military powerhouse. Its sole superpower status draws a torrent of tourists through its borders every day. Travel to USA and choose to experience the vast plains of Texas, the majestic Rocky mountains, the glittering cities of New York and Las Vegas or the stunning coastline of California, this country has so much to offer the traveller one trip will not do it justice.

Atlanta is the vanguard of the New South, with the charm and elegance of the Old. It is a city that balances southern traditions with sleek modernism. In Atlanta, the peach trees are plentiful and the tea is sweet, yet this city boasts three skylines and the world’s busiest airport. Atlanta has been burnt to the ground and built back up; it has seen the horrors of war and felt the pain of droughts and floods. Atlanta knows rebirth and endurance though, perhaps better than any other city. Atlanta was host to the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games, gave birth to the greatest figure of the civil rights movement, is the beloved capital of the state of Georgia, and has become the enduring leader of the American South.

The separated skyscrapers of Downtown, Midtown, and Buckhead make Atlanta’s three skylines, and the size of any one of these districts could rival the center of any other city in the South. Atlanta is not all high rises though; each of the city’s urban neighborhoods offer unique atmospheres that are well adapted to living in the shadow of the city.

Downtown (Five Points, Centennial Park, Sweet Auburn, Hotel District, Castleberry Hill)
The most central and commercial area in Georgia (economically and politically), downtown Atlanta includes the state capitol, city hall, the CNN Center, Georgia Aquarium and the New World of Coca-Cola  
Midtown (Midtown, Atlantic Station)
Just North of Downtown, this is a major business and residential district with tall skyscrapers and a popular nightlife area. This district also includes Piedmont Park, the Woodruff Arts Center, and the Georgia Tech campus.  
Buckhead
Located sveral miles North of Midtown, Buckhead is a popular business and nightlife district. Buckhead is surrounded by neighboring Brookwood Hills, as well as Peachtree Battle, Lindbergh Center, and the Governor's Mansion.  
East Atlanta (Virginia-Highland, Little Five Points, Candler Park, Poncey-Highland, East Atlanta Village)
The alternative style neighborhood Little Five Points is bordered by trendy Virginia-Highland with nearby Poncey-Highland, as well as the growing community of East Atlanta Village.  
South Atlanta (Grant Park, Hapeville, Southeast Atlanta)
Home of the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field and one of the busiest airports in the world, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. South Atlanta also contains the neighborhoods of Mechanicsville, Peoplestown, and Lakewood.  
West Atlanta (Upper Westside)
Includes Vine City, Bankhead, Historic West End, Collier Heights, and the Upper Westside  


Atlanta is on the Piedmont Plateau, at an approximate elevation of 800 ft - 1900 ft (240 m - 580 m) above sea level. The city is thus somewhat cooler than other places in the US South, a fact that certainly helped the growth of the city before the introduction of air conditioning.

Atlanta experiences a very wide range of temperatures. Temperatures in winter can drop into the single digits on occasion, and some winters bring significant snowfall. The region can also receive devastating ice storms. Summers are hot and humid, with temperatures frequently reaching above 90°F (32°C), thus the city earning the nickname "Hotlanta". Rainfall is high in late winter and early spring, and afternoon thunderstorms are common in summer. Spring and autumn are the best times to visit. The region is often affected during hurricane season (June 1 to November 30) from remnants that spill out from the Gulf, bringing heavy rains and sometimes high winds.

Atlanta began taking substantive shape in 1837 when the Western & Atlantic Railroad selected the site as the Southern end of its tracks. The town was called Terminus until 1843 when it was renamed Marthasville after the daughter of Gov. Wilson Lumpkin. In 1847, the city was renamed Atlanta, supposedly a feminine form of "Atlantic" probably created by an engineer with the Western & Atlantic. The city was incorporated in 1847.

By the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Atlanta was a major railroad hub, manufacturing center, and supply depot. But, in 1864, in order to cripple transportation between the South and the North, Union General William T. Sherman's army burned all of the railroad facilities, almost every business and more than two-thirds of the city's homes to the ground during his infamous "March to the Sea." Atlanta lay in ruins, the only major American city ever destroyed by war.

Atlanta's first resurgence began soon after. Within four years of Sherman's attack, the Georgia capital was moved from Milledgeville to Atlanta and a drive to attract new business was underway. In the meantime, college and universities began to open, telephones were introduced, and trolleys began to roll. In 1895, the Cotton States and International Exposition in Piedmont Park showed 800,000 visitors and residents that Atlanta was headed in a new direction and braced for the 20th century.

By the late 1920s, a downtown business sector had taken shape, giving Atlanta much of the distinct pattern it maintains today. At the same time, Atlanta Alderman (and later Mayor) William B. Hartsfield campaigned long and hard to convince the city to turn a vacant racetrack into an airport. Today, Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is the world's busiest airport, with more than 80 million annual passengers.

While the city continued its economic surge, it also became known as the "City Too Busy to Hate." Atlanta and Georgia preempted much of the strife associated with the 1950s and '60s by taking the lead in the Southeast in strengthening minority rights. The city's strongest identification with the movement was through its native son, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Much has been accomplished in the last 25 years to elevate Atlanta to world-class status. An efficient public transportation system, MARTA, was put in place; Underground Atlanta was added to the entertainment map; the Georgia World Congress Center made the city a convention hub; the Georgia Dome was built in 1992; and Philips Arena was built in 1999.

From July 20 through August 4, 1996, all eyes were on Atlanta as it hosted the Centennial Olympic Games. The city successfully hosted the biggest Olympic Games ever, showcasing itself to 2 million people in person and 3.5 billion people through global broadcast.

The Olympics served as a catalyst for a second resurgence of Atlanta as it experiences a dramatic transformation from great American city to greater international city by fueling more than $6 billion in development and changes.

Most recently, Atlanta has become a major conference and convention destination, due mostly to the enormous airport and favorable weather. Most of the conference venues are located around the Peachtree Center MARTA station in downtown, and when there is a large show in town, it can sometimes seem as though every other person in the city is wearing a name tag.

Atlanta’s southern culture, deep history, and bustling city have been the backdrop for numerous classic films.

Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939). Steeped in Confederate politics, a struggle for survival, and unavoidable love intrigues, this film has the rare distinction of being as good as if not better than the classic southern book it is based on.
Driving Miss Daisy (Bruce Beresford, 1989). This film tactfully explores the racial issues of the civil rights-era through the nuances of a relationship between a wealthy white woman and her black chauffer.
ATL (Chris Robinson, 2006). A coming of age drama set in the hip-hop culture of the modern city.

Austin is a huge city with several district articles containing sightseeing, restaurant, nightlife and accommodation listings — consider printing them all.

The state capitol in Austin, TexasAustin  is a city of over 700,000 in the Hill Country region of the American state of Texas. It's the capital of Texas and a college town, and also a center of alternative culture away from the major cities on the American coasts, although the city is rapidly gentrifying with its rising popularity. Austin's attitude is commonly emblazoned about town on T-Shirts and bumper stickers that read: "Keep Austin Weird." Austin is also marketed as the "Live Music Capital of the World" due to the large number of venues.

Austin weather is generally nice year-round; activities are generally not limited by season. However, as Austin lies within Central Texas, be prepared to deal with the long, hot summers if you are visiting between May and September. It is not uncommon for daily high temperatures to be between 90 and 100 degrees during this time - in fact, a day in the 80s is rare, and several days may even reach triple digits (68 days in 2009). If you are here when the weather is like this, dress accordingly, drink plenty of water, and do not plan on staying outside for long (nearly all indoor places are air-conditioned) - unless you're taking the opportunity to take a dip in Barton Springs Pool or any of the other swimming holes in the area. This is especially true if the heat index is around 105 or higher, which is considered to be dangerous. Also keep in mind that the interior of cars will get dangerously hot, especially if the windows are up and it's parked in the sun - don't leave pets or children in there, no matter how brief. How hot the summer gets usually depends on the amount of precipitation the area has been getting. If there is no drought and the spring has been particularly wet, temperatures will remain relatively tolerable and rarely break triple digits. If it has been dry, as it was from 2007-2009, summers can be very uncomfortable and triple-digit temps will be very common. In 2009, Austinites suffered 69 days with temperatures over 100 F.

Central Texas winters are short to non-existent. There are many pleasant or even warm days during the winter months (the first 90 degree day of 2009 was in February), and snowfall is rare. However, hard freezes are less rare (though not as frequently occuring as they are in more northerly places), and light freezes may occur frequently (especially in the more rural areas), and when this mixes with precipitation, ice storms and other wintry weather happen. If the storm is severe enough, the city may shut down for a day or so, traffic may be snarled, and the local auto body shops may receive a spike in business. The Austin area usually experiences such events 0-2 times each year or so, from late December to mid-February. Generally, though, winter weather just varies a lot, with alternating cold and warm fronts that can make for large temperature swings within just a week's time.

Spring and fall are the best times to visit. Springs tend to be stormy (see "Stay safe" for related warning), and falls may bring light freezes during the night. For the most part, though, springs and falls are very pleasant times to experience Austin.

Boston is a huge city with several district articles containing sightseeing, restaurant, nightlife and accommodation listings — consider printing them all.
Boston is the largest city in New England, the capital of the state of Massachusetts, and one of the most historic, wealthy and influential cities in the United States of America. Its plethora of museums, historical sights, and wealth of live performances, all explain why the city gets 16.3 million visitors a year, making it one of the ten most popular tourist locations in the country.

Although not technically in Boston, the neighboring cities of Cambridge and Brookline are functionally integrated with Boston by mass transit and effectively a part of the city. Cambridge, just across the Charles River, is home to Harvard, MIT, local galleries, restaurants, and bars and is an essential addition to any visit to Boston. Brookline is nearly surrounded surrounded by Boston and has its own array of restaurants and shopping.


The skyline of Boston's Financial District Allston and Brighton (Allston-Brighton)
Located west of Boston proper, these districts (especially Brighton) are primarily residential, and are home to many students and young professionals. Brighton is abutted Boston College, which is the terminus of the Green Line's B Branch. The border between the two is a fuzzy subject of debate, so they are often considered as one neighborhood by outsiders.  
Back Bay This upscale area of Boston has fine shops, fine dining, as well as sites such as the Prudential Center, Copley Square, and Hynes Convention Center.  
Beacon Hill Once the neighborhood of the Boston Brahmins. Beacon Hill has real gas-lit street lanterns on many of the streets, as well as many original bricks dating back to age of the city itself. Because the Massachusetts State House is located here, "Beacon Hill" is often used as a metonym to refer to the state government or the legislature.  
Charlestown Across the Charles River to the north, this is the site of the Bunker Hill Monument.  
Chinatown Great Asian food, great herbalists and next to downtown and the theater district. 4th largest Chinatown in the United States.  
Dorchester ("Dot") A large working class neighborhood often considered Boston's most diverse. It includes the JFK Library, UMass Boston, and many wonderful eateries.  
Downtown This is the hub of tourist activity with Faneuil Hall, the Freedom Trail, Boston Public Garden, and Boston Common. It is also the center of city and state governments, businesses, and shopping.  
East Boston (Eastie) On a peninsula across Boston Harbor from the main bulk of the city and the location of Logan Airport. Several underwater tunnels connect East Boston to the rest of the city. Large Latin American population.  
Fenway-Kenmore (The Fens, Kenmore Square) Fenway Park is the home of the 2004 and 2007 world champion Boston Red Sox.  
Financial District Boston's business and financial center, this area has plenty of restaurants, bars, and tourist attractions such as the New England Aquarium.  
Hyde Park (HP) The southernmost neighborhood in Boston, with suburban characteristics.  
Mattapan A residential neighborhood that is home to the city's large Caribbean population.  
Mission Hill A residential neighborhood, with a very high student population.  
North End The city's Italian neighborhood with excellent restaurants. It is also the location of the Old North Church.  
Roslindale (Rozzie) Residential neighborhood, also a large Greek population.  
Roxbury (Rox,The Bury) The historical center of Boston's African American community.  
South Boston (Southie) This is a proud residential neighborhood with a waterfront district and the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center on its north side. Home to one of the largest Irish and Irish American populations in the country.  
South End Just south of Back Bay, has Victorian brownstones and a bohemian atmosphere. Large Gay population.   West Roxbury (Westie, West Rox) With mostly single family homes, West Roxbury has a suburban feel in an urban setting.  

Boston is a city of diverse neighborhoods, many of which were originally towns in their own right before being annexed to the city. This contributes to a strong pride within the neighborhoods of Boston, and many people will often tell you they are from "JP" (Jamaica Plain), "Dot" (Dorchester), "Southie" (South Boston), or "Eastie" (East Boston), rather than that they are from Boston. Alternatively, people from the suburbs will tell you they are from Boston when in fact they live in one of the nearby (or even outlying) suburbs. If in doubt, you can look for "Resident Parking Only" street signs, which will identify what neighborhood you are in.

Another consequence of this expansion is that the neighborhoods, in addition to their cultural identities, also retained most of their street names, regardless of whether or not Boston -or another absorbed town- already had a street with the same name. According to a survey by The Boston Globe, there are at least 200 street names that are duplicated in one or more neighborhoods in Boston. For instance, Washington Street in Downtown Boston, is different from Washington Street in Dorchester and another Washington Street in Jamaica Plain. This can play havoc with web-based mapping and direction services.

Be aware that geographic references in district names tend to mean little. For example, South Boston is different from the South End, which is actually west of South Boston and north of Dorchester and Roxbury districts. Some other confusing notables: East Boston and Charlestown are further north than the North End. The West End is in the northern part of town (bordering the North End and Charles River).

Among Boston's many neighborhoods, the historic areas of Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Chinatown, Downtown, Fenway-Kenmore, the Financial District, Government Center, the North End, and the South End comprise the area considered "Boston Proper." It is here where most of the buildings that make up the city's skyline are located.

The Back Bay is one of the few neighborhoods with streets organized on a grid. It is so named because it used to be mud flats on the river, until the city filled in the bay in a land-making project ending in 1862. It is now one of the higher-rent neighborhoods in the city. The north-south streets crossing the axis of Back Bay are organized alphabetically. Starting from the east, at the Public Garden, and heading west, they are: Arlington, Berkeley, Clarendon, Dartmouth, Exeter, Fairfield, Gloucester (pronounced 'gloster'), and Hereford. After Hereford Street is Massachusetts Avenue, more commonly known as Mass. Av., and then Charlesgate, which marks the western boundary of Back Bay. The alphabetical street names continue a little way into the Fenway neighborhood on the other side of Charlesgate, with Ipswich, Jersey, and Kilmarnock, but the streets are no longer arranged in a grid.

There are also several "districts" you might hear mentioned. "Districts" are generally areas of common interest located within a larger neighborhood:

New England is unpredictable and becomes very cold in the winter and is prone to mild bouts of humidity in the summer. The vast majority of tourism in Boston takes place in the summer, from late May through late September, when the weather is ideal and the most attractions are open. Boston summers are quite comfortable, with sunshine 60-65% of the time and and highs in the mid 70s to low 80s F (mid to upper 20s C).

When the heat does start, there are some beaches within the city, and many beaches outside of it, for swimming. The Standells classic "Dirty Water" doesn't apply any more as the water is safe to swim in thanks to the Boston Harbor Cleanup project. Beware that no matter how hot it is outside, the ocean water will not be warm.

Early and late summer tends to be nice, but this varies by year. In that time, the temperature will be perfect, and there will be no humidity. The city does have unpredictable stretches of heat between late June and early August when low 90s and high humidity are expected. All public transit options, including cabs, buses, and the subway system (called the "T") are air-conditioned.

Boston's fall foliage is at or near its peak beauty in mid-October, which also normally offers the advantage of many crisp sunny day (outside the city itself, peak foliage timing depends on how far north or south you venture from Boston.)

If you visit during the less busy wintertime, the Atlantic Ocean has a large moderating effect on temperatures. The average low in January is 22F/-5C, so as long as you dress appropriately, you should be fine.

Massachusetts' first governor, John Winthrop, famously called Boston a "shining city on the hill," a reference to Jerusalem and a declaration of the original settlers' intent to build a utopian Christian colony. From the very beginning, the people who lived there declared their home to be one of the most important cities in the world. Considering that the American Revolution and modern democracy got their start thanks to Bostonians, and that Winthrop’s quote is still used in modern political speech, one could argue that they were right!

The father of American jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes) once called the Boston statehouse "the hub of the solar system," but common usage has expanded to the now-current Hub of the Universe. This half-serious term is all you need to know to understand Boston's complicated self-image. Vastly important in American history, and for centuries the seat of the USA's social elite, Boston lost prominence in the early twentieth century, largely to the cities of New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Over the past two decades, Boston has regained political, cultural, and economic importance.

In 1629, English Reverend William Blackstone was the first English immigrant to arrive in the city. A year later, John Winthrop and the Massachusetts Bay Colony had followed. The Massachusetts Bay Colony were Puritan religious dissidents who had fled England to find freedom in the New World. At the time the city was called Shawmut, a name coined by Native American settlers, however now a new settlement, Winthrop had decided to rename the city Boston after his hometown in England. Because of its easily-defended harbor and the fact that it is the closest port to Europe it rapidly assumed a leading role in the fledging New England region, with a booming economy based on trade with the Caribbean and Europe. The devastating Fire of 1760 destroyed much of the town, but within a few years the city had bounced back.

Boston was also a city of great intellectual potential. Many statesmen had emerged in Boston along with presegious Schools such as Harvard and the first public school in America, Boston Latin. With the founding of these schools as well as the first printing press in New England, Boston was becoming more of a colonial society.

Bostonians were the instigators of the independence movement in the 18th century and the city was the center of America's revolutionary activity during the Colonial period. Several of the first Revolutionary War skirmishes were fought there, including the Boston Massacre, The Boston Tea Party, and the battles of Lexington and Concord -which were fought nearby. Boston's direct involvement in the Revolution ended after the Battle of Bunker Hill and, soon afterwards, the ending of the Siege of Boston by George Washington. For some time afterwards the city's political leaders continued to have a leading role in developing of the new country's system of government. The residents' ardent support of independence earned the city the nickname The Cradle of Liberty.

Throughout the 19th century, Boston continued to grow rapidly, assimilating outlying towns into the metropolitan core. Its importance in American culture was inestimable, and its economic and literary elite, the so-called Boston Brahmins assumed the mantle of aristocracy in the United States. Their patronage of the arts and progressive social ideals was unprecedented in the New World, and often conflicted with the city's Puritan foundations. They helped drive unprecedented scientific, educational and social change that would soon sweep the country. The Abolitionist movement, anesthesia and the telephone are a few examples of this.

At the same time, the city's working class swelled with immigrants from Europe. The huge Irish influx made Boston one of the most important Irish cities in the world, in or out of Ireland. Gradually the Irish laborer population climbed into city's upper class, evidenced no better than by the continued importance of the Kennedy family in national politics.

From the early twentieth century until the 1970s, Boston's importance on the national stage waned. Cities in what was once the frontier, like Chicago, San Francisco, and later Los Angeles, shifted the nation's center of gravity away from liberty's cradle. In the past two decades, Boston's importance and influence has increased, due to growth in higher education, health care, high technology, and financial services. It remains America's higher educational center; during the school year, one in five Bostonians is a university student. There are more college students per square foot in Boston than any other city in the Western Hemisphere.

Boston's nicknames include "Beantown", "The Hub" (shortened from Oliver Wendell Holmes' phrase 'The Hub of the Universe'), "The City of Higher Learning" (due to the plethora of universities and colleges in the Boston area) and - particularly in the 19th century - "The Athens of America," on account of its great cultural and intellectual influence. If you don't want to stand out as a tourist, don't refer to Boston by any of these nicknames. Locals generally don't use any of them, excepting the heavy use of "Hub" in journalism (Boston takes up more headline space).

California coastline has a Mediterranean climate and as such, has attracted large populations and have successfully used political means, particularly in the southern region (Los Angeles in particular) to redirect water resources from both northern regions and other states to serve thirsty populations. Central California is the breadbasket of the nation. Los Angeles is the most populous city in California and is located in the southern half of the state. It is a great and very diverse city; from Hollywood to East L.A. you can find every possible lifestyle represented in this microcosm. Los Angeles is home to traffic jams, smog, and political power in the state. 
The San Francisco Bay Area is home to the cities of San Francisco, San Jose, the 3rd largest California city and the nations 10th largest city, and Oakland. San Francisco is best known for its picturesque Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars and the former prison on Alcatraz Island. Generally seen as one of the most liberal places on the planet, the Bay area also boasts the Silicon Valley, home to a multitude of high-tech companies and venture capitalists and Stanford University, legacy of capitalist titan and former California Governor Leland Stanford. 
San Diego is located on the southern end of the state and offers good beaches and water-based sports. It is home to the west-coast submarine fleet for the US Navy. There are many family-friendly things to visit in San Diego including Sea World, Mission San Diego De Acala, and the Wild Animal Park. Avoid the World Famous San Diego Zoo unless you like crowds and prefer not to see large wild animals close-up. Though a package is available at the Wild Animal Park, San Diego Zoo, and Sea World that gives you one pass to all three. They don't have to be used in one day, and it's quite a bit cheaper than going to all three individually. The San Diego Zoo does have some wonderful displays, even if there are large crowds, and if the pandas are out, the crowds in the rest of the zoo tend to dim down. The tour buses are also nice to take around the zoo.

Chicago is a huge city with several district articles containing sightseeing, restaurant, nightlife and accommodation listingsall.

Chicago's skyline viewed from Millennium ParkChicago [1] is the home of the blues and the truth of jazz, the heart of comedy and the idea of the skyscraper. Here, the age of railroads found its center, and airplanes followed suit. Butcher of hogs and believer in progress, it is one of the world's great cities, and yet the metropolitan luxuries of theater, shopping, and fine dining have barely put a dent in real Midwestern friendliness. It's a city with a swagger, but without the surliness or even the fake smiles found in other cities of its size.

As the hub of the Midwest, Chicago is easy to find — its picturesque skyline calls across the waters of Lake Michigan, a first impression that soon reveals world-class museums of art and science, miles of sandy beaches, huge parks and public art, and perhaps the finest downtown collection of modern architecture in the world.

With a wealth of iconic sights and neighborhoods to explore, there's enough to fill a visit of days, weeks, or even months without ever seeing the end. Dress warm in the winter, and prepare to cover a lot of ground: the meaning of Chicago is only found in movement, through subways and archaic elevated tracks, in the pride of tired feet and eyes raised once more to the sky.


Many visitors never make it past the attractions downtown, but you haven't truly seen Chicago until you have ventured out into the neighborhoods. Chicagoans understand their city by splitting it into large "sides" to the north, west, and south of the central business district (the Loop). Chicagoans also tend to identify strongly with their neighborhood, reflecting real differences in culture and place throughout the city. Rivalries between the North and South Sides run particularly deep, while people from the West Side are free agents in critical issues like baseball loyalty.

Cleveland  is a culturally diverse city on the shores of Lake Erie, one of the Great Lakes, in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, USA. Recreational, cultural and educational opportunities are abundant throughout Northeast Ohio. You'll find world-class museums and cultural events, professional sports and amusement parks, and the most golf courses per capita in the United States. Places Rated Almanac ranks the area second in recreational options out of 354 US metro areas. Plus, this region ranks fifth in the nation in number of major cultural resources per one million residents.

The following are districts of the city of Cleveland. For the Cleveland Metropolitan area see Cuyahoga County.
The downtown district includes the area at the heart of the city around the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, including the Flats, Terminal Tower, the Warehouse District, Playhouse Square, the East 4th neighborhood, North Coast Harbor, and the sports arenas.  
East Side
The East Side is the portion of the city to the east of the river, including the city's world-class cultural and arts complex, and contains the following neighborhoods: University Circle, Buckeye-Shaker Square, Central, Collinwood, Corlett, Euclid-Green, Fairfax, Forest Hills, Glenville, Payne/Goodrich-Kirtland Park, Hough, Kinsman, Lee Harvard/Seville-Miles, Mount Pleasant, Nottingham, Slavic Village, St. Clair-Superior, Union-Miles Park, Little Italy, and Woodland Hills.  
West Side
The West Side is the portion of the city to the west of the river, including the West Side market and the airport, and contains the following neighborhoods: Brooklyn Centre, Clark-Fulton, Detroit-Shoreway, Cudell, Edgewater, Ohio City, Old Brooklyn, Stockyards, Tremont, West Boulevard, and the four neighborhoods colloquially known as West Park: Kamm's Corners, Jefferson, Puritas-Longmead, and Riverside.  

Cleveland is the urban center of Northeast Ohio, the 14th largest combined metropolitan area in the United States. Throughout the twentieth century, the City of Cleveland proper was ranked as one of the 10 largest cities in the U.S. (from 1890 until 1970 per US Census Bureau statistics). Like most U.S. cities, Cleveland proper began to lose population to suburban areas in the 1960s and 1970s. However, in the mid-1980s, Cleveland earned the nickname the "Comeback City" as the urban core experienced a dramatic revitalization process that continues today. As its "comeback" has continued, the official moniker is now the New American City as Cleveland has rightfully earned the reputation as a model of effective public-private partnership for urban planning.

Despite the common perception that Cleveland is an industrial town, just beyond the automotive and steel plants, a clean and beautiful downtown rises at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River on the southern shore of Lake Erie (often marvelled over by visitors who are surprised you can't see the other side, i.e., Canada). Like other cities in the so-called "rust belt", Cleveland has endured growing pains as it makes its transition from a manufacturing-based economy. While Cleveland continues to play a leading role in building the U.S. industrial base, it has also developed economic prowess in the fields of health care, law, finance, insurance, real estate development, and professional services.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and MuseumAnother thing non-locals don't often realize is that Cleveland's long history of industrial wealth has left it chock full of cultural riches as well as the beginnings of a "sustainable city" movement. Serving as a global model for urban rebirth, Cleveland has been named one of the top 10 international visitor hotspots by Travel and Leisure magazine. For decades, the city has boasted of:

a "Big Five" orchestra (The Cleveland Orchestra  
the second largest performing arts center in the U.S. (Playhouse Square Center
a world-renowned art museum (The Cleveland Museum of Art  
the nation's first health museum (HealthSpace Cleveland  
R&D hub of the aerospace and aviation industry (the NASA Glenn Research & Visitors Center  and
a number of other first-rate attractions (too many to mention here - read on).
During its "comeback" years, Cleveland has added:

the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum  
the Great Lakes Science Center [8] with Omnimax theatre, and
four new sports facilities in the downtown area - Progressive Field ("Still known as "The Jake" after a recent corporate name change) for the Major League Baseball Indians, QuickenLoans Arena ("The Q") for the NBA Cavaliers, Cleveland Browns Stadium for the NFL Browns and the Wolstein Center for the Cleveland State University Vikings basketball team.

July, on average, is the warmest month with a mean temperature of 71.9 °F (22.2 °C); however, Cleveland summers often experience temperatures in the high 80's to low 90's °F with relatively high humidity.
January, on average, is the coolest month with a mean temperature of 25.7 °F (-3.5 °C); however, Cleveland winters are often marked by short periods of heavy snowfall and occasionally experience windchill factors below 0 °F. Also, due to Cleveland's position on the southern shore of Lake Erie (at the point where the shoreline shifts from an east-west to a northeast-southwest orientation), the city (primarily the East Side) experiences Lake Effect snow from mid-November until the surface of Lake Erie freezes (typically by early February). The Snow Belt which receives substantially more snowfall than the West Side, begins on the East Side of Cleveland (spreading southward from the Lake for up to 10 miles in Greater Cleveland) and stretches northeast along the I-90 corridor past Buffalo, New York as far as Syracuse.
Due to its proximity to Lake Erie, Autumn in Cleveland has some of the best weather of the year. Some years, mid-70-degree weather can be enjoyed through Halloween, without the humidity of the summer months.

Columbus  is the capital of the American state of Ohio and is located centrally within the state in the Mid-Ohio region. Sited in an area where the Rust Belt, Bible Belt, Appalachia, and the Plains meet, Columbus is a fusion of many different parts of America. It is the home of The Ohio State University. The combination of Ohio Government and Ohio State University has fueled amazing growth both financially and physically in Columbus. It has created a business and research enviroment that has provided substantial employment opportunities to the diverse ethnic and local graduates of Ohio State University, and other academic institutions in Columbus. The Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC), is projected to be one of the top 50 supercomputers in the world and among the top 10 supercomputing academic centers. It also ranked number 1 on About.com's list of the United States' Most Underrated Gay Cities.

Named after the Italian explorer who sailed under the Spanish flag (In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue), this city is the largest in Ohio in terms of population with 730,657, and the 15th largest city in the United States—though with only 1.7 million people, the metropolitan statistical area is relatively small (the 31st largest in the nation and the 3rd of 4th larges in Ohio). Major area employers are state government (as the state capital), Ohio State University (the largest student population in the nation) and numerous Fortune 500 companies headquartered here (Cardinal Health, Nationwide Insurance, Limited Brands, etc.). It is a day's drive from one half of the U.S. population and is located at the intersection of I-70 and I-71.

Generally arranged in a really big wheel, Columbus is the central hub to many nearby cities including (clockwise from the no

Dallas the third largest city in Texas and the center of the state's largest metropolitan area, the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, is in the north central portion of the state. This populous city is home to the Dallas Mavericks and you'll regularly be reminded of the city's mass enthusiasm for the team. A shopper's paradise, Dallas has more shopping centers per capita than any other city in the US.

Downtown, including the historic West End. Home to a burgeoning residential and nightlife district.
East Dallas - This is the large area north of I-30 and south of Mockingbird, extending from Central Expressway to White Rock Lake and beyond. The closer-in areas are some of the "streetcar suburbs" built from the teens to '30s, with quaint bungalows and neighborhood strips that are teeming with restaurants, taverns, coffeehouses, wine bars, and vintage shops. A large oasis of laid-back in a sometimes uptight city, homey-but-hip East Dallas is a great place to mingle with locals. Contained within East Dallas are Lower Greenville and Deep Ellum.
Lake Highlands, a largely residential area bordering Garland on the north and Mesquite on the east.
North Dallas and Preston Hollow, including the areas along the south side of northern I-635 loop (LBJ) but extending up around the borders of the North Dallas Tollway and Addison. Made up of several upscale neighborhoods, north of the Park Cities and mostly south of LBJ.
Northwest Dallas, home to Koreatown and to Dallas Love Field, the city's second biggest airport.
Oak Cliff, a large low-income, mainly residential district southwest of downtown. North Oak Cliff or "Kessler Park" is another "streetcar suburb" and is home to upscale homes, from vintage 1930's bungalows, to mid-century modern, to new contemporary. The Bishop Arts District, centered on Bishop and Davis streets, is one of the City's hottest areas for new restaurants, cafes, and boutiques, drawing an eclectic crowd in which the creative class and the gay community are well-represented. North Oak Cliff is a slice of Austin in Dallas.
Oak Lawn, north of downtown, Oak Lawn includes established Turtle Creek highrise living, a multitude of Parks and restaurants, dense, urban neighborhoods of mostly townhomes, apartments, and condos, and also includes the gay district of Cedar Springs.
South Dallas, home to the Texas State Fairgrounds, Fair Park is open all year and is home to multiple museums. The Cotton Bowl is at Fair Park, and the University of Texas and University of Oklahoma face off on the gridiron here every year in the fall during the Texas State Fair. The Exposition Park neighborhood across from Fair Park and the DART Fair Park stop, is a little hamlet of hipster bars, clubs, and restaurants.
Uptown - Immediately east of the Oak Lawn district -- a playground and shopping grounds for the beautiful people of the city. Extends from Woodall Rodgers on the south to Haskell on the north, and from Central Expressway on the east to the Katy Trail on the west. Immediately north of Uptown, and sometimes included as part of it, is the Knox Park neighborhood, which includes restaurants and a plethora of upscale home furnishings shops. "Knox/Henderson" is a split personality urban neighborhood worthy of its own designation. The Knox side west of Hwy 75 is the more upscale half, with many restaurants and upscale home decor shops. The Henderson side lagged behind its Knox half, but is now just as trendy, with a more low-key, relaxed vibe. Henderson hot spots now line Henderson all the way from Hwy 75 to Ross. Knox and the western half of Henderson are very pedestrian friendly. Knox/Henderson is just a short walk up the Katy Trail from West Village.
Dallas/Highland Park and University Park. One of the wealthiest areas of the city, the "Park Cities" are mostly residential, but also offer world-class shopping opportunities at Highland Park Village (corner of Mockingbird and Preston) and elsewhere. North Park mall is on the northern edge of the Park Cities. University Park is home to Southern Methodist University (SMU), the Meadows Museum at SMU, and the under-construction George W. Bush Presidential Library.
West Dallas is largely a blighted area of poverty, but it does feature the one-of-a-kind Belmont Hotel, which has arguably the best views of downtown. West Dallas is easily connected to the Oak Cliff area, and is poised for re-development as part of the Trinity River Project, and the under-construction Hunt-Hill Bridge across the Trinity River, designed by famed Spanish architect, Santiago Calatrava.

Some area attractions often thought of as Dallas attractions are actually located in the suburbs, notably the following:
Addison, almost surrounded by North Dallas, has a lot of restaurants and shopping packed into its 4 square miles.
Arlington, home to the new Cowboys Stadium, Six Flags Over Texas, Six Flags Hurricane Harbor, and the ballpark of the Texas Rangers.
Irving, former home of the Dallas Cowboys' Stadium, it serves as the gateway to the massive DFW airport.
The suburbs of Carrollton and Lewisville, north along I-35E have less to offer in terms of attractions, but provide ample tourist accommodations, plenty of restaurants, and are reasonably close to any Dallas destination. The same might be said for Richardson and Plano, which lie north from Dallas along US-75.
Grapevine has a nice historic main street area and numerous wineries.


Many non-natives often have a hard time sizing up Dallas, and indeed, the entire Metroplex. Dallas does not fit many of the typical Texan stereotypes (Western, laid-back, casual), but it also doesn’t often live up to some of the more notorious stereotypes of its own (pretentious, unfriendly, sterile). The truth is, like in many things, somewhere in between.

Dallas is a wonderful place with a great deal to offer and an immense and diverse set of attractions, food and people. From the ultra-modern and posh Uptown and Victory developments, to the old-world elegance and upper-crust attitude of Turtle Creek, to the “real life” feel of largely-suburban North Dallas, it is virtually impossible to neatly categorize Dallas beyond this: it is one of the largest cities in America, and a metro area where more and more people are choosing to work and live every year. With that in mind, you should enjoy visiting Dallas for all the same reasons why others choose to live there.

Denver is the capital city of Colorado, USA and the largest city in the state. Known as "The Mile-High City", Denver has an altitude of 5,280 feet/1,600 meters and lies where the Midwestern plains give way to the Rocky Mountains.

Denver is a bustling city of over 600,000 people supporting a fast growing metropolitan area of nearly 3 million people. The city embraces its cowboy and mining past, but also looks toward the future with a vibrant arts and performing arts scene, dozens of great outdoor festivals, and distinct neighborhoods each offering a unique experience. You'll find everything a cosmopolitan city has to offer, plus easy access to the beautiful Rocky Mountains, which are only 15 miles west of town.

Denver does have its growing pains. Urban sprawl is becoming a problem, with the metropolitan area sometimes growing faster than the infrastructure can really handle, especially with public transportation. Denver is generally a driving city, and problems with pollution and traffic are a part of everyday life. Large mass transportation and freeway expansion projects are underway to keep up with the city's growth, including the popular light rail system. Denver's street grid pattern is fairly efficient as well, though there is often confusion at the intersections of the NE-SW, NW-SE downtown grid, with the N-S, E-W grid of the rest of the city.             

The winter months of December through March can and do bring biting temperatures and heavy snow to the region. While Denver does receive a major blizzard every 6 years on average, most snowstorms bring less than 8 inches of snow, and the foothills just west of Denver get a whole lot more. Winter is also when the Denver area gets pounded by a phenomenon known as the "chinook". That's when air flows over the mountains to the west and sinks on the leeward (eastern) slopes of the foothills and warms up. This raises air temperatures dramatically, bringing strong wind gusts and lasting for several days. If you're planning to visit Denver during the winter, be prepared with full winter gear, but consider packing a light sweater or t-shirt; you never know what you may be treated to (though it'll probably involve sun and blue skies).

Thunderstorms are common in late spring and fallSpring in Denver is pleasant, though generally rather brief. Trees begin budding by late March and are in full leaf by late April to mid May. March, on average, is Denver's snowiest month. Severe weather is most prominent in Denver during June, so keep your eyes to the skies (and the local weather reports) if you're visiting during this time.

By mid-June, Denver enters its summer season. Temperatures typically rise in earnest at this time, with most heat waves beginning toward the end of June and continuing through July, usually Denver's hottest month. By mid-July, the southwest monsoon kicks in. Temperatures rise rapidly from morning through early afternoon, when thunderstorms develop over the mountains and foothills to the west and spread east over the Denver area. These heavy afternoon rains can bring those high temps down fast. This trend generally sticks around until late August. By then, there's a noticeable difference in evening and night time temperatures as the days get shorter and average temperatures begin to drop. Slather on that sunscreen all summer long; the rays are strong and the air is dry, with temperatures often reaching the upper 90s in July and August.

Autumn is a peaceful time to visit, with mild temperatures, little severe weather and lots of that famous clear blue sky. You'll get to see the trees display their fall colors, which usually peak around mid-September in the mountains and October in the city itself. October usually brings the first snowfall of the season to Denver, although it's not usually heavy. By November, it's clear that winter is on its way, with plenty of clouds, some snow and much cooler temperatures

Detroit,  a major metropolis in the US state of Michigan, has had a profound impact on the world. From the advent of the automotive assembly line to the Motown sound, modern techno and rock music, Detroit continues to shape both American and global culture. The city has seen many of its historic buildings renovated, and is bustling with new developments and attractions that complement its world class museums and theatres. The city offers a myriad of things to see and do. Detroit is an exciting travel destination filled with technological advance and historic charm.
Downtown
The city's central business district. It is home to several nice parks, the country's second-largest large theatre district, great architecture, and many of the city's attractions. It is Detroit's center of life.  
Midtown-New Center
The city's cultural center, home to several world class museums and galleries. The area is also home to some great 1920s architecture. It is probably the most unique destination in Detroit.  
East Side
This part of the city includes much of the riverfront, Belle Isle, the historic Eastern Market, Pewabic Pottery, and more.  
Southwest Side
Home to many of the city's ethnic neighborhoods, such as Mexicantown and Corktown. The area is mostly known for its cuisine in these ethnic neighborhoods; however it is also home to many historical sites, such as the Michigan Central Station, Tiger Stadium, and Fort Wayne.  
West Side
Home to many historic neighborhoods, the University District, the Michigan State Fair, and much of the infamous 8 Mile.  
Hamtramck-Highland Park
While not part of the City of Detroit, the cities of Hamtramck and Highland Park are entirely surrounded by Detroit, with the exception of where they each border one another. Hamtramck is sometimes referred to as "Poletown" because of the large Polish population and influence in the city. Highland Park is home to many historic buildings and neighborhoods.  

Downtown Detroit is unique - an International Riverfront [2], ornate buildings, sculptures, fountains, the nation's second largest theater district, and one of the nation's largest collection of pre-depression era skyscrapers. Two major traffic circles along Woodward Avenue surround Campus Martius Park and Grand Circus Park, both gathering points. The city has ample parking much of it in garages. Many historic buildings have been converted into loft apartments, and over sixty new businesses have opened in the Central Business District over the past two years. Downtown Detroit features the Renaissance Center, including the tallest hotel in the Western Hemisphere, the Detroit Marriott, with the largest rooftop restaurant, Coach Insignia. Many restaurants emanate from the Renaissance Center, Greektown, the arts and theatre district, and stadium area. Joining the east riverfront parks, the city has the 982-acre (3.9 km²; 2.42 sq mi) Belle Isle Park with the large James Scott Memorial Fountain, historic conservatory, gardens, and spectacular views of the city skyline. Visitors may reserve a public dock downtown at the Tri-Centennial State Park and Harbor. Great Lakes Cruises are also available. Surrounding neighborhoods such as Corktown, home to Detroit's early Irish population, New Center [3], Midtown, and Eastern Market [4] (the nation's largest open air market), are experiencing a revival. Detroit has a rich architectural heritage, such as the recently restored historic Westin Book-Cadillac Hotel, the Guardian and Fisher buildings with exquisitely ornate interiors and exteriors, the Detroit Institute of Arts (top five museums in the country) to name a few. In 2005, Detroit's architecture was heralded as some of America's finest; many of the city's architecturally significant buildings are listed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as among America's most endangered landmarks.

Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. to offer casino resorts. The three major casino resorts are MGM Grand Detroit, Greektown, and MotorCity. A fourth major casino is just across the river in Windsor, Canada. Detroit Metro Airport is one of the few to offer world class hotel and meeting facilities inside the terminal. The Renaissance Center and the Southfield Town Center are among the nation's finest mixed use facilities for large conferences. Downtown Detroit serves as the cultural and entertainment hub of the metropolitan region, Windsor, Ontario, and even for Toledo, Ohio residents, many of whom work in metropolitan Detroit. While most of the region's attractions are in the city of Detroit, tourists will find that nearly all of the shopping malls are located in suburbs, such as Troy. The Detroit-Windsor metro area population totals about 5.9 million; it jumps to 6.5 million if Toledo is included. An estimated 46 million people live within a 300 mile (480 km) radius of Detroit. The city's northern inner ring suburbs like Ferndale, Southfield, Royal Oak, and Birmingham provide an urban experience in the suburbs complete with dining, shopping and other attractions. The Detroit area has many regal mansions, within the city and especially in Grosse Pointe, Bloomfield Hills, and Birmingham. Ann Arbor provides the nearby experience of a college town.

Detroit is an international destination for sporting events of all types; patrons enjoy their experience in world class venues. The Detroit Convention and Visitors bureau maintains the Detroit Metro Sports Commission [5]. The city and region have state of the art facilities for major conferences and conventions.

Detroit is known as the world's "Automobile Capital" and "Motown" (for "Motor Town"), the city where Henry Ford pioneered the automotive assembly line, with the world's first mass produced car, the Model T. During World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt called Detroit, the "Arsenal of Democracy." Today, the region serves as the global center for the automotive world. Headquartered in metro Detroit, General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler all have major corporate, manufacturing, engineering, design, and research facilities in the area. Hyundai, Toyota, Nissan, among others, have a presence in the region. The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor is a global leader in research and development. Metro Detroit has made Michigan's economy a leader in information technology, life sciences, and advanced manufacturing. Michigan ranks fourth nationally in high tech employment with 568,000 high tech workers, including 70,000 in the automotive industry. Michigan typically ranks among the top three states for overall Research & Development investment expenditures in the U.S. The domestic Auto Industry accounts directly and indirectly for one of every ten jobs in the U.S.

Detroit's climate is continental, therefore subject to rapid change and a variety of weather. Winters are cold but snowcover does not usually remain through the entire winter, as Detroit is not in a direct snowbelt path and has enough above freezing days. Spring and Fall are dominantly pleasant seasons, Summer is rather short but often times hot and muggy with sometimes strong to occasionally severe thunderstorms.

Detroit is bordered to the south by the Detroit River, which divides the U.S. and Canada (Detroit is the only place in the continental U.S. where you have to go south to enter Canada!). Downtown is on the riverfront, so the rest of the city expands north, east, and west from downtown. The Cultural Center, home to most of the city's museums, is just north of downtown, in Midtown.

El Paso  is the sixth largest city in Texas, on the United States-Mexico border. The city on the other side of the border is Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua. El Paso is often called the Sun City. Collectively, the city of El Paso and other nearby cities, such as Juarez and Las Cruces, New Mexico are referred to as The Borderland.

The Spanish language is an important part of life to El Pasoans. It's not always necessary to know Spanish, but it can help in some situations! To say yes is Si, No is No. Gracias is thank you in Spanish. Given that Spanish tends to be a more formal language than English, you will be even better received if can manage "Si/no, señor/señora/señorita" ("Yes/no, sir/ma'am/miss"), and "No, gracias" ("No, thank you"), rather than a curt "Si" or "no." To ask for the restroom, say ¿Dónde está el baño?. When asking for directions, you might need a mapa, or map. The calle or street you are looking for may be izquierda (left) or derecha (right). You may want to take an autobus which is cerca de la plaza, or the bus is near the town square.

And if all else fails, and communication is at a stand still, smile and say Lo siento. No hablo Español.

El Paso is geographically divided into several parts with the Franklin Mountains and Fort Bliss cutting the city into distinct sections. Each area has its own style and culture.

West Side is between the Franklin mountains and Mexico and New Mexico includes El Paso's most affluent neighborhoods along the side of the mountain. Providence Memorial Hospital, Sierra Medical Center, Las Palmas Medical Center, El Paso Country Club, and the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) are located here. The UTEP area ("Kern Place") is emerging as an entertainment district with restaurants and nightclubs also known as the "Cincinnati Entertainment District". The Sun Bowl, Don Haskins center, and Centennial Gardens are all located on the UTEP campus.
Downtown is in the southern part of El Paso, just below the tip of the Franklin Mountains. The streets of Downtown are often difficult to navigate for first time visitors, especially with the current construction. Parking (there are many cheap areas to park your car for the day) is probably the best bet. Walking through Downtown, there are many little shops reminiscent of Mexico and many small cafes. Many of the buildings are historic and very beautiful. The Downtown area boasts a beautiful plaza in the center of the city. The El Paso Museum of Art, the Plaza Theater, El Paso Civic Center and a children's science museum, Insights, are all located here. Extensive renovations are taking place in the Downtown area. Nearby on Paisano Street is the El Paso Zoo [2].
North East El Paso is home to Fort Bliss Military Base. Fort Bliss is one of the largest US Military bases in the world and Northeast El Paso is home to many active and retired servicemen and women. Fort Bliss located near the airport with adjacent Biggs Army Airfield has a great influence on Northeast El Paso culture. Tours of Fort Bliss can be arranged, or if you know a service member, have them give you a tour. . Outside of base are many military surplus stores.
East Side of El Paso is the fastest growing area mostly home to middle class working families. The Socorro Student Activities Complex (SAC), Del Sol Medical Center, Las Palmas Marketplace, Cielo Vista Mall and Bassett Center are all located in East El Paso. It is close to the Mission Trails area and Hueco Tanks State Historic Site.

With 16 million citizens and 170,000 square kilometers of land, Florida is as large and as varied as a medium-sized country, and as such can’t be seen in a weekend. It has been said that to truly understand a culture (and Florida has several), one must spend months immersed in it. With Florida this is a dangerous proposition. Many people who come to visit end up staying for the rest of their lives-which can make a person a little crazy. 
Florida, of course, is known for many things: the Everglades; the sun, sand, and surf that make up Florida’s 1500 kilometers of beaches; the Florida Keys; South Beach, the trendiest place in the world at the moment; and, oh yes, Disney World. But there is much more. Florida’s western Panhandle is home to some of the finest beaches in the United States. Sandestin is popular for beach vacations. The only elevation to speak of in the entire state is here, as are the state’s only caverns and some of the best canoeing around. The north central area of the state is home to the state’s capital, Tallahassee, with a number of fine museums, as well as to the famous Suwannee River. Opportunities for fishing, cave diving, and indoctrination in Southern small-town culture abound. 
Northeast Florida is home to the state’s largest city, Jacksonville, to the oldest continuously inhabited city in America, St. Augustine, and boasts the headquarters of the Professional Golf Association. Golf, fishing, history, and the oldest marine park in the country, Marineland, make northeast Florida well worth a visit. Further south you’ll come to world-famous Daytona Beach, as well as the site of the American space agency, NASA, in Brevard County--well worth seeing. Central Florida is dominated by Orlando and its well know coterie of theme parks, including Disney World, Universal Studios, Sea World, and more tourist attractions than you can shake a stick at. Disney World is a must-see for any family, and contains so many attractions it can take at least a whole week to visit them all. Disney World has 4 theme parks, 2 water parks, a bunch of beautiful themed resort hotels, and golf courses. You can get the traditional Disney experience at the Magic Kingdom, you can get up-close with various animals at Animal Kingdom, you can go behind the scenes at MGM Studios, and you can explore the world of today and tomorrow at Epcot. Each theme park, as well as many of the resorts, have multitudinous dining options: From simple counter dining at McDonalds all the way up to the only 5 star, black tie restaurant to be found in the Orlando area. When combined with the Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach water parks, its pristine golf courses, and other surrounding attractions, the Disney property provides plenty of fun for all ages. 
But don’t miss the charming small citrus towns south of Orlando or the lake towns to the north. To the west lie Tampa and St Petersburg, beautiful cities with beaches to match. Tampa boasts a Busch Gardens theme park, but the real attraction here is the Gulf of Mexico, whose calm green waters and white sandy beaches are suitable for sunning year-round 
South Florida is worth visiting there is still an unparalleled experience. Although Fort Lauderdale is no longer a Spring Break haven, and Miami has seen its share of urban troubles, as any large metro area would but the beaches, the people, the Everglades, and the experience of it all is not to be missed. And of course no one has truly seen Florida who has not taken the long journey down U.S. 1 through the keys to Key West, the ultimate vacationer’s paradise, where it’s as easy to fill your day with activity as it is to do nothing at all. 
Further south you’ll come to world-famous Daytona Beach, as well as the site of the American space agency, NASA, in Brevard County--well worth seeing. Central Florida is dominated by Orlando and its well know coterie of theme parks, including Disney World, Universal Studios, Sea World, and more tourist attractions than you can shake a stick at. Disney World is a must-see for any family, and contains so many attractions it can take at least a whole week to visit them all. Disney World has 4 theme parks, 2 water parks, a bunch of beautiful themed resort hotels, and golf courses. You can get the traditional Disney experience at the Magic Kingdom, you can get up-close with various animals at Animal Kingdom, you can go behind the scenes at MGM Studios, and you can explore the world of today and tomorrow at Epcot. Each theme park, as well as many of the resorts, have multitudinous dining options: From simple counter dining at McDonalds all the way up to the only 5 star, black tie restaurant to be found in the Orlando area. When combined with the Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach water parks, its pristine golf courses, and other surrounding attractions, the Disney property provides plenty of fun for all ages. 
But don’t miss the charming small citrus towns south of Orlando or the lake towns to the north. To the west lie Tampa and St Petersburg, beautiful cities with beaches to match. Tampa boasts a Busch Gardens theme park, but the real attraction here is the Gulf of Mexico, whose calm green waters and white sandy beaches are suitable for sunning year-round 
South Florida is worth visiting there is still an unparalleled experience. Although Fort Lauderdale is no longer a Spring Break haven, and Miami has seen its share of urban troubles, as any large metro area would but the beaches, the people, the Everglades, and the experience of it all is not to be missed. And of course no one has truly seen Florida who has not taken the long journey down U.S. 1 through the keys to Key West, the ultimate vacationer’s paradise, where it’s as easy to fill your day with activity as it is to do nothing at all. 
Further south you’ll come to world-famous Daytona Beach, as well as the site of the American space agency, NASA, in Brevard County--well worth seeing. Central Florida is dominated by Orlando and its well know coterie of theme parks, including Disney World, Universal Studios, Sea World, and more tourist attractions than you can shake a stick at. Disney World is a must-see for any family, and contains so many attractions it can take at least a whole week to visit them all. Disney World has 4 theme parks, 2 water parks, a bunch of beautiful themed resort hotels, and golf courses. You can get the traditional Disney experience at the Magic Kingdom, you can get up-close with various animals at Animal Kingdom, you can go behind the scenes at MGM Studios, and you can explore the world of today and tomorrow at Epcot. Each theme park, as well as many of the resorts, have multitudinous dining options: From simple counter dining at McDonalds all the way up to the only 5 star, black tie restaurant to be found in the Orlando area. When combined with the Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach water parks, its pristine golf courses, and other surrounding attractions, the Disney property provides plenty of fun for all ages. 
But don’t miss the charming small citrus towns south of Orlando or the lake towns to the north. To the west lie Tampa and St Petersburg, beautiful cities with beaches to match. Tampa boasts a Busch Gardens theme park, but the real attraction here is the Gulf of Mexico, whose calm green waters and white sandy beaches are suitable for sunning year-round 
South Florida is worth visiting there is still an unparalleled experience. Although Fort Lauderdale is no longer a Spring Break haven, and Miami has seen its share of urban troubles, as any large metro area would but the beaches, the people, the Everglades, and the experience of it all is not to be missed. And of course no one has truly seen Florida who has not taken the long journey down U.S. 1 through the keys to Key West, the ultimate vacationer’s paradise, where it’s as easy to fill your day with activity as it is to do nothing at all.

You will observe a total of twenty-three miles of white, sandy beaches around Fort Lauderdale, containing the one that apply its name. These beaches have acquired various awards such as the Blue Wave Beach award for cleanliness. Many of them are family very friendly, providing such features like picnic areas and play parks. The city itself is a beauty to see. Much work has been made in recent years to help establish it as one of the first tourist locations in the world. One example is the restoration of the shopping district called as Las Olas Boulevard. It has been established an old-world look, complete with gas lighting. The Riverwalk has been lined with bricks, adding to the class and style that already preexisted. As well, all around the city, magnificent landscaping using Xeriscape technology has given it an unparalleled feel without adversely affecting the water supply.Visitors can find a lot to do in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Commencing with beautiful beachfront along RouteA1A, travellers can grab a metal detector and look for buried treasures left by ancient mariners. They can move along Las Olas Boulevard, weave through Islas and canals where residents love their fancy homes and yachts, and explore treasures available in shops amidst upscale Spanish-style colonial galleries and boutiques.A pit stop at the Museum of Art repays to visitors with a beautiful collection of early 20th century American and European art. These new years, Fort Lauderdale has recreated itself. Fort Lauderdale Beach has experienced a $26-million renovation. You can eat lunch at cafes overlooking the water or visit shops along the beach.The city provides many alternatives for dining, entertainment, and shopping. The Broward Center for the Performing Arts offers many Broadway shows throughout the year. On Las Olas Boulevard you will observe a multitude of art galleries, eclectic boutiques, and sidewalk cafes. Dining alternatives range from Cuban-American cuisine to fresh seafood caught in the Atlantic Ocean.
Fort Lauderdale, called as the "Venice of America" due to its expansive and intricate canal system, is a city in Broward County, Florida, U.S. The city possesses a population over 170,000. Fort Lauderdale is situated in the geographic Center of the South Florida (Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach) Metropolitan area. Greater Fort Lauderdale is a place of contrasts, where modest beach hotels vie with elegant seaside resorts.
On South Florida's mangrove swamps, on the border of several pristine beaches, Fort Lauderdale is also called like the Venice of America. Though the European Venice possesses a lot more history and several monuments, Fort Lauderdale is likely just as popular with tourists, with over 3,000 miles of navigable waterways and miles of golden beaches, it's a beautiful destination. This city is Fort Lauderdale and it is not without worth that it makes this kind of moniker. Indeed, the surrounding beauty is a sight that leaves many first time visitors breathless and proceeds to awe and inspire lifetime residents.

Fort Lauderdale  is a coastal city on the Atlantic Ocean in the US state of Florida. It is known as the "Venice of America" due to its expansive canal system. Situated in Broward County in South Florida, the city's population is over 170,000.

The city is most famous for its beaches and boats, and while the city of Fort Lauderdale is relatively small in area, the term 'Fort Lauderdale' is often used to refer to the larger metropolis that has grown up around it. It is the county seat for Broward county, and is part of the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metropolitan area, which has over 5.5 million people.

The first inhabitants of the land were Seminole Indians who arrived in the 18th century. During the Second Seminole War, Major William Lauderdale led his Tennessee Volunteers into the area and raised New River Fort on the site of the modern city in 1838. In 1893, a young Ohioan named Frank Stranahan arrived and built a house that served as the first trading post, post office, bank and town hall of the area. The house was built near the site of the New River Fort and still stands today as a museum, Stranahan House.

Fort Lauderdale was officially incorporated as a town in 1911, and became the seat of newly formed Broward County. It began as a predominantly agricultural community of dairy farms and citrus groves.

More growth came with establishment of the Naval Air Station, which is now Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport.

The city and its surrounding suburbs experienced tremendous growth following the end of World War II, and the arrival of home air-conditioning. In the 1960s, Fort Lauderdale became the center of Spring Break after the debut of the movie "Where the Boys Are." It is now an anchor of the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach Metropolitan area, the nation's 6th largest metro area.

Fort Lauderdale has a humid tropical monsoon climate. Summers are very humid, hot, and muggy with temperatures in the upper 80s and low 90s lasting into early fall. The city sees most of its rainfall in the summer (the wet season). Winter is warm and mild and mainly dry (the dry season) with mild temperatures that are occasionally broken up by some rain when the fronts come through.

May to September is the summer wet season. During the summer, it is hot and humid, with the prevailing wind bringing the warm tropical breeze blowing up from the Caribbean. It is often clear and sunny in the mornings but as the land heats up the air rises and the sea breeze kicks in. This brings in more damp moist air from the sea and so by noon it often starts to cloud over, and then there are commonly short showers in the afternoon, which helps to cool the air off for a cooler and generally dryer evening. The Atlantic hurricane season largely coincides with the mid to latter part of the summer wet season.

Fort Lauderdale, positioned just above the Tropic of Cancer, owes a lot of its winter warmth to the Gulf Stream that runs just a couple of miles off shore. The Gulf Stream brings warm water up from the tropics year-round.

On a typical summer day the temperature does not get below 75 ºF (24 ºC). Summer temperatures are commonly in the high 80s to low 90s (30-35 °C), which is often relieved by the sea breeze, that in turn brings some afternoon thunderstorms.

During winter, humidity is significantly lower. The average daily high in the winter is usually between 65 and 75 °F (18-24 °C) and the low normally around 59 ºF (15 ºC), rarely dipping below 40 ºF (4 ºC) when a front comes through.

Fort Lauderdale receives abundant rainfall, most of it falling in the summer. The annual total of 63.8 inches (1488 mm) is one of the highest for a U.S. city. This sounds a lot, but it does not rain that much, it's just that when it does rain it really chucks it down, a real tropical downpour.

Houston is the largest city in Texas and the fourth largest in the United States. It is huge, both in population and in land area. "Urban sprawl" is a term tailor-made for this city, due to Houston being the largest unzoned city in the country. Houston is a multicultural city home to some of the nation's largest Asian, Arab and Latin American populations. But its culture is not limited to diverse population — it also boasts a world class symphony and theater district that includes a full-time ballet company and opera.

Houston is the largest city in the United States without any appreciable zoning. While there is some small measure of zoning in the form of ordinances, deed restrictions, and land use regulations, real estate development in Houston is only constrained by the will and the pocketbook of real estate developers. Traditionally, Houston politics and law are strongly influenced by real estate developers; at times, the majority of city council seats have been held by developers.

What this means to visitors is that Houston covers a larger land area with less population than might otherwise be expected. The city is primarily built on the energy industry and nearly everyone owns a car and drives everywhere they go. However, the city is becoming more dense and walkable, particularly in the Midtown/Montrose areas. With a few exceptions, almost everything to see or do is in Houston's urban core inside the 610 Loop and more specifically in between downtown, the Galleria, and the Texas Medical Center.

Houston's climate generally ranges from a hot summer to a cool winter. The months of October to April make for fantastic times to visit to avoid the heat.
Districts
The city has a number of districts. Historically, these districts were called "wards" and they tended to have distinct populations. Redevelopment has rendered most of those distinctions meaningless, but the modern version of Houston still has districts.

Downtown (Skyline District, Theater District, Historic District, Warehouse District)
Center of the city, still the home of high finance and big business. Houston is second only to New York City in corporate headquarters of Fortune 500 companies. Many of them are located downtown including some of the world's largest energy companies. Downtown Houston also boasts the second largest theater district in the United States and the city has world class permanent organizations such as the Houston Symphony and Houston Ballet. The Houston Pavilions entertainment district opened in October 2008 between Main St. and the Toyota Center.  
Neartown (Montrose, Midtown, EaDo-East End)
Ideally bordered by Midtown, Heights, River Oaks, and the Medical Center. Montrose is Houston's longtime home of its LGBT population. Lower Westheimer (Westheimer in between Montrose Blvd. and Shepherd) offers an array of resale fashion shops, eclectic shopping as well as antique stores. The gay nightlife is centered around Pacific St. and surrounding streets. Many Montrose neighborhood pubs attract an eclectic and diverse crowd.  
North Loop (The Heights, Washington Corridor)
A large district of gingerbread Victorian homes as well as early 20th Century bungalows. Like its sister neighborhood Montrose, The Heights is home to a diverse population from artists and musicians to wealthy professionals. Parts of the Heights are still dry, fostering a large number of BYOB restaurants ideal for those who enjoy their own selected wine.  
South Loop (South Main, Museum District, Med Center)
To the south and east of downtown lie Rice University, the many attractions of Hermann Park, Reliant Stadium, and the Texas Medical Center (or just "the med center"), including some of the world's best hospitals. The Rice Village is a highly concentrated area of restaurants, bars, and shopping.  
West Loop (Uptown, River Oaks, Upper Kirby & Greenway, West U)
Uptown or The Galleria Area is known for its namesake, a huge high-end shopping mall complex and has the tallest building in the United States outside of a main downtown area, the Williams tower. Nearby River Oaks is home to Houston's most exclusive and affluent neighborhoods and businesses, home to eye-popping mansions and the River Oaks Shopping Center, one of America's first suburban shopping districts and a great display of Art Deco architecture. This area has many great restaurants, vibrant nightlife, and infamous traffic jams during peak hours.  
Outside 610 (West Houston, East Houston, North Houston)
Off-the-beaten-track, these areas have plenty to offer for the patient traveler.  

Indianapolis  is in the Nine-County Region of Indiana, right at the center of the state. It is the state capital and largest city of Indiana, United States, and is in Marion County. The population within city limits is approximately 829,714 people, making it the 12th largest city in the US. The metropolitan area has about 2 million (23rd in the US). Indianapolis is also known as the "Racing Capital of the World" due to the proximity of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home of the Indy 500 and Allstate 400 at the Brickyard (formerly known as the "Brickyard 400").
The name Indianapolis is simply Indiana joined with polis, the Greek word for city. The founders of Indianapolis expected it to be the "Great Inland Port," however they neglected the fact the the White River is impossible to navigate during most of the year; except during the spring it is a melange of sandbars and temporary islands. However, this port-desire left the city with a beautiful, but useless canal district.

Indianapolis is called the "Crossroads of America". The city is warm in the summer, with average highs in the mid-80s in June, July, and August. Indianapolis has a typical mid-western winter. January is the coldest month, with an average high of 34 degrees

Jacksonville is a coastal city in the north-eastern portion of the Florida's state. It possess the distinction of being the most populous city in Florida and the biggest city (square mile-wise) in the continental U.S, and possess a metropolitan area spanning Nassau, St. Johns, Baker, Clay, and Duval counties with a metropolitan population of over 1.25 million person.On both edges of the St. Johns river, in downtown Jacksonville there are river walks that offer beautiful views of downtown as well as access to the Jacksonville Landing, an open-air mall that is often the site of concerts, political rally's or other events, and other attractions along the way. The river walks are beautiful places for romantic walks in the evening.This great river courses south to north and feeds the awesome scenery found through the city. Explore Jacksonville as you follow its riverbanks, on foot or by water taxi, that lead you to attractive dining establishments, wonderful scenery and world-renowned museums. Stroll along the pathways or visit the Friendship Fountain, which is quite stunning at night. There are several attractive parks here as well. And if you’re in the mood for some surf and sand, Jacksonville is a short drive away from the popular Jacksonville Beach. Pack your walking shoes and flip flops and get ready to experience Jacksonville.
One of its more famous areas is the fantastic Jacksonville Landing. Situated on the north bank of the St. Johns River, this riverfront complex is filled with great dining alternatives, unique stores and often has live entertainment. Next door you’ll notice Times-Union Center, the place to be for Broadway shows, concerts and the Jacksonville Symphony. Cross over to the south side of the river and you’ll be at the Riverwalk, a beautiful city park that possess a great boardwalk situated along the river. Here you’ll also observe the MOSH, the Museum of Science and History. Enjoy learning about space at its planetarium, the St. John’s river system or explore its numerous exhibits, containing an awesome one on Dinosaurs. Another great museum in Jacksonville is the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens. Wonderful situated along the St. Johns River, this fine art museum possess 12 fantastic galleries that showcases art dating back from 2,000 BC up until today. Its stunning English gardens surround the building allowing you to enjoy the works of art both inside and outdoors.
Jacksonville possesses three beach towns, which are nice enough and possess fine beaches but more or less blend together. Immediately to the south is Ponte Vedra Beach, where many golf and tennis stars live and where the TPC at Sawgrass golf tournament is played each year. One-day memberships to the Sawgrass course are available, but only deeply committed golf fans will want to pony up the roughly $300 it takes to purchase one.Jacksonville is a coastal city in the north-eastern portion of the Florida's state. It possess the distinction of being the most populous city in Florida and the biggest city (square mile-wise) in the continental U.S, and possess a metropolitan area spanning Nassau, St. Johns, Baker, Clay, and Duval counties with a metropolitan population of over 1.25 million person.

Las Vegas, billed as The Entertainment Capital of the World, has an economy driven by tourism, gaming, and conventions which in turn feed the retail and dining industries.
The city's tolerance for various forms of adult entertainment earned it the title of Sin City, and this image has made Las Vegas a popular setting for films and television programs. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.
Las Vegas is in an arid basin surrounded by dry mountains around 2030 feet above sea level. As befits a desert, much of the landscape is rocky and dusty. Within the city, however, there are a great deal of lawns, trees, and other greenery.
One of the most visible aspects of Las Vegas' cityscape is its use of dramatic themes. The theming of hotels, casinos, and restaurants has established the city as one of the most popular destinations for travellers.  Eighteen of the world's twenty five largest hotels by room count with a total of over 67,000 rooms are located on the world famous Las Vegas Strip making this city one of the top cities for conference groups to travel to.   Las Vegas Strip is approximately a 4 mile stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard South in Clark County and into the unincorporated areas of Paradise and Winchester.
Outdoor lighting displays are everywhere on the Las Vegas Strip and elsewhere in the city.  As seen from space, the Las Vegas metropolitan area is the brightest on Earth.
With about 290 days of sunshine a year and very little rain, anytime is a good time to travel to Las Vegas, Spring and Autumn is the best time to go with warm days and cool evenings.  Winter is normally a lot cooler especially in the evenings.  Summer is by far the hottest.

Little Rock  became the capital of the Arkansas Territory in 1819 and of the state of Arkansas in 1836. The metropolitan area population was 699,757 in 2010. The Combined Statistical area population which includes Pine Bluff had 877,091 in the 2010 census. The city proper had 193,524 in 2010.

Little Rock lies at the center of the state, more-or-less where the Ozark Mountains, the Ouachita Mountains, and the Mississipi Alluvial Plain (the "Delta") come together. Traveling east from Little Rock, you traverse flat land nearly all the way to the Mississippi River; traveling west you quickly enter hilly country.

Little Rock is Arkansas's largest city, as well as the state capital and major economic center (although northwestern Arkansas, with Wal-Mart, Tyson Foods, and major trucking firms, is rapidly gaining). Little Rock is home to the state's only medical school, as well as one of the two branches of the University of Arkansas law school.

Little Rock derives its name from a small rock formation on the south bank of the Arkansas River called La Petite Roche (the "little rock"). The "little rock" was used by early river traffic as a landmark and became a well-known river crossing. The original historic "little rock" was later dynamited and used as a foundation for a railroad bridge, but its location can be visited in downtown's Riverfront Park.

Little Rock is located at the first high that upstream travelers on the Arkansas River came to, and so was a logical place to found a settlement. When it became apparent that the original capital of Arkansas Territory, Arkansas Post, was too subject to flooding, the seat of government was moved to Little Rock in 1819.

Temperatures range can reach above 90°F (32°C) in the summer, peaking in August and September, to below freezing in December and January. The most pleasant times of year to visit are fall and spring; the changing of the leaves in fall is particularly enticing.

Long Beachis a large port city in Los Angeles County in Southern California.

Long Beach is a large port city with an impressive coastline. It is situated at the very southeast edge of Los Angeles County, bordering Orange County, in a region known as Gateway Cities.

You may hear different people say both wonderful and horrible things about the city. This is because the city is so large that it encompasses everything ranging from a large industrial area to extremely exclusive communities.

Long Beach is recognized as one of the most culturally diverse cities in the United States, with immigrants from all regions of the world calling it home. It tends to have a more East-Coast, blue collar feel than the rest of coastal California.

Long Beach isn't typically the primary target of someone's tourist visit, but it is centrally located to just about everything else that you'd want to see in Southern California. That said, Long Beach does have some nice people-gathering areas as well as genuine tourist attractions such as the Queen Mary floating museum and a world-class aquarium.

The area code for Long Beach is 562. For emergency services, dial 911 from any phone

Los Angeles, the USAs second largest city after New York, sprawls along the Pacific coast of southern California.
Much of Los Angeles lives in a bubble - one where it is always sunny and nothing will stop the Angelenos
determination to work hard and live a rich life. The city is really a mosaic of diversity with areas known for
specific cultures. Looking at a map of sprawling Los Angeles, first-time travellers are sometimes overwhelmed.
Where to begin? What to see first? Begin by setting your priorities -- movie and television fans should first head to Hollywood, Universal Studios, and a taping of a television show. Beach lovers and outdoorsy types might travel out to Santa Monica or Venice Beach or Malibu, or spend an afternoon in Griffith Park, one of the largest city parks in the country. Those with a cultural bent should probably make a beeline for the twin Gettys (the centre in Brentwood and the villa near Malibu), the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), or the Norton Simon Museum.
Family groups would head to Anaheim to visit the theme parks of Disneyland and California Adventure.  And urban explorers might begin with downtown Los Angeles.
Los Angeles has much to offer the traveller, whether its wining and dining, culture, film, theatre, shopping, fun parks, this city has it all.The peak season in LA is July/August, when every day is sunny and hot. If you prefer smaller crowds  the shoulder seasons (March to May and September to November) are a good bet. On average, LA enjoys 292 sunny days each year, cooled by gentle ocean breezes and little rain.

Memphis is the largest city in the state of Tennessee. The state rests in the southeastern portion of the United States. Memphis, with a population totaling more than 670,000, is also the county seat for Shelby County. The city's claims to fame include Graceland, the mansion Elvis Presley lived in during his later years. Maybe more importantly, Memphis is considered by many to be the home of blues music.

Although downtown Memphis has experienced quite a rebirth and renewal in the last few years, the center of the city is older; it is full of new development, teeming with change and coming into its own. In the past few years, the city has emerged to boast one of the largest downtown populations among US cities. Citizens once again have a vested interest in making downtown safe, exciting, and a great place to visit and relax after decades of abandonment.

Whether visiting or moving to the area, from May to October make it well worth your while to visit the Memphis Farmers Market which formed and began in 2006 - it is one of the brightest shining stars of the early Spring, Summer, and through Mid-Autumn.

A word of caution: Memphis is extremely hot in the summertime, and the humidity can make you feel even hotter! Those who have trouble tolerating high heat and humidity may wish to avoid July and August.

Miami has always billed itself as a travel destination. Warm weather, sandy beaches and bright sunshine were selling points more than 100 years ago, just as they are today. But Miami's allure extends beyond its shores.
People from all over the Caribbean and Latin America have settled in Miami, giving the city its distinctive, lively international character.
The warm-weather fun is still a big attraction, but the biggest draw is the cosmopolitan flavour coupled with all the great restaurants, sports teams (Dolphins, Heat, Hurricanes and Marlins) and upscale sheen. Plus a long list of TV shows that have "Miami" in their titles.
South Beach, with its cheerful, sherbert-coloured art-deco buildings and palm-tree-lined avenues, is the centre of Miami's trendy dining and nightlife scene. Other corners of Miami, including Coconut Grove and Coral Gables, offer their own versions of fine living and colourful happenings.
And don't overlook the natural world—though you may have to drive to the Everglades to get a good view of it.Miami boasts great weather year-round with sunny days and breezy nights. The hottest month is August when the average high temperature is 32C. The average low temperature in January, the coldest month, is 15C. The rainy season goes from June to September. The driest months are December, January and February. These months are particularly valued by locals, who consider them the best months of the year to visit Miami.

Nashville skyline and the AT&T (Batman) BuildingNashville [1] is a city in Davidson County and the capital of the American state of Tennessee. It is sometimes called the "Country Music Capital of the World" or more often "Music City, USA"; however, in recent years, Nashville has done much to escape its country music image and become a regional center of culture and commerce. In fact, Dell, Nissan, and Saturn have all moved some operations to or near the city. The music is various; major rap artists and rock bands (Young Buck, Haystak, Kings of Leon, Paramore, and Ben Folds) claim Nashville as their hometown.

Nashville has been the home of the world-famous Grand Ole Opry [2] since 1925. The Opry has been located in the Grand Ole Opry House in eastern Nashville since 1974. From 1974 to 1997 the Opry House was part of a theme park called Opryland USA, which closed due to low attendance and was subsequently torn down and replaced with a mega-shopping mall called Opry Mills. Rumors that the Opry is haunted persist to this day as more than 35 people closely associated with the Opry have been met with untimely deaths. These country stars have been burned to death, have been beaten, robbed and shot, have been victims of car and plane crashes and have perished from alcohol and drugs. Nashville is also a great bar scene. If you like to drink,you can go "Honky-tonking" or also known as "bar-hopping"

Nashville was founded in 1779 and it grew rapidly because of its excellent location on the Cumberland River. It was incorporated in 1806 and became the county seat of Davidson County. Nashville was named the capital of Tennessee in 1843.

Like many Southern cities, Nashville was not immune to the economic woes of the post-Civil War South but it quickly rebounded. It only took a few years for the city to reclaim its important shipping and trading position and to develop a solid manufacturing base. The post-Civil War years of the late 19th century brought a new found prosperity to Nashville. These healthy economic times left the city with a legacy of grand classical-style buildings, which can still be seen around the downtown area.

Since the 1970s, the city has experienced tremendous growth, particularly during the economic boom of the 1990s under the leadership of Mayor (now-Tennessee Governor) Phil Bredesen, who made urban renewal a priority, and fostered the construction or renovation of several city landmarks, including the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Nashville Public Library downtown, Bridgestone Arena, and LP Field.

Nashville sits in the middle of a geographic region known as the Nashville Basin. It is surrounded by the Cumberland Highlands and is bordered by the Cumberland Plateu to the east. The Nashville Basin is characterized by rich, fertile farm country and high natural wildlife diversity.

Nashville has cool, relatively short winters and hot, humid summers, with long spells of spring and autumn in between. Winter temperatures commonly hover slightly above freezing, and a fair amount of light snow generally falls throughout the months of December to February, though large storms of 6-plus inches in a day do occur every few years. Nashville can be prone to severe thunderstorms and tornadoes during the spring and fall months. Summers are hot, but no more than the rest of the southeastern U.S. with temperatures around 90*F (32*C) during the day.

Way down yonder in New Orleans  you'll find the roots of jazz and a blossoming culture that is unlike anything else on Earth. Here, the laid-back atmosphere of the riverfront South has mixed with French sophistication and African-American energy to create something greater than the sum of its parts. Though hit hard by Katrina, "Nawlins" remains the largest city in Louisiana and one of the top tourist destinations in the United States.

"Laissez les bons temps rouler" is what they say here in the Big Easy, and you too can "let the good times roll" with a cool stroll down Bourbon Street, a hot Dixieland band, and even hotter New Orleans cuisine. Mardi Gras may be the city's calling card, but that's just one day out of the hot and muggy year in New Orleans.

Go ahead, take a riverboat down the Mississippi, munch on some beignets, and watch the Saints go marchin' in. But when it's time to leave, you, too, will know what it means to miss New Orleans.

French Quarter
The oldest, most famous, and most visited section of the city. Most tourists will want to center their visit here (though those who explore other parts of town as well will find the city offers additional treats). Many old-line restaurants are in the Quarter, along with music clubs, museums, antiques shops, and drinking establishments.  
Central Business District
What many cities call "Downtown" (though in New Orleans this term is often used to refer to a different part of town downriver). Adjacent to the French Quarter; has many attractions. The "CBD" has the Superdome, high-rise hotels and some excellent restaurants, along with many museums (the National D-Day Museum, the Louisiana Children's Museum, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, the Contemporary Arts Center) and a gallery district on and around Julia Street. Includes the "Arts District" and the "Old Warehouse District".  
Downriver (Marigny, Bywater, 7th, 8th, and Upper 9th Wards, Lower 9th Ward)
Old neighborhoods "Downriver" from the French Quarter. The Marigny's Frenchmen Street is the leading authentic music district. Marigny and neighboring Bywater have a hip Bohemian vibe. Some is starting to spread into the "back of town downtown" 7th 8th and Upper 9th Wards, much of which is still struggling post-Katrina but contains quirky attractions like the St. Roch Cemetery. The Lower 9th, notorious as one of the worst hit in the 2005 Katrina disaster, also has some unexpected historic sites.  
Uptown (Uptown, Audubon & University District, Carrollton)
19th century residential neighborhoods upriver from the CBD, famous for beautiful historic architecture including the "Garden District". The St. Charles Avenue streetcar runs through here. The Uptown sections contain some of the City's best local restaurants. Magazine Street hosts some 80 blocks of antique stores, art galleries, interior designer studios, and clothing stores ranging from funky thrift shops to upscale boutiques. Popular Audubon Park and Audubon Zoo, Tulane & Loyola Universities, and the Riverbend & Old Carrollton section at the far end of the streetcar line.  
Middle (Mid-City and Esplanade Ridge, Tremé, Central City)
Central part of town, with historic attractions and many great restaurants more known to locals than visitors. Mid-City is home to City Park, the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Botanical Garden, and beautiful historic cemeteries; New Orleans Fair Grounds (a racetrack that hosts the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival every spring) is in old Espalande Ridge. Tremé is an Historic Franco-African (Creole) neighborhood inland from the French Quarter. Central City is another historic mostly Black neighborhood, at present more troubled.  
Lakeside (Lakeview and Lakeshore, Gentilly, Eastern New Orleans)
Northern parts of the city around Lake Pontchartrain. Mostly newer parts of town generally unknown to visitors, but includes restaurants (including the popular cluster of eateries along Harrison Avenue in Lakeview), historic forts, impressive Art Deco and other 20th century architecture, and a smattering of other attractions. A series of pretty parks line the edge of the lake in the neighborhoods west of the Industrial Canal. Eastern New Orleans covers a large area, including the Little Vietnam neighborhood, historic Lakefront Airport and Fort Pike.  
The part of New Orleans across the Mississippi River. Includes historic old Algiers Point neighborhood; the Ferry ride across the Mississippi alone is worth the trip.  

Jefferson Parish, includes Kenner, the location of the New Orleans International Airport, and Metairie, the largest suburb; many hotels and conventions are based here.
Saint Bernard Parish: Down river from New Orleans, includes the town of Chalmette where the "Battle of New Orleans" took place in 1815.
St. Tammany Parish on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain; includes Slidell, Covington, Mandeville and Abita Springs
Plaquemines Parish on both sides of the Mississippi south to the Gulf.
Destrehan: contains Destrehan Plantation [2], one of the South's best-preserved antebellum homes.
LaPlace: A fast-growing town upriver from New Orleans

New York is a city of superlatives. Besides being a world financial centre, the urban island of Manhattan teems with world-renowned restaurants, architectural masterpieces and venerable art institutions that makes New York one the world’s greatest cultural cities to travel to.
New York has always been a city of the world and its multinational, multicultural inhabitants infuse its concrete canyons with a buzz that is every bit as energising and electrifying as that depicted in countless films and TV programmes. With over 20,000 eclectic restaurants, 150 world-class museums and more than 10,000 stores brimming with brand names and bargains from across the globe, New York really does have something for every traveller. Away from the mayhem of the 24-hour urban hustle and bustle, New York also boasts the bucolic oasis of Central Park and the breezy park-lined Hudson River.
If you plod dutifully from point to point, nose buried in a guidebook, you'll miss half the fun. When you travel to New York you need to look up at the tops of skyscrapers, and you'll see a riot of mosaics, carvings, and ornaments.
Step into the lobby of an architectural landmark and study its features; take a look around to see the real people who work, live, or worship there today.
Peep down side streets, even in crowded midtown, and you may find fountains, greenery, and sudden bursts of flowers. Find a bench or ledge on which to perch and take time just to watch the crowd passing by. New York has so many faces that every visitor can discover a different one.
Any time of year is a good time in New York although the best time is during the spring and Autumn. New York winters tend to bring cold temperatures but little snow here than to other nearby cities, while summers July to September are hot and muggy.

Oklahoma City  is the capital and principal city of the state of Oklahoma, located in the Frontier Country region of the state. Oklahoma City is the primary city of the Oklahoma City-Shawnee-Stillwater Combined Statistical Area containing most of central Oklahoma.
Adventure District
A thriving tourist community; Oklahoma City Zoo, National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, Science Museum Oklahoma, National Softball Hall of Fame and Stadium, and Remington Park Racing & Casino.  
Asian District
The largest Asian population in the state and also a cultural area. Along Classen Blvd from about 22nd Street to N.W. 30th. Businesses include the Super Cao Nguyen market, Lido restaurant, and a number of Pho soup kitchens.  
Bricktown
Warehouse district that has been converted into a restaurant and night club hot spot adjacent to downtown. This area is home to the Bricktown Ballpark, several live music venues, the Harkins movie theatre, and Mickey Mantle's steakhouse.  
Downtown
Central Business District.  
Arts District
Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Civics Center Music Hall, Oklahoma City National Memorial, and the Myriad Botanical Gardens. The Museum of Art includes an upscale restaurant and the glass sculpture of Dale Chihuly. On Thursday evening's in the Spring and Fall, the museum opens its rooftop for cocktails and music.  
Northwest  Plaza Court District
Located near NW 10th and Walker in Midtown, this area is currently under development but already boasts Brasilian, Latin, and American food restaurants, as well as OKC's oldest boutique ice creamery and a bakery. On weekends, a rooftop bossa nova bar offers a beautiful view of this area's interesting architecture. A Sushi restaurant and Irish Pub are slated to open sometime in 2008.  
Paseo Arts District
Arts district with galleries beginning at NW 30th & Paseo to NW 27th & Walker. It also offers a sidewalk cafe, two full service restaurants, and craft shops. Paseo Arts District celebrates "First Friday" each month with an open house and outdoor music. Paseo Arts Festival takes place each Memorial Day weekend with an outdoor carnival and attractions.   NW 39th Street Enclave
Arts district with galleries beginning at NW 30th & Paseo to NW 27th & Walker. It also offers a sidewalk cafe, two full service restaurants, and craft shops. Paseo Arts District celebrates "First Friday" each month with an open house and outdoor music. Paseo Arts Festival takes place each Memorial Day weekend with an outdoor carnival and attractions.  
Western Avenue
A stretch of Western Avenue from NW 36th to Britton Road that features locally owned restaurants, bars, retail shopping, and live music venues.  
South
Capitol Hill Historic District
Hispanic downtown of Oklahoma City, located on the Southside.  

Oklahoma City is the largest city in the state, as well as its political, cultural, and economic engine. The city is the nation's third largest city in land area (608 sq miles), just behind Jacksonville FL (759 sq miles) and way behind Anchorage AK (1698 sq miles). The city is the 29th largest city in population in the nation (506,132 in the 2000 census), and the largest city in the 5 "plains states" (Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and North and South Dakota). After decades of suburban sprawl and an ill-fated downtown "urban renewal", a 'sudden' burst of investment in the 1990s has given the city additional big city attractions as well as a pleasant quality of life that often is the envy if not surprise of visitors from other cities, making Oklahoma City more of a tourist destination in and of itself. Oklahoma's state capitol building is the only capitol in the world with an oil well under it. Although its legal description is Capitol Site #1, it is referred to as Petunia #1 because it was originally drilled in the middle of a flower bed.

Oklahoma State Capital buildingOklahoma City is in the Frontier Country region of Central Oklahoma, in the Southern Plains of North America. Contrary to popular belief, the geography is not flat and treeless (like in the true high plains) but rather gently rolling hills covered in places by dense low trees, shrubs, and grasses. The city is roughly bisected by the North Canadian River (recently partially renamed the Oklahoma River in a flight of civic exuberance). The North Canadian is not very impressive as rivers go; it was once substantial enough to flood every year, wreaking destruction on surrounding homes, until the 1940s when the Civilian Conservation Corps dammed the river and turned it into essentially a wide ditch for the next 50 years. In the 1990's, as part of the citywide revitalization project known as MAPS, the city built a series of low water dams, returning water to the portion of the river flows near downtown. The city also has three large lakes, Lake Hefner and Lake Overholser, in the northwestern quarter of the city, and the largest - Lake Stanley Draper, in the sparsely populated far southeast of the city.

Many historians date Orlando's name to about 1836 when a soldier named Orlando Reeves allegedly died in the area, during the war against the Seminole Indian tribe. It appears, even so, that Orlando Reeves (sometimes Rees) ran a sugar mill and plantation around 30 miles (50 km) to the north at Spring Garden in Volusia County, and pioneer settlers simply established his name carved into a tree and assumed it was a marker for his grave site. They then mentioned to the area like "Orlando's grave" and later only "Orlando."Orlando, Florida, for majority of people brings up the image of theme parks, principally Disney World, but it has a lot more to provide than that. In fact, Disney is especially not in Orlando, but is in nearby Lake Buena Vista. Don't forget that you don't miss downtown Orlando and charming Winter Park.Orlando is a city constructed on theme parks. Up to the time of 1966, there was wanted little here in central Florida, but growth has turned thanks to a huge influx of visitors following the arrival of Walt Disney World. From the original Magic Kingdom, which opened in 1971 after a five-year building programme, Disney has added three more theme parks, two water parks and a host of associated development, containing hotels, shops and golf courses to make it a true ‘World’ resort.With Disney, SeaWorld and Universal have added to Orlando’s reputation as the family amusement capital of the world. Between them, they draw more than 40 million visitors every year, and that has meant a huge growth in associated hotels, restaurants and shops, plus a host of smaller-scale attractions.Even so, this juvenile city has also improved its own identity, with several high-tech industries relocating here. The downtown area is fast developing yuppie overtones and there are ambitious plans to become a major cultural centre. The city is also one of America’s top five convention locations, having said that, the main attraction for 99% of visitors remains the theme parks, and the likes of the nearby Kennedy Space Center. And, in order to attract the all-important repeat visitors, Orlando has become adept at re-inventing itself and providing new attractions at regular intervals.Orlando's city is the county seat of Orange County, Florida. According to 2005 census, the population was 213,223, doing it the sixth biggest city in Florida. It is point of the Orlando-Kissimmee too, Florida, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The Orlando Kissimmee MSA is Florida's third biggest metropolitan area, backside Miami Fort Lauderdale West Palm Beach and Tampa St. Petersburg Clearwater.

Philadelphia is a huge city with several district articles containing sightseeing, restaurant, nightlife and accommodation listings — consider printing them all.
Rocky statue outside the Philadelphia Museum of ArtPhiladelphia [1], located in southeastern Pennsylvania, on the southern fringe of the mid-Atlantic region, is the fourth-largest urban area in the United States and the country's fifth-largest city. Often referred to as "Philly," the official city boundaries are actually quite large—what started as a much smaller city began annexing the surrounding districts and suburbs in the mid-19th century, and Philadelphia the city is now coterminous with Philadelphia the county. Altogether, Philadelphia's metropolitan area encompasses a total twelve counties in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.
Districts
As a result of Philadelphia's size, there are very large residential districts most visitors will never see. On the other hand, you could roam for miles, see distinct changes in atmosphere, architecture, and demographics, and still be within the city. For most tourists, the landing point will be in Center City, the "downtown" section of Philadelphia. It is bounded by South St. to the south, the Delaware River to the east, the Schuylkill River to the west, and Vine St. to the north. The 2005 Center City population, at nearly 100,000, makes it one of the most populated central business districts in the U.S, just behind New York City. Other popular districts to visit are Old City, West Philly, and South Philly. In the recent years, Northern Liberties (in the North region) has been gaining traction as a hip, trendy place.
Center City East
Philadelphia's beautiful City Hall, the Convention Center, Chinatown, Washington Square West, the gay-friendly Gayborhood, and the Broad Street Arts Corridor.  
Center City West
West of Broad Street and City Hall, includes the art museum district, Rittenhouse Square, shopping resembling an outdoor mall with dining on Chestnut and Walnut Streets, and a good portion of the central business district with Philadelphia's tallest skyscrapers.   Old City
Philadelphia's oldest historic quarter, where the roots of the American Independence began. Located between 6th Street and the Delaware River, it features Independence Mall and historical landmarks like the Liberty Bell, Constitution Hall, and Independence Hall. Also of significance are the art, design and fashion businesses and galleries, making Old City a vibrant and culturally diverse neighborhood with an 'old world' european aesthetic. Evening hours bring added excitement with great restaurants, bars and clubs.  
South Philly
South Street, the Italian Market, the Sports Complex, endless cheap dive bars, and Philly cheesesteaks.  
North Philly
Working class neighborhoods, some of which are struggling with crime problems, but also the home of Temple University and Northern Liberties.  
West Philly
West of the Schuylkill River, includes University City comprising of University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University and its surrounding neighborhoods.  
Upper North
The off-the-beaten-path upper north and northwestern reaches of the city, middle-to-upper class residential neighborhoods of Manayunk, Chestnut Hill, East Falls and Mt. Airy.  
Northeast
The far northeastern part of town, mostly residential.  








[edit] Understand
Philadelphia, often called the "Birthplace of America" and referred to as the "new Athens" early in its existence, is the birthplace of America's modern democracy. Founded by William Penn in the late 17th century, the city's name translates to "City of Brotherly Love" and has been a seat of freedom since its inception; originally founded by Quakers, the colony promoted religious freedom among its residents in stark contrast to the England of the time.

[edit] History
Known for its role in the American Revolutionary War, Philadelphia saw the convening of the Continental Congress as well as the writing of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Shortly after the nation's inception took place in Philadelphia, the city was named the nation's capital, a role it filled from 1790 until 1800, when Washington, D.C. took over.

Benjamin Franklin, probably the city's most famous resident, was responsible for the city's alternative title, the "new Athens." While Franklin's most famous experiment dealt with the conducting of electricity, he was also responsible for the country's first insurance company, the city's first public library and the first fire department; Franklin also played a great role in establishing the city's postal system as well as inventing new conveniences such as bifocal lenses and the Franklin Stove.

Philadelphia has seen its skyline and its name in lights throughout the years in such famous films as the "Rocky" series (the statue from "Rocky III" still stands prominently outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art), as well as films like namesake "Philadelphia" and many of Philadelphia native M. Night Shyamalan's thrillers.

The Liberty Bell is right in the center of Philadelphia inside of a pavilion near Independence Hall. The Liberty Bell is a major piece in Philly's history. It was rung to announce the news of the passage of the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829 in Great Britain. John Sartain in his book, Reminiscences of a Very Old Man, claims the bell was cracked during this announcement: "The final passage of the Emancipation Act by the British Parliament is linked to a bit of Philadelphia history. On receipt of the news in Philadelphia the Liberty Bell in the tower of the State House was rung, and cracked in the ringing. When I was up in the tower in 1830, two years after, viewing the cracked bell for the first time, Downing, who was then the custodian of Independence Hall, told me of it and remarked that the bell refused to ring for a British Act, even when the Act was a good one."

[edit] People
The Philadelphia area's 6.2 million inhabitants comprise a diverse group of almost every nationality. Philadelphia's primary cultural influences can be seen in its plethora of Irish pubs, the city's Italian Market, the Chinatown District, and the Reading Terminal which plays host to a diverse crowd of merchants - from first-generation European and Asian immigrants to the area's local Amish and Mennonite farmers.

[edit] Economy
Philadelphia's economy is as diverse as the population that inhabits the city. In Old City, the 'Third Street Corridor', from 3rd and Chestnut Streets to Vine Street, is home to many locally owned businesses contributing to art, design and fashion industries. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange, the oldest one in America, has been in operation since 1790. In addition, the city is host to several Fortune 500 companies, including Comcast (one of the nation's largest cable television providers), CIGNA insurance, Aramark, and Lincoln Financial Group. The University of Pennsylvania and Urban Outfitters are the largest employers. In the region there are approximately 50 higher educational institutions making Philadelphia a large 'college town'.

Dating back to the city's roots as the nation's first capital, the federal's government presence is also strong in Philadelphia. A U.S. Mint is located near Philadelphia's historic district and the Philadelphia division of the Federal Reserve Bank is close to that. Thanks to this governmental presence the city plays host to a large number of prestigious law firms and is considered one of the nation's centers of law.

The Pennsylvania Railroad, once the largest railroad company in the world, continues to influence Philadelphia's economy under the Amtrak name. Amtrak's second-busiest station, 30th Street Station, is on the west bank of the Schuylkill River and employs many Philadelphians in customer service, engineering, accounting, and IT jobs at the station.

Finally, many medical schools, pharmaceutical companies, and medical technology firms make their homes in and around Philadelphia, arguably making it the nation's healthcare capital.

Philadelphia has a humid continental climate with four distinct seasons. Winters are cold and often snowy, with temperatures usually hovering around 32°F (0°C) during the colder months. Average annual snowfall is 24 inches (59 cm) which is spread out mainly from December to March, but the area is sometimes hit by devastating blizzards that can dump up to half that total or even more on the city in one day, such as in 1996 when a single storm dumped 30.7 inches (78 cm) of snow on the city in just a couple days.
Spring and fall are rather pleasant, with temperatures in the 60s and 70s F (15°C-25°C). Summers are hot and humid, and conditions can get quite unpleasant when the air temperature is near 90°F (32°C) and humidity is high.

Phoenix is the capital of the state of Arizona as well as the most populous city in the American Southwest and sixth largest city in the United States. Founded in 1871, it has become the region's primary political, cultural, economic, and transportation center. At an elevation of 1100 ft (335 m), it is situated in the biologically unique Sonoran Desert. Over time it has merged with the neighboring cities of Scottsdale, Tempe, Glendale, Peoria, Chandler, and Gilbert to form the Greater Phoenix Metropolitan Area. Currently exurbs such as Apache Junction, Fountain Hills, Queen Creek, and Sun City are becoming part of this metropolitan area as well.

Why would anybody want to start a city in the middle of a desert? The answer is, surprisingly, agriculture. The Salt and Verde Rivers of central Arizona were exploited for large-scale agriculture by Native Americans as early as the 11th century. The area that now encompasses Phoenix was a center of the Hohokam culture, which built large canal systems and a network of towns and villages, whose remains may be viewed in the city to this day. White settlers discovered the remnants of the Hohokam culture in the 19th century. The city's name reflects its history as a city "reborn from the ashes" of the previous settlement.

European-American settlement of the area commenced in the 1860s, and in 1911 the completion of the first of several large reservoirs in the mountains north and east of Phoenix insured its success as a center for irrigation-based agriculture. Many tens of thousands of acres were planted in citrus and cotton and other crops, and for many years, intensive, year-round irrigated agriculture formed the basis of the economy. Recent years are seeing a revival, and trendy hotels, bars, shops and restaurants are making it a place to be again.

Warm and sunny winter weather also ensured a thriving tourism industry, and encouraged many Easterners and Midwesterners to relocate to Phoenix. High-tech industry began to flourish after World War II, and since that time the growth of Phoenix has been explosive. As a result, a population of just over 100,000 in 1950 has given way to a 2006 estimate of 1,512,986 (with the metro area estimated at 4,039,182)[2].

English is the dominant language in Phoenix. However, like much of the Southwest with a large Hispanic population, Spanish is very widely spoken in Phoenix. Spanish is a language often used for day-to-day discourse in many places, although English is the language of preference, especially when dealing with businesses and government.  
Phoenix has an arid climate with long, hot summers and very mild winters. It has the highest average temperature of any metropolitan area in the States. The weather varies enormously from one season to the next. While it's not as cold as in the northern states during the winter, it does freeze sometimes, and temperatures in the 30s°F (-1°C) are not unheard of. In the summer, very hot and dry heat is the norm. On the hottest days, it can get up to 115°F (46°C) or more. Monsoon rains with lightning occur regularly from July to September during the late afternoon and evening, occasionally overnight also. April is the most ideal month. In some neighborhoods, cicada insects make loud sounds from sunset to sunrise.
Overview of Phoenix districts Downtown
This area spans approximately two to three square miles, with main arteries running along Central Avenue and Washington/Jefferson Streets respectively. Three out of the five tallest skyscrapers in Arizona are in Downtown Phoenix.  
Midtown
There are a handful of officially recognized and protected historic neighborhoods and a variety of cultural, performance, and sporting venues in this area of town.  
West Phoenix
Includes Maryvale and Estrella, this area has seen its better days and is suffering urban decline. However, a highlight in the area includes the Cricket Pavilion which is a great place to see a concert.  
North Phoenix
Includes Deer Valley, Desert View, North Mountain, North Gateway, and New Village. The Phoenix Mountains are located here and offer a plethora of hiking and outdoor activities.  
Camelback East
A very upscale area of town which contains the famous Biltmore Hotel, Papago Park, the Phoenix Zoo, and world class resorts. The surrounding area is also known to feature expensive office space, upscale stores, and luxury homes.  
South Phoenix
This area is home to South Mountain Regional Park, the largest municipal park in the country. However, the neighborhood at it's base is fairly run-down and many sections are not safe. Laveen is a semi-rural area that is nonetheless seeing increasing development.  
Ahwatukee
An upscale neighborhood of Phoenix, Arizona bordered on the north by South Mountain Regional Park, on the east by I-10 and the cities of Chandler and Tempe.  

Sacramento  is the state capital of California in the United States.

Sacramento is the oldest incorporated city in California, settled between the confluences of the Sacramento and American rivers. It was founded in 1849 and there are many reminders of the history of the city including Sutter's Fort, Old Sacramento, and remnants of the original ground level of Sacramento. It experienced explosive growth when gold was discovered in 1848 in nearby Coloma, and the gold rush that followed was the largest human migration in history. Currently it has a population of 490,000 in the city and over two million in the metropolitan area.

The pace of life is somewhat slower than in other large Californian cities, and the people are generally warm and friendly. According to Time magazine Sacramento is the most diverse city in the USA. The city used to be an affordable place, but it suffered from the San Francisco Bay Area's dot com rise and fall, and real estate went from undervalued to overvalued. The market is correcting itself so property values in most neighboorhoods have leveled off while others are dropping to more reasonable valuations.

Sacramento has a Mediterranean-type climate with mild, wet winters and hot, dry summers. Being farther inland than most of the other major California cities, Sacramento is subject to more temperature variation. Winter high temperatures are commonly in the 40s and 50s Fahrenheit (10-20*C), and at night the temperature drops below freezing every so often. The summer heat can be intense, with temperatures exceeding 100*F (37.7*) not unusual. Generally speaking, the warmer it gets, the drier it gets, so even the most intense Sacramento heat is easily alleviated by a quick dip in the swimming pool.

Sacramento's hot, dry summers are mitigated by a phenomenon locals call "the delta breeze." Heat waves rarely last more than three to five days, because as hot air builds over California's interior valleys, cold ocean air is sucked inland through the Sacramento river delta, acting as natural air conditioning and dropping the temperature sharply. The delta breeze tends to hit the westernmost areas of Sacramento late in the afternoon and travel east/northeast at ten to fifteen miles per hour, so the hour at which your neighborhood cools depends on your proximity to the river delta or how far west/south you reside.

Most rain falls in the from around fall to mid spring and occasionally early summer. Generally speaking, however, you can count on sunny days from the middle of April until at least the middle of October. Winter is known not only for its rain but also its dense fog, which can hamper driving conditions and reduce visibility to 100 feet (30 m) at times. Snow is rare, but once every 5-10 years a light dusting occurs, and even some light accumulation away from the city. In the foothills not far east of the city, snow is much more common, and the Tahoe-area ski resorts are within easy reach of the Sacramento metropolitan area. Sacramento's location in the heart of California's agricultural interior gives it a blossom-laden spring as a profusion of fruit trees bloom and flower filled grassland. It also experiences a "foliage fall" -- autumn color without the severe weather that accompanies brilliant color in other parts of the nation.

Severe weather is rare in Sacramento, with the primary concern being heat in summer and local flooding in winter. Occasional summer thunderstorms and even tornadoes can occur, but they are extremely rare. Sacramento is not in a known earthquake zone.

Salt Lake City  is the capital and largest city of Utah, with a population of approximately 180,000 (the Salt Lake Metro Area in its entirety has over a million people). It is one of the largest cities in the Southwest region of the United States, although its climate is more similar to the Rocky Mountain region. It lies in the Salt Lake Valley along the Wasatch Front urban corridor, located between the Wasatch Range to the east and the Oquirrh Mountains to the west; on the border between the Rocky Mountain and Great Basin geographic regions.

Salt Lake City is well-known as the center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as the Mormon church), although less than half of the city's residents are members. The city is also known as a base for outdoor recreation, including the many nearby ski resorts just east of the city which were thrust into the world spotlight by the 2002 Winter Olympics.

When traveling to the city, knowledge of Salt Lake's famous grid system is a big plus. The entire valley lies on the same grid system. Most major streets are laid out precisely running north-south or east-west. The origin of the grid is located downtown, on the south-east corner of Temple Square. Street addresses are coordinates within the grid system in intervals of 100 every street. For example, one might speak of the intersection of 700 East and 2100 South as either "seventh east and twenty-first south" or "seven hundred east and twenty-one hundred south" (remember that in conversations, locals usually opt for the first one; try not to get confused between say, 7th East and 21st South and 7 East and 21 South, both of which are very different addresses). Addresses are specific numbers, such as 840 South 1300 East ("Eight-Fourty south 13th east"). Downtown blocks are 1/8 of a mile in length, but blocks become more irregularly spaced farther from the city center. Most people will recognize the grid as one they studied in school, with a point of origin and 4 quadrants. After getting used to the system, you will find that it is very easy to navigate and simple to understand, although the streets become more and more irregular the farther south you move. It can also get confusing outside of the Salt Lake Valley, where many cities (whether or not they've grown into each other) often have separate systems, so that a single road that divides two cities may have two different names for the grid systems of the two different cities. A different grid variant is found in the North East corner of Salt Lake City and is known as The Avenues. The Avenues are composed of North-south avenues which are lettered, A through U, while east-west avenues are numbered 1 though 14.

Significant neighborhoods in SLC include Downtown, the financial core that's home to Temple Square (the main temple of the Mormon church); Central City, the main residential area of the city, approximately 400 South to 900 South; Sugar House, a commercial/residential district with many funky shops; Federal Heights, an affluent district to the northeast; The Avenues a historical neighborhood with many old buildings; University, the area surrounding the sprawling University of Utah [2] campus and the adjacent VA Medical Center, Research Park, and Fort Douglas; East Bench or Foothill, a residential area bisected by the major arterial road Foothill Boulevard between 900 South and I-80; Capitol Hill, an affluent district just north of Downtown topped by the Utah State Capitol building; Rose Park a residential in the northwest section of the city; and Glendale a residential, primarily Hispanic district to the southwest, home to the International Peace Gardens. The benches are the mostly residential, upper-class communities constructed mostly along the slopes of the Wasatch Mountains on the east side of the valley, although they have recently been growing in the southern valley (the low Traverse Mountains) and the western valley (the Oquirrh Mountains). The east side is traditionally more affluent and conservative than the west side, leading to the expected "cultural rivalries" that you find in other cities with clear divides, although this divide is arguably less pronounced in Salt Lake City than in most major cities.

The Wasatch Front is the region located along the western edge of the Wasatch Mountain Range. It stretches from approximately Brigham City on the north to Santaquin on the south, and includes Ogden, Salt Lake City, and Provo. More than two-thirds of Utah's population are located in this region. One thing to realize is that when people speak of Salt Lake City, they are often referring to Salt Lake Valley as a whole, or at least the suburbs adjoining Salt Lake City immediately to the south. Significant suburbs of Salt Lake City include Sandy (in the southern half of the valley), Murray and Midvale (in the center of the valley), West Valley City and West Jordan (large suburbs immediately to the southwest), and Holladay, which although it only contains a small section of the eastern bench area, is often used to define the entire east bench area (often used colloquially with "Cottonwood"). "Millcreek" is used to define areas a little further north on the east bench and adjacent to Salt Lake City and south of I-80.

People who fly into Salt Lake City to visit the national parks and wild terrain of Southern Utah should keep in mind that just because they're in the same state does not mean they are close; in most cases, Las Vegas is actually closer to the parks. Many of them are about a 5 hour drive away from Salt Lake City.

"This is the Place" MonumentSalt Lake City was settled in 1847 by Brigham Young and his followers in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the LDS Church or the Mormon Church, and whose followers are often called Mormons (originally a derogative term, now accepted and widely-used) or, less frequently (but more officially), Latter-day Saints. The Mormons migrated to the Salt Lake Valley following religious conflicts and violence in the East. The city immediately became a major transit point for people moving westward in the California Gold Rush, and the LDS Church's strong practice of missionary work drew converts primarily from Britain, Ireland, and Scandinavia to emigrate to Salt Lake City during the 1850s and 1860s in long "handcart treks", a tradition that is now ingrained in Mormon culture. This migration allowed it to become one of the largest cities in the Old West, although the conservative Church values bucked the typical Old West trend of lawless towns, sheriffs, cowboys, brothels, and rowdy saloons. Pacific Islanders are another group that was significantly recruited by the Church, and Salt Lake City possesses an unusually high Pacific Islander population. The handcart tradition ended with the arrival of the railroad in 1870, which also, with the rise of mining and industry, contributed to the first major influx of "Gentiles" (non-Mormons) into the city.

The "Utah Territory" often clashed with the U.S. government over the LDS Church's practice of polygamy. The most notable clash occurred from 1857-1858 when the government mistakenly believed that Brigham Young, the church leader and governor of the territory, planned to lead a rebellion against the government. The government then sent the military to install their own governor and maintain control over the supposed rebellious colony. Although little actual fighting took place, the event is now known as the Utah War. Brigham Young eventually conceded to their demands, although long fights over the legal status of polygamy continued through the 1880s, with statehood for Utah being denied multiple times and with the federal government passing increasingly harsher anti-polygamy laws throughout the 1870s and 1880s that landed several prominent church officials in jail. In 1890, the LDS Church prophet, Wilford Woodruff, told his members to give up polygamy, a declaration that eventually allowed Utah to achieve statehood, with Salt Lake City as its capital, in 1896.

Although the majority of Utah's residents are still members of the LDS Church (estimates generally range from 60%-70%, although the percentage of practicing members is lower), Salt Lake City itself is less than half Mormon, with some areas (especially areas dominated by ethnic minorities or more artsy areas such as the lower Avenues and Sugarhouse) being lower still.

The climate of Salt Lake City is widely-variable from season to season. It's very dry, averaging from 14-20 inches (350-500 mm) of precipitation per year, much of which falls as snow, which averages from 50-80 inches (125-200 cm) per year. The wide variation is due to the huge elevation changes within the city; the lower amounts are the averages on the valley floor. Summers are hot, long, and particularly dry, while winters are cold and snowy.

Winter (mid-November to early March): Winter is generally a poor time to travel in Salt Lake City, unless you're looking to ski in the nearby ski resorts. Daytime temperatures generally run anywhere from 25°F to 50°F (-4°C to 10°C). Low temperatures are usually below freezing, and on rare occasions can even drop below 0°F (-18°C). Snow falls often, but single snowfalls exceeding about 10 inches (25 cm) are rare, except on the benches. Even when it is not snowing, a phenomenon known as the inversion develops, which traps cold, moist air and air pollutants in the valley, sometimes for weeks on end. This can lead to some of the worst air quality conditions found in the country. The mountains are clear and beautiful during these times, but also quite warm. During an inversion, be prepared for fog on the valley bottom.

Because of the frequency of snow, it takes a very large snowstorm to cripple or shut down the city. Minor snowfalls are basically treated as a daily occurrence in winter, with the city continuing to operate as normal. Generally it takes about 12-15+ inches (30-38+ cm) valley-wide to have a significant effect on the activity of the city, and even more for a citywide shutdown. Despite the frequency of snowfall, it is usually calm (no blizzards are seen in Salt Lake City, unlike in the Midwest or Northeast), and most snowfalls are very light and fluffy (although heavy, wet snowfall can occur). Even though snow is common, there are still far too many people who don't know how to drive in it (often half-jokingly attributed by the locals to transplants from southern California).

Spring (early March to late May): Springs in Salt Lake City are mild, but it is also the wettest and windiest time of year. High temperatures during this time range from about 45°F to 80°F (7°C to 27°C). Low temperatures are cool, and usually still drop below freezing on occasion into April. Although it's the wettest time of year, it's still dry in comparison to many cities in the Midwest or Eastern U.S., and heavy, prolonged rain is rare. Light-to-moderate snowfall can often be found well into April as well. Sunny spring days, which are quite common, offer some of the best weather available in Salt Lake City. However, the snowpack in the mountains usually reaches its peak in early April and doesn't melt entirely until late May or June, so spring is still a poor time to enjoy outdoor summer activities, such as hiking, camping, and boating, in the mountains. However, the ski resorts are usually open until mid-April, and Snowbird is often open longer.

Summer (late May to mid-September): Summer in Salt Lake City is long, dry, and hot. High temperatures during this period range anywhere from 80°F to 105°F (27°C to 41°C). Humidity is very low and nights are usually comfortable. Although a very dry season, powerful Pacific storms can sometimes impact the city as late as early June, prolonging the wet season and keeping temperatures cooler. Mid-June through early July in particular is very dry. From mid-July to mid-September, the monsoon affects Utah, bringing fairly frequent evening thunderstorms to the city. Although sometimes these thunderstorms are very powerful, bringing hail, lightning, and street flooding, they're usually relatively short-lived. Sometimes the humidity is so low that the rain doesn't even reach the valley floor. However, even a "dry" thunderstorm in the valley often drops heavy rain and even hail in the mountains. If you can avoid the thunderstorms, summer is a great time to enjoy outdoor activities in the mountains. The snow is long-gone by the end of June, and temperatures rarely reach above 80°F (27°C), even during the heart of summer.

Autumn (mid-September to mid-November): Autumn is the best time to visit Salt Lake City. It's usually drier and warmer than spring. Temperatures are comfortable, ranging from 45°F to 80°F (7°C to 27°C) during the daytime. Powerful Pacific storms begin impacting the state by mid-October, but are usually infrequent. Although storms can again start dropping snow in the mountains, the snowpack usually doesn't begin building until November. The first light snowfall and overnight freezing temperatures in the valley usually occur by the beginning of November, and by mid-November, snowfall and cold temperatures should be prepared for. The leaves on the trees reach their brilliant peak color in the mountains in mid to late September and about a month later in the valleys.

San Antonio is the second largest city in the state of Texas and 7th largest in the United States. It's the 24th largest metropolitan area in the country. Visited by more than 26 million annual visitors, San Antonio is a beautiful city at the axis of three different geological terrains: Hill Country, South Texas Plains and Prairie and Lakes. There's a lot to do in this city: fine art museums, historical missions and plenty of amusement parks in addition to great dining and lots of drinking. The culture and people are vibrant and interesting. San Antonio's downtown is one of the most lively in the nation.

San Antonio is considered to be the cradle of Texan liberty. Its most well-known landmark is the Alamo, the site of the famous battle (1836) where Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie were killed. Though it must be said that when most visitors see the Alamo for the first time, their common reaction is "Hmmm, I thought it would be bigger."

No other city in Texas reflects the state's Spanish and Mexican heritage better than San Antonio. Hispanics make up a considerable fraction of the population though and it shows in most places. The Hispanic atmosphere of San Antonio makes it a truly unique U.S. city. This becomes most evident during Fiesta week, a yearly celebration that attracts 3.5 million people to its 110 plus events from all over to enjoy parades, music, festivals, fairs and food and drink in the charming downtown streets of the city.

The birthplace of the U.S. Air Force, San Antonio, with a population of around 1.4 million, and a metro population of nearly 2.2 million, still enjoys a small-town feel despite the hustle and bustle. It's people are friendly, open and bicultural, and the concentration of population around its center makes it easy to get just about anywhere within a 30-40 minute drive.   

During the summer it can get hot, and sometimes humid. Temperatures in the 90's and 100's are typical from May to September, though there are some days that stay cooler. April and October have also been known to get into the 90's even 100's, and during the winter it typically is cool and rainy. Carry a light sweater, you never know when the weather may change in San Antonio.

The world of the sea, on the shores of Mission Bay, is the nearest city and most respected link to the ocean and in many ways, Central identity of San Diego. The centre for numerous wildlife conservation programmes, as well as a source for public education, its name is now inextricably linked with San Diego.Historic communities as the Gaslamp Quarter, first commercial district of San Diego, and Little Italy, that once helped a Multi Million Dollar tuna industry, are now centres for performing and visual arts. Once a year, artists in the downtown sector open their studios and galleries to the public as a celebration of the artistic heritage of the area. Music is a general part of the heritage of San Diego too, it has become the theme for its historic Gaslamp Quarter festivals and the blues and jazz musician, Jim Croce, is a famous part of the city’s heritage. Home to dozens of cultural organisations, San Diego is one of Southern California’s biggest centres for the arts.San Diego was a commercial fishing port, this city is home to the Navy's Pacific Fleet, and is a favorite leave location for sailors. San Diego was established in 1775 as the first Spanish mission in California, but its reputation like a extraordinary North American travel destination owes as much to its history and multicultural status as soon as to its stunning location or arts scene. Considered the birthplace of California, San Diego began with a Spanish missionary called Father Junipero Serra in 18th-century. In 1769, Serra established the first of several Catholic missions on a grassy knoll, above what was later to become San Diego. By the beginning of the 19th century, Serra had established missions up and down the coast of ‘Alta’ and ‘Baja’ California (Upper and Lower California) what is now the west coast of the United States and Mexico. Presidio (‘The Fort’), as California’s first mission is called, remains a testament to San Diego’s Spanish origins.Sun, surf and excellent scenery are the characteristic that majority of visitors compare with San Diego. Nestled in the southern most corner of California’s coastline, the city is known with its sun year round and temperate weather during most of its winter months. Several travellers come here just to enjoy the warmth and verify what it is like to live in a Southern California paradise. Surrounded by long sandy peninsulas, San Diego provides the optimum setting for a vacation getaway. Pristine beaches, such as Coronado Island’s secluded waterfront and fashionable upper class shopping districts, ignoring the bluffs of San Diego’s ‘jewel’, La Jolla, are two of the unique characteristics of this city.

San Diego is a huge city with several district articles containing sightseeing, restaurant, nightlife and accommodation listings — consider printing them all.

San Diego skyline at nightSan Diego [1] is a modern city on the Southern California seacoast, the second largest city in the state with 1.3 million residents. It is known for its ideal climate, miles of beaches, and location on the Mexican border, right across from Tijuana. It has a rich heritage built around sailing and is home to the Pacific Fleet of the United States Navy. It is also well known for its part in the wildlife conservation movement, being home to a SeaWorld theme park and the "world-famous" San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park. Though large in its own respects, many come to San Diego to escape the hustle and bustle of nearby Los Angeles.

Except for bureaucratic purposes, San Diego really doesn't have any clearly defined "districts"; instead, the city is defined by its many individual neighborhoods, which are too numerous to list here.

This list of "districts" is by no means an official breakdown of the city, but one that is meant to make sense from the standpoint of a visitor, based on the number of attractions and/or amenities the average visitor will find in each area.

San Diego Downtown
Situated on the bay, downtown is a hub of business and nightlife and has many tourist attractions amongst its gleaming office and hotel towers.  
Balboa Park-Hillcrest
Located in the heart of the city, Balboa is a massive urban parkland, home to many amazing museums and the renowned an Diego Zoo. Next door is Hillcrest, a trendy urban neighborhood.  
Old Town-Mission Valley
The site of the first Spanish settlement in California, Old Town today is a historic district popular with tourists sitting at the foot of Mission Valley, a major commercial center.  
Point Loma-Ocean Beach
Located on a scenic peninsula curving around the bay, this area offers gorgeous views of San Diego, beautiful coastline, and quiet, laid-back beach neighborhoods.  
Mission Beach-Pacific Beach
Two extremely popular beach communities with plenty of shops, restaurants, and nightlife, alongside a man-made inlet known as Mission Bay that is home to Sea World.  
La Jolla
An upscale beach community that's almost a separate city from San Diego and the home of some of the most picturesque coastline and lovely beaches around, an exceptional aquarium, the University of California at San Diego
A set of neighborhoods in the heights east of Balboa Park. There isn't much in the way of tourist attractions out here, but one can find trendy districts with locally-oriented restaurants, shops, and theaters.  
Northeastern
A large region of the city composed of many suburban neighborhoods stretching far inland to the hills of the north, with a few scattered tourist attractions including the popular Safari Park.  
San Ysidro
Home to the world's busiest land border crossing, where one can travel between San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico.  

The area had long been inhabited by the native Kumeyaay people (also known as the Diegueño by the later Spanish settlers), who lived off the land and had created a proud culture. The first time a European visited the region was in 1542, when Portuguese explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, sailing under the Spanish Flag, claimed the bay for the Spanish Empire and named the site San Miguel.

In November of 1602, Sebastián Vizcaíno was sent to map the California coast. Arriving with his flagship "San Diego", Vizcaíno surveyed the harbor and what is now Mission Bay and Point Loma, renaming the area for the Spanish Catholic Saint, St. Didacus (More commonly known as San Diego).

San Diego was established in 1769 as the first Spanish mission in California, at the present site of Old Town. However due to the poor nature of soils in the Old Town area, the mission was eventually relocated about five miles up river in Mission Valley.

In the 19th century, San Diego passed from Spanish to Mexican to American hands. In 1850, a few years after the United States gained control of California, San Diego was officially designated a city. But with much of the westward expansion to California centered on the gold rush and San Francisco, American influences were slow to come to San Diego. Eventually they did, however, and in the later decades of the 19th century the railroad came to San Diego, resulting in further growth of the city and the establishment of Downtown and its surrounding neighborhoods.

The U.S. Navy discovered San Diego in the early 20th century, and constructed a coaling station on Point Loma in 1907. Ten years later, the Naval Air Station on Coronado island was established, and in later years the Navy would take on an increasingly important role in the city's economy. Today San Diego is home to the Navy's Pacific Fleet, and is a favorite leave location for sailors.

In recent decades, growth in San Diego has exploded, with many corporations moving their headquarters here and a huge influx of residents. Today it's a favorite destination for retirees and tourists.

The San Diego area can be an incredible place to visit almost any time of the year. With coastal temperatures around 75 degrees (24°C) most of the time, the weather is ideal. The climate of Southern California is rather complex, however, and temperatures change rapidly as one travels from the coast eastward. In the summer during the day, the temperature might increase as much as one degree Fahrenheit for each mile going east. In the winter, especially at night, eastern areas are usually relatively cooler. Some valleys and other areas have significantly different weather due to terrain and other factors. These are often referred to as "micro-climates".

If you're coming to San Diego expecting sunny weather, avoid coming in May or June, when San Diego is covered in clouds most days, a phenomenon referred to by the locals as "May Grey" or "June Gloom". September is usually the hottest month of the year in the daytime. September and early October are labeled as the most at-risk months for wildfires, because of the long absence of any substantial rainfall. Along the beach during the warmer half of the year, it can get surprisingly cool after dark, even when it's not too cold a short distance inland. The months of March and April typically see the strongest winds. Along the coast, fog is most common September through April; it is not uncommon to experience 3-7 foggy days per month.

During the late summer and fall there is a reversal of the usual climate conditions, when hot, dry air blows from the desert to the coast. These winds are called the Santa Ana winds. Milder Santa Ana winds can result in excellent dry air conditions, but powerful ones can last days on end, significantly raising temperatures, creating tremendous fire danger, and making the outdoors unpleasant.

San Francisco is the city by the Bay.  It is a popular international tourist destination renowned for its chillysummer fog, steep rolling hills, eclectic mix of Victorian and modern architecture and its famous landmarks, including the Golden Gate Bridge, the cable cars, and Chinatown. The city is also known for its diverse, cosmopolitan population, including large and long-established Asian American and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender communities.Union Square is the principal shopping and hotel district.  Cable cars carry residents up steep inclines from Market Street to the summit of Nob Hill and down to Fisherman's Wharf. On the way is Russian Hill, a residential neighbourhood with the famously crooked Lombard Street. North Beach is home to the city's Little Italy, and Telegraph Hill features Coit Tower and Chinatown. Haight-Ashbury, famously associated with 1960s hippie culture, is now home to expensive boutiques and a few controversial chain stores, although it still retains some bohemian character.With world-class wineries, cheese makers and small farms just a short drive away, San Francisco is awash in culinary riches. The quality and quantity of the restaurants here make San Francisco an unparalleled food city.March, April and May - Spring, are the most comfortable months to visit. This period is marked by cloudless skies and mild temperatures and is free from showers. Another suitable period are the months of September, October and early November, when the days are warm and sunny and the nights are mild and clear. Rainfall is rare and fog is not as prevalent.San

San Jose is the great city in the Bay Area well-known as "The Capital of Silicon Valley", 3rd largest city in California, and the 10th largest city in the U.S. San Jose is home to several high tech mega-headquarters like Cisco, Ebay, Adobe and Others.There are many numerous neighbourhoods in San Jose's large geographic area. San Jose as most Bay Area cities is a costly place to live. Some of the hip areas to live these days are the downtown area, the vintage charm neighbourhoods of Willow Glen and Rose Garden, the woodsy area with the best schools known as Almaden Valley, the new mcMansion subdivision area called Silver Creek, and the new hip live/shop area named Santana Row.Malibu hugs the Pacific Ocean, north of Santa Monica in the Northwest corner of Los Angeles County. The Malibu's city boasts over 20 mi (32 km) of coastline, this city has diverse beaches for visitors to enjoy. The Malibu Pier, very popular for its presence in the popular television series Baywatch, is one of the prominent local attractions. Surfing is a famous activity here, with the Pacific Ocean offering endless opportunities to catch the perfect wave. Nearby Malibu Colony Plaza is a special and unique shopping center. Much shopping is available at the Malibu Country Mart, an outdoor mall that offers a number of upscale shops that cater to the Hollywood elite. Aside from shopping, Malibu is home to numerous parks and green spaces that can be used for a variety of outdoor activities.

Often known as "The Capital of Silicon Valley," San José  is the largest city in the Bay Area, 3rd largest in California, and the 10th largest city in the United States. It was named the 4th safest big city in the US for 2008-2009.

El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe (literally, The Town of Saint Joseph of Guadalupe) was founded by José Joaquín Moraga in 1777 near the present day intersection of Guadalupe Parkway and West Taylor Street. In 1797, the pueblo was moved to the Plaza Pueblo (now Plaza de César Chávez), around which San José grew. And the rest is, as they say, history.

True to its location in the heart of Silicon Valley, San José is now home to the headquarters of many "tech" companies such as Cisco Systems, eBay, and Adobe Systems, just to name a few.

There are so many different neighborhoods in the large geographic area of San José that, depending on where you are, you might not know if you're still in the same city. Like most Bay Area towns and cities, San José is an expensive place to live (many basic houses easily top $1M in price). Some of the hip areas to live these days are in San Jose's downtown area, for those who prefer urban living, or Santana Row for a mixed living, shopping and dining community. You can find vintage California charm in the neighborhoods of Willow Glen and Rose Garden. The woodsy area of Almaden Valley is known for its excellent schools, and Silver Creek is known for its subdivisions of sprawling "McMansions."

Another very excellent area in town is the waterfront. The port of Santa Barbara was developed because the Channel Islands have provided a haven from severe weather. The waterfront area grew up around that port and is actually a working port with a unique productive fishing fleet. It also hosts five parks, a wharf, several restaurants, quaint shops and a walking/biking path that stretches almost five miles. There are opportunities to take a sunset sail with one of the two sailing charter companies too, or rent a small sailboat for a few hours to a few days if you are a qualified sailor.Santa Barbara is located geographically less than 90 miles from Los Angeles. With a pleasant climate and natural environs, the "Riviera of the West" is the best for a day trip, with its wide, perfect beaches, enormously rated wineries, and a large variety of shopping and dining choices, with a highly active local culture of volunteerism and fund-raising that enables the town of just 90,000 residents to enjoy the sort of cultural and social amenities that are generally found only in much larger cities.Santa Barbara is one of the places that seem to have it all. It's attractive, has a lot of history, a good climate, beautiful beaches and some of the best vineyards of America are only miles away. Santa Barbara has a number of visits that are historically and culturally significant. Downtown Santa Barbara is also an interest place to visit. There's no place quite like downtown Santa Barbara, and State Street that is its heart. Don't miss La Arcada, just next to the Museum of Art, also is representative for its Spanish Mediterranean architecture. But it wasn't always this way. Santa Barbara had a thriving Native American Chumash population for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. The European era began in the late 18th century, around a Spanish presidio (fort) that's been reconstructed in its original spot. The earliest architectural hodgepodge was destroyed in 1925 by a powerful earthquake that levelled the business district.

Santa Rosa  is the largest city in Sonoma County, California, and fifth largest in the San Francisco Bay Area. The city functions as a great jumping point for those that want to visit the wine country in Napa Valley, or driving out to the beautiful coastal Highways and parks.

The skyline of downtown Santa Rosa, looking toward Mount Saint Helena

Santa Rosa's history is rich in culture and many different groups have called the area their home. Pomo, Miwok, and Wappo Indians originally populated the area followed by the Spanish in the early 1800s. The first deeded land was held as the Rancho Cabeza de Santa Rosa and was given to Senora Maria Ignacia Lopez de Carrillo by Spanish authorities.

In 1867, the county recognized Santa Rosa as an incorporated city and in 1868 the state officially confirmed the incorporation, making it officially the third incorporated city in Sonoma County, after Petaluma, incorporated in 1858, and Healdsburg, incorporated in 1867.

The city continued to grow when other early population centers declined or stagnated, but by 1900 it had been, or was being, overtaken by many other newer population centers in the San Francisco Bay Area and Southern California. According to a 1905 article in the Press Democrat newspaper reporting on the Battle of the Trains, the city had just over 10,000 people at the time.

The April 18, 1906 San Francisco Earthquake essentially destroyed the entire downtown, but the city's population did not greatly suffer. However, after that period the population growth of Santa Rosa, as with most of the area, was very slow.

In 1943, Alfred Hitchcock filmed his thriller, Shadow of Doubt in Santa Rosa. He would continue to use Santa Rosa, and later Bodega Bay in many of his films. Thanks to this, Santa Rosa became, and continues to be a major hub in the Bay Area for numerous movies.

Seattle ,Gateway to the lush Pacific Northwest, Seattle enjoys a verdant natural setting surrounded by the waters of Lake Washington and Puget Sound. The city is home to a vibrant arts and music scene, as well as fascinating, multicultural neighbourhoods sprinkled with award-winning restaurants, cosy cafes and stylish bars.
Natural beauty is a big part of Seattle's allure. Seattle has numerous parks and trails coupled with enchanting waterways and small islands off the coast. The nearby Cascades and Olympic Mountains, including Washington's highest peak, Mt Rainier offer a spectacular setting for outdoor adventures. In addition to hiking, mountain biking and skiing in winter, visitors can just enjoy vistas from a waterside cafe.
Seattle has also been at the forefront of a number of international trends, including Microsoft and the e-commerce boom, Starbucks coffee, amazon.com, the grunge music scene and the Frank Gehry-designed Experience Music Project Museum. Today, Seattle continues to be an innovator in the arts, with a dense concentration of galleries and indie-rock favourites playing before packed audiences.

Southern California is also known for its theme parks: Disneyland, California Adventure, Knott's Berry Farm, Six Flags Magic Mountain, Universal Studios, and many more. These places are very fun to visit, and continue bring in tourists by the millions every year. If you go Disney, always use fast-passes to get yourself scheduled on the popular rides. If you go Universal, bite the bullet and get VIP passes -- you'll do all the popular rides in a single morning -- otherwise prepare to wait 2 hours per ride! Booking a flight to California is a easy and flights fly across the state to all main airports. Some of the most beautiful spots for hiking and other outdoor activities are Lake Tahoe, Mono Lake, and Yosemite in the High Sierra. Reaching as it does from the Mexican border in the south to the Pacific Northwest in the north, California must have one of the most diverse climates of any state. If you can stand the heat, try exploring one of California's many deserts, such as Death Valley. On the other end of the climate spectrum, the redwood rainforests of the North Coast are truly a sight to behold and offer a very different glimpse of a beautiful state! California is one of the largest states in the US (trailing Alaska and Texas in size) and is referred to as the Golden State, which originates from the gold rush of 1849. Very few miners did anything but become broke, while those that supplied the miners with materials grew very rich.
California is located along the west coast of the United States and is one of the most visited places on the planet. The capital has moved over time but is currently in Sacramento, located in the central part of the state.

The Tampa Bay area was inspected by many Spanish explorers, beginning with Panfilo de Narvaez in 1528. Even so, no long term permanent settlements were made until 1824 when the United States federal government made a reservation for north Florida Seminole Indians. At the same time, the United States made Fort Brooke to oversee the reservation as well as defend the strategic harbor.Tampa is located on the Tampa Bay's north shore in west Central Florida. St. Petersburg consists west of the bay, while Bradenton is on the southern shore. The city's downtown business centre is on the Hillsborough Bay's north shore (a small bay within Tampa Bay which is bordered by the eastern shore of Tampa Bay and the small peninsula of South Tampa) and Ybor City consists just to the east. MacDill Air Force Base is on the South Tampa's southern tip, while the city also widen to the north all the way to the New Tampa's newly incorporated area.The 1880s observed the town's 1st population boom. In 1883, phosphate was detected in the area, urging the development of the mining and shipping industries in the area. Briefly after, Henry B. Plant completed work on his railroad connecting Tampa to Jacksonville. He began promoting Tampa as a holiday spot and made-up the grand Plant Hotel as a luxury resort destination. In 1886, Jose Martinez Ybor opened Tampa's 1st cigar factory in Ybor City which encouraged the immigration of several Italian and Cuban factory workers.Tampa is placed on the West coast of Florida at 27°58'15?N, 82°27'53?W. It is edged by two bodies of water: Old Tampa Bay and Hillsborough Bay, which both flow to form Tampa Bay, which flows into the Gulf of Mexico. The Hillsborough River (Florida) flows out into Tampa bay, passing directly in front of Downtown Tampa and providing Tampa with its principal source of water.

The city of Tampa is the county seat of Hillsborough County and the largest city in West Central Florida.

Tampa is divided into five main districts fanning out from Downtown in the south-center between the Hillsborough River and Ybor Channel. West Tampa, once a separate city, lies across the Hillsborough River to the west of Downtown. South Tampa, a large residential area, extends south along the Interbay Peninsula. Historic Ybor City (sometimes considered a part of downtown) lies on the northeast side of downtown. East Tampa, the historically African-American side of the city, lies north of Ybor City. North Tampa forms the urban/suburban sprawl north of Busch Boulevard. A significant suburban area, often considered a part of "Tampa", extends many miles to the northwest, north, and east of the city.

Within Tampa proper, there are six official "historical districts" (Hampton Terrace, Hyde Park, Seminole Heights, Tampa Heights, Historic West Tampa, Ybor City) and at least 86 named neighborhoods.

Tampa's main commercial center on the waterfront along with posh, residential Harbour Island, the artificial Davis Islands, and the University of Tampa campus.  

Tampa's nightlife center with a strong Cuban influence, a causal atmosphere, great architecture, and plenty of  
An overwhelmingly residential area extending from Raymond James Stadium and the Tampa International Airport all the way to Pinellas County.  

The city's residential African-American district.  

An overwhelmingly residential area extending south along the Interbay Peninsula.  

Sprawling landscape of neighborhoods and strip malls, North Tampa includes Busch Gardens, the University of South Florida, and New Tampa.  

Tampa is situated on the north shore of Tampa Bay in West Central Florida. Saint Petersburg lies west of the bay, while Bradenton is on the southern shore. The downtown business center of the city is on the north shore of Hillsborough Bay (a small bay within Tampa Bay which is bordered by the eastern shore of Tampa Bay and the small peninsula of South Tampa) and Ybor City lies just to the east. MacDill Air Force Base is on the southern tip of South Tampa, while the city also extends to the north all the way to the newly incorporated area of New Tampa.


The Tampa Bay area was visited by many Spanish explorers, beginning with Panfilo de Narvaez in 1528. However, no long term permanent settlements were created until 1824 when the US federal government created a reservation for north Florida Seminole Indians. At the same time, the US created Fort Brooke to oversee the reservation as well as protect the strategic harbor.

The 1880s saw the town's first population boom. In 1883, phosphate was discovered in the area, spurring the development of the mining and shipping industries in the area. Shortly after, Henry B. Plant completed work on his railroad linking Tampa to Jacksonville. He began promoting Tampa as a holiday spot and built the grand Plant Hotel as a luxury resort destination. In 1886, Vicente Martinez Ybor opened Tampa's first cigar factory in Ybor City which encouraged the immigration of many Spanish, Cuban and Italian (primarily Sicilian) workers. During the Spanish American War at the turn of the century, Tampa was the main port of departure for troops heading for Cuba. During this time, the Plant Hotel was converted into officer's accommodations, housing the Rough Riders and Teddy Roosevelt.

In more recent times, MacDill Air Force Base was created in 1939 and the University of South Florida in 1956. Over the course of the Twentieth Century, Tampa has grown into the center of a large metropolitan area; it now hosts the regional headquarters of many international companies, has acquired numerous professional sports teams, and has even bid for the summer Olympics.

Tampa is a very diverse city. The first residents were the members of the Seminole Indian tribe that was relocated there from northern Florida and the soldiers stationed at Fort Brook to control the reservation. The town remained a mostly military town until the 1880s when Tampa saw its first major waves of immigration from Cuba, Spain and Sicily. The major growth of the area did not occur until air conditioning became common in the years after World War II, but the region has been growing steadily since then. Tampa is now home to many native Floridians, including Seminoles, Cubans, Spaniards and Italians, as well the residence of many 'transplants' from the Midwest and other areas of the states and new immigrants from the Caribbean and central America. Tampa's population swells during the winter months with the arrival of the 'snowbirds,' retired persons from the northern U.S. and Canada who come down for a few months to enjoy the relative warmth

Tucson  (pronounced TOO-sawn) is the second-largest city in the state of Arizona, one of the United States of America.

At an elevation of 2,400 feet, it has slightly cooler temperatures than its desert cousin, Phoenix. It is situated in the biologically diverse Sonoran Desert . With a population of 486,699 (2000 Census) in Tucson and 843,746 in the greater metro area (Pima County  Tucson was the 32nd fastest growing of 280 metropolitan areas from 1990-2000.

Tucson has always been a crossroads. Until recently, water was relatively plentiful in Tucson, in spite of its location in the middle of a desert. This made it an important travel route, an agricultural center, and a communications nexus.

Tucson's history is ancient, with evidence of human occupation stretching back 10,000 years. Between A.D. 200 and 1450, the Hohokam culture dominated the area -- the Pima and Tohono O'Odham peoples that still occupy the area are descendants of the Hohokam. In 1699, Father Eusebio Kino, S.J., established the Mission San Xavier del Bac, southwest of present-day Tucson. Over the next 100 years, other missions were established in the area, but European presence was minimal.

It wasn't until 1775 that the Presidio of Tucson was created by Don Hugo O'Connor. At that time, it was the northernmost Spanish outpost in the New World. In 1821, Tucson became part of the new country of Mexico, and in 1853 it became part of the United States as a result of the Gadsden Purchase. In 1863, Arizona became a US territory, and by 1880, its population was around 8,000. In 1912, Arizona became the 48th state to enter the union.

Today, Tucson is still a crossroads, with European, Native American, Mexican, and Asian cultures bumping into one another, in sometimes conflicting and sometimes compatible -- but always interesting -- ways.

Washington, D.C. the capital of the United States and the seat of its three branches of government, has a collection of free, public museums unparalleled in size and scope throughout the history of mankind, and the lion's share of the nation's most treasured monuments and memorials. The vistas on the National Mall between the Capitol, Washington Monument, White House, and Lincoln Memorial are famous throughout the world as icons of the world's wealthiest and most powerful nation.

Beyond the Mall, D.C. has in the past two decades shed its old reputation as a city both boring and dangerous, with shopping, dining, and nightlife befitting a world-class metropolis. Travelers will find the city new, exciting, and decidedly cosmopolitan and international.

Virtually all of D.C.'s tourists flock to the Mall—a two-mile long, beautiful stretch of parkland that holds many of the city's monuments and Smithsonian museums—but the city itself is a vibrant metropolis that often has little to do with monuments, politics, or white, neoclassical buildings. The Smithsonian is a "can't miss," but don't trick yourself—you haven't really been to D.C. until you've been out and about the city.

Downtown (The National Mall, East End, West End, Waterfront)
The center of it all: The National Mall, D.C.'s main theater district, Smithsonian and non-Smithsonian museums galore, fine dining, Chinatown, the Verizon Center, the Convention Center, the central business district, the White House, West Potomac Park, the Kennedy Center, George Washington University, the beautiful Tidal Basin, and the new Nationals Park.  
North Central (Dupont Circle, Shaw, Adams Morgan-Columbia Heights)
D.C.'s trendiest and most diverse neighborhoods and destination number one for live music and clubbing, as well as loads of restaurants, Howard University, boutique shopping, beautiful embassies, Little Ethiopia, jazz on U Street, and lots of nice hotels.  
West (Georgetown, Upper Northwest)
The prestigious, wealthy side of town, home to the historic village of Georgetown with its energetic nightlife, colonial architecture, and fine dining; the National Zoo; the massive National Cathedral; bucolic Dumbarton Oaks; the bulk of D.C.'s high-end shopping; more Embassy Row; American University; and several nice dining strips.  
East (Capitol Hill, Northeast, Anacostia)
Starting at the Capitol Building and Library of Congress, and fanning out past grandiose Union Station and the historic Capitol Hill neighborhood, to the less often visited neighborhoods by Gallaudet and Catholic University, historic African-American Anacostia, D.C.'s "Little Vatican" around the National Shrine, the huge National Arboretum, the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, offbeat nightlife in the Atlas District, and a handful of other eccentric neighborhoods to explore.  

Washington, D.C., is an artificial, ad hoc city borne of politics, by politics, and for politics. It wasn't the first capital—Philadelphia tried its hand at national government in the years before (although the capital also moved around Baltimore, Lancaster, and York, as it fled British soldiers throughout the Revolutionary War). But Congress soured on the "Cradle of Liberty" after disaffected American soldiers, with the tacit sanction of the Pennsylvania state governor, chased its members out of the city to Princeton.

The vagrant government made brief forays into Annapolis, Trenton, and even New York City, but it had long become clear that the southern states would not tolerate a northern capital, and that the capital would need to be independent from the then powerful state governments. James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and Alexander Hamilton agreed in 1790 to a compromise location on largely uninhabited land in the Mid-Atlantic. The exact location was up to George Washington, and he rather liked a spot that just happened to be next to his house at Mount Vernon. Pierre L'Enfant was charged with planning the new city, lying outside the jurisdiction of any state, and following rapid construction under his supervision, the young government arrived in 1800. Aside from a temporary relocation to Leesburg, Virginia, during the War of 1812 (when the British set the city on fire), the U.S. government had found its home in the District of Columbia.

That which we call a District by any other...

Washington, D.C., is known to locals as simply D.C. or the District, and it is rare to hear it called anything else. Locals usually use the name Washington to refer to the national government and the political world, rather than the city itself. The full title Washington, D.C., and the official name, District of Columbia, are rarely used by non-bureaucrats unless the speaker is trying to clearly distinguish the city from the state.

A diamond carved out of the land at the confluence of the Potomac and Anacostia rivers, the new city united the two existing small cities of Georgetown and Alexandria, with an aim to build on their success as ports. History must judge this a failure. In the early years both the original ports remained active in the trade in the Mid-Atlantic's principal export, tobacco. Seeking to further develop the capital as a port, the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal was built alongside Georgetown, but the expensive project was a flop, unable to compete with the new and more efficient Baltimore & Ohio railroad, connected to Baltimore's deep water port. Later increased sedimentation of the Potomac brought the port activity to a virtual standstill.

The Alexandria port suffered disproportionately, since the government's plans favored Georgetown. Combined with fears that the federal government would ban the slave trade within the District (and it did), this led to the retrocession of the lands west of the Potomac back into the state of Virginia in 1846, thus spoiling the city's fine diamond shape, and leaving only the territory given by Maryland under federal control.

The nation's capital from this point on lacked the exciting tumult of its early years, although its compromise location on the border of North and South proved precarious during the Civil War. The Maryland government had Confederate sympathies, so President Lincoln preempted any thoughts of secession (which would have left the capital surrounded) by simply arresting and holding without trial the entire state government. To keep unruly Baltimore in check (Baltimoreans were not so sympathetic to the South—they are just rowdy folks), he sent artillery to sit on the city's Federal Hill, pointing cannon squarely at the central business district. The massive influx of money, administrators, troops, engineers, and forts to protect the capital during the war transformed the formerly sleepy capital into a busy urban center, set to grow for the next 150 years into one of the nation's largest metropolises.

The Wilson Building, seat of the Mayor and City CouncilD.C.'s culture is in no small part defined by a divide between black and white, native and transient, east and west. Compared to other cities, relatively few residents are native Washingtonians. Most recent census figures report that about 50% of the population has relocated in the past five years. The transient population is overwhelmingly professional, young, white, affluent, and highly educated—drawn to the city for its government-related work and booming economy. This is in stark contrast to the local African-American population, which has deep roots in the community, and much more socioeconomic diversity—some areas of the city rank among the nation's poorest, most alienated, and underprivileged, plagued with serious problems in the public schools and violent housing projects.

D.C., a.k.a the Chocolate City, is a majority-black city that has long been a national center of African-American culture. It was the first black-majority city in the country, and until the 1920s (when it was surpassed by New York) it was home to the largest black population of any city. U St was known as Black Broadway, with native Washingtonian Duke Ellington performing in the clubs up and down the street. The District was long an attractive destination for African-Americans leaving the South, as it was both nearby and a bastion of tolerance and progressivism in race relations, being the home of abolitionist Frederick Douglass and the first city in the country to integrate its public schools. D.C. is also home to Howard University, one of the nation's most important historically black colleges.

The sometimes uncomfortable blend of the semi-transient professional population and permanent residents is often the source of controversy, especially as D.C. has been experiencing a wave of neighborhood rebuilding and "gentrification"—young professionals with tight budgets and distaste for long daily commutes have, in recent years, been driven to move into poorer neighborhoods in search of low rent and easy access to city amenities. But while there is inevitably some conflict around neighborhood change, these changes have also created D.C.'s most diverse, culturally vibrant, and exciting neighborhoods—just walk up U St or 18th St in Shaw or Adams Morgan, and you'll see that it's not a vain hope that the city's various cultures can come together to create something greater.

D.C., and particularly the metro area beyond the city limits, is impressively international—in the immediate metro area a whopping one third of the population is foreign born. The biggest immigrant group is no doubt from Central America, mostly from El Salvador. Latino culture finds its home in the city in Mount Pleasant and Columbia Heights—both neighborhoods where you'll find all the various cultures of the city intermingling. D.C. also has a big African immigrant population, with an exceptionally large Ethiopian community (the second largest in the world after Addis Ababa), which has bestowed the city with a love for Ethiopian food, and which finds its urban center in D.C.'s own Little Ethiopia. The international culture extends well beyond the immigrant communities, though, to the big foreign professional population, as well as the brain drain of Americans from all around the country looking for work in the international relations field—D.C. is, simply put, the nation's most international town.

Local politics, and local anger at the relations between the city and the national government, are perhaps the glue that binds all Washingtonians together. The District of Columbia is under the ultimate control of the U.S. Congress. Since 1973, city residents have been able to elect a Mayor as well as representatives to the D.C. City Council. However, Congress retains the right to overturn laws passed by the city. The nearly 600,000 citizens residing in the city do not have voting representation in Congress because the District is not a "state." As a reminder to visitors that D.C. residents are taxed but are unable to vote for Congress, District license plates bear the slogan "Taxation Without Representation"—the same slogan used to denounce British rule before the Revolutionary War.

D.C.'s climate has a bad reputation, the city having supposedly been built on a swamp with the purpose of discouraging a large bureaucracy—after all, if no one wanted to live in D.C., then there wouldn't be too many bureaucrats.

This is all a huge crock. There was no swamp here, and the weather is actually quite lovely throughout the year. The myth of bad weather in the capital comes from the fact that most visit at the height of the summer, when the pleasure of relatively moderate temperatures is completely drowned out by the miserable, impenetrable humidity. On a hot day on the Mall in July, you'll sweat like a dog, the kids will complain incessantly, and you'll want to spend as much time indoors as possible. It's not the best time to visit.

But the rest of the year is lovely. It's hard to beat spring in D.C. The northerly subtropical climate results in cool breezes, moderate temperatures, lush growth, flowers, budding trees, and, of course, the cherry blossoms. The most beautiful time of spring usually falls from April to mid-May. Domestic tourists know this, though, and you can expect the cherry blossom walk around the Tidal Basin to see (pedestrian) traffic jams that put the Beltway to shame. (A truly savvy tourist can escape the crowds but still enjoy the cherry blossoms at the National Arboretum.)

Fall, while not as gorgeous, rivals spring for perfect temperatures. It's also a lovely time for a walk in Rock Creek Park, where the dense forest bursts with multicolored confetti. Winter sees few tourists, but it's actually a great time to visit. While it's less attractive in December, the Gulf Stream ensures that the temperatures remain mild, with very sporadic snow. But the best thing about the season is that the museums are practically empty, and theater season is in full force.

It's worth considering the political climate as well. Before heading to D.C., research which events will coincide with your visit. Major international conferences, political events, or protests can hinder your sightseeing tour in dramatic fashion and also send lodging prices through the roof. The holiday season from Thanksgiving to New Year's is a much calmer time to visit, when the U.S. Congress takes its extended vacation. This means fewer official visitors, elected officials, and staff members; the Metro becomes less crowded and there are overall fewer people in the city.

Rowhouses in Dupont CircleWashingtonians are avid readers, and not just of the news—each Metro car at rush hour is a veritable library. Nonetheless, there is little "D.C. literature" to speak of. The city's culture has always been overshadowed by national politics, and those looking for local flavor will find political works: political chronicles, political histories, political hot air, political historical fiction, and of course political thrillers.

Henry Adams' Democracy is President John Henry Adams' grandson's satirical send-up of the moral morass that is politics. (Things haven't changed in the 120 years since he wrote it.) Almost certainly President Rutherford B Hayes' least favorite book, this remains a great read two centuries later.
Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol sold one million copies on the first day it was published, so it's fair to assume that this 2009 book by the author of the Da Vinci Code could become the most famous D.C. work of fiction of all time. It's a mad chase of arcane conspiracies around D.C.'s Masonic Temple, National Cathedral, Smithsonian, Washington Monument, and every darkest nook and narrowest cranny of the Capitol Building.
John Grisham's The Pelican Brief. Intrigue, corruption, and homicide on the Supreme Court, and some good chases around the capital city in one of Grisham's most famous thrillers. Republicans may get an unfair portrayal, but this is a good page turner.
George Pelecanos' Sweet Forever. Pelecanos is one of D.C.'s most rare authors—one who knows the city beyond the politics, in and out, and uses it extensively and effectively as the backdrop for some amazing mysteries. In this one, detective Nick Stefanos investigates a drug-related murder on 1980s U St, leading him into a maze of basketball, dirty cops, the beginnings of the local crack empire, underground music, a thoroughly corrupt mayor's office, and all-around grit in a dangerous city.
Ron Suskin's Hope in the Unseen and The One Percent Doctrine are both political, but about very different sides of Washington. The former chronicles the experiences of Cedric Jennings from his nightmarish Ballou High School in Anacostia to the Ivy League. The One Percent Doctrine, on the other hand, is an inside look at the run up to the Iraq War, predicated on the infamous one-percent doctrine coined in the wake of 9/11 by then-Vice President Dick Cheney.
Gore Vidal's Lincoln. America's legendary master of political historical fiction turns his pen on the Lincoln Oval Office, bringing the administration's central figures to life in a way that no biography could. Vidal is famous for his lack of charity to beloved national figures, but even his sharp pen can't quite tarnish the nation's greatest.
Bob Woodward's All the President's Men is perhaps the nation's single most famous political chronicle: the story of the investigative journalism that unearthed the Watergate Scandal and led to the impeachment and political demise of President Nixon. Woodward remains a huge influence in Washington, particularly due to his eminently readable insider accounts of the workings of the Bush Administration. Bush at War and Plan of Attack stand out. The first is a chronicle of the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent decision to invade Afghanistan, and the second addresses the run-up to the invasion of Iraq.
In addition to the above, a trip to D.C. is a good time to pick up a presidential biography or two. Favorites include:

Arthur Schlesinger's A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House is the most famous account of the JFK presidency. Biased, certainly, but it's hard to beat an account by a Harvard historian turned special advisor who was there in the Oval Office to see every decision being made.
Stephen Oates' Let the Trumpet Sound: A Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. Martin Luther King isn't closely associated with the city, but this is a great inspirational read to keep in mind on the Mall, thinking of his I Have a Dream speech.
Lou Cannon's Ronald Reagan: the Role of a Lifetime is one of the few mature Reagan biographies that is neither a tribute nor an attack, written about his years in office by the inner-circle chronicler who knew him best.
Frank Friedel's Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Rendezvous with Destiny. FDR's presidency was so influential, and just plain long, that it's difficult to find good one-volume biographies—look no further than this definitive work.
Joseph Ellis' His Excellency: George Washington. A Washington biography is an obvious reading choice on a trip to his namesake city, as his story is the story of the founding of both the nation and the capital (and his estate is an easy day trip outside the city). Ellis' account is very travel-friendly—accessible, humanist, and mercifully short.

There is no end to the list of films set in D.C., as the nation's capital provides the essential backdrop to just about every political thriller and practically every alien invasion or other disaster movie set in the U.S. There are a proud few, though, that stand out either for their creation of national myths or for having actually captured something of the real culture of the city.

The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973) is a rare film in that it is both unmistakeably Washingtonian and entirely unrelated to politics. It's best remembered for terrifying audiences with a story uncomfortably plausible to those raised in the Catholic Church. Formidable evil forces and equally formidable Jesuits collide in the struggle for the soul of a young girl living in Georgetown, in a tale where the modern humanist world quivers in the face of the ancient and the mystical.
In the Line of Fire (Wolfgang Petersen, 1993): How do you make a D.C. political thriller stand out among all the rest? Simple: Clint Eastwood is the Secret Service agent, and John Malkovich is the psychopathic assassin. If you intend to watch, you should also plan to add the legendary Old Ebbit Grille to your dining itinerary.
The More the Merrier (George Stevens, 1943): A goofy romantic comedy, widely hailed as one of the best of its kind, set in WWII-era D.C., amidst the acute housing shortage faced by soldiers returning from the war.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (Frank Capra, 1939) is the defining American myth of the ability of political idealism to stand up for the people against entrenched political interests and corruption, and, just maybe, to win. Nary a cynic remains tearless through Jimmy Stewart's defining performance. The movie is shown outdoors on the National Mall nearly every summer for Screen on the Green [2].
A Few Good Men (Tom Cruise, 1992): A dynamic Navy JAG attorney blends two D.C. professions often overlooked beneath the glow of the Capitol Dome. As LT Daniel Kaffee, Tom Cruise realizes that his Naval service is more than just a resume bullet as he defends two Marines charged with murder. From the Navy Yard to a seedy New York Avenue motel to the leafy streets of gentrified Adams Morgan, this film gives Washington, D.C. an honest portrayal. More importantly, the story is a window into the idealism of many young D.C. transplants who move to town in search of a chance to change lives for the better.
All the President's Men (Jason Robards, Dustin Hoffman, 1977): An unflattering and historically accurate portrayal of the events surrounding the Watergate scandal and the subsequent investigation by Washington journos Bob Woodward (Hoffman) and Carl Bernstein.