Despite its status as the center of legislative power in the state, Albany (or ‘Smallbany’ to jaded locals) remains a tourism backwater. It became New York State’s capital in 1797 because of its geographic centrality to local colonies and its strategic importance in the fur trade. The railroad reached town in 1851 and helped solidify the city as an important transportation crossroads and manufacturing center. Albany is an architecturally diverse city, from the ostentatiously modern to the classically Victorian, but several blocks from the city center stately government buildings give way to derelict and neglected streets and a general feeling of malaise
Big, beautiful and wildly bountiful. Far away, rurally isolated and very expensive. Alaska is a traveler’s dilemma. There are few places in the world with the grandeur and breathtaking beauty of Alaska. Not only is Mt McKinley the highest peak in North America, it’s also a stunning sight when you catch its alpenglow in Wonder Lake at Denali National Park. A 900lb brown bear catching a leaping salmon in its jaws is not something seen in Iowa, but a common apparition on Kodiak and Admiralty Island and in the scenic Katmai National Park, a hop-skip-jump from King Salmon or Homer. A 5-mile-wide glacier shedding chunks of ice the size of small cars is another unique Alaskan sight; for this quiet thrill, venture down to Juneau, gateway to Glacier Bay National Park, or to Prince William Sound, boasting the largest collection of tidewater glaciers.
Obsessed with football and race – two things Southerners never stop discussing – this rectangular state has a complicated and fascinating heritage. It has been home to one of the world’s greatest musicians (Hank Williams Sr) and one of gridiron’s most legendary coaches (Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant). Jefferson Davis became the first president of the Confederacy here in 1861, the year the Civil War began. Nearly 100 years later, when an African American woman named Rosa Parks refused to budge on a bus, the American Civil Rights movement was galvanized.
Known for incredible acts of activism, Alabama and the actions that happened here in the 1950s and ’60s led the way for civil rights triumphs throughout the USA. All that struggle and strife came at a cost and, ever since, Alabama has had to conquer its reputation of rebels, segregation, discrimination and wayward politicians.
Alabama has a surprising diversity of landscapes, from foothills in the north and a gritty city in the middle to the subtropical Gulf Coast down south. Visitors come to see the heritage of antebellum architecture, to celebrate the country’s oldest Mardi Gras in Mobile, and to learn about the civil rights struggle. Every fall, the University of Alabama Crimson Tide and the Auburn University Tigers continue one of college football’s greatest rivalries.
