USA: Sights

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood

Hollywood is a district in the central region of Los Angeles, California, in the United States.

It is famous for being a home of the entertainment industry, including several of its historic studios. Hollywood is also a highly ethnically diverse, densely populated, economically diverse neighborhood and retail business district. 

Places within Hollywood

* Sunset Boulevard
* Crossroads of the World (America's 1st outdoor shopping mall)
* Dolby Theatre ( Academy Awards)
* Hollywood Forever Cemetery

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Golden_Gate_Bridge_.JPG

* Walk of Fame (since 1958 )
* Wax museum
* Knickerbocker Hotel
* Hollywood sign (built 1923)

 The Golden Gate is the strait that connects San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean.

The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate. It took over 4 years to build it and was opened in April 1937. It costs $4 - $7 for a driver to cross it. The bridge is 2.7km long, 27m wide and has 6 lanes. Over 110,000 vehicles use it daily. It has been declared one of the wonders of the modern world.

http://www.lighthouseinn-ct.com

Alcatraz Island is located in the San Fracisco Bay, 2.4 km offshore from San Fransisco. Often referred to as "The Rock", the small island was first used for a lighthouse, later as a military fortification, a military prison (1868), and a federal prison from 1933 until 1963.  Beginning in November 1969, the island was occupied for more than 19 months by a group of Aboriginal people from San Francisco who were part of a wave of Native activism. In 1972, Alcatraz became a national recreation area and was opened for locals and tourists. 

http://www.vvng.com/disneyland-raises-prices/

Disneyland Park, originally Disneyland, is the first of two theme parks built in Anaheim, California. It was opened on July 17, 1955. It is the only theme park designed and built under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. 

Walt Disney came up with the concept of Disneyland after visiting various amusement parks with his daughters in the 1930s and 1940s.  Over 650 million guests visited the park between 1955 - 2011 and there are over 65,000 jobs supported by the Disneyland Resort.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_canyon

The Grand Canyon is carved by the Colorado River in the state of Arizona. It is contained within and managed by Grand Canyon National Park, the Hualapai Tribal Nation and the Havasupai tribe.  

The Grand Canyon is 446 km long, up to 29 km wide and attains a depth of over 1,800 meters. Nearly two billion years of Earth's geological history have been exposed as the Colorado River and its tributaries cut their channels through layer after layer of rock while the Colorado Plateau was uplifted. 

For thousands of years, the area has been continuously inhabited by Native Americans who built settlements within the canyon and its many caves. Some tribes have considered it a holy site and made pilgrimages to it.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Statue_of_Liberty_7.jpg

The Statue of Liberty is a sculpture on Liberty Island in the middle of New York Harbour, in Manhattan. The statue was a gift to the United States from the people of France. The statue is of a robed female figure representing Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom, who bears a torch and a tablet evoking the law upon which is inscribed the date of the American Declaration of Independende, July 4, 1776. A broken chain lies at her feet. The statue is an icon of freedom and of the United States: a welcoming signal to immigrants arriving from abroad. From ground to the torch it is 93 metres. It was opened in 1886, but has been closed for the public on various times because of restoration, weather and safety.

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com

http://www.boomsbeat.com

Yellowstone National Park is a national park located primarily in the U.S. state of  Wyoming.  It was established in 872 and is the first national park in the world. The area is known for its wildlife and its many geothermal features, especially Old Faithful Geyser.Yellowstone National Park spans an area of  8,983 km², comprising lakes, canyons, rivers and mountain ranges. Yellowstone Lake is one of the largest high-altitude lakes in North America and is centered over the Yellowstone Caldera, the largest supervolcano on the continent. Hundreds of species of mammals, birds, fish and reptiles have been documented, including several that are either endangered or threatened. The vast forests and grasslands also include unique species of plants. Grizzly bears, wolves, and free-ranging herds of bison and elk live in the park. Forest fires occur in the park each year; in the large forest fires of 1988, nearly one third of the park was burnt. Yellowstone has numerous recreational opportunities, including hiking, camping, boating, fishing and sightseeing. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_needle

The Space Needle is an observation tower in Seattle, Washington, a landmark of the Pacific Northwest, and a symbol of Seattle. It was built  for the 1962 World's Fair, which drew over 2.3 million visitors, when nearly 20,000 people a day used its elevators.

The tower is 184 m high, 42 m wide, and weighs 9,550 tons. It is built to withstand winds of up to 89 m/s  and earthquakes of up to 9.1 magnitude. It has an observation deck at 160 m and a gift shop with the rotating SkyCity restaurant. From the top of the Needle, one can see not only the downtown Seattle skyline but also the Olympic and the Cascade Mountains, Elliot Bay and surrounding islands.Visitors can reach the top of the Space Needle by elevators that travel at 4.5 m/s. The trip takes 41 seconds, and some tourists wait in hour-long lines. 

http://www.boomsbeat.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Vegas

Las Vegas is the most populous city in the state of Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city known primarily for gambling, shopping, fine dining, and nightlife. The city calls itself as the Entertainment Capital of the World. Las Vegas is the 31-st most populous city in the United States, with a population at the 2010 census of 583,756 ( 1,951,269 in the metropolitan area). Established in 1905, Las Vegas was incorporated as a city in 1911. 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. 

Places within Las Vegas

*Las Vegas Strip
* Las Vegas Boulevard
* National Atomic Testing Museum
* Elvis Museum
* Adventuredome (indoor amusement park)

http://www.boomsbeat.com

Niagara Falls is the collective name for three waterfalls located between Canada and the United Stated. They form the southern end of the Niagara Gorge. From largest to smallest, the three waterfalls are the Horseshoe Falls, the American Falls and the Bridal Veil Falls. The Horseshoe Falls lie on the Canadian side and the American Falls on the American side, separated by Goat Island. The smaller Bridal Veil Falls are also located on the American side, separated from the other waterfalls by Luna Island. Located on the Niagara River, which drains Lake Erie into Lake Ontario. The three falls combined form the highest flow rate of any waterfall in the world, with a vertical drop of more than 50 m. Horseshoe Falls is the most powerful waterfall in North America, as measured by vertical height and also by flow rate. While not exceptionally high, the Niagara Falls are very wide. 

The Niagara Falls are renowned both for their beauty and as a valuable source of  hydroelectric power. 

http://www.boomsbeat.com

http://www.allyosemite.com/nature/giant_sequoia_groves.php

Yosemite National Park lies in the central eastern part of  California reaching the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain. Most of the over 3.7 million people who visit Yosemite each year spend their time in the 18 km² of Yosemite Valley. Designated a World Heritage Site in 1984, Yosemite is internationally recognized for its spectacular granite cliffs, waterfalls, clear streams, Giant Sequoia groves, and biological diversity.

The Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dean_Franklin.jpg

sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore near Keystone, South Dakota. Sculpted by Danish-American Gutzon Borglum and his son, Mount Rushmore features 18 m sculptures of the heads of four US presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. The idea was given to sculptors to promote tourism in the region. Construction on the memorial began in 1927, and the presidents' faces were completed between 1934 and 1939. Upon Gutzon Borglum's death in March 1941, his son  took over construction.