South East Express Team 
Shutterstock Great Smoky Mountains National Park When morning fog rolls through the valleys of the Great Smoky Mountains, you’ll get why millions visit each year. These peaks hold America’s largest collection of historic log buildings, the most black bears east of the Mississippi, and endless trails through misty forests. Here’s what makes this place worth … Read more
Shutterstock Hollywood Sign, Los Angeles, California On December 30, 1923, actor Harry Neville tested if a car could drive up to the hill that takes you to a historical piece of LA’s pop culture. But before you hike through Griffith Park or walk the 5.3-mile Mt. Hollywood Trail, there’s more to this sign than meets … Read more
Shutterstock Belle Isle State Park, Michigan Belle Isle remains the biggest city-owned island park in the U.S., 40% larger than Olmsted’s better-known Central Park. It sits right in the middle of the Detroit River, giving you a zoo, an aquarium, a garden, and several marble structures, all in one day. Here’s why this 982-acre playground’s … Read more
Shutterstock U.S. Route 163 U.S. Route 163 runs directly through Monument Valley, known globally for that iconic Forrest Gump scene from the movie. The 64-mile drive from Kayenta, Arizona to Bluff, Utah is fully paved and showcases sandstone towers towering between 400 to 1,000 feet. Travelers approaching from Bluff can spot Monument Valley about 16 … Read more
Flickr/wallyg The USS Becuna The USS Becuna began her life hunting Japanese ships in 1944. Now she spends her days teaching visitors about submarine warfare at Philadelphia’s waterfront. Between those two chapters, she earned four battle stars and saved countless American lives. Here’s here amazing story. Flickr/Kevin Burkett Birth of a Predator The Becuna came … Read more
Shutterstock Fort Bowie, Arizona Fort Bowie is rarely on Arizona highlights list. It doesn’t have the pueblos of Chaco Canyon or the cliff dwellings of Walnut Canyon. Fort Bowie – a ramshackle outpost standing defiantly in Apache Pass – became ground zero for one of the most intense showdowns between the U.S. Army and Native … Read more
Shutterstock Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia Harpers Ferry has attracted over 488,000 visitors to a picturesque town of just 342 residents and crucial stop for the Appalachian Trail. From an 1800s transportation hub, a strategic Civil War location, and finally to a thriving late-19th-century industrial center, there’s much to see. Here’s to an unforgettable experience. Shutterstock … Read more
Shutterstock Rock City at Lookout Mountain, Georgia Back in 1932, a man with a knack for wild ideas and his plant-loving wife turned their rocky backyard into what we now know as Rock City. Garnet and Frieda Carter mapped out a trail with just string, winding through huge rock forms on Lookout Mountain at the … Read more
Wikimedia Commons/Jeffrey Beall Skyline Drive in Cañon City, Colorado Back in 1905, a crew of 60 prison inmates carved this wild road right into the top of a razor-sharp ridge. The work was so tough that inmates got 10 days knocked off their sentence for each month they spent hanging off cliffs to build the … Read more
Shutterstock Great Basin National Park, Nevada You slip back in time when you step into Great Basin National Park. The Fremont people walked these lands from 1000 to 1300 AD, leaving rock art and pottery that still dots the park today. The bristlecones here are the oldest creatures on earth. Add all the lakes, trails, … Read more