The TRAVELER'S JOURNAL: October twenty-fifth, 50 places/national wonders.

Today, we finish our look at this month's special edition of the magazine National Geographic Traveler, a supporter of our program. In 50 compelling portraits, notable writers honor the places that make America special. The section, National Wonders, focuses on man-made gems that symbolize America's creative spirit and indomitable will.

Boyd Matson, host of the National Geographic Channel television show Explorer, remembers the revelations of his first drive up Highway One along California's coastline. Former Senator George McGovern regards Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse, the two huge sculptures in South Dakota dedicated to different but monumental patriotisms. Navajo flutist and composer, R. Carlos Nakai, opens the ancestral pueblan heart of Canyon de Chelly in northeast Arizona.

Teller, the shorter, quieter half of the magical duo Penn & Teller, reveals why he loves Las Vegas. Six time Olympic medalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee goes the distance for the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, a homage to American expansion and pioneer pluck.

Residential masterpieces include novelist Jamaica Kincaid, who basks in Longwood Gardens, Pierre du Pont's verdant place of healing near Philadelphia, while Marie Ridder honors Frank Llyod Wright's Fallingwater, in Pennsylvania's southwest corner. George Vanderbilt's grandson tells what it was like to grow up at Biltmore, his family's baronial NC estate. TV actor Gerald McRaney visits the collection of antebellum mansions in Natchez, MS. Finally, NBC co-anchor Soledad O'Brien offers her perspective on Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.

Back to October 2003 Main

Look through the list of fascinating places and off-beat features we’ve covered. Search text versions of past episodes and articles in our archives.