As Good As Being There

World Trade Center (ground Zero) - New York, NY

The twin towers and 7 World Trade Center collapsed in a terrorist attack on 9/11/2001, when two commercial jetliners were deliberately crashed into the twin towers. For details on this terrorist attack, see September 11, 2001 attacks; for details of the towers' collapse, see Collapse of the World Trade Center. For details of the tenants at the time of the attack, see One World Trade Center tenants and Two World Trade Center tenants. As of February 2005, a total of 2,749 death certificates related to the WTC attacks had been filed. All but 13 persons died on September 11; of the 13 persons who were injured on September 11 and died subsequently, three persons died in other states, one each in Massachusetts, Missouri, and New Jersey. Of these 2,749 decedents, 2,117 (77%) were males and 632 (23%) were females. Remains of 1,588 of the 2,749 people who died at the World Trade Center, or 58%, were identified on the basis of recovered physical remains. The median age for these decedents was 39 years (range: 2--85 years); the median age was 38 years for females (range: 2--81 years) and 39 years for males (range: 3--85 years). Three persons were aged <5 years, and three were aged >80 years.

See Ground Zero after 9/11/2001 terrorist attack - via Google Maps
See World Trade Center - via Google Images
Hotels and Motels - via Google Local
Official website

Neverland Ranch - Santa Barbara, CA

Michael Jackson's Neverland Valley Ranch. [personal note, I do not recommend bring your children while visiting this landmark]

See Neverland - via Google Maps, here's a better satellite view
See pictures of Neverland - via Google Images
Official MJ website

Turner Field – Atlanta, GA

Turner Field was originally constructed as the 85,000-seat Centennial Olypic Stadium and used for the Centennial 1996 Summer Olympics. Immediately after the 1996 Summer Paralympics, which followed the Olympics, much of the north end of stadium was removed in order to convert it to its permanent use as a 45,000-seat baseball facility.

After opening in 1997, the "Home of the Braves" has quickly become an Atlanta landmark and the benchmark for future baseball park design. Turner Field combines the nostalgia and the atmosphere of old-time baseball with state-of-the-art family entertainment unlike that of any other park.

Note: The lot on the site of Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium contains an outline of the playing field, including markers for home plate, the bases and the location of Hank Aaron's record-breaking 715th home run.

See Turner Field – via Google Maps
See Turner Field – via flickr
Hotels and Motels – via Google Local
Official website

The Gateway Arch - St. Louis, MO

Every year millions of visitors head for the Arch with one goal in mind: a journey to the top. This is where you'll get a stunning glimpse of the St. Louis region from a dizzying height of 630 feet. But how do you get to the top? You take a tram ride from the south or north leg of the Arch.

On your way to the top using the south leg, you'll return to an era in the 1800s when the St. Louis riverfront was bustling with steamboats, fur traders, and merchants. On your way to the top using the north leg, you'll be transported back to 1965 when construction workers wedged the last triangular Arch section into place.

See Gateway Arch - via Google Maps
See Gateway Arch - via flickr
Hotels and Motels - via Google local
Official website

Space Needle - Seattle, WA

Built in 1962, the Space Needle served as the symbol of that year's World's Fair.  It has since become the symbol of Seattle, and one of the most recognizable structures in the world.  The privately owned Space Needle is managed by the Space Needle Corporation.  The Space Needle was built on a 120' x 120' lot formerly owned by the city of Seattle , which was sold to investors for $75,000 in 1961, just one year before the opening of the World's Fair.

See Space Needle - via Google Maps
See Space Needle - via flickr
Hotels and Motels - via Google local
Official website

Stone Mountain Park - Stone Mountain, GA

The largest high relief sculpture in the world, the Confederate Memorial Carving depicts three Confederate heroes of the Civil War: President Jefferson Davis and Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. The entire carved surface measures three-acres, larger than a football field. The carving of the three men towers 400 feet above the ground, measures 90 by 190 feet, and is recessed 42 feet into the mountain. The deepest point of the carving is at Lee's elbow, which is 12 feet into the mountain's surface.  Stone Mountain is the largest exposed granite in the world.

See Stone Mountain Park - via Google Maps
See Stone Mountain Park - via flickr
Hotels and Motels
Officail website

The Masters - Augusta, GA

The first Tournament was held March 22, 1934, and beginning in 1940, the Masters was scheduled each year during the first full week in April. That first Tournament was won by Horton Smith, and in the Fall of 1934 the nines were reversed. In 1935 Gene Sarazen hit "the shot heard 'round the world" scoring a double eagle on the par 5 15th hole, tying Craig Wood and forcing a playoff. Sarazen won the 36-hole playoff the following day by five strokes. In 1942 Byron Nelson defeated Ben Hogan 69-70 in an 18-hole playoff and the Tournament was not played the following three years, 1943, 1944 and 1945, during the war. To assist the war effort, cattle and turkeys were raised on the Augusta National grounds.

See the Augusta National Golf Club, the home of the Masters - via Google Maps
See Masters - via flickr
Hotels and Motels - via Google Local
Official website

Alcatraz Island – San Francisco Bay, CA

Out in the middle of the San Francisco Bay, the island of Alcatraz is a world unto itself.  Isolation, one of the constants of island life for any inhabitant - soldier, guard, prisoner, Indian, bird or plant - is a recurrent theme in the unfolding history of Alcatraz.

See Alcatraz Island - via Google Maps
See Alcatraz Island - via flickr
Local Hotels and Motels - via Google Local
Official website