Austin, located in central Texas, is the State Capital. The city is located on terraced bluffs along a bend in the Colorado River, about 160 miles west of Houston in Travis County.

Austin became the capital of the Republic of Texas in 1839, then became the state capital when Texas joined the Union in 1845. The writer O. Henry was an Austin resident; the city formed a backdrop for many of his stories.

As well as being a transshipment point for a large agricultural area, Austin enjoys a technology-oriented economy based on electronics and semiconductors, computers and peripherals, and software. The University of Texas has a campus in Austin. The city reflects its Hispanic and African-American heritage in food and music. In addition, listeners from all over tune in to Austin City Limits, PBS's country-western show. Austin is one of a few U.S. cities with professional ballet, symphony, opera and theater companies.

Compact, walkable, historic and clean, Boston blends old-world charm and modern convenience better than many American cities. Disastrous 'urban renewal' in the 1950s provoked such a furious backlash that Boston now has some of the best preserved historic buildings and neighborhoods in the country. In some cases, preservation has crossed the line into Disneyfication: the North End is as neat and tidy as Frontierland, and Faneuil Hall Marketplace is a combo theme park and shopping mall unto itself. But the varnish doesn't stay on too long: with over 50 colleges and universities in the area, Boston's cultural juices are always flowing.

Bristol is located in Washington County. State Street, Bristol's main thoroughfare, is bisected by the Tennessee/Virginia border. Brass markers down the center of the street denote the dividing line. Each side of the street has its own government and city services, but together, they form an important industrial center which manufactures metal goods, textiles and electronic products. Recreational activities on the Tennessee side are provided by Steele Creek Park and South Holston Dam and Lake. Recreation on the Virginia side are provided at Sugar Hollow Park. The Bristol Motor Speedway, a half-mile racetrack 5 miles south on Hwy 11E, is on the NASCAR circuit. Scenic I81 passes through Bristol, continuing for 88 miles.

On a cold, brutally windy day in Chicago, when the temperature's sub-zero and strong gusts keep you from walking down the street, the first question that will come to mind is, 'Who the hell decided to build a city and settle here?' Well, nearly three million hardy souls now call this great city home, and they can thank the mettle and vision of their Irish, Italian, German, Polish, Mexican and Asian immigrant forebears, and others who migrated here from the southern US for creating it. This diverse mix has built a city with an unrivaled tradition of jazz and blues, an astonishing architecture, an appetite for hearty food, award-winning newspapers, universities full of Nobel laureates and some of the most die-hard sports fans you'll ever meet.

Cleveland sits on the southern banks of Lake Erie at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River – a city of green parks, lively neighbourhoods and historic buildings. Local residents are proud of its high quality of life and recent awards that attest to its liveability. Miles of parkland encircle the city, while museums, sporting and cultural events and visitor-friendly attractions lure residents and visitors alike to Downtown areas. It is one of the few American cities with park access in the heart of the city. Visitors, especially, are often surprised to discover a vibrant Downtown with distinct neighbourhoods and a lively urban atmosphere. True, its roots are certainly more prosaic than those of New York, Los Angeles or Boston, but Cleveland has outgrown its industrial past. Once known as a 'steel town' during the Industrial Era of Ohio's development, it is now a healthy mix of manufacturing and service industries.

Unlike many American cities, Cleveland's Downtown is not only lively, it is the focal point around which the rest of the city nestles. In the middle of the Downtown area is the historic Public Square, a European-style square with statues and fountains. The lakefront, having benefited from committed renewal, is home to the stunningly designed Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, which, when it was built during the last decade, epitomised not only the renewal of Cleveland's Downtown but the city's growing cultural presence as well.

Cleveland enjoys long, hot summer days, during which locals enjoy the many restaurants featuring alfresco dining, picnic in the surrounding state, national and municipal parks, or gather around the barbecue for casual entertaining. During its cold sometimes snowy winters, the city's cultural attractions, including theatre, symphony, opera and museums, thrive. The city offers all the trappings of any American city – shopping, sightseeing, excellent service – and, although it possesses a historic flavour popular with tourists and residents, it is most definitely a city that keeps moving forward.

Dallas is the most mythical city in Texas, with a past and present rich in all the stuff American legends are made of. The 'Big D' is famous for its contributions to popular culture - from the Dallas Cowboys football team and its cheerleaders to the long-running Dallas television series. Dallas is endlessly occupied with growth and status; it's a city known for its business acumen (especially in banking), its restaurants and its shopping. In the materially minded USA, Dallas stands tall as a paragon of conspicuous consumption.

But the city has its surprises, and they're not hard to find: a tiny sliver of downtown set aside to promote the ideal of gratitude, not greed; a stirring museum devoted to one of the greatest tragedies in US history, JFK's assassination; and acres of parks providing oases of relaxation and recreation.

At the westernmost fringe of the Great 'Are We There Yet' Plains, Colorado's 'Mile High City' beckons like an urban avatar of welcome relief. On par with much larger cities, Denver is Middle America's de facto hub of culture and commerce, offering all the perks (and few of the pangs) of any modern American metropolis, with a surrounding landscape that lends the city its illustrious 'grounded' identity. Nestled up against the magnificent Rocky Mountains, Denver is the perfect destination for anyone who has trouble choosing between big-city and backwoods attractions or thinks a hard day's hell raising is best finished off with high tea at a 19th-century society hotel. After all, where else can you enjoy a buffalo tenderloin before a night at the symphony and top the evening with a nightcap at an art deco bar modeled on that of the Queen Mary ?

Since its 1950s heyday when Detroit was home to more than 2 million residents, the city has suffered some hard times. The city has been considered a national symbol of urban decay, the center of the so-called Rust Belt; its population has slipped to around a million. In 1998, the Detroit Convention & Visitors Bureau closed its information center due to a lack of business.

But thanks to the car industry boom of the mid-1990s, Detroit is now staging a steady comeback. It's not a Chicago or even a Cleveland, but the Motor City is culturally rich. Detroit's population is 80% black, making it a national center for African American culture. One of the most famous attractions is the city's Motown Museum where Stevie Wonder first played, and it's worth your while to spend an evening at one of the many music clubs scattered throughout the city.

As recently as the late 1980s, the sand in Fort Lauderdale was sticky with beer and the streets ran wild with pimpled youths storming about in celebration of that American university rite of passage, Spring Break. Locals would look on in horror as their city was overtaken by yahoos, and they finally decided to do something about it. They renovated, groomed and trimmed the whole place, turning Fort Lauderdale into more of an international yachting center than an intercollegiate multi-kegger.

That's not to say that it's not a party town - it decidedly is. These days, you can carouse at dozens of clubs, pubs and beach nightspots, as long as you dress respectably (meaning in clothes of some sort) and behave yourself. And for those visitors who insist on getting out in the daylight, Fort Lauderdale has a surprising number of cultural and historical sites...for a beach town.

Come discover where the magic happens. Hollywood is the home of numerous television and movie studios, and some of the best tourist attractions in California. Once in the heart of Hollywood visitors must visit attractions such as Capital Records, the Hollywood Wax Museum, Mann's Chinese Theater, the Roosevelt Hotel, Paramount Pictures, and of course, the Walk of Fame.

Hollywood is located just northeast of Santa Monica between Tarzana and Beverly Hills along Interstate 5 near the Pacific Ocean. There is also a Hollywood, Florida.

Hollywood is part of the Los Angeles-Long Beach, California metro area.

There is also a Hollywood, Florida. Located in Broward County just north of Miami between Miami Beach and Fort Lauderdale along Highway A1A near the Atlantic seacoast.

Honolulu is the seat of Honolulu County on the southeastern coast of the island of Oahu, between Pearl City and Waimanalo Beach. It lies along Interstate H1 near Pearl Harbor and Mamala Bay.

Honolulu's harbor was entered in 1794 by an English captain, William Brown. Evolving from a mud hut settlement into the residence of Hawaiian royalty, Honolulu became of the kingdom of Hawaii's permanent capital in 1845. Whalers and sandalwood traders sailed into its port and the city was occupied by Russian, British and French forces in succession. It continued as Hawaii's capital with the United States' annexation of the islands in 1898 and statehood in 1959.

The city of Honolulu and Honolulu County are one government entity with a 2000 census of 876,156. It is an ethnically diverse city and the crossroads of the Pacific. Tourism, diversified industry and luxury hotels have made Honolulu Hawaii's business and population center.

Even amid Honolulu's urban development, you are never more than a glimpse from an ocean or mountain view that can take your breath away.

The days when cows and oilmen roamed the streets of Houston are long gone. Today, the fourth-largest city in the US is a sprawling metropolis of highrises, malls and parking lots. Hot, humid and flat, Houston may not be Texas' premier travel destination, but it has much to offer, including great museums, beautiful parks, a hip young urban population and a variety of excellent excursions.

Houston dominates southeastern Texas, thanks to a historic commitment to growth unfettered by zoning and other planning restrictions. The result is a sprawling city confusing to visitors and residents alike. However, most areas of interest are within a few miles of downtown, and seeing the sites won't take more than a day or two.

Las Vegas demands the suspension of disbelief - the moment you start to take it seriously you miss the point. It's glitz for its own sake, over-the-top hustle and flash as means and end. It's crowds of people in polyester pantsuits, big hair and gold chains, staring at neon signs and spinning lemons like deer hypnotized by headlights. Not that Vegas doesn't have a serious side: billions are at stake on the craps and blackjack tables and in the battle of the theme parks - but you're given enough distractions to ignore it - until you lose. If you tire of pulling the handle on that one-armed bandit and drinking watered-down (albeit free) screwdrivers, the surrounding area has some of the region's most beautiful scenery.

Lexington is located in Fayette County and it is the county seat. The city is located in east-central Kentucky, about 80 miles east of Louisville. The mean average temperature in Lexington is 54.9 degrees and the annual precipitation is 45.68 inches. The city and the Bluegrass region enjoy four distinct seasons that include cool plateau breezes and moderate nights in the summer.

Lexington is one of the oldest cities west of the Allegheny Mountains. It is said that the name was given to the settlement by pioneers who had just received news of the Battle of Lexington. The Kentucky legislature held its first sessions in Lexington in 1792, the year that Kentucky separated from Virginia.

The area is noted for tobacco farming and thoroughbred racing horses. General Electric Company, Toyota Motor Manufacturing, U.S.A. and United Parcel Service also are present, among others, in Lexington. Many attractions are equestrian-oriented. Lexington also is the home of the University of Kentucky.

It's possible that Los Angeles is a figment of its own imagination. No other city studies itself so intently - on film, television and in glossy magazines. LA is where the American Dream is manufactured, and if you're not prepared to embrace the dream, you'll doubtless find it filthy, irritating, frightening or just plain dumb. But if you long to stand in the footsteps of stars and breathe their hallowed air, you've come to the right place. In this town, game show hosts are household names and nobodies erect billboard shrines to themselves.

You can't get much better than this Hawaiian island, with its sunny western coast lined with gorgeous white-sand beaches, and its warm ocean waters teeming with humpback whales. What's more, you can drive among jungle and waterfalls on the scenic Hana Highway, windsurf with the pros at Hookipa Beach or enjoy a drink at Lahaina's historic taverns - the options are dizzying and endless.

Sure, the main tourist hubs - with traffic, crowds and condos piled on top of one another - can be nasty urbanized experiences. However, finding Maui's quieter side isn't such a difficult feat. The uplands or the eastern coast will give you a better idea of the island's offerings than a short stay in a popular resort area. Resting beneath Haleakala, the massive mountain that provides the scenic backdrop to all of East Maui, the small towns of Haiku, Kula or Hana offer blissful respite from the West Maui scene.

Don't let a few - or even a few thousand - package tourists keep you from the magic of Maui's lands and waters. Its unofficial slogan is Maui no ka oi - 'Maui is the best.' Do yourself a favor, and put it to the test.

Named for the ancient Egyptian capital on the Nile, Memphis on the Mississippi is best known for the rise and fall of two men who led vastly different movements. Elvis Presley rocketed to fame here in the mid-1950s; his Graceland estate draws over 700,000 visitors a year. And it was here on April 4, 1968, that the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated.

But Memphis culture also draws heavily on its early 20th-century role in giving birth to the blues. Favorite son WC Handy composed the first published blues tune just before WWI, making Memphis the home of the blues and Beale St its address. Today, the dockside city retains a certain soulful grittiness from a history replete with cotton, riverboats and blues. Highlights include the famous Sun Studios, where Presley made his first recordings; Graceland, Presley's estate; and the glossy stretch of clubs and cafes on Beale St.

The unofficial state motto, laissez les bons temps rouler (let the good times roll), pretty much says it all for most people - and let there be no mistake, New Orleans rolls plenty. Called by some 'The City That Care Forgot,' New Orleans has a well-earned reputation for excess and debauchery. Though this is certainly a big draw, so is its (ahem) colorful history and unique cultural gumbo of African, Indian, Cajun and Creole influences. Whether you're looking for history, drama and intrigue or just a damn good bop in the street, New Orleans has a flavor like no other city in North America. Tant pis pour nous!

They don't come any bigger than the Big Apple - king of the hill, top of the heap, New York, New York. No other city is arrogant enough to dub itself Capital of the World and no other city could carry it off. New York is a densely packed mass of humanity and all this living on top of one another makes the New Yorker a special kind of person. Although it's hard to put a finger on what makes New York buzz, it's the city's hyperactive rush that really draws people here. Come take a bite!

In a city that is so much a part of the global subconscious, it's pretty hard to pick a few highlights - wherever you go you'll feel like you've been there before. For iconic value, you can't surpass the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, Central Park and Times Square. The Museum of Modern Art has to be one of the world's top museums, and the Guggenheim Museum and American Museum of Natural History aren't far behind. Bookshops, food, theater, shopping, people: it doesn't really matter what you do or where you go in New York because the city itself is an in-your-face, exhilarating experience.

Ontario is located in southern California, making it a prime destination in which to enjoy the many activities of the area. Visitors can enjoy the warm weather and countless tourist sites of southern California. Ontario itself offers the best in fine dining, shopping, and lodging.

Ontario is located in San Bernardino County on the eastern city limits of Los Angeles between Glendora and Riverside along Interstate 10 near the San Bernardino National Forest.

When followers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints trekked westward in 1847 to escape persecution, their leader, Brigham Young, put down his pack on the shores of the Great Salt Lake. Here, he believed, was a location so remote and unwanted that the members of his faith could finally live in peace. Surveying the barren-looking wasteland, he uttered the now famous words, 'This is the right place.' Then, he began preparing plans for a new Mormon settlement. If you were a downhill skier, an ardent hiker or an avid bird-watcher, you might have agreed with Mr Young. If you had to plant crops and raise a family in this harsh environment, however, you might have had a few second thoughts about the man's sanity. Regardless, Salt Lake City, the capital of Utah and by far the largest metropolis in the state, is now a testimony to the industriousness and vision of these early settlers.

Following its foundation, the population of the city swelled quickly, aided by passing traffic heading to the California goldfields. It remained, however, almost 100% Mormon until 1869, when the transcontinental railway brought in a flood of outsiders. Today Mormons constitute about 40% of the city's population, but they can be proud to have played a major role in building a spacious, pleasant, hassle-free city that is uniquely sandwiched between a briny inland sea and a snowcapped range of 11,000ft (3300m) mountains. It's a great place for Latter-day Saints, as well as skiers, hikers, mountain bikers and just about anyone who enjoys the robustness of outdoor pursuits. With this sporting pedigree, the city was an obvious choice to host the 2002 Winter Olympics.

San Diego's superb coastline, near-perfect climate and Mediterranean facade make it the quintessential Southern California beach city. Forget the pace and pollution of LA - if you want to wet your feet in the So-Cal beach scene, pull on your kneebangers and start styling with the boardheads or shopping for rugs and real estate in affluent, conservative, blessed-by-nature, merging-with-Mexico San Diego.

San Francisco was built by "forty niners" with gold fever, founded in 1776 when father Junipero Serra constructed the mission San Dolores to Christianize the local native Indian population. At the same time, Spanish troops constructed a Presidio, or fort, to protect this colony for the Queen of Spain. By the middle of the nineteenth century, the village of Yerba Buena, consisting of whalers, traders, adventurers and pirates, occupied the present site of San Francisco. In 1848, gold was discovered in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains about 100 miles to the east. By 1849, San Francisco was inundated with "forty-niners" as the gold seekers were commonly called, and the population of the city exploded. Ever since, it has remained the center of commerce, entertainment, culture and tourism for Northern California.

San Francisco is on the coast of California about 400 miles north of Los Angeles. It is situated along the shore of a large bay sheltered behind the California Coastal Mountains. The city is renown for its steep streets with panoramic views of beautiful San Francisco bay and the surrounding mountains. It has a very moderate climate with warm summers and chilly winters but without extremes. Constant breezes off of the Pacific Ocean keep the summers from becoming too hot and also prevent freezing winter weather. Take a sweater, as the evening breezes can be quite brisk all year round !

Thirty years ago, most roads in this high-altitude town were unpaved and the only visitors were hippies and artists who came to paint the desert landscape in cruisy contemplation. These days, Santa Fe ranks among the top tourist destinations in the USA. Movie stars live in adobe mansions in the cedar-spotted hills, there are more art galleries than there are grocery stores and the folk munching on green-chile burgers are all wearing black turtlenecks. Santa Fe has arrived.

It's a great place to visit. The compact center offers cosmopolitan conveniences and culinary delights. Just outside town are stunning forests and deserts, ripe with possibility for high energy exploration. The phenomenon of desert light, partly a factor of the high altitude, is one of many highlights that can be appreciated only through experience. The history of the area's peoples - Indians, Hispanic settlers, traders and mountain men - cannot be separated from the landscape. Any visit to Santa Fe can shed light on this primal relationship, especially if you combine visits to museums and pueblos with some outdoor activities.

Ever wondered whether caffeine is a viable substitute for sunshine? If so, Seattle is your kind of town. More than any other city in the region, Seattle epitomizes what people know of (and how they feel about) the Pacific Northwest. Nevermind that its sunshiny days can be suicidally few - its residents (Chairman Bill, perhaps, excepted) are among the nation's most outgoing and outdoorsy. Sure, it had everybody wearing flannel shirts and whistling Nirvana for awhile, but consider also the good things it's given us: you can see the roots of America's microbrewing revolution in the bellies of many a Seattlite, and the city's chilly mornings had the espresso generation brewing long before Starbucks sold its first cup. If you're looking for lifestyle (and who isn't these days ?), Seattle has it in spades.

Texas City is located just southeast of Houston in Galveston County, between League City and Galveston along Hwy 3 near La Marque and Galveston Bay.

National capitals are renowned for being the least interesting places to visit in any country, but Washington is an exception. Its tree-lined avenues and grand 19th-century buildings create a surprisingly warm, almost cozy atmosphere - though some neighborhoods are less so than others. The capital is a microcosm of the grand ideals and grim realities of the USA - as the potholes and homeless people everywhere will attest. You don't have to be unpatriotic to be aware of the depressing irony of poverty and racial segregation in the shadow of glorious monuments proclaiming 'equality for all.'

Washington certainly isn't as hip a town as New York or San Francisco, but its museums rank with some of the country's best (and most are free), its architecture is impressive and its dining and nightlife are more cosmopolitan than you might think.

Since the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, security has remained high around Washington's key monuments, with access to some tourist attractions still limited.