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1. Portland, Oregon

The Forbidden City of the West is home to indie bands and offers a unique atmosphere focused on intimacy. Some of the bands that have come out of Portland are the Decemberists, She & Him, the Dandy Warhols and the list goes on and on. Portland is also home to the Alberta Rose Theater, Al’s Den, Kelly’s Olympian, and Revolution Hall.

1. Memphis, Tennessee

This comes as no surprise that the old stomping grounds for the King of Rock and Roll is on the list. Elvis, John Lee Hooker, B.B. King and Justin Timberlake are some of the most famous musicians to come from Memphis. Not to mention Beale Street is also an iconic landmark for the city with plenty of cool places like Young Avenue Deli and Blues City Café for food too,

1. LA, California

The City of Angels attractions thousands in hopes of making it big, but it also is a hub for music and music lovers. Los Angeles has a repertoire that ranges from classical music to country to a lively EDM scene. It is also where Guns N’ Roses and Tupac Shakur are from and home to a plethora or record labels and more music venues than we could mention.

1. Seattle, Washington

The music scene in Seattle is known for its 1990s grunge with the likes of Pearl Jam and Nirvana. It is also the birthplace of Jimi Hendrix and others like Macklemore, Death Cab for Cutie and the Shins. Seattle, Washington is also home to bars that are located around Capitol Hill and Belltown. We recommend you check out the Bumbershoot Festival that happens ever September that features the up and coming performers with other big name musicians too.

1. New Orleans, Louisiana

Known for the birth of jazz and second line parades, also known as the funeral processions from the funeral to the cemetery, New Orleans deserves to be on this list. We recommend taking the time to wander around the city on Frenchmen’s Street and on Burbon Street to take advantage of all the live music playing and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival every spring.

1. Chicago, Illinois

When people migrated north after WWII, Chicago became the center for blues and jazz music. “Chicago Blues” became well known to the likes of Buddy Guy and Muddy Waters. Nowadays there is the Chicago Blues Fest that happens every June in the city and Lollapalooza every August. It is also home to Kanye West and Smashing Pumpkins

1. Nashville, Tennessee

Last but not lease we have Nashville rounding out our list! It is the home for country music, musicians and music listeners. This city is also home to the Grand Ole Opry, the country music radio show that to this day records live music. Nashville is home to Tim McGraw, Keith Urban, and Martina McBride!

​Summer at the Grand Canyon means it is packed with tourists, but visiting in the fall means taking advantage of smaller numbers and the less intense fall weather. Visit the Grand Canyon in the fall for better hiking and a more immersive wildlife experience.

​Autumn happens to be the best season to enjoy the city by the bay. Summer is peak season to visit San Fran so there will be less foot traffic at attractions. We recommend this destination for those interested in food, music and different kinds of fun seasonal festivals.

​The Big Island is perfect in fall due to the lower number of tourists visiting, the less expensive prices and the wonderful weather. Take advantage of these perks and visit Hawaiian paradise to snorkel, surf and enjoy the sunshine!

​Visit New Mexico in the fall for their hot air balloon festival called the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta that happens every October. This unique event began in 1973 and occurs over multiple days drawing many to the area to watch the skies. Read more about the festival here: https://balloonfiesta.com/Event-Schedule

Located in the business district of New Orleans is the National World War II Museum, one of Guardian Music and Group Travel’s favorite New Orleans attractions. Formerly known as the National D-Day Museum, this museum details of the United States’ involvement in World War II.
 
The National World War II Museum in New Orleans has been the designated by Congress as the official World War II Museum for America.
 
Since its beginnings in June of 2000, the museum has continued to open exhibits and expand. It has opened the Solomon Victory Theater, the John E. Kushner Restoration Pavilion, the US Freedom Pavilion: The Boeing Center, and the Campaigns of Courage pavilion and there are current plans for more expansion with a Liberation Pavilion.
 
Guardian loves the National World War II Museum because of its interactivity. With a completely 4D movie experience in the Solomon Victory Theater that emphasizes the U.S. involvement in the Allied victory and multiple spaces that illustrate the war, you will be impressed, shocked and informed around every corner you look.
 
We recommend you allocate 2-3 hours to fully experience the engaging and interactive museum. With so many expansive exhibits and additions, every portion of the museum deserves to be explored in its entirety.

Link to previous post: ​https://www.gmgtravel.com/blog/2019-unesco-heritage-site-nominations
 
Eight of Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural sites have been added to the UNESCO World Heritage site. These new additions join the ranks of China’s Forbidden City, the Palace at Versailles in France, Machu Picchu and Vatican City.
 
Wright’s architecture signifies the first inclusion of modern architecture to the protected sites. His Fallingwater house in Pennsylvania, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, and the Frederick C. Robie House of Chicago are just a few to be mentioned. His work is famous for its use of ‘organic architecture.’
 
The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation said the nomination process for this collection took 15 years. And according to UNESCO, the sites must fulfill one of ten requirements such as a masterpiece of human creative genius, bear testimony to a civilization which is living or has disappeared, represent earth’s major history or contain habitats that are conserved for biological diversity, among others specified. ​

Founded by Jack White in Detroit Michigan in 2001, Third Man Records has a second location in Nashville that also serves as an HQ, a storefront, live performance venue, and recording studio. This record company still produces both singles and albums primarily on vinyl records.
 
With the motto “Your Turntable’s Not Dead,” Third Man Record’s Nashville location features the Blue Room, the live performance venue. The Blue Room is the only place in the world that records live shows direct-to-acetate, which produces a vinyl master in real-time.
 
Third Man Records also has a phone booth studio where visitors can enter and play an instrument and a 45 vinyl can be pressed of the recording in live time. There is also the Novelties Lounge in the studio where there is a collection of vintage novelty machines like a 16mm jukebox and “Wax-O-Matic” machine which produces wax molds of White’s guitar.
 
We recommend this attraction to music fans and groups who love old vinyl’s and are interested in recording music. To fully experience this attraction, we suggest you allow 90 minutes for the tour and exploring the studios.

Opened in 2014, as a part of the growing exhibition, the Museum of Death is not for the faint of heart.
 
With the goal of “making people happy to be alive,” the Museum of Death New Orleans expansion branch features 12,000 square meters of space dedicated to a collection of death artifacts. These artifacts include but are not limited to photography, letters, artwork, taxidermy, and recreations of crime scenes.
 
The Museum of Death was started by JD Healy and Cathee Shultz to “fill the void in death education” and quickly expanded from its beginnings as an art gallery to now a multi-location museum.
 
The museum offers a self-guided tour that lasts 45 minutes and has no age limit, but we recommend it only to mature audiences.
 
The Museum of Death is an attraction where you can easily spend 2+ hours reading all the material and watching the movie featured in the museum. It is a perfect addition to New Orleans for groups looking to add a unique experience to their trip and for people who are fans of serial killers and the macabre! 

*Cue the jazz hands!

Broadway, Off- Broadway and Off- Off Broadway. Could you even say you visited NYC if you didn’t see a single show? No, of course not. A show is NYC must! But how to pick just one? Let us know if you figure out how to decide.

There are also film festivals like the famous The Tribeca Film Festival in April and Woodstock Film Festival in October where people flock to see the features. 

New York has the most theaters in the world with 420, you can see multiple shows for days on end and never run out of things to see for weeks. 

Here is a great list of places to see NYC entertainment, the list includes the historic Brooklyn Academy of Music, Carnegie Hall, New York City Ballet and Madison Square Garden. 

In a place so locked in by buildings and concrete and traffic it is so important to have these places to escape to where nature is easily accessible to recharge.

Within NYC you can access to nature with the iconic Central Park with 843 acres of land. It is the most filmed park too with features in over 350 movies to date. First approved in 1853 as an urban park designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, Central Park is the fifth largest park in New York City. Here is a self-guided tour of the park that covers 5 miles and takes an estimated 2 hours if you’d like to see everything Central Parks has to offer.

Additionally, you have Bryant Park which was created in 1686 and is where George Washington’s troops crossed in retreat in the Battle of Long Island in 1776. There is also Fort Tryon Park which has a view of the Hudson River, the George Washington Bridge. It is also the place of the Battle of Fort Washington in the American Revolutionary War and was created by the philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr. in 1917.

​With more than 1,700 parks, playgrounds and recreation facilities in the 5 boroughs there are so many opportunities to escape the grind and take in some greenery. Here is a list of the best parks New York City has to offer.