Travel Ideas America’s “Hidden” Landmarks, Uncovered At Last! (NAPSA)—The hotel pool, the amusement park, the souvenir shop—bn there, done that. Whenit comes to travel, finding “the unique” is what can make a vacation truly memorable. Instead, what about eating a hamburger where it was first served, or sing the house used in a favorite television show or movie? If the spirit for adventure urges one to unearth the lesser known, the Internet makesfinding these off-the-beaten-path locales easier. Hampton Inn, for instance, has created “Hidden Landmarks”at www.hamptonlandmarks.com, an insider’s guide filled with hundreds of offbeat sites for exploring a different side of America’s pop culture past. Even the well-traveled vacationer will find something new to discover, such as: The Marilyn Monroe Pose Stand where Monroe posed suggestively over the updraft of a New York City subway grating for the movie “The Seven Year Itch.” Raise a Glass at the Fountain of Youth Toast youth where Ponce de Leon found the fabled spring in St. Augustine, Florida. Visitors are invited to sample its waters. James Dean Died Here Visit the Dean memorial at Jack Ranch Caf outside of Bakersfield, Calif. Nearby is Blackwell’s Corner, where he bought an apple and Coke before the fateful crash in 1955. Get Your Kicks on Route 66 Soak in the past in Oatman, Arizona on U.S. 66 where Clark Image courtesy of Field of Dreams, Dyersville, lowa They built it. And people still come. Made famous in the 1989 movie, “Field of Dreams,” this is one of the ultimate baseball landmarks in the country. Some 60,000 people flock to this cornfield each year to rnacttheir baseball dreams. Gable and Carole Lombard spent their honeymoon on their way back to Hollywood. Hold the Ketchup Enjoy a burger at Louis’ Lunch in New Haven, Conn., where the restaurant served the first hamburger in 1900. Playball! Run the bases, play catch, bat—simply havea ball at the actual “Field of Dreams!” The house and cornfield outside Cedar Rapids, Iowaare open to visitors. From food and sports firsts to unexplainable mysteries and infamous crimes, this fr resource holds plenty of opportunities to discover America’s hidden past. “No other country embraces, celebrates or studies pop culture like America,” says Chris Epting, author and pop culture historian. To that end, Epting has dedicated a good part of his life to finding the little known sites where something big occurred. Hampton partnered with Epting to create Hidden Landmarks as part of its “Save-A-Landmark” program that protects and brings attention to ndy landmarks across the country. With the Internet and Hidden Landmarks, this year’s vacations will be anything but ordinary.
