50 Cities of the U.S.A. by Gabrielle Balkan

Author: Gabrielle Balkan

From the team that brought you The 50 States comes 50 Cities of the USA. Explore skycraper streets, museum miles, local food trucks and city parks from Anchorage to Washington D.C., and discover more than 2,000 facts that celebrate the people, culture, and diversity that have helped make America what it is today.

Cities include Anchorage • Atlanta • Austin • Baltimore • Birmingham • Boise • Boston • Burlington • Charleston     Charlotte • Cheyenne • Chicago • Cleveland • Columbus • Denver • Detroit • Hartford • Honolulu • Houston   Indianapolis • Jacksonville • Kansas City • Las Vegas • Little Rock • Los Angeles • Louisville • Memphis   Miami • Milwaukee • Minneapolis-St. Paul   Nashville • New Orleans • New York • Newark • Newport • Oklahoma City • Philadelphia • Phoenix • Pittsburgh • Portland, MA • Portland, OR • Rapid City • Salt Lake City • San Francisco • Santa Fe • Seattle • St. Louis • Tucson • Virginia Beach • Washington, D.C.

Here are some fun facts about Salt Lake City:

• UTAH MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS Supports land art like Nancy Holt’s Sun Tunnels: four massive concrete tunnels that line up with the sunrise and sunset.
• 100 ARTISTS/1 IMAGE Local artist Mason Fetzer’s annually encourages the public to help paint squares of a 20 x 20-foot mystery mural.
  BUSY BEAVERS are found along streams, gnawing trees with their strong teeth to make create dams.
• CHURCH HISTORY MUSEUM On display: embroidered samplers, part of a 19th-century Mormon young woman’s education.
  FESTIVAL FUN SLC is home to year-round celebrations like The Pride Festival and The Dark Arts Festival for goth lovers.
• FUNERAL POTATOES This cheesy casserole is such a SLC classic that it was featured on a 2002 Winter Olympics souvenir pin.
• LIME GREEN JELL-O is Utah’s unofficial snack food–and SLC residents hold the record for eating the most!
• RED BUTTE GARDENS hosts plant-based programs, like how to train and shape Bonsai in the Japanese art of growing miniature trees.
• RIRIE-WOODBURY DANCE COMPANY Contemporary dancers train some six hours a day, six days a week.
• ROCKY MOUNTAIN ELK grow new antlers every spring and shed them every winter.
• SKI SALT LAKE The area offers some 7,500 skiable acres and gets an average snowfall of 500 inches.
• SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL Since its start in 1985, Sundance has screened some 20 million feet of 35mm film.
• SUPER STARGAZING Outside SLC dark skies are brightly lit with constellations like Ursa major, the Great Bear.
• THE ABRAVANEL CONCERT HALL The home of the Utah Symphony has no perfect ninety degree angles because of their negative effect on sound.
• THE CLARK PLANETARIUM teaches all about the planet Venus, whose clouds are made of sulfuric acid.
• THE DISCOVERY GATEWAY CHILDREN’S MUSEUM offers obstacle courses and hula hoop play; tip: bigger hoops are easier to hula!
• THE LEONARDO museum uses art, science, technology, and creativity to examine all life, like the DNA of Egyptian mummies.
• THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM OF UTAH features ceratopsians: herbivorous, beaked dinosaurs from the Cretaceous period, 155.7 million years ago.
• THE OLYMPIC PARK features a zip line that lets you soar 50mph over the K120 nordic ski jump course!
• THE SALT LAKE PUBLIC LIBRARY has a collection of over 500,000 books and subscriptions to over 60 newspapers and magazines.
• THE SHOSHONE/GOSHUTE YOUTH LANGUAGE APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM makes books and video games in the Shoshoni language—many feature the Itsappeh (coyote).
• THE UTAH ARTS FESTIVAL features graffiti artists who will “bomb” a custom-made hat with several “cannons.”
• THIS IS THE PLACE HERITAGE PARK includes a Native American Village that represents the five tribes that inhabited the region before settlement.
• UTAH STATE CAPITOL All State Capitol buildings house a replica of the Liberty Bell; the original is in Pennsylvania’s Independence Hall.