Travel stirs the soul and inspires even the most artless explorer.
“You don’t travel, the journey takes you,” declared author John Steinbeck, whose 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath famously described the tough times on the road from Oklahoma’s Dust Bowl to golden California.
Gorgeous new landscapes, new tastes, and intriguing cultures inspire those who travel with eyes wide open to capture the joys of their discoveries in photographs, journals, social media posts, and even the old-fashioned art of postcards.
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For the most talented and inspired travellers, new discoveries inspire words, books, songs, images and art that become ingrained in popular culture.
Here are five American travel landmarks that were so inspiring they shaped the country’s culture.
1. California – Big Sur
Big Sur boasts some of California’s most beautiful and isolated coastal scenery along State Route 1, also known as the Big Sur Coast Highway. (Associated Press)
Big Sur reminds visitors that California, the most populous state in the United States, still boasts awe-inspiring natural beauty.
State Highway 1 hangs precariously between the Santa Lucia Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, offering dramatic and sometimes unsettling views of land, sea and towering redwood forests.
Jack Kerouac helped popularize the rugged coastal landscape with his 1962 novel “Big Sur.”
Jack Kerouac, already famous for On the Road, helped popularize the rugged coastline with his 1962 novel Big Sur.
The Beach Boys, Alanis Morissette and Johnny Rivers have all performed songs with “Big Sur” in the title, and several movies have been filmed there.
Renowned novelist Henry Miller lived in Big Sur for many years and is still honored here with the Henry Miller Memorial Library.
Although millions of people drive the 70-mile road through Big Sur each year, the town remains highly isolated, with few permanent residents and roadside amenities. Even in 2024, landslides frequently render Big Sur inaccessible by car.
2. Florida – Key West


A man and woman rent bicycles outside the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum. (Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
The Florida Keys begin just south of Miami and stretch west for over 100 miles into the Gulf of Mexico.
This spectacular archipelago of coral reefs offers one of the country’s most spectacular drives, with the feeling that you’re gliding through the sea as you hop from island to island.
The road ends in Key West, an adult paradise of drinking and singing bars, seafood shacks and laid-back nightlife. The most popular thing to do in Key West is watch the beautiful sunset every night from Mallory Square.
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Key West has inspired more books, songs and hangovers per square mile than perhaps any other city in America.
Musician Jimmy Buffett transformed this real-life “Margaritaville” into a subgenre of sun-soaked, tiki-cocktail-flavored pop tunes, and many musicians, including Kenny Chesney and Bob Dylan, have sung enthusiastically about Key West.
Ernest Hemingway lived in Key West when he wrote many of his famous novels, including A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls and Death in the Afternoon. His Key West home is one of the most popular literary landmarks in the USA.
3. Georgia – Savannah Historic District


A landmark sign in Savannah, Georgia, notes that the city was the hometown of James L. Pierpont, composer of “Jingle Bells,” but does not say that the song was written in Savannah, acknowledging that the song’s origins are shrouded in mystery. (Courtesy of Visit Savannah)
The 18th century South still thrives today among Savannah’s green open spaces.
With nearly 300 years of history, visitors love this laid-back city for its colonial-era cobblestone River Street, delicious restaurants serving the best of Southern cuisine, including Paula Deen’s flagship The Lady and Sons, and the historic layout of its leafy downtown square.
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Savannah has enjoyed new popularity since its memorable and captivating description in the 1994 bestselling book, “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.”
That same year, Savannah was the setting for one of the biggest blockbuster movies of all time: war hero and tech tycoon “Forrest Gump” tells his incredible tale while waiting for a bus in Chippewa Square.
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Savannah is also said to have inspired one of the most popular songs in world history: Savannah church musician James Lord Pierrepoint wrote “Jingle Bells” in the 1850s.
4. New Jersey – Asbury Park Boardwalk


Fortune teller Madame Marie is one of the eccentric local characters who add a festive atmosphere to the Asbury Park boardwalk. (Kelly J. Byrne/Fox News Digital)
New Jersey’s boardwalks bring a festive, American carnival-like culture to the Garden State coast, and the boardwalk in Asbury Park, a city of juke joints, may be the most iconic, offering beautiful ocean views, easy access to New York City, and a notable contribution to American pop culture.
Bruce Springsteen burst onto the American cultural scene with his debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ, and helped cement the city’s reputation as a rock music mecca.
Today’s attractions include the Silverball Retro Arcade, the Stephen Crane House, which was the home of the author of the famous Civil War novel “The Order of the Red Brave,” and the famous music venue, the Stone Pony.
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“Did you hear they finally arrested Madame Marie?/She’s better at telling fortunes than the cops/My life on the boardwalk is over,” Springsteen sings to Sandy in his 1973 hit “4th of July, Asbury Park.”
But Madame Marie’s stand remains and her New Jersey boardwalk remains a bustling spot.
5. Ohio – Rock and Roll Hall of Fame


1950s rock and roll star Elvis Presley performs onstage. (Getty Images)
Born in America, rock and roll is an art form that blended artistic and cultural influences in the years following World War II, igniting the global pop music fires of the 1950s.
The genre’s greatest performers are forever remembered in the I.M. Pei-designed museum in Cleveland.
On this day in history, March 21, 1952, the first rock concert took place in Cleveland and ended in chaos and violence.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was built on the shores of Lake Erie as a tribute to Cleveland’s role in shaping the future of pop culture.
Among many other contributions, Cleveland was the hometown of famous DJ Alan Freed, a passionate promoter of the new genre who is said to have coined the globally known term “rock and roll.”


Ernest Hemingway lookalike contest, Key West, Florida, Big Sur, California, and Bruce Springsteen.
Freed also organized the Moondog Coronation Ball in 1952, widely considered the world’s first rock concert.
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The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame now inducts many other genres, including rappers (Grandmaster Flash), country stars (Bob Wills), soul singers (Al Green) and icons of the pre-rock era (Louis Armstrong).