Favorite U.S. places over 2004 cross-country trip

1. Seattle Public Library, Seattle, Washington. Rem Koolhaas’s best-loved and deepest work, it’s beautiful, breathtaking, and fun to be inside.
2. Hotel San Jose, Austin, Texas. Modernist makeover of a great old motor lodge; a great vibe, a Congress Avenue address, and wonderful staff.
3. The Forevertron and the House on the Rock, near Madison, Wisconsin. These two attractions were unexpectedly moving, for surprisingly similar reasons; the former is a sculpture garden working from the raw materials of castoff scrap machinery, the latter a wholly uncurated collection of unimaginable scale. Both are testaments to the Western ethos of the individual.
4. Lightning Field, near Quemado, New Mexico. An examination of the earth, light, quiet, and the social self.
5. Lafayette Cemetery, Garden District, New Orleans, Louisiana. A complex matrix of place, addressing the land, architecture, and text. The metal gateway is a treasure.
6. Asheville, North Carolina. A well-regulated and attractive old industrial town, renewed.
7. Los Angeles, California. America’s most complex and least-loved city, a place that never fails to soothe me.
8. The Badlands, South Dakota. Mythic and full of wonder, despite their reputation.
9. Barbette, Minneapolis, Minnesota. A delicious meal.
10. Monument Valley and the San Juan Inn, Mexican Hat and environs, southern Utah. Home to the most varied and colorful landscape of the trip. The location of the old motor lodge, perched above the San Juan River, took one back forty years.