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National Park Service celebrates centennial

Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska

Highest, tallest, hottest: National park record-setters

Sightseer Americanus: A throwback to tourists past

This April 13, 2014 view shows Hoover Dam, a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River on the border between the US states of Arizona and Nevada. Hoover Dam ,finished in 1936, impounds Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States by volume. The dam's generators provide power for public and private utilities in Nevada, Arizona, and California. Hoover Dam is a major tourist attraction; nearly a million people tour the dam each year. AFP PHOTO/JOE KLAMAR (Photo credit should read JOE KLAMAR/AFP/Getty Images)

Are we letting our national parks go to ruin?

The East Branch of the Penobscot River flows near land owned by Roxanne Quimby, the founder of Burt's Bees cosmetics company. Quimby has offered to donate a 70,000-acre parcel she owns to create a national park adjacent to the state's Baxter park. A group representing wood-related industries on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2011 joined prominent hunting and snowmobiling groups in opposition to the proposal.

Obama names Maine woods as newest national park site

12.lasso the sun.Dec-HaleakalaSunset

12 national parks in 12 months

Alpine skiing and climbing in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Daredevil skiers tackle Colorado park's highest peaks

The morning sun hits the tips of the Grand Tetons on October 5, 2012 in the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.

National park rangers to the rescue

Bristlecone pines are sanded smooth by millennia of rough winds. Mount Washington, Snake Range, Great Basin National Park, Nevada. (RICHARD OLSENIUS/National Geographic Creative via Getty Images Creative)

100 years, 100 national park experiences

Utah Bryce Canyon

Rugged, remote, otherworldly Utah

Last stand for 500-year-old trees

As seen from a hilltop 6 miles away, lava passing through vents within Pu'u O'o cone light the pre-dawn sky on January 22,2004. Lava from Kilauea Volcano near Volcano, Hawai'i has been erupting from Pu'u O'o for over 21 years.

Hiking in a Hawaiian lava tube

File - In this March 24, 2014 file photo, the historic Ahwahnee Hotel is lit up as dusk falls over Yosemite National Park, Calif. A new concessionaire takes over Tuesday at the park and many of the landmark places will have name changes at least temporarily because the old concessionaire lays claim to the names. The famed Ahwahnee Hotel is set to become the Majestic Yosemite Hotel. (John Walker/Fresno Bee via AP, File)

10 historic national park lodges

LGBT national monument Stonewall nccorig_00004301.jpg

Obama names first national monument to LGBT rights

DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK, CA - JUNE 30: Randy Kern (L) and John Rice dress as Star Wars characters for their own annual snapshot tradition near an unofficial thermometer at Furnace Creek Visitors Center reading of 131 degrees, believed by officials to be about three degree on the high side, as a heat wave spreads across the American West on June 30, 2013 in Death Valley National Park, California. Weather forecasters predict that high temperatures could reach 130 degrees in Death Valley today and tomorrow, breaking the hottest-ever temperature for June of 128 degrees, set on June 29, 1994. It is also just four degrees shy of breaking the all-time world record of 134 degrees which occurred here 100 years ago on July 10, 2013. Since then, the 130-degree mark has never been repeated and the 129-degree mark has occurred on only four occasions. Formerly, it was thought that the world?s highest temperature occurred in El Azizia, Libya in 1922 but an international team of climate experts from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) declared that reading invalid because of the combination of poor weather instrumentation which was operated by an inexperienced record-keeper located in a bad spot for accurate readings. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)

'Star Wars' and beyond: National parks in the movies

16 national parks star in new stamps

US President Barack Obama looks at Bear Glacier during a boat tour of the Kenai Fjords National Park on September 1, 2015 in Seward, Alaska. Bear Glacier is the largest glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park.

Obama to visit national parks for Father's Day

A view of Half Dome from Cook's Meadow at Yosemite National Park shows the colors at sunset. The park was created on October 1, 1906.

National parks: The roots of 'America's best idea'

A small herd of buffalo drink from a pond in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming.

Ken Burns on national parks and presidents

The Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village in New York on Monday, June 1, 2015. The Obama administration is considering a national monument to gay rights which would be situated in a small park across from the Stonewall Inn. (Photo by Richard B. Levine) *** Please Use Credit from Credit Field **

Stonewall Inn likely to be first national LGBT monument

UNITED STATES - 2015/09/20: View from the Oconaluftee Overlook of the Oconaluftee Valley with hazy mountain ridges at sunrise in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina, USA. (Photo by Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The nation's most popular national park site is ...

One of Kostic's favorite spots at Gettysburg is Powers Hill, the site of Union Gen. George Gordon Meade's temporarry headquarters on July 3, 1863.

Gettysburg: Tranquil place to soak in momentous history

** ADVANCE FOR SUNDAY, APRIL 5 **Waves break on San Miguel Island, off the coast of Southern California Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2009. For centuries, the Pacific Ocean has lapped at cliff sides that cradle fragile archaeological sites on a chain of eight Channel Islands. In a race against time and a rising tide, scientists and history buffs are hurrying to record and save eroding artifacts, which hold one of the earliest evidence for human seafaring in the Americas. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

California island used as bombing range reopens

Aviation + transportation

In the air

Virgin Australia Crew

AirlineRatings names 'most excellent' airlines for 2017

Luxury VIP jets: How the super-rich fly

World's shortest airline routes

How do planes get their names?

5 travel hacks the airlines don't want you to know about

20 incredible vintage planes you can still fly

Emirates named world's best airline in 2016 Skytrax awards

How I flew on North Korea's rarest Russian airliners

On the go

Sleeps + eats

Rest and relax

Taste sensations

Dead Rabbit Grocery and Grog

What it's like to drink in the world's best bar

malay food 4

The tastiest cuisine you've never heard of

Greece

Greece's street food revolution

alice-waters-dish

The chef who changed US food forever

LA chefs table

The best chef's table experiences in L.A.

Japan foods

25 Japanese foods we can't live without

Paid partner content

Travelzoo

Orlando: Black Friday Sale on Attraction Tickets

Orlando: Black Friday Sale on Attraction Tickets

$809 & up -- 4-Star 'Dreams' Punta Cana Trip w/Air

$999 & up -- Punta Cana 4.5-Star Retreat w/Air

$789 & up -- 'Now' 4-Star Retreat in Riviera Maya w/Air

$779 & up -- 4.5-Star Riviera Maya All-Incl. Escape w/Air

LendingTree

These 3 travel cards are worrying airlines

A card that pays TWO times the miles of your current card?

Rates hit 2.75% APR (15 yr). See if you're eligible

Reverse mortgage: Worth the risk?

The amazing VA benefits not enough vets are claiming

In case you missed it

This could be the scariest campsite ever

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America's 11 most endangered historic places

Highclere Castle, is pictured in Highclere, southern England, on May 12, 2016.
As Britain mulls questions of identity and its possible exit from the European Union, 2016 is an anniversary year for three of its most potent symbols: the queen, Shakespeare and gardener "Capability" Brown. Lancelot "Capability" Brown is credited with having created over 170 gardens, among them the grounds of Highclere Castle, made famous as the set of the hit television series Downton Abbey. / AFP / NIKLAS HALLE'N / TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY FLORENCE BIEDERMANN (Photo credit should read NIKLAS HALLE'N/AFP/Getty Images)

7 reasons to visit the real Downton Abbey

Maldives idyllic for solo travelers

01_Disney Pics HQ1 7

Building Disney's Magic Kingdom

High-end hikes step up adventure

Castello de Sammezzano remains unused for almost two decades. Built in 1605, an eccentric nobleman, Ferdinando Panciatichi Ximenes of Aragon spent 40 years renovating it to Moorish fashion, starting in 1853.

Lost luxury: The crumbling allure of abandoned hotels

Liquid gold: Portugal's stunning Douro river region

chopper town - rio2

5 of the world's best helicopter tours

Archipielago de Revillagigedo: Cabo Pearce Socorro Island

UNESCO's newest World Heritage Sites

Croatia Dubrovnik

Best coast: How Croatia's Dubrovnik rules the rivieras

14 hotels with amazing views

The new North Bondi Surf Life Saving Club, which won a public architecture award in the 2014 Australian National Architecture Awards. The new club was designed by Peter Colquhoun and DBJ Architects, along with a fund raising and building consultancy team led by Ben Griffiths of Eley Griffiths Group.

Surf club revival: Rebuilding Australia's 'cultural cathedrals'

Sai Wan, Hong Kong, China, East Asia.

17 of Hong Kong's most beautiful places

Elephants at Bwabata National Park, Namibia

The new jewel in Namibia's conservation crown

South Carolina, Charleston, Battery Park.

And the world's best city to explore is ...

White sand beaches
A perfect pit-stop for lunch, the desolate but stunning beaches along the coast of Great Guana Cay offer a relaxing place to eat.

Why you should kayak in the Bahamas

Raja Ampat Indonesia

Are these the world's most stunning coral reefs?

The death-defying Dance of the Flyers

01 cuba art deco

Havana's eye-catching Art Deco architecture

The Louvre, Paris, France

World's top 20 museums

With towns and villages few and far between, the coastline of northern Scotland is one of the most unspoiled areas of Europe. Roads here are empty of traffic and typically offer gorgeous views, although they are often single lane and require the use of passing places from time to time.

Has Scotland created greatest road trip ever?

Old Car Driving Pamir Highway: The road turns into rough, and at times dangerous dirt and gravel, when entering the Wakhan Corridor.

Is this the world's most adventurous highway?

The shot is the result of a magical, powerful instant seen from the top of Sonchaux (CH), a day when the clouds were particulary low. I though I was like immerged in a fairytale, out of every human scale.

Wow! 2016 Nat Geo travel photo contest entries

Relics of Rangoon

Relics of Rangoon: Myanmar's disappearing heritage buildings

Pipes, cables and pumps line the interior of a wheel well on a Southwest Airlines plane parked at the Atlanta airport.

24 hours in the world's busiest airport

Kurpaty Sanatorium in Yalta, Crimea.

The race to save Soviet history

These are the world's happiest countries

BrickByBrick_Colosseum_top-view

Architectural wonders made entirely from Lego

Couple. This is one of two photos where I got a candid smile.

Tourist's pics capture a different side of Pyongyang

World treasure. While Baikal is now attracting an increasing number of international travelers, the lake's dramatic scenery has long captured Russian hearts and minds. "Russian people think of Lake Baikal as the jewel of Siberia," explains Jack Sheremetoff, a local guide who also owns a popular hostel in Irkutsk. "Most lakes are less than 20,000 years old -- Baikal is at least 25 million years old. UNESCO referred to the lake as the 'Galapagos of Russia' when they made it a World Heritage site in 1996."

Sacred sea: Russia's vast and remote Lake Baikal

Arctic wilderness

High Arctic: By sea into a frozen, fragile world

[PICTURE: UNDER EXPOSED OPOTY CATEGORY WINNER-GEORGE KARBUS.JPG]
UNDER EXPOSED -- WINNER
George Karbus (Czech Republic)
After 11 years of freediving in Irish waters I have seen many types of beautiful jellyfish, but the summer last year was exceptionally warm and sunny and the ocean was a different place. There were amazing runs of moon and compass jellyfish. My girlfriend and I were on a freedive session when we discovered these amazing clouds of moon jellyfish. We immediately began swimming among them, enjoying the pulsing as they propelled themselves along.
Nikon D4 with Nikkor 16mm fisheye lens, ISO 1400, 1/500sec at f/11, Subal housing
georgekarbusphotography.com

World's best outdoor photography winners are ...

Workers install a piece of glass on a suspension bridge, approximately 300 meters above ground at the Grand Canyon of Zhangjiajie on January 27, 2016. The glass-bottomed bridge, 430 meters in length and 6 meters in width, is expected to open in May this year.

Dramatic first look at world's highest, longest glass-bottom bridge

During the Second World War the occupying Italian army used Fort Mamula as a concentration camp

WWII concentration camp to become luxury resort

Once inside the volcano, attendants slather bathers in mud.

Dip into Colombia's messiest attraction