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Begin your virtual tour of United States of America by clicking on any of the above entry points,
and follow roads or trails through a network of linked images.
The United States of America covers 3,537,441 square miles on the North American continent, plus the islands of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. Forty-eight states are called the "contiguous" or "continental" states, reaching from the Atlantic Ocean on the east, to the Pacific Ocean on the west. They are bordered by Canada on the north and Mexico on the south. Alaska juts into the Pacific Ocean to the west of Canada.
The United States include a diverse collection of geography and climate, including forests, mountains, coastal plains, deserts, dramatic canyons and endless miles of prairie. A large mountainous regions extends the western coast inland nearly a thousand miles, known mostly as the Rocky Mountains. The whole area is typified by mountain ranges running north to south, separated by valley or basins. The mountains along the coast are known as the Coastal Mountains, which along much of the coast drop straight into the ocean with no coastal lowland. The Cascade Mountains are a volcanic range running from northern California through central Oregon and Washington. The Sierra Nevadas run along most of the eastern border of California, being the most formidable and tallest mountains in the 48 contiguous states. Throughout the western mountains, the taller mountains collect the rainwater from passing clouds, providing for beautiful forests. The lower mountains and valleys in between get less rain and are often covered by deserts.
In the eastern United States another mountain range parallels the Atlantic coast. These mountains are grouped together as the Appalachian Highlands and include the Appalachian Mountains, the Catskills in New York, the Green and White mountains in New England and the Great Smoky Mountains in North Carolina and Tennessee. These mountains are lower than the Rocky mountains, averaging around 3,000 feet and reaching a high point at Mt. Mitchell at 6,684 feet. A coastal plain separates them from the Atlantic coast and they do not cover as large an area as the mountains on the western coast. Rainfall is much more plentious, providing for more vegetation especially on the lower slopes.
Between the Appalachians and the Rocky Mountains lies a vast area of mostly flat land including the Mississippi River basin, the prairies of the midwest and the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. A small area of mountains lies within this area, separating the prairies on the north from the coastal regions to the south. This area is known as the Interior Highlands and includes the Ozark Mountains, the Boston Mountains and the Ouachita Mountains.
The history of the United States of America began with the landing of the Mayflower at Plymouth Rock in Connecticut on December 11, 1620. Emigrants from various European countries, all seeking personal and religious freedoms not available in the Old World, faced tremendous obstacles to found new lives in a wild land. Weather and nature, hunger and disease, misunderstandings with natives, disagreements with mother nations in Europe all challenged them. The date July 4th, 1776, marks the declaration of American independance, which then had to won by war. It wasn't until June 21, 1788 that the consititution of the United States was ratified, allowing it to grow to become the properous and stable nation it is today.
Among the 284,796,887 people who live here, The United States of America is more commonly called "America." To us, it represents a country, a land, a mixture of peoples, an ideal, and a way of life. While a virtual tour primarily represents a land, all of these are an inseparable part of it. UntraveledRoad depicts a cross-section of America as it really exists, with no special effects added. At the same time it tells a wonderful story, (interspersed with the various failings of human nature), sometimes in stunning grandeur, more often in simple moments extracted out of the midst of ordinary people.
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