5 Things You Must Do In America

Rediscover your patriotic streak this summer with an iconic American experience. Eat a Fenway Frank at a Boston Red Sox baseball game. Ride the historic 1927 wooden Cyclone roller coaster on Coney Island. Stand speechless at the edge of the Grand Canyon. These 5 nation-defining pastimes and places are nostalgic things you need to experience at least once in your lifetime.

# Baseball at Fenway Park, Boston, Massachusetts

There's no denying America's love for its favorite pastime, especially in Boston among Red Sox fans. Fenway Park is considered hallowed ground, with seats so close to the field that you can hear the crack of the bat and feel part of the game. Babe Ruth pitched here, and a red-painted seat in right field marks the spot where one of Ted Williams' longest home runs landed. Traditions reign supreme at this 102-year-old ballpark. The scoreboard is still changed by hand, and the 37-foot "Green Monster" wall in left field has haunted pitchers for seven decades. Lining up for a Fenway Frank is as much a part of the ritual as booing the Yankees or signing the right-field foul pole with a Sharpie. You'll stand up and sing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during the seventh-inning stretch and join the crowd again in the eighth for Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline."

# Country Music, Nashville, Tennessee

It was country music at the Grand Ole Opry that earned Nashville its moniker "Music City" in 1925, and the name stuck. Today Nashville has a higher concentration of people working in the music industry per capita than anywhere else in the world. The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is here, and every year the industry's biggest names converge on the city for the CMA Awards. Experience the scene in more than 130 music venues around town, including the world-famous honky-tonks on Broadway. The Bluebird Cafe, which has appeared on the TV series Nashville, is where Garth Brooks was discovered and signed to Capitol Records. To find the live-music venues near where you're staying, download the free Nashville Live Music Guide app.

# Cable Cars, San Francisco, California

After watching horses on wet cobblestones struggle to heave a horsecar up San Francisco's steep Jackson Street in 1869, Andrew Smith Hallidie came up with the idea for a steam engine-powered, cable-driven rail system. Four years later, the city's first cable car hit the road. Check out one of the first cable cars in the free Cable Car Museum and see how the underground pulley system works. Or hop on a made-by-hand cable car, each one a national landmark, and ride the same Jackson Street incline up which the horses once trudged. It takes two to manage the brakes, especially on steeper streets, and the public-transit duo working the cables always delivers an entertaining ride after ringing the brass bell.

# Hot Dogs and Roller Coasters, Coney Island, New York

Nothing captures the essence of an American summer getaway like the sound of a wooden roller coaster and the aroma of fried food on a boardwalk. New York's Coney Island is a legendary seaside playground, where a 1918 Ferris wheel and 1927 Cyclone roller coaster still amuse crowds. This June saw the opening of the Thunderbolt, the first major roller coaster built here since the Cyclone. See circus acts and try your luck at Skeeball or other games of chance. Throughout summer, you can catch a free fireworks show every Friday night on the boardwalk. On Monday nights in July and August, movies are screened on the beach as part of the Flicks on the Beach program.

# Bourbon and Horse Country, Kentucky

Kentucky has accidental aging to thank for the invention of the state's iconic elixir. In the 1700s, farmers started converting corn to whiskey and shipping it down the Mississippi River. The long trip in oak barrels to New Orleans aged the whiskey, giving it the distinct amber color and smooth flavor known as bourbon. Today, the drink of choice of Mad Men's Don Draper is on a comeback. And this year marks the 50th anniversary of Congress declaring bourbon "America's only native spirit"—all the more reason to sip it on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail or Louisville's Urban Bourbon Trail. Start at the Ohio River and work your way across the rolling countryside's Bourbon, Horses & History Region, pacing yourself with stops at horse farms to meet retired equine champions.