A vacation trip in America most often leads one to places of entertainment and cultural and historical interest. These destinations, by their nature, reflect back to us a vision of our culture and our historical legacy. It is this vision and interpretation of who we are and how we got here that interests me with this project. A trip through the Black Hills, for example, will offer you a re-telling of late 19th century American history at every turn of the road. The Wisconsin Dells offers up themes of Indians and Cowboys and even ancient Greece. I intend to document a vision of popular American mythology as seen through the prism of these gathering places by focusing on the information they present to the public. How do these places interpret the past, and inform the present? What stories and messages do they present to us, and what context are they placed in? How is architecture and design used to support the messages? This project has its roots in a two-volume photographic book I created in 1976 during my senior year at the Kansas City Art Institute. The project was a look at the whimsy and messaging that I found in various tourist attractions in the Upper Midwest. I have maintained this interest in tourism since then, and have recently returned to making it my main photographic concern. My point of view has evolved to my current focus on the role that these places play in the institutionalization of our cultural memory