Atlas Obscura Launches AO Takes America, Sending 90 Adventurers Across the Country to Uncover Hidden Wonders

The inaugural Adventurers Program celebrates America’s 250th anniversary by inspiring travelers to discover extraordinary places in every corner of the United States.

NEW YORK, NY — As the United States marks its 250th anniversary, Atlas Obscura is celebrating in the way it knows best: by encouraging people to explore the country’s most fascinating, overlooked, and unexpected places.

Today, Atlas Obscura announced AO Takes America, the company’s first ever Adventurers Program, bringing 90 and counting Adventurers from across the United States to spend the summer exploring remarkable destinations, sharing travel stories, and introducing others to hidden gems in their own backyards.

Building on Atlas Obscura’s roots as a community-powered platform for discovering extraordinary places, the program brings together explorers with a shared passion for curiosity, storytelling, and meaningful travel. Throughout the summer, the Adventurers, who range from journalism students to award winning travel writers, editors, researchers, photographers, and geographers, will visit Atlas Obscura destinations, uncover new places worthy of inclusion, and publish stories documenting their journeys.

Participants were selected based on their passion for exploration, their enthusiasm for sharing stories, and their commitment to discovering unique destinations across the country.

Among this summer’s adventures:

• • Patrick Tindall is exploring California’s queer history, traveling from Los Angeles to San Francisco to Visalia while inviting readers to help uncover overlooked stories along the way.
  • Monica Sanders, a New Orleans native and National Geographic Explorer, takes readers to Ix Art Park in Charlottesville, Virginia, a former textile mill transformed into an outdoor world of murals, installations, and immersive art. 
  • Michelle L. Jensen is road tripping between Los Angeles and San Francisco, intentionally stopping in the towns and attractions she would normally drive past.
  • Kasey Rhone is taking day trips through Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, and Arkansas, discovering remarkable destinations close to home.
  • Alexis Wood is traveling across California in search of unconventional attractions, overlooked landmarks, and the people who preserve them.
  • Ricky Webster retraced his parents’ honeymoon by visiting the iconic Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo.
  • Caitlin English discovered “America’s Stonehenge” just minutes from her childhood home and is continuing her search for New England’s strangest places alongside her sister.

• Amy Laichareonsup brings experience as a hiking ambassador and has spent years connecting people with unusual places in California’s high desert. She hopes to expand that passion through Atlas Obscura by documenting lesser known destinations. 

Visitors can follow each Adventurer’s journey through the Atlas Obscura 50 States Hub, where new travel stories, recommendations, and discoveries will be published throughout the summer.