1. Chicago
   New York
2. Stanford
   Stamford

One of the many nicknames for New York City is "the city that never sleeps." This is probably because there is always someone awake and working in New York.

1. Seattle
   Dallas
2. Washington, D.C.
   Kansas City

While the capital of the U.S. has moved a couple times, it is currently located in the District of Columbia, in a city called Washington.

1. Los Alamos
   Las Vegas
2. New Orleans
   Los Angeles

Los Angeles has been called a lot of things, but the most poetic name references the Spanish meaning of the city's name: the city of angels. Los Angeles is in California.

1. Chicago
   Detroit
2. Deerfield
   Cincinnati

Many people believe Chicago is called the windy city because of the wind there. Chicago sits on the great lakes, and the wind in Chicago certainly blows cold, but this is not the source of the name. It is the political corruption, the meaningless words or "wind" that Chicago is famous for, that gives Chicago its moniker.

1. Detroit
   Nashville
2. Tuscon
   Newark

Most people think of music when they hear the word "Motown," but the name does not come from Detroit's musical tradition. Rather, the name comes from the motoring industry in Detroit, which extended its name to the city and to the musical style originating in the city.

1. Sacramento
   Salt Lake City
2. Santa Fe
   San Francisco

San Francisco has a long history, going back to when it was a little port city sitting in a convenient spot for anyone in the gold rush.

1. Seattle
   Phoenix
2. Tuscon
   Houston

If there is one thing Seattle is known for, outside of the corporations that call it home, it's the weather. Seattle gets a lot of rain, about 37 inches annually, on average.

1. Denver
   Boulder
2. Grand Junction
   Pueblo

Denver is the capital of Colorado. It is also the mile high city, so named for its altitude.

1. New York
   Albany
2. Brooklyn
   Lake Placid

Albany, a city in the middle of New York State, has been the capital since colonial times. New York City is not the state capital, believe it or not.

1. Mobile
   Atlanta
2. Baltimore
   Boston

Why is Boston called Beantown? Because of Boston baked beans, of course! Baked beans have been a staple in the diet of Bostonians for generations.

1. Los Angeles
   San Francisco
2. Sacramento
   San Diego

Sacramento was founded in 1848, and became the capital of California in 1854.

1. Lancaster, PA
   Lincoln, NE
2. Philadelphia, PA
   Miami, FL

Lincoln, Nebraska, was originally known as Lancaster. It's current name is a tribute to President Abraham Lincoln.

1. Boston, MA
   Brooklyn, NY
2. San Diego, CA
   Lancaster, PA

Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was renamed for the city and house of Lancaster in England - hence the red rose that is its town symbol. The town was founded with the name Hickory Town.

1. Philadelphia
   Atlanta
2. Minneapolis
   St. Paul

Philadelphia takes it name from the Book of Revelations, of all things. Philadelphia is a city in Asia Minor mentioned in Revelation, and its name roughly translates in Greek to "brotherly love," not "the city of brotherly love,"

1. Portland, ME
   Bayonne, NJ
2. Tombstone, AZ
   Yuma, AZ

Back in the Old West, the aptly named Tombstone was the murder capital of the country, with rates higher even than modern day Detroit or Washington, even reaching back to their darker days in the 1970s and 1980s.

1. Washington, D.C.
   Newark, NJ
2. Los Angeles, CA
   Portland, OR

This unfortunate statistic was seen as emblematic of the problems plaguing Newark, most of which persist to this day. Along with car theft, breaking and entering, muggings and other crimes were common in Newark.

1. Dodge City, KS
   Intercourse, PA
2. Montpelier, VT
   Flagstaff, AZ

Dodge City was an Old West town with a reputation for gunfights, and to this day, reenactors play out these famous fights for happy tourists. If you got in with the wrong people in that town back in the 1860s, you needed to get the heck out of Dodge.

1. Washington, D.C.
   Portland, OR
2. Portland, ME
   Salem, MA

Portland, Oegon, is a unique place with a unique mix of conservative small town culture and West Coast liberalism, resulting in an unusual art scene and cultural affiliation. "Keep Portland weird" is an oft-repeated saying about the city.

1. Huston
   Austin
2. Miami
   Jacksonville, FL

The idea that the capital of Texas would be considered weird sounds counterintuitive, but Austin is also a college town with a vibrant youth culture and theater scene. Buy your T-shirt to help keep it weird.

1. Los Angeles
   Park City
2. New York
   Denver

The small town of Park City, Utah, is the home of the massive Sundance Film Festival, where film distributors buy the hits of the future and stars are made. If you plan on going for the festival, you had better make your sleeping arrangements long in advance.

1. Springfield, IL
   Springfield, OH
2. Miami
   Dallas

Miami sits at sea level, and it has already begun to feel the effects of climate change, with each storm causing more damage as the sea level incrementally rises. At some point, Florida will have to decide if Miami is worth preserving like Venice, or if it will sink beneath the waves.

1. Detroit
   St. Paul
2. New Orleans
   Albuquerque

While many cities developed a jazz culture unique to them, New Orleans is one of the oldest. It's also famous for Cajun and Creole cuisine.

1. Mobile, AL
   Dallas
2. Atlanta
   Providence

It may sound like a museum housed on a train, but the Mobile Museum of Art is a stationary building located in Mobile, Alabama. Trick question.

1. Annapolis, MD
   West Point, NY
2. San Jose, CA
   Pensacola, FL

Annapolis, Maryland, is the home of the U.S. Naval Academy. This is where the best and brightest train to become naval officers.

1. Olympia
   Great Falls
2. Southampton
   Tacoma

Great Falls, Montana, is a classic town on what was the great Western frontier. The C.M. Russell Museum catalogs art and culture from the times of westward expansion.

1. Salem, WA
   Washington, D.C.
2. Reno
   Salem, MA

The Salem witch trials are where the term "witch hunt" comes from, only in the case of the original trials, the hunt was literal. Of course, the witches were imaginary, but the trials and executions were real. Next time you are in the Boston area, go check out the museums in Salem.

1. Peru, IL
   Reno
2. Las Vegas
   Chicago

Las Vegas is very proud of its reputation as sin city, but to keep people showing up and not feeling guilty about it, the city has embraced it's "house rules" about morality. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

1. Fairbanks, AK
   Des Moines
2. Utqiagvik, AK
   Key West

Utqiagvik is a tiny village in northern Alaska. It may not have a YMCA, but it has a pretty amazing view. It was formerly known as Barrow, Alaska.

1. Cedar Rapids
   Sioux City
2. Des Moines
   Fort Madison

Des Moines is the state capital of Iowa. With a population just north of 200,000 people, it's a smaller city, but it's pretty large for the region.

1. Williston
   Bismarck
2. Grand Forks
   Fargo

All of these towns and cities are on the periphery of the state of North Dakota, except for Bismarck. It's named is connected to its large Germanic population.

1. Jackson
   Canyon Village
2. West Yellowstone
   Hoback

All of the above towns are in both Wyoming and Yellowstone National Park, except for West Yellowstone. It is actually in Montana, right on the border with both the park and Wyoming.

1. Ballarat
   Badwater
2. Searles Valley
   Keeler

The aptly named Badwater is an unincorporated community in Inyo County, CA, located in Death Valley.

1. Atlantic City, NJ
   Johnstown, PA
2. Rapid City, SD
   Bakersfield, CA

Johnstown was the victim of hubris in 1889. The South Fork Dam, shoddily built to create an artificial lake for a club built by and for the robber barons, broke, destroying the city and many others, in the ensuing flood. More than 2,200 people died.

1. Columbus
   Richmond
2. Pittsburgh
   Indianapolis

Carnegie Mellon University is one of the jewels in the crown of the city of Pittsburgh. It was founded in 1900 by steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, as one of the many public works he funded in the wake of the Johnstown Flood, a disaster of his making.

1. Woodstock
   Saugerties
2. Albany
   Kingston

Saugerties, New York, was the actual location of the Woodstock festival, despite its name. Saugerties is just one town over from Woodstock, an upstate New York village.