This place is pretty fantastic, but the wait is going to be PHENOMENALLY long, gang. When I went, there were four of us, and it took us 3 hours and change and 80+ floors to get up to the top. HAVING SAID THAT: it is super freaking majestic, and you won't have enough room on your phone for all the pictures you'll want to take. I would personally recommend the Top of the Rock at 30 Rockefeller Center for ease and view, but the Empire State Building does have the pedigree, after all.
This thing is an artistic feat, not a seam to be found. It's one of the real marvels of Chicago. Downside is you'll have to wade through a crowd of other tourists leaning on it and being all "OHMYGOD TAKE MY PICTURE, LOOK IT'S LIKE A GIANT *MIRROR*!"
And that gets pretty old pretty fast.
This is such a weird place. It goes into all kinds of unexpected territory-- as I recall, Johnny Carson's star is now outside a strip joint (although from all appearances, a pretty high class one). It's a monument committed to the idea that you can freeze some parts of Hollywood greatness and they'll be there forever, but Hollywood is not a town where "forever" means anything.
This place is just awesome. It's iconic and it's still functioning, which is a rarity. Shame the light doesn't stream in the windows like it does in the old photos, but there's still some secrets. Find one of the arched sections near the restaurants under the station and whisper into the corner: your friends will be able to hear it on the other side. It's pretty cool.
You look at Central Park and think "What's the big deal? It's just a park." Six hours later, you've hiked all over, you've seen the Bethesda Fountain, you've walked through up and around the castle, you've checked out the baseball diamonds, you're exhausted and you still haven't seen it all. It's a literal treasure in the heart of the city. Don't skip it.
Touristy as hell, but good for a walk and a view out over the lake. It's bracing, even late in summer, even though you're surrounded by the cream of American tourists -- fat, lazy, and entitled. Your trip to Chicago can be complete without a stop here, but it's still kind of fun.
I climbed one of the peaks in the smokies when I was in high school, with a church group, and I've gotta say, the majesty of church didn't stick with me, but the majesty of the mountains and the mist certainly did.
It's definitely the tourist-iest spot in NYC, but David's comment is spot-on: it distills everything about the city into just a couple square blocks. Love it or hate it, this is New York.
Great spot to see a concert and grab some semi-cheap drinks. Saw Dessa open for Saul Williams a couple years back, and it was big enough to fit everyone, but not so big that it didn't feel intimate.
This restaurant apparently just closed, without notice to the staff. Shady move.