2020 National Geographic Partners, LLC.

Along the way, the well-traveled English professor wrote in her diary of “the glory and the music of Niagara Falls,” the amber waves of grain in Kansas, and the purple majesty of the Rocky Mountains.

To celebrate the spirit of a nation always on the move, National Geographic asked prominent people representing each of America’s 50 states, six territories, and Washington, D.C.

These passages, collected in National Geographic’s new book, America the Beautiful, reveal what so many people have in common—a love of country, from sea to shining sea.

It’s a wild, vast land no fence can tame.

(Related: See the breathtaking beauty of America’s least visited national park.).

An alpine lake sits below forested mountains and rocky peaks in Colorado’s Elks Range.

Growing up as a fourth-generation Coloradan, I learned early on to appreciate the diversity of the state’s geography and its people.

The ever-present majestic Rocky Mountains, crystal clear rivers and lakes teeming with shimmering rainbow trout and colorful greenback cutthroat trout, dense aspen groves that stretch as far as the eye can see, high plains of sagebrush, stunning canyon lands and plateaus, massive sand dunes and sweeping plains of waving grasses—all made for a backdrop of wonder.

People come to Colorado to experience its natural beauty but they stay for the beauty of its welcoming people who possess a uniquely pioneering spirit.

Under the light of a full moon, water cascades from rocky tidal pools at Northern Mariana Islands’s Puntan Laggua (Parrotfish Point), in the Pacific Ocean.

congressman representing the people of the Northern Mariana Islands

Twilight at Newfound Gap casts shades of blue over a forest in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

In Wyoming’s plains, mountains, and meadows, I’ve experienced its diverse flora and fauna—from tiny alpine flowers and bustling insects to the majestic bison and grizzly bears

I’ve marveled at its hydrothermal features and paused to honor the history and people of this land

—By Hillary Robison, deputy chief, Yellowstone Center for Resources, Yellowstone National Park