Las Vegas depends on workers who do truly unique jobs; scuba-diving engineers fine tune the dancing fountains at the Bellagio, while window washers rappel down the glass pyramid of the Luxor; nearby Red Rock Canyon is a Mecca for climbers.

In Chicago, visitors head to the 94th floor of the John Hancock Center; one rooftop serves as a training ground for firefighters, while another is an exercise yard for inmates; Jennie and Julia Papilli swim two miles in Lake Michigan at dawn.

In Seattle, Chief Seattle Days honor the Native American chief who gave the city its name; a tugboat tows timber to a lumberyard; the $4 billion Amazon campus occupies prime office space; Starbucks' headquarters is quartered in the Port of Seattle.