Routebeer

Hand-picked

Discover

A curated library of 370 places worth pulling off the highway for. Tap any place to read the story; add it to a trip from the trip page.

370 places

National park

Grand Canyon National Park

Grand Canyon, AZ

The Grand Canyon does that thing where it stops feeling like a place and starts feeling like an idea.

National park

Zion National Park

Springdale, UT

Hike the Narrows. Walking up a river is exactly as cinematic as it sounds.

National park

Bryce Canyon National Park

Bryce, UT

Hoodoos at golden hour. Bring layers — it gets cold at altitude even in July.

National park

Arches National Park

Moab, UT

Delicate Arch at sunset is worth the climb. Try to be on the rim before the crowd thickens.

National park

Canyonlands National Park

Moab, UT

Mesa Arch at dawn. The light catches the underside in a way photos never quite capture.

National park

Capitol Reef National Park

Torrey, UT

The quietest of Utah's five. Pie at the Gifford House is non-optional.

National park

Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone, WY

The whole park sits on a supervolcano. Grand Prismatic Spring is the postcard.

National park

Glacier National Park

West Glacier, MT

Going-to-the-Sun Road is a road trip inside a road trip. Try to clear Logan Pass at golden hour.

National park

Yosemite National Park

Yosemite Valley, CA

Tunnel View — the first place you see the valley — is one of America's all-time good camera angles.

National park

Sequoia National Park

Three Rivers, CA

General Sherman is so big it makes the trees around it look small. Then you realise those trees are also enormous.

National park

Joshua Tree National Park

Twentynine Palms, CA

Sunset turns the desert pink. Stay for the stars — the sky is genuinely dark.

National park

Death Valley National Park

Furnace Creek, CA

Lowest point in North America. Driving across in summer is a lifelong story; April is more sensible.

National park

Petrified Forest National Park

Holbrook, AZ

Logs that turned to crystal. The Painted Desert overlook is the bonus.

National park

Rocky Mountain National Park

Estes Park, CO

Trail Ridge Road climbs above 12,000ft. The air thins; the views don't.

National park

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Gatlinburg, TN

America's most-visited park. Clingmans Dome at dawn is the cheat code to skip the crowd.

National park

Acadia National Park

Bar Harbor, ME

Cadillac Mountain — the first place to see sunrise in the continental US for part of the year.

National park

Olympic National Park

Port Angeles, WA

Rainforest, mountains, and a tide-pool coastline within a single park. Drive Hurricane Ridge for the panorama.

National park

Crater Lake National Park

Crater Lake, OR

Deepest lake in the US, sitting in a collapsed volcano. The blue isn't a photo filter; it's that blue.

National park

Redwood National Park

Crescent City, CA

Stand inside a tree. The Avenue of the Giants detour off the 101 is the unmissable cousin.

National park

Grand Teton National Park

Moose, WY

Mountains that look like a child drew them. Best paired with Yellowstone — one road connects them.

National park

Big Bend National Park

Big Bend, TX

The wildest park in the Lower 48 — desert, mountain, river, all underpopulated. Stargazing is unreal.

National park

Everglades National Park

Homestead, FL

A river of grass. Take an airboat once for the cliché; then go back at dusk for the real Everglades.

National park

Mesa Verde National Park

Mesa Verde, CO

Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings carved into the canyon walls. Book the Cliff Palace tour ahead.

National park

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Medora, ND

Bison crossing the road, badlands at sunset. The park almost nobody plans for, that everyone loves.

Roadside oddity

Cadillac Ranch

Amarillo, TX

Ten Cadillacs buried nose-down in the dirt. Bring spray paint. The art rule is: paint over.

Roadside oddity

Carhenge

Alliance, NE

Stonehenge, but made of grey-painted American cars. Genuinely beautiful at sunset.

Roadside oddity

Salvation Mountain

Niland, CA

A folk-art mountain of adobe and paint in the Salton Sea desert. One of the great American obsessions.

Roadside oddity

Wall Drug

Wall, SD

World's largest drugstore-themed tourist trap. The free ice water is a 1936 marketing promise still kept.

Roadside oddity

Mitchell Corn Palace

Mitchell, SD

A palace decorated entirely in corn murals, redone every summer. Sincerely.

Museum

Spam Museum

Austin, MN

Yes, the canned meat. Free admission, surprisingly charming.

Roadside oddity

The Thing?

Dragoon, AZ

World's strangest roadside attraction. The mystery is the appeal — don't read about it first.

Roadside oddity

Blue Whale of Catoosa

Catoosa, OK

A giant smiling concrete whale by an old swimming hole on Route 66. Pure heart.

Roadside oddity

Mystery Spot

Santa Cruz, CA

A house on a hill where gravity supposedly misbehaves. Tour guides hold the line with admirable commitment.

Roadside oddity

Prada Marfa

Valentine, TX

A permanently-locked Prada storefront in the middle of nowhere. West Texas at its art-school best.

Roadside oddity

World's Largest Thermometer

Baker, CA

134 feet tall, commemorating the all-time temperature record at Death Valley. Refreshingly literal.

Museum

International Banana Museum

Mecca, CA

Holds the Guinness record for most banana-related items. The owner will tell you all about it.

Roadside oddity

Paul Bunyan & Babe

Bemidji, MN

The original 1937 statue. Half the towns in the Upper Midwest will fight you about whose is real.

Museum

International UFO Museum

Roswell, NM

Earnest, lo-fi, and committed. The town leans in hard and it's perfect.

Landmark

Giant Otis Redding Statue

Macon, GA

Bronze Otis on a riverbank, looking exactly as he should.

Diner & dive

Big Texan Steak Ranch

Amarillo, TX

Free 72oz steak if you can eat it (and everything around it) in an hour. Five thousand people have done it. The rest of us watch.

Diner & dive

Pann's

Inglewood, CA

Googie architecture, still serving. The pancake stack is a film set in its own right.

Diner & dive

Mickey's Dining Car

St. Paul, MN

A 1937 prefab dining car, still open 24 hours. Order the hashbrowns and the silence.

Diner & dive

Café du Monde

New Orleans, LA

Beignets and chicory coffee, served around the clock. Powdered sugar is not optional.

Diner & dive

Cracker Barrel #1

Lebanon, TN

Yes, the chain. But this is the first one ever — there's a satisfaction in eating biscuits at the source.

Diner & dive

Pie Town Cafe

Pie Town, NM

A town named Pie Town, with a single cafe serving pies. The brevity of American naming.

Diner & dive

Roy's Motel & Café

Amboy, CA

The classic Route 66 Googie sign at sundown is a religious experience for some of us.

Diner & dive

Loveless Cafe

Nashville, TN

Biscuits and country ham, served on a porch outside Nashville. Wait for a table; it's worth it.

Diner & dive

Millie's Restaurant

Cumberland, MD

Diner straight off a magazine cover. Order the Reuben.

Diner & dive

Katz's Delicatessen

New York, NY

Pastrami the way it's meant to be. Take the ticket; do not lose the ticket.

Diner & dive

Pat's & Geno's

Philadelphia, PA

Two cheesesteak rivals across an intersection. Get one of each. Argue about it forever.

Diner & dive

Pike Place Chowder

Seattle, WA

Hidden alley off Pike Place Market. The chowder fully justifies the queue.

Diner & dive

Cole's French Dip

Los Angeles, CA

Claims to have invented the French dip in 1908. The pastrami one tells you it's true.

Diner & dive

Mel's Drive-In

San Francisco, CA

The American diner archetype, still operating. Booth seats, chrome, milkshakes.

Diner & dive

Crown Burgers

Salt Lake City, UT

Crown Burger with pastrami on top. A Utah thing. Once you try it, you'll get it.

Scenic stop

Bixby Creek Bridge

Big Sur, CA

The Pacific Coast Highway's most-photographed span, for good reason. Pull out at the north overlook.

Scenic stop

Million Dollar Highway

Silverton, CO

A guardrail-free road through the San Juans. Genuinely cinematic, genuinely a bit terrifying.

Scenic stop

Monument Valley

Oljato, UT

The landscape every John Ford western was made out of. Drive the loop slowly.

Scenic stop

Antelope Canyon

Page, AZ

Light beams through sandstone slot canyons. Mid-day, summer, with a Navajo guide.

Scenic stop

Horseshoe Bend

Page, AZ

A 1,000-foot drop and a perfect curve of the Colorado. Half a mile from the parking lot.

Landmark

Mount Rushmore

Keystone, SD

Smaller than you'd think, more impressive than you'd expect. Try the evening lighting ceremony.

Scenic stop

Craters of the Moon

Arco, ID

A black lava flow you can drive through. Used to train Apollo astronauts.

Scenic stop

Painted Hills

Mitchell, OR

Striped hills in clay reds and golds. Glow most in low evening light.

Scenic stop

Marfa Lights Viewing Area

Marfa, TX

Mysterious nighttime lights on the horizon since 1883. No one's explained them; the appeal is the not-knowing.

Scenic stop

Mendenhall Glacier Overlook

Juneau, AK

A 13-mile-long glacier you can hike to. The blue inside the ice is unreasonable.

Scenic stop

Niagara Falls (US Side)

Niagara Falls, NY

The US side gives you the prow view. Maid of the Mist is the cliché that earns the cliché.

Scenic stop

Cape Disappointment

Ilwaco, WA

Where the Columbia meets the Pacific. The name is grumpier than the place.

Scenic stop

Cape Perpetua

Yachats, OR

The 'thor's well' spouting hole. Time your visit for an incoming tide, not high tide.

Scenic stop

Shiprock

Shiprock, NM

A 1,500ft volcanic plug rising out of the desert like a frozen wave. Visible for thirty miles.

Scenic stop

Rio Grande Gorge Bridge

Taos, NM

Walk out over the gorge — 600ft below, the Rio Grande does its quiet work.

Scenic stop

Logan Pass

West Glacier, MT

The high point of Going-to-the-Sun Road. Mountain goats on the boardwalks; weather changes every fifteen minutes.

Scenic stop

Glen Canyon Dam Overlook

Page, AZ

A staggering wedge of concrete holding back Lake Powell. The scale is hard to register.

Historic site

The Alamo

San Antonio, TX

Smaller than the legend; more affecting than you expect. Quiet hour right at opening is the move.

Historic site

Independence Hall

Philadelphia, PA

Where the Declaration was signed. Time tickets are free but vanish; reserve them online ahead.

Historic site

Gettysburg Battlefield

Gettysburg, PA

Drive the auto tour with the official audio. Stand at Little Round Top in late afternoon.

Historic site

Mount Vernon

Mount Vernon, VA

Washington's house on the Potomac. The view from his porch hasn't really changed.

Historic site

Monticello

Charlottesville, VA

Jefferson's clockwork-loving house. The 'Slavery at Monticello' tour is the essential one.

Historic site

Pearl Harbor (USS Arizona Memorial)

Honolulu, HI

Quiet, hard, important. The boat to the memorial books out by mid-morning.

Historic site

MLK Birth Home

Atlanta, GA

The actual house on Auburn Avenue, plus Ebenezer Baptist across the road. Free, essential, undersized for the visitor numbers.

Historic site

Graceland

Memphis, TN

Elvis's house, frozen in 1977. You will not look at carpet the same way again.

Historic site

Sun Studio

Memphis, TN

Where Elvis, Cash, Lewis and Perkins recorded. Touch the microphone. They let you.

Historic site

Stonewall Inn

New York, NY

The 1969 uprising's epicentre, now a National Monument. Still a bar.

Historic site

Manzanar

Independence, CA

One of the WWII Japanese American incarceration camps. The visitor center is unflinching and necessary.

Historic site

Trinity Site

White Sands, NM

First atomic bomb test site. Only open two days a year — check ahead. Otherwise pair with White Sands itself.

Landmark

Statue of Liberty

New York, NY

Take the ferry early; climb to the crown if you can get the ticket months ahead.

Landmark

Golden Gate Bridge

San Francisco, CA

Walk across once — it's a mile and a half. Marin Headlands gives you the postcard angle.

Landmark

Hollywood Sign

Los Angeles, CA

Best photographed from the Lake Hollywood Park lot. Up close, it's just sheet metal — but isn't that the point?

Landmark

Space Needle

Seattle, WA

1962 World's Fair, rotating restaurant. The Chihuly garden right next door is the underrated stop.

Landmark

Gateway Arch

St. Louis, MO

The tram to the top is essentially a small spaceship. The view earns the claustrophobia.

Landmark

Empire State Building

New York, NY

The Top of the Rock has the better view of Manhattan (because the Empire State is in it). Both are correct answers.

Landmark

Hoover Dam

Boulder City, NV

An Art Deco wall holding back a desert lake. The walkway across the new bypass bridge is the under-sold view.

Scenic stop

Mount St. Helens Observatory

Toutle, WA

The crater the 1980 eruption left. Still visibly steaming. Approach via the Spirit Lake Highway.

Scenic stop

Mount Tamalpais

Mill Valley, CA

Drive up the back side. The view down on the Bay Area and Golden Gate is the city's secret good angle.

Landmark

Times Square

New York, NY

Do it once, hate it, never need to again. Best at midnight when the locals are gone.

Landmark

French Quarter

New Orleans, LA

Walk it in the late afternoon when balconies cast shade. Bourbon Street is fine; Frenchmen is better.

Museum

The Getty

Los Angeles, CA

Free entry. The Robert Irwin garden is its own justification — go on a clear afternoon.

Museum

The Met

New York, NY

Two thousand years of art under one roof. Plan to fail. Pick two wings, return another year.

Museum

National Air and Space Museum

Washington, DC

Apollo 11 command module, Spirit of St. Louis. Free, Smithsonian, essential.

Museum

Smithsonian Natural History

Washington, DC

The Hope Diamond and a real T-Rex. Pair with Air & Space; both are free and across the Mall.

Museum

MoPOP

Seattle, WA

Frank Gehry building, music + sci-fi + horror museums inside. Nirvana exhibit is the cult favourite.

Museum

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Cleveland, OH

I.M. Pei building on Lake Erie. The Hendrix and Bowie galleries are the don't-miss.

Museum

Museum of Fine Arts Houston

Houston, TX

The Turrell tunnel underneath is the open secret. Time tickets for it; it's free with admission.

Museum

Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, IL

Stand five feet from Nighthawks. The American Wing alone justifies the trip.

Museum

De Young Museum

San Francisco, CA

The free observation tower has the best free view in San Francisco. Most tourists miss it entirely.

Museum

Crystal Bridges

Bentonville, AR

A Walmart heiress's American art museum, free admission, world-class collection. The building is the bonus.

Scenic stop

McWay Falls

Big Sur, CA

A waterfall that drops straight onto a beach. Five-minute walk from a pull-off. The PCH's secret.

Scenic stop

Kancamagus Highway

Lincoln, NH

The northeast's best leaf-peeping drive. Sabbaday Falls pull-off, ten minutes.

Scenic stop

Blue Ridge Parkway

Asheville, NC

469 miles of mountain ridge with no truck traffic. Linn Cove Viaduct is the postcard mile.

Scenic stop

Natchez Trace Parkway

Tupelo, MS

444 miles of two-lane parkway from Nashville to Natchez. No billboards. No trucks. Just road.

Scenic stop

Overseas Highway

Marathon, FL

113 miles of bridges through the Florida Keys. The Seven Mile Bridge is the moment.

Scenic stop

Tail of the Dragon

Robbinsville, NC

318 curves in 11 miles. Beloved by motorcyclists; survivable in a car if you're patient.

Scenic stop

Coronado Trail Scenic Byway

Alpine, AZ

127 of the loneliest miles in the lower 48. Pack water. Phone signal optional.

Scenic stop

Beartooth Highway

Red Lodge, MT

Switchbacks above 10,000ft into Yellowstone's back door. Only open summer; check before you go.

Scenic stop

Skyline Drive

Front Royal, VA

105 miles of Shenandoah ridge. Pair with Blue Ridge for a 600-mile slow road south.

Diner & dive

The Empire

Stowe, VT

Tiny old roadside place. Maple syrup on everything that'll take it.

Diner & dive

The Fry Bread House

Phoenix, AZ

James Beard Award-winning Navajo fry bread. Always a line. Always worth it.

Diner & dive

Arnie's Doughnuts

Chicago, IL

Cult Chicago doughnut shop. Old-fashioned in maple-bacon is the order.

Diner & dive

Mama Josephine's

Avoca, IA

I-80 truck stop diner, biscuits and gravy that punch above the price.

Museum

House on the Rock

Spring Green, WI

Fever-dream collection on top of a chimney rock. Reading American Gods first is optional, recommended.

Roadside oddity

Foamhenge

Centreville, VA

Stonehenge, full size, made of styrofoam. Earnestly excellent.

Roadside oddity

Fremont Troll

Seattle, WA

An 18-foot concrete troll under an interstate, eating a real VW Bug.

Roadside oddity

Cabazon Dinosaurs

Cabazon, CA

Two enormous concrete dinosaurs visible from I-10. Pee-wee Herman approved.

Museum

International Cryptozoology Museum

Portland, ME

Sincerely-presented Bigfoot research. The owner-curator might give you the tour himself.

Scenic stop

Cherohala Skyway

Tellico Plains, TN

Smokies' quieter cousin. 43 miles, all of it ridge-top.

Museum

International Clown Hall of Fame

Baraboo, WI

It's complicated, but it exists.

National park

Saguaro National Park

Tucson, AZ

The cactus that everyone draws when they draw a cactus. Sunset in the east unit is the move.

National park

White Sands National Park

Alamogordo, NM

Gypsum dunes that crunch underfoot. Sledding (yes, sledding) is the local sport.

National park

Carlsbad Caverns

Carlsbad, NM

Bat flight at dusk in summer. The natural entrance walk down is more affecting than the elevator.

National park

Badlands National Park

Interior, SD

Drive the loop at golden hour. The colour shift is hard to overstate. Pair with Wall Drug.

National park

Mammoth Cave

Mammoth Cave, KY

The longest cave system on Earth. Take a ranger-led tour; the unranger'd loops are not the point.

Landmark

Wynwood Walls

Miami, FL

Open-air street-art museum where world-class artists are invited to repaint the walls. The murals turn over every year — go now, then go back.

Historic site

Castillo de San Marcos

St. Augustine, FL

Oldest masonry fort in the continental US, built by the Spanish in 1672. The coquina shell stones absorb cannonballs instead of shattering — you can still see the dents.

Historic site

The Hemingway Home

Key West, FL

Where he wrote To Have and Have Not. Sixty descendants of his six-toed cat Snow White still wander the grounds, on the payroll.

Scenic stop

Mallory Square Sunset

Key West, FL

Nightly performers — jugglers, escape artists, fire-eaters — all on a dock at sundown. Cliché, beloved, undeniable.

Museum

Salvador Dalí Museum

St. Petersburg, FL

Largest Dalí collection outside Spain, in a building that looks like the inside of his head. The melting clocks really are smaller than you'd think.

Roadside oddity

Coral Castle

Homestead, FL

Built single-handedly by a 5-foot Latvian immigrant over 28 years from 1,100 tons of coral rock. He never told anyone how he moved the stones.

Scenic stop

Devil's Den Prehistoric Spring

Williston, FL

An underground prehistoric spring you can snorkel in. Light beams cut through the cavern's ceiling collapse — looks staged, isn't.

Roadside oddity

Weeki Wachee Mermaids

Spring Hill, FL

Live underwater mermaid show, continuously running since 1947. Earnest, kitsch, completely perfect. Time it for the noon show.

Scenic stop

Bok Tower Gardens

Lake Wales, FL

A 205-foot carillon tower in a Frederick Law Olmsted garden on the highest point in peninsular Florida. The 3pm bell recital is unreasonably moving.

National park

Dry Tortugas National Park

Florida Keys, FL

A 19th-century brick fortress surrounded by tropical reef, 70 miles from Key West. Boat or seaplane only — and that's the point.

Scenic stop

Bahia Honda State Park

Big Pine Key, FL

The Keys' best swimming beach, with the ruined Flagler railway bridge arching offshore like a lost cathedral.

Roadside oddity

Smallest Post Office in the US

Ochopee, FL

Eight feet by seven feet. Still in operation. On the side of the Tamiami Trail — easy to miss, which is the joke.

Roadside oddity

Skunk Ape Headquarters

Ochopee, FL

The Skunk Ape is Florida's Bigfoot. The HQ is a man, his trailer, and his stories. Don't ask questions you don't want answers to.

Roadside oddity

Solomon's Castle

Lithia, FL

A castle made of 90,000 aluminium printing plates, built by one man as his home. If he's around he'll give you the tour himself.

Scenic stop

Sanibel Island

Sanibel, FL

Shell-hunter's paradise. The island's east-west orientation acts as a natural net for Gulf shells — locals do the 'Sanibel Stoop'.

Scenic stop

Anna Maria Island

Anna Maria, FL

Old Florida that hasn't been condo'd over. Free trolley up and down the island, not a single traffic light, white sand still warm at sunset.

Museum

Kennedy Space Center

Merritt Island, FL

Where they launched Apollo. The Saturn V building — a horizontal rocket the length of a city block — is one of the great museum moments anywhere.

Historic site

St. Augustine Historic District

St. Augustine, FL

Oldest continuously inhabited European-founded city in the US. Cobblestones, fort, Spanish bakeries, and ghost tours that are surprisingly not terrible.

Diner & dive

Apalachicola

Apalachicola, FL

Panhandle oyster town that time forgot. Plate of fresh-shucked at Up The Creek Raw Bar, sunset over the bay — that's the whole evening.

Scenic stop

Highway A1A

Florida Atlantic Coast

Sweeping Atlantic coastal road from Fernandina down to Key West. Less famous than the PCH; almost as nice. Drive the Indian River Lagoon stretch at dawn.

Historic site

Savannah Historic District

Savannah, GA

Twenty-two garden squares, oak trees dripping with Spanish moss. Walk it at dusk. Pralines from Leopold's; cocktails on a porch.

Landmark

Forsyth Park Fountain

Savannah, GA

The 1858 iron fountain in the centre of Savannah's largest square. Looks unchanged from any photograph ever taken of it.

Scenic stop

Cumberland Island

St. Marys, GA

Wild horses on undeveloped Atlantic beaches. Ferry-only access, with a 300-visitor-per-day cap that keeps the magic intact.

Historic site

Bonaventure Cemetery

Savannah, GA

Spanish-moss-draped riverside cemetery. Where the cover of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was taken. Genuinely peaceful.

Scenic stop

Driftwood Beach

Jekyll Island, GA

Live oaks that fell into the surf and turned to bleached driftwood sculptures. Otherworldly at sunrise. Bring a camera, you'll need it.

Landmark

Stone Mountain

Stone Mountain, GA

The largest single piece of exposed granite in the world. Cable car or a 1.3-mile walk-up; both options end with a view across the Atlanta skyline.

Scenic stop

Providence Canyon

Lumpkin, GA

Georgia's 'Little Grand Canyon' — created accidentally by 19th-century farming erosion. Striped pink, ochre, and white walls; surreal in afternoon light.

Historic site

Wormsloe Historic Site

Savannah, GA

A 1.5-mile avenue of 400 live oaks leading to colonial ruins. The most photographed driveway in the South, and worth being one of the photographers.

Landmark

Rainbow Row

Charleston, SC

Thirteen pastel Georgian houses on East Bay Street. Cliché on every Charleston postcard for a reason — they really do look like that at golden hour.

Landmark

Angel Oak

Johns Island, SC

A 400+ year old live oak whose branches sprawl 187 feet from end to end. Free to visit. Standing under it does something to the chest.

Historic site

Boone Hall Plantation

Mount Pleasant, SC

The Avenue of Oaks driveway is the iconic shot. The tours include a genuinely substantive Gullah cultural program — don't skip the slave-cabin exhibit.

Scenic stop

Folly Beach

Folly Beach, SC

Surf, dive bars, and the Morris Island Lighthouse sitting just offshore in the water. Locals' antidote to downtown Charleston.

Scenic stop

Magnolia Plantation Gardens

Charleston, SC

America's oldest public gardens (1870). The boat tour through the cypress swamp at the back of the property is the move many visitors miss.

Museum

Patriots Point

Mount Pleasant, SC

The aircraft carrier USS Yorktown turned floating museum. You can walk every deck, sit in the cockpit of an A-7, and crawl the destroyer USS Laffey.

Landmark

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

Buxton, NC

Tallest brick lighthouse in the US. The iconic black-and-white spiral is climbable — 257 steps, and worth it.

Historic site

Wright Brothers National Memorial

Kill Devil Hills, NC

Stand on the exact spot — markers in the dirt — where powered flight began in December 1903. The replica plane is in the museum behind.

Historic site

Biltmore Estate

Asheville, NC

America's largest private home. 250 rooms, four acres of floor space, Frederick Law Olmsted-designed grounds. Steep ticket but earned.

Scenic stop

Linville Falls

Linville Falls, NC

A three-tiered waterfall in the Blue Ridge gorge. Short trail to upper, longer one down to plunge basin — pick based on knees.

Scenic stop

Grandfather Mountain

Linville, NC

The mile-high swinging bridge between two peaks. Brace yourself when the wind hits. Black bears in the wildlife habitat at the base.

Scenic stop

Lookout Mountain

Chattanooga, TN

The 'See Seven States' claim is debatable; the view down the Tennessee River is not. Ruby Falls + Rock City make a roadside-attraction trifecta.

Landmark

Honky Tonk Highway

Nashville, TN

Lower Broadway. Three live bands per bar, no cover, beer in plastic cups. The actual locals are at Roberts Western World.

Museum

Hatch Show Print

Nashville, TN

Letterpress poster shop continuously printing since 1879. Hank Williams to Mumford concert posters were printed on the same wooden presses.

Scenic stop

Cades Cove Loop

Townsend, TN

An 11-mile single-lane loop through the Smokies. Black bears, deer, restored 19th-century cabins, a working grist mill. Dawn or dusk — go early.

Museum

US Space & Rocket Center

Huntsville, AL

Home of Space Camp. The full Saturn V outside is the world's only standing one. Marshall Space Flight Center is across the street.

Historic site

Edmund Pettus Bridge

Selma, AL

The bridge of the 1965 Bloody Sunday voting-rights march. Walking across does something the photographs alone can't.

Historic site

Civil Rights Memorial

Montgomery, AL

Maya Lin's circular black-granite memorial outside the Southern Poverty Law Center. Water flows over the names of 40 people killed in the movement.

Historic site

Sloss Furnaces

Birmingham, AL

Former iron blast furnaces, now a haunting industrial-archaeology museum. Concerts in the boilerhouse on summer nights; metal under flame.

Scenic stop

Cathedral Caverns

Woodville, AL

One of the world's widest cave entrances. Stalagmites the size of buildings; a stalagmite-stalactite column dubbed Goliath that's 45 feet tall.

Landmark

Frenchmen Street

New Orleans, LA

The real New Orleans music night. Two blocks of bars with live jazz every single night. Skip Bourbon, walk here, thank yourself later.

Historic site

St. Louis Cemetery No. 1

New Orleans, LA

Above-ground tombs (the water table doesn't permit burial). Marie Laveau is here. Tour-guide only entry now — book ahead.

Historic site

Whitney Plantation

Edgard, LA

The only US museum that tells the story of slavery from the perspective of the enslaved. Difficult, necessary, brilliantly done.

Landmark

Avery Island & Tabasco Factory

New Iberia, LA

Where Tabasco has been made since 1868. Free factory tour ends in a tasting; the jungle garden full of egrets and alligators is the surprise.

Scenic stop

Atchafalaya Basin Swamp Tour

Henderson, LA

Largest swamp in the US. McGee's Landing runs the better tours — cypress trees, Spanish moss, the occasional alligator slip-sliding past.

Historic site

Vicksburg National Military Park

Vicksburg, MS

Civil War siege battlefield with 1,300 monuments on a 16-mile drive. The USS Cairo gunboat museum at the loop's end is the unexpected highlight.

Museum

B.B. King Museum

Indianola, MS

Built around the King of the Blues' actual gravesite, in his birthplace town. The interactive Lucille exhibits are reverent without being syrupy.

Historic site

Po' Monkey's Lounge

Merigold, MS

The legendary juke joint. Closed since 2017 when Mr. Seaberry passed, but the tin-and-tarpaper shack still stands. Pilgrimage spot for blues fans.

Scenic stop

Enchanted Rock

Fredericksburg, TX

A pink granite dome the size of a small city. Hike up at golden hour; the rock holds the heat into the night.

Scenic stop

Hamilton Pool Preserve

Dripping Springs, TX

A collapsed grotto with a 50-foot waterfall pouring into a jade swimming hole. Book the reservation slot weeks ahead.

Landmark

San Antonio River Walk

San Antonio, TX

Two-and-a-half miles of restaurants and cypress trees a level below the streets. Quiet at dawn, magic at twilight when the lights come on.

National park

Padre Island National Seashore

Corpus Christi, TX

Longest undeveloped barrier island in the world. 70 miles of empty Gulf beach you can drive your truck onto.

Scenic stop

Caverns of Sonora

Sonora, TX

Some of the most delicate cave formations on Earth — fragile helictites you're not allowed to breathe on. Worth the detour off I-10.

Museum

Chinati Foundation

Marfa, TX

Donald Judd's land-art compound in the high desert. 15 outdoor concrete blocks alone justify the trip out here.

Roadside oddity

Texas State Fair Big Tex

Dallas, TX

55-foot cowboy greets you at Fair Park. Open only during the State Fair (late Sept–Oct), but worth timing a trip around.

Scenic stop

Fort Davis & McDonald Observatory

Fort Davis, TX

The darkest skies in the continental US. The observatory runs star parties — book ahead, dress warm even in summer.

Diner & dive

Luckenbach

Luckenbach, TX

A wooden post-office bar where every weekend afternoon is a country-music jam session. The song is correct: everybody's somebody in Luckenbach.

National park

Lassen Volcanic National Park

Mineral, CA

Bubbling mud pots, steam vents, and one of the few mountains on Earth where all four volcano types are represented.

National park

Channel Islands National Park

Ventura, CA

California's Galápagos. Boat-only access, fox-foxes you won't see anywhere else, kelp forests beneath.

Scenic stop

Mojave National Preserve

Kelso, CA

Joshua-tree forests with none of the crowd. Drive Kelbaker Road at dusk — Kelso Dunes booming if the sand's dry.

Roadside oddity

Salton Sea & Bombay Beach

Niland, CA

An accidental sea that's slowly evaporating, with a tiny post-apocalyptic art town on its eastern shore. Apocalyptic in the best way.

Diner & dive

Julian Pie Company

Julian, CA

A gold-rush town in the mountains east of San Diego that bakes the best apple pie on the West Coast. Whole pies sell out by mid-afternoon in autumn.

Scenic stop

Mendocino Coast

Mendocino, CA

The PCH north of San Francisco — wilder, foggier, fewer people, no less beautiful. Pull off anywhere; every view is a postcard.

National park

Pinnacles National Park

Soledad, CA

Volcanic spires and talus caves an hour off Highway 101. California's newest national park and somehow still uncrowded.

Historic site

Bodie Ghost Town

Bridgeport, CA

A gold-rush town frozen in 'arrested decay' since 1942. Furniture still on tables, sheet music still on pianos.

Scenic stop

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

Borrego Springs, CA

California's largest state park, with 130 rusted-metal sculptures of prehistoric animals scattered across the desert. Bring water.

Landmark

Griffith Observatory

Los Angeles, CA

Art Deco temple to the stars above LA. Free to enter, best at twilight when the city lights flicker on below.

Scenic stop

Multnomah Falls

Bridal Veil, OR

Two-tier waterfall right off I-84, 620 feet top to bottom. The pedestrian bridge over the lower drop is the photo, but the trail to the top earns the view.

Scenic stop

Cannon Beach & Haystack Rock

Cannon Beach, OR

A 235-foot sea stack rising out of a four-mile beach. Tide pools at the base at low tide; Goonies house is a 20-minute drive south.

Scenic stop

Pittock Mansion Overlook

Portland, OR

The view of downtown Portland with Mount Hood behind, framed by Pittock's manicured lawn. Free and reliable on a clear day.

Landmark

Powell's City of Books

Portland, OR

The largest independent bookshop in the world — a city block, four floors, used and new shelved together. Buy something; you'll want to remember it.

Scenic stop

Thor's Well

Yachats, OR

A bottomless saltwater sinkhole at Cape Perpetua that swallows incoming tides. Stay back from the rim — people fall in.

Scenic stop

Mount Hood & Timberline Lodge

Government Camp, OR

The Shining's exterior was filmed here. Snow at the top year-round, hot toddy by the stone fireplace any month of the year.

Landmark

Pike Place Market

Seattle, WA

The fish-throwing one. The wall of stuck gum below it. The original Starbucks across the road. Tourist trap, sure, but the kind that's earned its reputation.

National park

Mount Rainier National Park

Ashford, WA

A 14,000-foot ice-cream cone of a mountain looming over the Puget Sound. Sunrise visitor centre at sunrise — you'll be alone with the view.

Scenic stop

San Juan Islands

Friday Harbor, WA

Ferry hop through the islands at the top of Puget Sound. Whales surface from the Lime Kiln lighthouse if you're patient.

Scenic stop

Snoqualmie Falls

Snoqualmie, WA

270-foot drop 30 minutes outside Seattle. Twin Peaks shot the falls + the Great Northern hotel here; both look the same in person.

Scenic stop

North Cascades Highway

Newhalem, WA

Some of the most rugged peaks in the lower 48 with shockingly few visitors. Diablo Lake overlook is the postcard moment.

Scenic stop

Johnston Ridge Observatory

Toutle, WA

Directly facing the crater from the 1980 eruption. Still visibly steaming. Approach via the Spirit Lake Highway in summer only.

Landmark

Portland Head Light

Cape Elizabeth, ME

Commissioned by George Washington in 1791, still active. The most-photographed lighthouse in America and entirely worth the cliché.

Diner & dive

Red's Eats

Wiscasset, ME

A shack on a corner that serves a one-pound lobster roll. The line is long; the bench by the river is the wait.

Scenic stop

Bar Harbor & Sunrise on Cadillac

Bar Harbor, ME

Drive up Cadillac Mountain pre-dawn between October and March — the first place to see the sunrise in the US that part of the year. Reservation required.

Scenic stop

Mount Washington Auto Road

Gorham, NH

8 miles up to the highest peak in the Northeast. Bumper sticker reads 'This Car Climbed Mount Washington.' Weather is the world's worst — pack layers.

Scenic stop

Smugglers' Notch

Stowe, VT

Single-lane mountain pass through boulder formations. Closed in winter, otherworldly in summer when the deciduous canopy closes over.

Roadside oddity

Ben & Jerry's Factory

Waterbury, VT

The original factory tour ends in samples. The flavour graveyard out back is the under-appreciated highlight — tombstones for every retired flavour.

Historic site

Trapp Family Lodge

Stowe, VT

Yes, those von Trapps. They settled in Vermont after the war because the mountains reminded them of Salzburg. The brewery is the surprise addition.

National park

Cape Cod National Seashore

Wellfleet, MA

40 miles of protected Atlantic coast. Race Point Beach at the tip is the wildest stretch — grey seals stretched on the sand in the morning.

Scenic stop

Martha's Vineyard

Vineyard Haven, MA

Ferry over from Woods Hole; rent bikes at the dock. Gay Head cliffs at sunset are the part the tour buses skip.

Scenic stop

Provincetown

Provincetown, MA

Tip of Cape Cod. Where the Pilgrims actually landed before Plymouth. Now the East Coast's most committed beach town for sunsets and oysters.

Museum

Mystic Seaport

Mystic, CT

A working recreation of a 19th-century New England seaport. The Charles W. Morgan whaling ship — the last of its kind — is the centrepiece.

Scenic stop

Newport Mansions Cliff Walk

Newport, RI

Three and a half miles of cliff path past Gilded Age summer 'cottages' the size of European palaces. Free to walk; the Vanderbilts pay for the view.

Landmark

Devils Tower National Monument

Devils Tower, WY

The 867-foot volcanic plug that Spielberg used in Close Encounters. Geologically extraordinary; the easy 1.3-mile loop trail rounds the base.

Landmark

Jackson Hole Square

Jackson, WY

The town square framed by four arches made of stacked elk antlers. The Cowboy Bar across the street has saddle-shaped stools.

Museum

Museum of the Rockies

Bozeman, MT

One of the world's great dinosaur collections — the actual T-Rex specimens Jack Horner unearthed. Affiliated with the Smithsonian.

Historic site

Sun Valley Lodge

Sun Valley, ID

America's first destination ski resort, built by the Union Pacific in 1936. Hemingway is buried in the cemetery a mile down the road.

Scenic stop

Maroon Bells

Aspen, CO

The most-photographed mountains in North America. Shuttle bus from Aspen Highlands required mid-day; private cars allowed at dawn and dusk.

Scenic stop

Garden of the Gods

Colorado Springs, CO

Red sandstone formations jutting out of the plain at the foot of Pikes Peak. Free entry, paved loop drive, climbers everywhere.

Scenic stop

Mackinac Island

Mackinac Island, MI

No cars allowed since 1898 — only bikes, horses, and walking. Eight miles of shoreline you can cycle in two hours. Fudge shops everywhere.

Scenic stop

Pictured Rocks Lakeshore

Munising, MI

15 miles of mineral-striped sandstone cliffs along Lake Superior. Kayak tour at dawn is the way; afternoon boat tours fill quickly.

National park

Sleeping Bear Dunes

Empire, MI

450-foot dunes plunging straight into Lake Michigan. The walk down is gravity; the walk back is genuine work. Bring water.

Scenic stop

Door County Peninsula

Sister Bay, WI

The Cape Cod of the Midwest. Cherry orchards, fish boils, lighthouses on both Lake Michigan shores of one thin peninsula.

Scenic stop

Wisconsin Dells

Wisconsin Dells, WI

The original American tourist trap, since 1856. The sandstone river gorge that gave the town its name is still genuinely beautiful between the water parks.

Scenic stop

North Shore Scenic Drive

Duluth, MN

Duluth to Grand Marais along Lake Superior's north shore. Split Rock Lighthouse, Gooseberry Falls, agate beaches. Peak colour mid-October.

National park

Boundary Waters Canoe Area

Ely, MN

A million acres of wilderness, lake-to-lake by canoe only. Loon calls at dawn. No motors allowed in 95% of it.

Historic site

Bridges of Madison County

Winterset, IA

Six covered bridges from the 1880s, none far from the others. The book is fiction; the bridges are real.

Landmark

Route 66 Begin Sign

Chicago, IL

Mile zero of the Mother Road. The sign sits on Adams Street outside the Art Institute. Pose, drive west, don't stop until Santa Monica.

Landmark

Cloud Gate (The Bean)

Chicago, IL

Anish Kapoor's mirrored kidney bean in Millennium Park. Touch it; it warps you. Don't apologise for taking the obvious photo.

National park

Cuyahoga Valley National Park

Brecksville, OH

A wooded river gorge between Cleveland and Akron. America's least-likely national park — and yet, beavers.

Scenic stop

Sedona Red Rocks

Sedona, AZ

Cathedral Rock and Bell Rock are the postcards; Devil's Bridge if you'll hike for it. The light at sunset is real — that's why everyone's selling vortex tours.

Scenic stop

Meteor Crater

Winslow, AZ

A perfect 0.7-mile-wide hole punched into Arizona 50,000 years ago. Apollo astronauts trained here. Pair with standing on a corner in Winslow.

Scenic stop

Lake Powell & Rainbow Bridge

Page, AZ

The largest natural bridge on Earth, sitting in a flooded canyon. Boat-only access; the canyon walls are 1,000 feet on both sides.

Historic site

Georgia O'Keeffe Home & Studio

Abiquiu, NM

Where she painted the cottonwoods and skulls for 50 years. Tours by reservation only; the views she painted out of every window remain unchanged.

National park

Bandelier National Monument

Los Alamos, NM

Ancestral Puebloan cliff dwellings carved into volcanic tuff. Climb the wooden ladders up into them — kids will go feral with delight.

Scenic stop

Ten Thousand Waves

Santa Fe, NM

Japanese bathhouse in the mountains above Santa Fe. Outdoor hot tubs in the pine forest, especially good when it snows.

Scenic stop

East Shore Lake Tahoe

Crystal Bay, NV

Sand Harbor beach is the postcard. Drive the 28 around to Spooner Lake then up to the Mount Rose summit — the lake from above is the proper hit.

Landmark

The Las Vegas Strip

Las Vegas, NV

An adult theme park dressed as a city. Drive it once at night, top down if you can. Stop at the Bellagio fountains every fifteen minutes on the hour.

Scenic stop

Road to Hana

Hana, HI

64 miles, 620 hairpin turns, 59 one-lane bridges. Black-sand beaches, waterfalls every few miles. Leave at sunrise; the road's the destination.

Scenic stop

Waimea Canyon

Waimea, HI

The Grand Canyon of the Pacific. 10 miles long, 3,000 feet deep, and entirely covered in waterfalls and rainbows. Drive to the Pu'u Ka Pele lookout.

National park

Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park

Volcano, HI

Kīlauea is still active. The Crater Rim Drive lets you see active vents from a hundred yards. Do the night-time glow viewing if it's erupting.

Scenic stop

Hanauma Bay

Honolulu, HI

A horseshoe-shaped marine sanctuary 10 minutes from Waikiki. Snorkel-rich tropical fish for the price of a parking ticket. Closed Mondays + Tuesdays now.

Scenic stop

North Shore Oahu

Haleiwa, HI

Where surfing got serious — Pipeline, Sunset Beach, Waimea Bay. Calm in summer, thunderous in winter. Garlic shrimp trucks at Kahuku.

National park

Hoh Rainforest

Forks, WA

The Hall of Mosses trail walks you through a temperate rainforest that gets 14 feet of rain a year. Everything is green; everything is dripping; nothing is loud.

Scenic stop

Ruby Beach

Forks, WA

Sea stacks, driftwood logs the size of buses, and tide pools at low tide. Best at sunset when the offshore monoliths backlight.

Landmark

Leavenworth

Leavenworth, WA

A Bavarian-themed Cascade town that committed fully and made it work. Bratwurst, beer halls, alpine peaks behind every block.

Diner & dive

Voodoo Doughnut

Portland, OR

The pink box that started the gourmet-doughnut wave. The maple bacon bar is the order. There's always a line; it moves fast.

Diner & dive

Tillamook Creamery

Tillamook, OR

Self-guided cheese-making tour ends in a tasting room and an ice-cream counter. Kid-magnet, free entry.

Scenic stop

Deception Pass Bridge

Oak Harbor, WA

Two arched steel spans crossing 180ft above a tidal channel that boils with current at peak flow. Walk across; look down.

Scenic stop

Crater Lake Rim Drive

Crater Lake, OR

33-mile loop with 30 overlooks of the bluest lake in the world. Open July–October; book lodging months ahead.

Scenic stop

Elephant Seal Vista Point

San Simeon, CA

Thousands of northern elephant seals haul out year-round, fight, snort, lounge. A boardwalk keeps you 30 feet from the chaos.

Landmark

The Skunk Train

Fort Bragg, CA

A 19th-century logging railroad through redwoods. Smells faintly diesel; runs day trips through forest cathedrals.

Scenic stop

Mono Lake Tufa Towers

Lee Vining, CA

Calcium-carbonate spires rising out of an ancient saline lake on the eastern Sierra. Otherworldly at first light.

Scenic stop

17-Mile Drive

Pebble Beach, CA

A private toll road through Pebble Beach golf links, cypress, and ocean cliffs. The Lone Cypress is the postcard; the seal rookeries are the surprise.

Diner & dive

Philz Coffee (Original)

San Francisco, CA

Where the pour-over movement got serious. Order Tesora with cream; ask before your second.

Diner & dive

Tartine Bakery

San Francisco, CA

The country loaf that changed how a generation of Americans thinks about bread. Get there before 4pm.

Landmark

Watts Towers

Los Angeles, CA

Simon Rodia's 33-year folk-art project: 17 steel sculptures wrapped in mosaic, mortar, and salvaged tile. National Historic Landmark.

Diner & dive

Musso & Frank Grill

Hollywood, CA

Hollywood's oldest restaurant (1919). Bogart drank here, Bukowski drank here, you can too. Order the martini.

Roadside oddity

Griffith Park Merry-Go-Round

Los Angeles, CA

The 1926 carousel that Walt Disney watched his daughters ride — and went home and started designing Disneyland.

Historic site

Tor House

Carmel, CA

Poet Robinson Jeffers' stone house and hawk tower, built by his own hands over decades. Tours by reservation only.

Historic site

Paramount Ranch

Agoura Hills, CA

An open-air movie set in the Santa Monica Mountains where every Western you've ever loved was shot. Free.

Historic site

Tombstone

Tombstone, AZ

Wyatt Earp, the OK Corral, dust on the boardwalks. Yes it's a tourist town now; the saloons still feel right at dusk.

Historic site

Bisbee

Bisbee, AZ

A mile-high copper-mining town tucked into a canyon, now a Victorian artist colony. Walk the staircases between the streets.

Scenic stop

Cathedral Rock

Sedona, AZ

Sedona's signature spire. The end-of-trail viewpoint is a scramble; the photo is from across the creek at Crescent Moon at sundown.

Historic site

Jerome

Jerome, AZ

A copper boomtown that slid 300 feet downhill in the 1920s and never bothered to move back. Now galleries and saloons on a 5,000-foot perch.

Museum

Meow Wolf

Santa Fe, NM

An immersive art-house funded by George RR Martin. You crawl through a Victorian house and end up inside a dimension. Don't read about it first.

Scenic stop

Bisti Badlands

Farmington, NM

Surreal hoodoos and petrified wood in the empty corner of the Navajo Nation. No trails, no signs — that's the appeal. Bring water.

Historic site

Acoma Sky City

Acoma, NM

The oldest continuously inhabited community in North America — a pueblo on top of a 367ft mesa. Guided tours only; respectful is the only mode.

Diner & dive

Blake's Lotaburger

Albuquerque, NM

Green chile cheeseburger at the original location. The chile is the point. Drive-through, fluorescent, perfect.

Scenic stop

Goblin Valley State Park

Green River, UT

A field of waist-high sandstone hoodoos you're encouraged to walk freely among. Kids treat it as a maze; adults give in.

Landmark

Spiral Jetty

Corinne, UT

Robert Smithson's 1970 earthwork — a 1,500ft basalt spiral coiling into the Great Salt Lake. Visible only when lake levels drop.

National park

Great Sand Dunes National Park

Mosca, CO

Tallest dunes in North America, sitting at the foot of the Sangre de Cristos. Rent a board, sled down. Streams at the base in spring.

Historic site

Balcony House (Mesa Verde)

Mesa Verde, CO

The most adventurous of Mesa Verde's cliff-dwelling tours — ladders, tunnels, 600 feet of cliff below you. Reservation only.

Roadside oddity

Cadillac Ranch (after dark)

Amarillo, TX

Bring your own spray paint. The cars are repainted nightly by visitors — Stanley Marsh III's open-air canvas, never the same twice.

Diner & dive

Blue Bell Creamery

Brenham, TX

Texas's most-beloved ice cream made on-site since 1907. Factory tour ends with a scoop of Homemade Vanilla.

Roadside oddity

Buc-ee's (any)

New Braunfels, TX

The temple of the Texas road trip. Beaver Nuggets, brisket sandwiches, 80 gas pumps, the cleanest restrooms in America.

Museum

Donald Judd's Block

Marfa, TX

Two airplane hangars Judd filled with 100 milled-aluminum boxes. Tour by reservation only and silent — the building does the talking.

Scenic stop

Balmorhea State Park

Toyahvale, TX

A 1.3-acre spring-fed swimming pool in the West Texas desert — 72°F year round, fish swimming under you.

Historic site

Fort Worth Stockyards

Fort Worth, TX

Real working stockyards plus tourist boardwalk. The 11:30 and 4pm cattle drive down Exchange Avenue is the show.

Diner & dive

Franklin Barbecue

Austin, TX

Aaron Franklin's brisket. The line forms before dawn and they sell out by 1pm. Bring a lawn chair, make friends.

Landmark

Magnolia Silos

Waco, TX

Joanna Gaines's shiplap empire — bakery, market, lawn. Earnest, well-run, and the cupcakes are real.

Landmark

Cody Stampede Rodeo

Cody, WY

The longest-running nightly rodeo in the world (since 1938). 8pm summers; bull riding, barrel racing, bareback — the whole catalog.

Historic site

Old Faithful Inn

Yellowstone, WY

The largest log structure in the world (1904). Sit in the lobby with a coffee; you can see Old Faithful erupt from the porch.

Scenic stop

National Bison Range

Moiese, MT

Two-hour driving loop through grasslands with 350 wild bison, elk, pronghorn, bighorn. Run by the Salish-Kootenai tribes.

Historic site

Bannack Ghost Town

Dillon, MT

Montana's first territorial capital (1862). 60 abandoned buildings you can walk into freely. Quieter than Bodie, just as eerie.

Scenic stop

Needles Highway

Custer, SD

14 miles of granite spires, tunnels carved single-car-wide through rock. Best paired with Custer State Park's wildlife loop.

Landmark

Crazy Horse Memorial

Crazy Horse, SD

The world's largest in-progress sculpture (since 1948), 17 miles down the road from Rushmore. Will dwarf the presidents when done — if ever.

Scenic stop

Shoshone Falls

Twin Falls, ID

The 'Niagara of the West' — 212 feet, taller than Niagara, in a Snake River canyon. Best volume in spring; thinnest in late summer.

Scenic stop

Upper Mesa Falls

Ashton, ID

A 114-foot falls 30 miles from Yellowstone's west entrance that nobody stops at. Boardwalk gets you right over the lip.

Landmark

Chimney Rock

Bayard, NE

The most-noted landmark on the Oregon Trail. A 300ft sandstone spire visible from 30 miles. The pioneers were right about it.

Museum

Shedd Aquarium

Chicago, IL

Lake-side aquarium with one of the country's best Caribbean reef tanks. Beluga whales come right up to the glass.

Diner & dive

Portillo's (Chicago Dog HQ)

Chicago, IL

Italian beef, Chicago dog, chocolate cake shake. The whole Chicago canon under one neon roof.

Diner & dive

Lou Malnati's Deep Dish

Chicago, IL

The deep dish argument has three answers. Lou Malnati's is the best of them. Caramelized crust, sausage layer like a mattress.

Landmark

American Players Theatre

Spring Green, WI

Outdoor Shakespeare in a wooded amphitheatre overlooking the Wisconsin River. Pack a picnic; arrive at dusk.

Historic site

Taliesin

Spring Green, WI

Frank Lloyd Wright's home and studio, perched on a Wisconsin hilltop. Multiple tours — the in-depth one is essential if you care.

Historic site

Grand Hotel

Mackinac Island, MI

The world's longest covered front porch (660 feet). Dress code at dinner. Cars-not-allowed island; arrive by horse-drawn taxi.

Museum

Ford Rouge Factory Tour

Dearborn, MI

Walk the assembly line where F-150s are built. Pair with the Henry Ford Museum across the campus — make a whole day.

Historic site

Ohio State Reformatory

Mansfield, OH

Where Shawshank Redemption was filmed. Tour the cellblocks, the warden's office, the laundry where Andy Dufresne planned his exit.

Landmark

Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Indianapolis, IN

The Brickyard. Track tour, museum, kiss the bricks at the start/finish line. Open year-round; the Indy 500 happens here in May.

Scenic stop

Monument Rocks

Oakley, KS

70-foot chalk pyramids rising out of empty Kansas prairie. National Natural Landmark, on private land, free to visit. Bring water.

Scenic stop

Meramec Caverns

Sullivan, MO

Jesse James's alleged hideout, now a guided cave tour. Cheesy in the best Route 66 way; the Stage Curtain formation is genuinely staggering.

Museum

Oklahoma Route 66 Museum

Clinton, OK

Decade-by-decade walk-through of the Mother Road. Best of the dozen Route 66 museums between Chicago and Santa Monica.

Roadside oddity

POPS Soda Ranch

Arcadia, OK

700 different soda pops under a 66-foot neon bottle on old Route 66. Bacon soda exists; you've been warned.

Landmark

Thorncrown Chapel

Eureka Springs, AR

48ft of glass and wood rising out of an Ozark forest. AIA voted it one of the most significant buildings of the 20th century.

Historic site

Hot Springs Bathhouse Row

Hot Springs, AR

Eight grand 1880s bathhouses along the spring line. Two still operate as bathhouses; the rest are museums and a brewery.

Landmark

Jack Daniel's Distillery

Lynchburg, TN

Tour the cave-water source, the rickyards, the barrel rolling. Lynchburg's a dry county — Jack ships, doesn't pour.

Historic site

Ryman Auditorium

Nashville, TN

The Mother Church of country music. Sit in the original pews; tour the green room. Catch a show if you can — acoustics are religion.

Diner & dive

Prince's Hot Chicken

Nashville, TN

The originators of Nashville hot chicken — a recipe born from a spurned-lover prank in the 1930s. Order medium unless you mean it.

Landmark

Buffalo Trace Distillery

Frankfort, KY

America's oldest continuously operating distillery (since 1773). Free tours, generous tastings, the warehouses smell of angels.

National park

Frozen Niagara Tour

Mammoth Cave, KY

Mammoth Cave's accessible tour — the Frozen Niagara dripstone formation in 75 minutes. Better than the longer tours if you're with kids.

Scenic stop

Okefenokee Swamp

Folkston, GA

650 square miles of black-water swamp, cypress trees, alligators. Boat tour through the Suwanee Canal at dawn is otherworldly.

Scenic stop

Luray Caverns

Luray, VA

The Great Stalacpipe Organ — a real working pipe organ that strikes stalactites tuned to musical pitch. National Natural Landmark, since 1878.

Landmark

New River Gorge Bridge

Fayetteville, WV

876ft above the river, third-tallest bridge in the US. Bridge Walk lets you cross underneath on a 2ft catwalk if you don't want to be sensible.

Museum

Storm King Art Center

Mountainville, NY

500 acres of outdoor sculpture — Calder, Serra, di Suvero, Goldsworthy — on rolling Hudson Valley land. Rent a bike at the gate.

Museum

Dia:Beacon

Beacon, NY

Massive minimalist art in a former Nabisco box-printing factory on the Hudson. Richard Serra's torqued ellipses fill rooms.

Scenic stop

Watkins Glen State Park

Watkins Glen, NY

Two miles of trail winds past 19 waterfalls in a tight gorge — you walk under three of them. Crowded but earned.

Landmark

Coney Island Boardwalk

Brooklyn, NY

Cyclone roller coaster (1927, wooden), Nathan's hot dogs, the Wonder Wheel, the boardwalk at sunset with the Q train rattling overhead.

Historic site

Fallingwater

Mill Run, PA

Frank Lloyd Wright's house cantilevered over a waterfall. Reservation only — book six weeks ahead minimum.

Scenic stop

Lancaster Amish Country

Lancaster, PA

Horse-drawn buggies on the country roads, hand-painted hex signs on the barns. The Bird-in-Hand farmers market is the right entry point.

National park

Assateague Island National Seashore

Berlin, MD

Wild ponies on a 37-mile Atlantic barrier island. Camp on the beach; the ponies will visit you in the morning. They have opinions.

Scenic stop

Cape Henlopen State Park

Lewes, DE

WWII observation towers along the dunes, Atlantic to the east, Delaware Bay to the west. Bike from Rehoboth in 30 minutes.

Scenic stop

Quechee Gorge

Quechee, VT

Vermont's 'Little Grand Canyon' — 165ft drop, viewed from a 1911 steel-truss bridge on Route 4. Pair with Simon Pearce glass-blowing studio downstream.

Scenic stop

Flume Gorge

Lincoln, NH

Two-mile loop through a granite gorge with walls 70–90 feet high. Wooden boardwalks above a roaring brook — the kind of thing you'll remember.

Historic site

Edison & Ford Winter Estates

Fort Myers, FL

Side-by-side winter homes of two American titans. The botanical garden Edison ran for the rubber project is the unexpected highlight.

Roadside oddity

Shell Factory

North Fort Myers, FL

Operating since 1938. A sprawl of seashells, fossils, and Florida kitsch. Eat at the diner; pet the lemurs out back.

Scenic stop

Rainbow River

Dunnellon, FL

Crystal-clear spring-fed river. Tube the 4-mile drift downstream; sunlight through the cypress is unreasonable.

Landmark

St. Pete Pier

St. Petersburg, FL

A 26-acre redesigned pier into Tampa Bay. Sailboats, public-art installations, restaurants. Sunset is the time.

Roadside oddity

Monkey Island

Homosassa, FL

Five spider monkeys living on a tiny island in the middle of a river behind a motel. There's a lighthouse for them. Yes, really.

National park

Denali National Park

Denali, AK

The tallest mountain in North America, hidden in clouds 70% of the time. Take the shuttle bus; private cars only go 15 miles in.

National park

Katmai National Park

King Salmon, AK

Brooks Falls bears catching salmon mid-air every July. Float plane access only. Fat Bear Week is real and worth voting in.

Scenic stop

Mendenhall Ice Caves

Juneau, AK

Pale-blue caves carved by meltwater under a retreating glacier. Guide required, conditions change yearly. Worth every hassle.

National park

Haleakalā Sunrise

Maui, HI

Sunrise from a 10,000ft volcano above the clouds. Reservation required (book 60 days out). Bring every layer you own.

Museum

USS Missouri

Honolulu, HI

The battleship where Japan surrendered in 1945, moored beside the USS Arizona. The two ships, World War II's bookends, in eye contact.

Roadside oddity

Coral Castle Telescope

Homestead, FL

Inside Coral Castle, Ed Leedskalnin built a working stone telescope pointed permanently at Polaris. He was very serious; you can see it work.

Museum

Strataca Salt Mine

Hutchinson, KS

650 feet underground in a working salt mine. They store Hollywood film masters down here because nothing rots in salt air.

Roadside oddity

International Car Forest

Goldfield, NV

Forty cars half-buried nose-down or stacked on each other, in the high Nevada desert. Free, weird, slowly turning to art.

Scenic stop

Bonneville Salt Flats

Wendover, UT

30,000 acres of cracked-white salt where land-speed records are set. Drive on it (with care). Photographs unreal; reality more so.

Scenic stop

Marfa Mystery Lights Viewpoint

Marfa, TX

The state-built viewing platform 9 miles east of Marfa. The lights show up most nights, sometimes. The not-knowing is the experience.

Landmark

Very Large Array

Magdalena, NM

27 radio telescopes, each 25m across, in a Y-pattern in the desert. The Contact location. Visitor center free; tours first Saturday.

Roadside oddity

Trees of Mystery

Klamath, CA

A 49ft Paul Bunyan statue greets you. Gondola ride through old-growth redwood canopy. Tacky and great in equal measure.

Historic site

Shanghai Tunnels

Portland, OR

Underground passages where 19th-century sailors were drugged and dragged onto ships ('shanghai'd'). Walking tour by lamp-light.

National park

Jewel Cave National Monument

Custer, SD

Third-longest cave system in the world (200+ miles mapped, 95% still unmapped). Calcite crystals on every surface.

National park

Crater of Diamonds State Park

Murfreesboro, AR

The only diamond-bearing site in the world open to the public. Dig in the field, keep what you find. People have. Diamonds, plural.

Landmark

Grand Ole Opry House

Nashville, TN

Country music's longest-running stage show, since 1925. Backstage tour is the better day-time option; show tickets the night-time.

Roadside oddity

Roswell Main Street

Roswell, NM

Every storefront, lamppost, and McDonald's leans into the alien thing. Two blocks of pure committed kitsch. Pair with the UFO Museum.

Landmark

Mall of America

Bloomington, MN

America's largest mall, with an indoor amusement park in the middle. Underwater Adventures aquarium is the surprise good part.

Scenic stop

Cave of the Mounds

Blue Mounds, WI

A small but jewel-like dolomite cave discovered by accident in 1939. 50-minute guided tour. Surprisingly affecting.

Diner & dive

Russ & Daughters

New York, NY

Appetizing shop on Houston Street, since 1914. Bagel with cream cheese and lox is the religious experience. Take a ticket.

Diner & dive

Killen's Barbecue

Pearland, TX

Suburban Houston brisket that runs Franklin's close. Beef ribs are the move; they sell out by mid-afternoon.

Diner & dive

Skylight Inn

Ayden, NC

Eastern Carolina whole-hog barbecue since 1947. Chopped pork on a paper tray with vinegar and a square of cornbread. Authentic in the deepest sense.

Diner & dive

Tracksides Cafe

Lexington, KY

Old-school horse-country diner across from Keeneland racetrack. Trainers and grooms at 5am; tourists at 11. Order the bourbon-glazed bacon.

Diner & dive

Cochon Butcher

New Orleans, LA

Donald Link's casual sandwich shop next to his upscale Cochon. The muffuletta is the order; the boudin is the surprise.

Diner & dive

American Coney Island

Detroit, MI

Detroit's original coney dog, since 1917. Chili, mustard, raw onion. Right next door is its 100-year rival Lafayette. Get both. Argue forever.

Diner & dive

Yui Edomae Sushi

Las Vegas, NV

A strip-mall sushi bar that rivals anything in LA or Tokyo. 12 seats. Reservations months ahead. Trust the omakase.

Diner & dive

Woodman's of Essex

Essex, MA

Claims to have invented the fried clam in 1916. Whole-belly clams, lobster roll, picnic table at the dock — that's the perfect summer hour.