Vermont’s Department of Tourism and Marketing found that only 59% of the crowd that swarmed the state for the April 2024 total eclipse left the same day. Fall foliage visitors typically stay several nights in one town instead. Those cars have to go somewhere. These are the Vermont towns that run out of parking every…
By 11 a.m. one fall Sunday, Dolly Sods’ Bear Rocks parking lot was already full. Another 129 vehicles lined Forest Road 75 behind it, with license plates from New Mexico to Maine. It’s easy to give up and turn around. These are the West Virginia overlooks that aren’t worth the leaf season traffic. 1. Long…
The best time to visit South Carolina isn’t the one many people book. Once the summer coastal crowds thin out, a quieter, older South Carolina is easier to see, one small town at a time. These are the South Carolina towns worth the drive once the beach crowds leave. Aiken The town of Aiken holds…
Minnesota’s Department of Natural Resources lists 11,842 lakes of at least 10 acres inside the state’s borders. Many of them ring small towns that lean on one short tourist season for almost everything. That season has a hard stop. These are the Minnesota lake towns that shut down the day after Labor Day. Cass Lake…
Think Marineland disappeared along with the drive-in theater and the orange grove billboard? It nearly did. A federal bankruptcy judge spent months in 2025 deciding whether a Texas developer would take over the property, and Floridians who hadn’t visited in years assumed the worst. These are the Florida roadside attractions Floridians assume closed years ago….
A driver on Highway 82 between Glenwood Springs and Carbondale glances at a row of stone humps in the hillside and takes them for an old rock pile. They’re not rocks. They’re ghost towns. These are the Colorado ghost towns Coloradans drive past without looking. Gilman Thousands of commuters curve past Gilman every week on…
Stuckey’s history puts its 1960s peak at 368 stores in more than 30 states, their teal roofs planted along interstates. Alabama’s interstates have only a handful today. These are the roadside businesses that once defined a drive through Alabama. 1. Filling Stations Filling stations used to be the reason drivers had any excuse to slow…
A Friday night at home can disappear into laundry, dishes, and wondering what to watch. Spend that same night somewhere else, and the weekend suddenly feels longer. You don’t need a packed itinerary to make the trip count. These are the Virginia getaways worth packing for just one night. 1. Luray Luray sits inside the…
Delcambre’s five-day Shrimp Festival ran Aug. 12-16, 2026, right along the bayou canal that gives this Louisiana shrimping town its name. Then shrimpers went back to work. That same shift happens across Louisiana’s bayou country every year around Labor Day, in towns many road trips never reach. These are the Louisiana bayou towns that change…
Twenty Maine lighthouse towers were open to climb on September 12, for the American Lighthouse Foundation’s Open Lighthouse Day. The rest of the state’s towers stayed locked. For a few of them the locked door is permanent, and the closest you’ll ever get is a spot on the shore. These are the Maine lighthouses you…
