Leo Heit

Highway 61 runs 150 miles up Minnesota’s North Shore from Duluth to the Canadian border, and almost the entire way, Lake Superior sits right there beside you. The world’s largest freshwater lake by surface area stretches so far to the east that on most days you can’t see the other side. Eight state parks line the route. Dozens of waterfalls drop through birch forests. Small towns hold onto fur trade history.

Most people blow through Star Valley on their way to Jackson Hole or Yellowstone, windows up, miles to cover. Afton, Wyoming, sits about 70 miles south of Jackson, a town of roughly 2,100 people tucked into a 45-mile corridor of green pastures and mountain peaks along the Idaho border. It holds two world records, a forgotten aircraft factory, a piece of Oregon Trail history, and access to millions of acres of open public land. Slow down. You’ll want more than an afternoon.