Extreme Sled Down Smugglers’ Notch, Vermont

Since I already wrote about Asheville and Charleston this week, let’s continue south to Mississippi and a memorable drive my brother Jim and I once took. In the small Delta town of Clarksdale, learn about the birthplace of the Blues at the Delta Blues Museum, and then spend the night at one of the most intriguing properties in America, the Shack Up Inn. Set on the Hopson Plantation, where the mechanical cotton picker made its debut in 1941, owner Bill Talbot has converted six former sharecropper shacks into his own version of a B&B (bed and beer). The next morning head south on Highway 61 through the rolling green farmland that makes up the heart of the Delta. Eventually you’ll reach the trenches Union and Confederate troops dug during the Civil War’s bloody Siege of Vicksburg, now a National Military Park. Another hour of driving and you’ll find that gem of a town on the Mississippi River, Natchez. During its heyday prior to the Civil War, when cotton was king, Natchez had more millionaires per capita than any other city in the country. They built palatial estates, like Monmouth Plantation, your final stop. Monmouth’s meticulously landscaped grounds, shaded by centuries-old oaks and their thick dress of Spanish moss, is bursting with colorful azaleas come spring. 

Highway 1 on the mid-Californian coast is the road you see in car ads, a stunning stretch of road that deserves to be driven in a red convertible. The climax is the route through Big Sur, where the stomach-dropping turns edge the bluffs as you gape in awe at the wide clean beaches and cliffs that drop precipitously to the frothing ocean. Spend the first night at the sleepy hamlet of Avila Beach, staying at a room overlooking the water at Avila Lighthouse Suites. The next morning, drive north to tour Hearst Castle and see the dreamy blue-tiled indoor pool, inlaid with 22-karat gold. No wonder Cary Grant visited the estate more than 40 times. Four miles north of Hearst Castle, a must-stop is the beach of Piedres Blancas to watch hundreds of large elephant seals lounging, grunting, wrestling, and diving into the Pacific. Continuing north, the mountains of Los Padres National Forest rise above the Pacific and the road becomes a mix of ups, downs, and hairpin turns. A quarter-mile walk at Pfeiffer Burns State Park leads you to the waterfalls and wildflowers of this rugged paradise. For lunch, stop at Nepenthe to dine on nachos while overlooking the stunning surroundings. Finish the drive in Monterey, to visit one of the America’s most innovative aquariums, bike along the waterfront past seals, and dine at seafood restaurants on the street John Steinbeck coined Cannery Row.