BEST FOR: Boating and history buffs, and island romantics

ALLURE: The route from the Great Lakes up the St. Lawrence Seaway to the northern Atlantic was America's first superhighway, navigated by native Iroquois paddlers and early French explorers. Today, you'll see mammoth international-bound freighters and graceful sailboats. To move you deeper into the waterway's history, New York State designated a signposted series of secondary roads that follow its coastline for 454 miles (and another 64 in neighboring Pennsylvania). The Seaway Trail became New York's first federally designated National Scenic Byway in 1996 and is a National Recreation Trail. "The romance of lighthouses and open vistas is irresistible to people who like being on the water and in small towns rather than big cities," says Teresa Mitchell, president and CEO of Seaway Trail Inc. and a lifelong coastal resident. The entire route would take a week by auto, but in a weekend you can hit the highlights of the untrammeled shore and pick up a bit of its strong seafaring history along the way.