Alabama

Alabama rewards a slow drive. In the northeast corner, Little River Canyon cuts deep into the ridges near Fort Payne, and a short boardwalk brings you close to the 45-foot Little River Falls. Near Bridgeport, Russell Cave holds a rock shelter that people came back to for thousands of years.

Head west and the state starts to hum. FAME Recording Studios in Muscle Shoals and the historic Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in nearby Sheffield both offer guided tours. Nearby Tuscumbia is home to the Alabama Music Hall of Fame and to Ivy Green, where Helen Keller was born.

Huntsville looks to the sky. The U.S. Space & Rocket Center is home to Space Camp, and the Botanical Garden turns into Galaxy of Lights each holiday season. Farther south, Birmingham keeps its history close: the Civil Rights Institute downtown, and Vulcan watching over the city from his hilltop tower.

Down on the Gulf Coast in Theodore, Bellingrath Gardens & Home lays a network of paved paths through its gardens for wheelchairs and strollers.

Come in fall, when the light goes gold, or whenever the road calls.