Idaho

Idaho gets reduced to potato jokes, but the state has some of the most rugged wilderness in the Lower 48, including the Sawtooth Mountains and the Salmon River's whitewater rapids.

Boise, the capital, has built a genuinely good downtown food and brewery scene along its greenbelt river path. Coeur d'Alene, further north, sits on a lake surrounded by pine forest that draws boaters and hikers in equal measure.

It's an easy state to fly over and a real mistake to skip.