San Francisco

San Francisco

San Francisco is hills, fog, Mission burritos the size of forearms, and pastel Victorians stacked like dominoes. Karl the Fog has his own Instagram, the cable cars are still mechanically pulled by cables running under the street, and the Pacific shows up at the end of every west-bound avenue. The food is wildly good, the views are theatrical, and yes, you'll get cardio just walking to the corner store.

Baltimore

Baltimore is steamed crabs with Old Bay, the Inner Harbor at golden hour, and row houses with painted screens. Edgar Allan Poe is buried here, John Waters still lives here, and Cal Ripken Jr. is a saint. The seafood is genuinely some of the best on the east coast. The neighborhoods (Fells Point, Hampden, Federal Hill) each feel like their own small town.