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.

Baton Rouge

Baton Rouge is LSU football, the Mississippi River bending past downtown, and the kind of food (gumbo, jambalaya, boudin, po'boys) that makes you want to lie down after lunch. The Louisiana state capitol is the tallest in the country, a 34-story Art Deco tower that looks more like a Manhattan office building. Cajun warmth runs through everything, with a slightly more buttoned-up daily pace than New Orleans.