New England: Connecticut

Lox Stock & Bagels: Breakfast sandwich aficionados, rejoice! You can have your Nova Scotia Lox bagel and delight in the clever wordplay of this Connecticut cafe. We just wonder if they’ve ever left a couple pieces in the toaster too long and ended up with Lox, Stock, and Two Smoking Ba- oh, never mind.

Louis' Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut, advertises itself as the first restaurant to serve hamburgers and as being the oldest hamburger restaurant still operating in the U.S. Opened as a small lunch wagon in 1895, Louis' Lunch was also one of the first places in the U.S. to serve steak sandwiches. A great hidden gem in New Haven. Featured on Season 4 of Man vs. Food!

There are few things more magical than a day at the beach. New England has some of the country's finest, boasting flat, sandy shores and warm, calm waters. Busier beaches can be fun (they often have great people-watching, and sometimes the carnival-like atmosphere of a boardwalk is exactly what you're in the mood for) but the quieter beaches are just as enjoyable. If you're looking for a nice spot to read a book, or take a romantic walk down the beach, here are some hidden New England beach gems to check out.

Connecticut doesn't have a ton of shoreline, but it still has some lovely beaches. Silver Sands State Park is one of the state's finest. It contains Charles Island, which is connected to the mainland by a sandbar only visible when the tide is out (it's suggested you don't cross to the island along the sandbar for safety reasons). As the story goes, Scottish pirate Captain Kidd buried treasure on the island! The beach was hit by a hurricane in the 1950s, and most of the development around here was wiped out. Shortly after, it was designated a state park, and remains a quiet patch of shore for swimming and sunning.