I moved to Nashville 3 years ago, but spent the first 65 years of my life in KY, so that’s my state. My recommendations:
Lexington - I’ve been to multiple racetracks in my life, but there is no place like Keeneland (Saratoga is close). Take a morning tour and have breakfast in the track kitchen. Seeing a UK basketball game at Rupp Arena is also a highlight. I haven’t been in years, but the tv announcers always rave about the ice cream.
Shelbyville - a wonderful small town outside Louisville with great antiquing. Wakefield-Scearce Galleries is a wonderful place to shop and eat.
Paducah - visit the National Quilt Museum and the Hotel Metropolitan, a Green Book site. Eat at freight house, run by 2 time Top Chef runner-up Sara Bradley, have a bbq sandwich at Starnes BBQ (recognized by Southern Living on more than one occasion) and get doughnuts at Red’s Donut shop for less than half the price of what I have to pay in Nashville now.
Rocky Mountain National Park - The entire huge park is wonderful, but there is more access to hiking trails on the East side (Estes Park). Trail Ridge Road is a stunning (but a bit unnerving) drive up over the Continental Divide Rocky Mountain National Park (U.S. National Park Service)
Channel Islands National Park-Santa Cruz Island has island foxes. They are about the size of a cat and are really, really cute. Easy to see too. They hang out in the campground and the picnic area.
Cambria-see the elephant seals just north of San Simeon. Cambria is a charming little town.
Tuolumne Meadows-this is the high country of Yosemite. (The valley is much too crowded and commercialized for my taste. ) Tent cabins or your own tent are the only accomodations. Tioga Pass road is gnarly; make sure your brakes are good.
Door County, which has lighthouses, state parks, galleries galore, kayaking, beaches, fish boils, and great biking. There are more and less touristed spots, depending on your preference.
Madison, with the oldest farmers market in the country, museums, music venues, the Frank Lloyd Wright trail and more, sitting on an isthmus between two lakes.
Bayfield with Lake Superior shoreline, Big Top Chatauqua and access to the Apostle islands.
New York City of course
The usual stuff, but why not look at the gardens?
Central Park, The newly restored Conservatory Gardens (104th St) is my favorite now, with kids sailing model boats in the Conservatory Waters (74th St)
New York Botanical Garden, Bronx don’t miss the rock garden and check out what is in the Conservatory
Brooklyn Botanical Garden - I am a sucker for Japanese Gardens
The Finger Lakes
wine tasting
Watkins Glen Gorge Trail is spectacular and an easy 1.5 mile walk with 19 waterfalls
Cornell campus - beautifully landscaped and check out the ice cream!
These are great! I’ll add 3 for Kentucky, as well:
Lexington: Go on a horse farm tour if you can’t get to Keeneland. Visitors are amazed at how gorgeous our stallion barns are, and you can’t beat driving through the rolling hills of Kentucky for beautiful scenery
Central Kentucky: Hit the bourbon distilleries (Buffalo Trace is my favorite) for cool tours. People come to KY from all over the country to tour the distilleries
Cumberland Falls State Park: About an hour and a half south of Lexington, it’s a gorgeous area in the Daniel Boone National Forest with the only moonbow in the western hemisphere. The moonbow happens during a full moon, when the light hits the mist of the waterfall just right, and there are usually big rainbows at the falls each day. Great hiking and kayaking area.
We were at Buffalo Trace last month after the flood, no water anywhere that we saw. We didn’t know there had been a flood until someone mentioned it on another thread.
Take a hike at Mt. Tammany at the Delaware Water Gap and follow it up with a drive down river to one of the many adorable Revolutionary War-era river towns for dinner.
Have a spectacular beach and boardwalk day in Asbury Park, and follow it up enjoying the food, drinks, great options for live music and overall vibe of the downtown.
Visit Liberty State Park, take the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, and then walk around and dine in Hoboken afterwards.
Boston - excellent museums, history, food and sports (and it is very pretty as cities go)
Cape & Islands - for beach going it is hard to beat the outer Cape - Wellfleet, Truro & Eastham
North Shore & Cape Ann - Rockport, Gloucester, Newburyport, Ipswich - for any fried clam lovers, the Clam Box reigns supreme - avoid Woodman’s (too touristy and the food has gone down hill).
@kiddie mentioned the Berkshires upthread. I lived in the Boston area for ten years and @Thorsmom66’s list captures MA for me, but I’d include Marblehead (also along the north shore).
Perhaps someone who lives in central MA will chime in.
I am sticking with my list - The Berkshires over Cape Ann/Northern shore. Great stuff in the Berkshires including the Norman Rockwell Museum. Also, North Shore is shore again, too similar to the cape. When I say Cape Cod, I include the islands.
