Mark Twain's Hometown of Hannibal, Missouri

Between the riverboats on the Mississippi, Tom Sawyer's whitewashed fence, and a lively street fair going on, I found it pretty easy to get swept up in the small town charm of Hannibal, Missouri. Samuel Langhorne Clemens (aka Mark Twain) grew up here, and it's a claim to fame that the town has wholeheartedly embraced.

The settings of Mark Twain's novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn were both inspired by Hannibal, Missouri. Samuel Clemens boyhood home, where he lived from 1844 to 1853, also still stands here and has operated as a museum since 1912.
    

Huck Finn House

Mark Twain's boyhood home (on the right).

Virginia City, Nevada

Old brick facades, wooden walkways, and a main street draped in wires creates the illusion that you've stepped back in time as you enter Virginia City, Nevada. This community sprung up practically overnight when the first major silver deposit in the United States was discovered here in 1859. Were it not for the cars and power lines, you'd swear you were back in the Nevada Territory based on the character of the amazing buildings here.

At its peak in 1870, Virginia City had roughly 25,000 residents. Today, with a focus mostly on tourism, around 855 people call this former mining boomtown home. While some may see a gimmick, I was quickly won over by places like the Bucket of Blood Saloon and the Virginia City Brewery. And if that's not enough, the winding roads to get here were a blast to drive.